The Covert Op to Neuter The Rebel

Write your own programming … Paula Cas

By Jon Rappoport

If you want to track a civilization as it collapses, watch what happens to the concept of the rebel.

From the 1960s onward—starting with Lee Oswald and the assassination of JFK—the whole idea of “the rebel” with power has been sequentially updated and repackaged. This is intentional.

The objective is to equate “rebel” with a whole host of qualities—e.g., runaway self-serving paranoia; random destruction; out-of-control drug use; generalized hatred; the commission of crimes…

On a lesser, “commercialized” level, the new rebel can define himself by merely showing up at a concert to scream and drink heavily and break something, having already dressed to make a dissident fashion statement. He can take an afternoon off from college classes and have his arms tattooed. All the while, of course, he functions as an avid consumer of mainstream corporate products.

You even have people who, considering themselves rebels of the first order, support a government that spies on its people 24/7, launches military attacks all over the world, and now funds a Manhattan Project to map every move of the 100 billion neurons of the brain, for the ultimate purpose of controlling it.

Going back as far as the 1950s, the so-called decade of conformity, psyops professionals sculpted notions of The Rebel: He was the person who, because he had psychological problems, didn’t want to take part in the emerging bland corporate culture.

He was imagined and presented as troubled, morose; a wobbly unfocused JD Salinger Holden Caulfield, or an unkempt beatnik, a Madison Avenue caricature of somebody who opposed Madison Avenue.

In other words, the people who were shaping the consumer culture were creating the image of the rebel as a cartoon figure who just didn’t want to buy into “the good life.”

Time Magazine ran a cover story on the beatniks, and characterized them as a disaffected trend. Marlon Brando, heading up a bunch of moronic motorcycle riders, invaded a town of pleasant clueless citizens and took it over, wreaking destruction. The 1953 movie was The Wild One. James Dean, who had the same trouble Brando did in articulating a complete sentence, was “the rebel without a cause” in the “iconic film” of the same name. He raced cars toward cliffs because his father couldn’t understand him.

These were all puff pieces designed to make rebels look ridiculous, and they worked. They also functioned to transmit the idea to young people that being a rebel should be a showbiz affectation. That worked, too.

Then the late 1960s arrived. Flower children, in part invented by the major media, would surely take over the world and dethrone fascist authority with rainbows. San Francisco was the epicenter. But Haight-Ashbury, where the flowers and the weed were magically growing out of the sidewalks, turned into a speed, acid, and heroin nightmare, a playground for psychopaths to cash in and steal and destroy lives. The CIA, of course, gave the LSD culture a major push.

For all that the anti-war movement eventually accomplished in ending the Vietnam war-crime, in the aftermath many of those college students who had been in the streets—once the fear of being drafted was gone—scurried into counselors’ offices to see where they might fit into the job market after graduation. The military industrial complex took its profits and moved on, undeterred.

The idea of the rebel was gone. It later resurfaced as The Cocaine Dealer, the archangel of the 1980s.

And so forth and so on. All these incarnations of The Rebel were artificially created and sustained as psyops. At bottom, the idea was to discredit the Individual, in favor of The Group.

Now, in our collectivist society of 2017, The Group, as a rapidly expanding victim class, is the government’s number one project. It’s a straight con. “We’re here to make you worse off while we ‘lift you up’.”

In the op to demean, distort, and squash the rebel, there is a single obvious common denominator: the establishment media are doing the defining; they are the ones who are setting the parameters and making the descriptions; they are the ones who build the cartoons; looking down their noses, pretending to a degree of sympathy, they paint one unflattering picture after another of what the rebel is and does and says; they have co-opted the whole game.

These days, the ultimate rebels, the media would have you believe, are “gun-toting racist bitter clingers who have religion.” Another attempt to shape a distorted unflattering portrait

You can take a whole host of political films and television series of the past 50 years, and look at them for signs of the Rebel: Seven Days in May, Advise and Consent, The Candidate, The Seduction of Joe Tynan, Dave, Primary Colors, The Contender, Good Night and Good Luck, The American President, West Wing, Scandal, The Newsroom…

Good acting, bad acting, drama, message—at the end you’re looking for the core. What do the rebel heroes really stand for? What are their principles? It’s all bland. It’s vague. It has the posturing of importance, but little else.

As I was finishing this piece, a friend wrote with a quote attributed to Robert Anton Wilson: “The universe is a war between reality programmers.”

This is exactly where the real rebel enters the scene. He’s not trying to program people. Freedom means cutting loose from programming.

The Rebel doesn’t go to the market and choose which reality program he wants. They’re all used up as soon as they come out of the package.

“THIS or THAT” is the history of Earth: choose reality program A or B. The choice was always a con.

We’re well into a time period when the experts and scientific authorities are settling on the human being as a biological machine that can only respond to programming. That’s their view and their default position.

It’s sheer madness, of course, but what else do you expect? We’re in an intense technological age, and people are obsessed with making things run smoother. They treat their precious little algorithms for control like the Crown Jewels. They’re terribly enthusiastic about the problem they’re solving, and that problem is us.

We’re the wild cards, a fact which they take to be result of our improper and incomplete conditioning. They aim to fix that.

“Why not stop diddling around and just make the whole thing over? Why not reshape humans?”

Having decided that, the battle begins between competing programmers of the mind. Which program for humans is better?

The rebel is against all such programming, no matter how “good and right” it sounds. “Good” and “right” are the traps.

“Well, certainly we could make a list of qualities we want all people to have. You know, the best qualities, like bravery and determination. Who could be against that? So suppose we could actually program such qualities into humans? Wouldn’t that be a fine thing? Then people would just BE that way…”

The ultimate rebellion is against programming, whatever it looks like, wherever it occurs.

Programming is someone else’s idea of who and what you should be.

It is never your idea.

Your idea is where the power is.

And that’s what makes you a genuine rebel.

Source: The covert op to neuter the rebel « Jon Rappoport’s Blog

New Moon and Solar Eclipse in Pisces on 2-26-2017, Impressions

Jupiter is the defining element of the New Moon eclipse in Pisces. Chatter has already started up about the ugly T-square forming among the malefics, the conjunction of Mars and Uranus hitting off aspects to the big baddies, Saturn and Pluto. The god of war, action oriented Mars in his home field of Aries makes him trigger happy, looking to expend his martial energy and fulfil his purpose.

If you’re like me and Mars owns a good portion of your personal planets, you’ll feel Mars tension and for many, it will manifest in argument and schisms between people fighting to get their way and to satisfy their desires — often at the expense of others. If Mars is subtle for you, you might find yourself full of nervous tension, but most of all, with Pluto in the mix, the physical self frustrates if it cannot find a way to release this energy. Hit the gym, go a few rounds with someone you trust, but most of all, stay in controlled environments where even if something unexpected should occur, you are surrounded by support systems or preparations that will help you weather unfortunate surprises. So if you do go to the gym — make sure there’s a first aid kit with you and you’ve got your boxing gloves laced up right.

What makes Jupiter so key in this eclipse is dependent upon a series of aspects. Not only does Jupiter conjunct with fixed star Spica, but as in the last lunar eclipse, Jupiter is lurching backwards into retrograde. Given the stellium in foggy Pisces where Mercury, Sun, Moon, and Neptune are thrown together, now might be a time when you discover the friends and contacts that you’ve accrued under Jupiter’s expansive influence in Libra are not the people you thought they were — either you fooled yourself about their true nature, or they concealed who they really are. Now might not be the right time to address those issues, however, with Mercury unable to operate with any fundamental clarity in the Neptunian house, and with the harsh aspects occurring between Pluto, Mars/Uranus, and Saturn.

Case in point, I had a dear friend approach me with a problem she has ongoing with a close friend of her own. She discovered this friend of hers had been concealing information from her in and effort to present themselves in a better light, and now she is unsure whether she wants to continue a friendship with this person. The concern is that this person is hot-headed and may react inappropriately if she abandons the friendship, even though they are in the wrong. Sometimes, no matter how right we are, how good our intentions, we should take the time to weigh the possible consequences of our choices. As satisfying as it would be for her to simply cut off her friendship and be done with the confusion and difficulty this false friend presented, sometimes our best course of action is simply to offer neither resistance nor help, but let others choose their own paths without our interference. Taking time away from problem-people and simply withdrawing is a passive strategy that is also, often, a healing one — time reveals yet more things we did not know, and problems that we were upset about before, suddenly unravel themselves while we were busy doing something else. The problems dissipates, and leaves us lighter than when we started.

As an old saying goes — don’t invite trouble to your door, because trouble already knows where you live. This would be a good thing to keep in mind if you find yourself faced with conflicts that you would ordinarily dive into this eclipse period. Take a deep breath and consider dealing with problems in new ways. When faced with a tide, it is pointless to swim against it — consider swimming with it until it ebbs and you can find your feet again and take new direction, instead of exhausting yourself in the struggle.

Saturn and Pluto are in play. Here is where, though it is not immediately obvious that Jupiter is the major player of this chart, as much of the bluster online is being made over the malefics — which are certainly alarming in their own right — Jupiter makes his presence known through rulership and a chain of dispositors.

Pluto moving through Capricorn is giving momentum to Saturn by rulership, as earthy and conscientious Capricorn is owned by disciplinarian Saturn; and Saturn, of course, is in Jupiter’s house of lucky, expansive Sagittarius, meaning that Saturn, already spurred by Plutonian energy from Capricorn, is filtering this turbo-charged force all the way to Jupiter, by rulership. And Jupiter wants bigger, better, faster, more! Is it like a fountain, where several trickles from the top are running down to form a flood at the bottom, where Jupiter is collecting all this potential force from the other planets.

We can follow the breadcrumbs of this chain of dispositors further if we wish, when we realize that if Jupiter is in Libra, that sign of relationships and equality, than where oh where is the ruler of Libra, Venus?

Venus can be found in Aries — also in opposition to Jupiter in Libra!

The goddess of love, rich in gifts of seduction and flattery, may be telling us something about the nature of our relationships and the choices we might make between them while Jupiter is in Libra. Some friends might run away with your heart during this eclipse! But beware, for it is in the myth of Aphrodite — Venus — that she is given a girdle by the gods that lends her the ability to wield her tongue to appeal to vanity. Make sure whoever you might be involved with is not simply selling you sweet dreams and words, pandering to your ego, with no intention of giving anything of value in return. Glamour and charm can be persuasive, but empty when they have lost their power to enchant.

Jupiter is also square Pluto in Capricorn and Venus in Aries, where Venus is at her detriment, and where rammy Mars also happens to be. Since Aries is Mars’ natural home, the presences of Uranus and Venus alongside him are secondary to Mars, who holds primacy over those planets. With the male and female energies in tight configuration, this could make for sparks between lovers, but this sexual tension could also easily manifest as argument, the knock-down drag-out 3 am fight that ends up in a heated reunion. If you live in close proximity with those kinds of romantic entanglements like I have, you might want to invest in some ear plugs to save your sanity. (Or, you might be inspiring others to buy ear plugs.)

Further complicating factors is Saturn in Sagittarius square Pluto in Capricorn and Mars/Uranus in Aries square Pluto. Jupiter in Libra will be expanding these malefics and is pulling at the stellium in Pisces — Chiron, Neptune, Mercury, Sun and Moon — as well as Venus, Mars, and Uranus seated in Aries.

Jupiter forms an anchor point in this configuration. And while the term anchor sounds like a stabilizing force, perhaps this is inaccurate — better to say that in this case, Jupiter’s amplifying power is perhaps best described as a slingshot, in which Mars conjunct Uranus and the stellium in Pisces is going to add expansive force to these planets and signs respective properties. Pisces in his foggy element will have the capacity to lead astray with greater enthusiasm or, at best, inspiring genius and creatives propelled by martial energy thanks to the god of war. Mars with Uranus will lend an intense force in their own arenas, Pluto’s square supercharging all that’s already in play in this clash of malefics.

Good luck everyone, stay safe, stay aware, and keep your thinking clear so you can perceive obstacles and work around them safely. I expect a potential uptick in car accidents (Mercury and Neptune) so be careful when out drinking and driving and navigating with your fellow citizens on the road.

 

eclipse-2-26-2017

 

Source: New Moon and Solar Eclipse in Pisces on 2-26-2017, Impressions | starsbydesign

Secondary Effects of a Reiki Session – Holistic Experiment

In the field of alternative medicine, Reiki is used to help bolster one’s own healing abilities to cure all manner of maladies. Although it’s typically said that there is no side effects involved with Reiki, the practitioners are taught to warn patients that part of the healing process can involve a detox that can bring some side effects

A full body treatment takes from 45 to 60 minutes per session, a short session that only focuses on the chakras lasts 15 to 30 minutes. Sometimes the person who is receiving Reiki will  not feel anything during a session, this is because Reiki energy often works on a subtle level.

No matter what, Reiki energy always travels to the place that is needed the most, but it’s essential to understand that healing is a process. Reiki does not fix depression, anxiety, or aches and pain with just one session, just like it take a long time to cure a cold using conventional medicine, it takes time to heal.

The most common reactions during a Reiki session are: feeling emotional, hot or cold, seeing colors or light, twitching, stomach rumbles, and even falling asleep during the session. Every body is different, so every reaction is going to be unique, just make sure if you’re feeling uncomfortable during a session, inform the practitioner immediately.

Other commonly experienced side effects are: cold and sore throat, fever, abdominal pain or an upset stomach, fatigue and the need to sleep, less energy, feeling lightheaded, sensations in different parts of the body (often in the head and heart), and major life changes in relationships, career, locations, etc.

It’s often recommended to drink lots of water and rest as soon as you get Reiki because you might be feeling a bit tired. If you can, don’t drive to your appointment, or better yet, find a practitioner that can go to your home or take a distance healing session so that you can take a nice nap after the session.

A lot of people will notice that after this process takes its course, they start experiencing the happy side effects of Reiki. This happens because every single time we heal, we release one layer of darkness from our auras and our body’s blueprint. The body will slowly flush out the toxicity that is stored in our cells in order to pave the way for a healthier and happier lifestyle.

So next time you experience a side effect after a healing session, drink lots of water, rest, and welcome the side effects!

Source: Secondary Effects of a Reiki Session – Holistic Experiment

How to Cope When You Feel Disconnected

This article struck a cord with me as I experienced the same thing after my hip replacement … Paula Cas

We all have moments when we feel a little bit off or just not quite in tune with our spirituality, intuition, or inner voice.  But what do we do when we feel completely disconnected for days or weeks at a time?

Unlike those small “off” moments, which can be triggered by relatively innocuous things like annoyance, brief lack of confidence, or just a plain old bad day, disconnection generally has larger roots.  Grief, depression, serious illness, surgery*, and new medications are all things that can and do vastly affect us on physical, emotional, and metaphysical levels.  But in these instances, knowing the cause isn’t necessarily helpful, as they are not circumstances that we can easily change.

So, what do we do?

The big answer—and the one I most often have trouble with—is patience.  Like any other mental or emotional blockage, very often it’s just something your body and mind have to work their way through.  But “be patient” is terrible advice, right?  You are already stressed, it’s like telling you to calm down.  So, here are a few things to try while you’re waiting:

Continue with routine as soon as possible
The causes that landed us in this state are also often things that disrupt our lives anyway.  The quicker that you can get back to some semblance of your “normal” life, the better.

Create new rituals
Whether you can continue with routine or not, maybe you need something new.  Here we want simple daily things that are not strenuous or time consuming.  Try something like ending each night writing down one thing that went well, or one thing you are grateful for.  Or lighting a candle for a cause that you believe in, or a person/people you’d like to help.

Practice meditation
In whatever way works for you (we have some tips on that).  If it allows you to feel something, great!  If not, hopefully it helps a bit with the relaxation you almost assuredly need.

Make time for fun
This one can be hard, I know.  But, as hokey as it sounds, your inner child does need a chance to roam.  And play is so important, for all creatures.  If you are physically able, a hike or even a short walk in nature can do wonders, and in the spirit of play I am rarely one to say no to a turn on a swing set.  You might also try having coffee or lunch with friends, or simply chatting on the phone or over text.  If being social isn’t your thing (or it’s too taxing due to the current situation), maybe you could splurge on a new book you’d been wanting to read, borrow a favorite from the library (e-books, looove), or veg out in front of the tv with that series you’ve been meaning to watch.

Don’t force it
Not yourself, nor any of these suggestions.   I can’t emphasize this enough.  Do. Not. Force. It.  You might be tempted to bargain or make deals—“If I do this every day, I’ll be back to normal a month and a day from now.”—don’t.  Added pressure will likely only make things worse.  We all heal at different rates and in different ways.  And as much as this might not feel like healing, I assure you, it is.

Remember that all things are cyclical.  You may feel lost, maybe even like you’ve veered off the path and cannot see a way through.  But if all of life is a circle, eventually the fog has to clear, and you will find your way back.

dscf0115

*For the sake of clarity, disclosure, and all of that soul-baring fun(?) stuff, here’s a bit of personal insight from Melankalia:

I had surgery two weeks ago.  For the first time.  Out-patient, all went as expected (barring something of a major panic-attack coming out of anesthesia, NOT fun), recovery, healing, and physical therapy are all going well.  All good things.

But I feel weird.  There are mobility issues, the pain meds are not quite agreeing with me, and my stamina is sort of laughable, but these are things I expected and accounted for.  What I did not expect was to feel so very disconnected metaphysically, and (somewhat) emotionally.  I don’t know if it’s the physical trauma of surgery, a sensitivity to the new foreign bodies embedded in my flesh, lingering effects of being flooded with various medications, or just some chaotic out-of-whack result of all of the above.  But I just don’t feel….right.  My intuition, the “voices in my head”, my connection to deities and to nature all feel muted.  And now I am just biding my time…and trying to take my own advice.

But, I know, or at least I believe, that in time I’ll be feeling more me again.  And if you’re reading this, and struggling, I believe that eventually you will be okay again, too.

Source: How to Cope When You Feel Disconnected | Witchery Wednesday

Slowing Down the Druid Way, Part II: Relationships of Work and Time

In the US, it seems that the first question people ask is, “what do you do?”  When they say that, of course, they are not talking about how you spend your leisure time, but rather, the work that you do for pay. This is the most defining characteristic of modern lives–because this is tied to the thing our culture holds as most sacred: money.  Money is the only metric that has any real value and the pursuit of money drives all else. If you aren’t working in the workforce earning pay, either the work are doing is devalued (as any stay-at-home parent can attest) or there is something very wrong with you (as in, why aren’t you out there earning money?). This current economic system, driven by industrial mindsets surrounding profit and efficiency, gives us a rather poor metric through which to measure ourselves and our value. …

Source: Slowing Down the Druid Way, Part II: Relationships of Work and Time | The Druid’s Garden

The Besom – Good Witches Homestead

The besom, or broom, is one of the main ritual tools of the witch and is sacred to both the Goddess and God.  The God – through its symbolic phallic shape, the Goddess – through its three-piece makeup, the shaft, the bristles and the binding cord, three being the triform aspect of the Goddess.  While besom and broom are two names used interchangeably, there is a small difference in their definition.  The brush of a besom is usually made of twigs and is, therefore, more rounded in shape, whereas the brush of a broom is primarily made of straw, which is flatter in shape. 

Traditionally a besom was made from three different kinds of wood, Ash for the shaft, Birch twigs for the bristles and Willow strands for the binding cord.  Ash is protective and has command over the four elements, Birch is purifying and draws spirits to one’s service, while Willow is sacred to the Goddess and binds them all together.  In modern witchcraft today, while the traditional besom still takes pride of place, other woods are used for special purposes:  Oak for added power and protection, Pine for luck and health, Redwood for longevity, Maple for love and money, Walnut for health and wisdom, and Cinnamon for spirituality.

Magically, a besom is used for a variety of purposes, but more generally they are used to purify and protect.  In ritual, they are used to cleanse sacred space before magick is performed by visually sweeping away negative energies and astral build up.  Before casting the circle, the Priest or Priestess will walk clockwise (deosil) around the circle space, and hold the besom a few inches off the ground sweep outward from the center while chanting the Besom Chant: 

Besom Chant 

“Besom, besom, sacred broom

Sweep out darkness, sweep out gloom

Rid this sacred hallowed ground

Of demons, imps and hell bent hounds;

Then set ye down on Her green earth

By running stream or Mistress’ hearth,

Till called once more on Sabbath night

To cleanse once more this sacred site.”

 

(Author unknown) 

Sweeping the area with a besom can be done in addition to or in place of incense, to purify ritual space, and is often used for such when rituals are conducted in smoke-free areas.  When not being used in ritual, place your magical besom by the door to protect the home from evil spirits and negative energies.  When standing a besom, always place the bristles up, with the shaft on the floor.  This not only makes the bristles last longer, it will also bring you good luck.  Another old custom was to place a besom outside the door, this as an indication to other witches that the occupants are out, or working, and didn’t wish to be disturbed.

To make your own traditional besom you will need the following: 

A length of Ash approximately 4ft long and about 1in

thick for the shaft.

Birch twigs (about 1-2 ft. in length) to act as the bristles.

Several strands of Willow for binding the bristles to the

end of the shaft.

A pair of Scissors.

Water and salt. 

Soak the Birch twigs and Willow strands overnight in warm lightly salted water (to make them pliable) and allow them to dry slightly before using.  They need to be damp and pliable before binding them to the Ash shaft.  Arrange the twigs alongside the shaft about 3-6 inches from the bottom, larger twigs form the center of the brush with shorter ones around the outside, then bind them with the Willow strands.  Be sure to tie them very securely.  Use as many layers of twigs as you like depending on how full you want the brush to be.  Leave overnight to dry. 

Whether you make your own besom in the traditional way “as above,” or purchase a ready made one, you may then wish to decorate is it with a magickal name or other meaningful symbols or sigils.  Once decorated, the besom should then be consecrated ready for use in your magickal workings.  To do this anoint the besom with oil while reciting the following chant: 

Consecration Chant 

“Besom of birch and willow tied,

Be my companion and my guide.

On ashen shaft by moonlight pale

My spirit rides the windy gale

To magickal realms beyond both space and time.

To magickal lands, my soul will sail.

In the company of the crone, I’ll ride

This besom of birch with willow tied

So do I consecrate this magickal tree.

As I will it, so mote it be.”

 

(Author unknown) 

Once consecrated for use in the magick circle, it should not be used for any other purpose.  When making a besom for normal household usage, it can still be magically charged for that use.  On one side of the shaft (from the bristles traveling upwards) carve the following words while visualizing your intent:  “I sweep out evil and poverty.”  On the opposite side of the shaft (from the top traveling down to the bristles, carve “I sweep in money and luck.”  When sweeping, visualize the same intent, but sweep towards the fireplace if you have one.  If not sweep in any direction except towards the front door, so as not sweep out and lose your good luck.

Myths and Folklore

Most people identify the besom with the old wedding ceremonies performed by Gypsies and early American slaves when couples “Jumped the Broom” to cross the threshold of their new homes ensuring fertility, domestic harmony, and longevity.  This custom continues today in modern handfasting rituals when as part of the ceremony, the bridal couple will jump across a decorated besom as confirmation of their commitment to each other.  Should the marriage not work, or end in divorce, jumping the broom backward will break that commitment. 

The age-old image of witches flying around on broomsticks casting baneful spells is believed to have come from old fertility rites associated with nature and agricultural.  As part of the seasonal Spring rites to aid the growth of newly planted crops, women from local villages would gather around fields with their besoms.  Placed between their legs as they circled the field, much like riding on a hobby horse, the idea was the higher they leaped, the higher the crop would grow. 

In renaissance times, according to the demonologists, the Devil himself presented brooms and flying ointment to newly initiated witches so they could fly to the Sabbats.  Often they carried with them familiars in the shape of demons or animals.  They were also said to fly across fields blasting their neighbor’s crops or ride out to sea in order to rise up storms.  However, such concocted myths were generally forced from the poor tortured victims of the persecutions, and should not be taken seriously. 

Other Magickal Uses

Placing a broom across a doorway allows your departed friends and family to speak to you if they so choose.  As long as the broom remains, they can communicate freely.  To bring rain, stand outside and swing a broom in the air over your head.  If lightning blows your way put a broom on your porch to act as a lightening rod.  Electricity and lightning are thought to be attracted to brooms.  Another way to safeguard a house against lightning strikes is to cross a spade and a broom outside the main entrance. 

A besom placed under the bed or beneath the pillows at night, will protect the sleeper from nightmares and ensure a peacefully sleep.  Similarly, it is not wise to leave a bed empty for too long.  If you are going away for any length of time, place a besom in your bed, laying the bristles on the pillow.  This will guard the bed against evil spirits until you return. 

Two crossed besoms hung on a wall or the back of a door will protect the house from unwanted influences.  With the exception of those used exclusively for magickal purposes, moving an old besom into a new house will result in bad luck. 

Source: The Besom – Good Witches Homestead

How To Make A Besom {Plan 1}

I thought that this would be a good time to share with you all how to craft your own Witch’s Broom, known as a Besom.

Technically speaking, a broom is the flat ended sort of object that we generally use for physical cleaning; while a Besom is a round shaped bunch of straw (or other plant material) bundled around the center handle, and is used to cleanse an area of negative energy, usually in the preparation of ritual or magickal work.

While you can buy a besom, and there are many lovely ones to choose from -it’s also pretty easy to make one of your own. The bonus of making it yourself is the addition of your own energy tied to its creation. Although the items that follow are for the more traditional style of besom, you can use nearly any types of branches and plant materials available to you. Even a wooden dowel from the Hardware Store can be used.

t is a good idea to match the materials to the type of magick to be worked with it. The traditional magical formula includes a bundle of birch twigs, a staff of ash or oak, and a binding made from willow wands. This makes for a besom that incorporates both the male energy of the God- in the oak or ash; and the female energy of the Goddess- in the willow. A besom to be used primarily in Healing Rituals might be made of birch & lavender, and one for kitchen might be made of cinnamon.
lavender-besoms
After the basic construction of the Besom, there is innumerable way to decorate it. Handles can be carved, wrapped or painted; and all sorts of embellishments can be attached to it. Things such as feathers, crystals, coins, beads, bone and other totems can adorn it and enhance the work you plan to do with the Besom itself.
You’ll need:
A four-foot length of ash or oak for the handle
Thin branches of birch for the bristle part (you can substitute a woody herb like mugwort or thyme for the bristles if you like. I have also seen wonderful besoms made from aromatic herbs, such as lavender or cinnamon. )
Lengths of willow or heavy cord to bind everything together
You’ll also need scissors and a bucket of warm water. Whatever you’ll be using for the bristles — whether it’s birch, a herb, or some other wood — should be soaked in the warm water overnight to make them pliable, as should the willow binding, if you’re using it.FIGURE 1

~Line up your broom handle and bristles, with the bottoms of the bristles pointing towards the top of the handle.

~Lay the handle on a table or the floor and place the bristles alongside it, lined up about four inches from the bottom. Point the bottom of the bristles towards the top of the broom, because you’re going to flip the bristles in a minute (see Fig. 1).

FIGURE 2
Wrapping the Bristles~Tie the bristles in place around the handle.
~Use the willow branches or cording to wrap the bristles around the broom (Fig. 2). Add as many as you want to make the broom full. Make sure you tie the cording off securely so your bristles don’t come popping out later.
FIGURE 3
Tying the Magic in Place

~Finally, fold the bristles down over the inner tie and then tie on the outside.

~Now, take the bristles and fold them down over the willow binding or cording so that they’re pointing towards the bottom of the broom. Tie them down again at the base of the broomstick to secure them(Fig. 3).
~As you’re wrapping the cord in place, visualize your intent for this besom. Will it be strictly decorative? Are you going to hang it in place over a door? Perhaps you’ll use it ceremonially, or maybe even for physical cleaning. Focus on what you’re going to be doing it, and charge it with energy.

 

The Final Step
~Let your broom dry for a day or two, and when it’s all done, consecrate it as one of your magical tools.
~If you will be doing any decorative work on it, such as carving, painting or wrapping it with fiber this can be done either before or after the initial consecration and should be done with magickal intention.
~Then, when all decorative work is finished, you can reconsecrate it and begin working with your very own handcrafted Witch’s Besom.

Source: How To Make A Besom {Plan 1}

How to Work with Your Shadow Self

sulamith-wulfing-german-artist-childrens-book-illustration-5

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”― C.G. Jung

FEEDING THE SHADOW SELF

Disconnected from our empowerment the shadow (those unloved, unacknowledged parts of us) grows stronger and thrives on more of the same. Rather than interacting with life, we react. Reactionary living is acidic, corrosive and destructive. That is not to say we can live without reaction… It is a human response. It serves to keep us alert and alive. But, you can learn to interact with the world, befriending experience and still remaining safe.

First you must listen to the shadow.

Check Out: 4 Ways to Befriend Your Shadow-self to Find Your Truest Voice 

You may say, “Well how do I befriend my shadow?”  It’s simple, what are you afraid of? Go there. If you fear talking to strangers, take that feeling deeper and explore why. Maybe that’s why you’ve been unable to meet a partner. Maybe at your core you fear rejection. So take the power back, muster the strength and go talk to someone.

Be bold, be brave and step out there and walk the middle ground. Let your darkness show you something you never knew before, or never wanted to know. If you let it consume you, you become numb, you lose passion, and without passion nothing can live.

So you don’t know how to get past that anxiety. Leap before you think. In that in-between space is where passion lives. That is the instinctual part of you, devoid of ego and preconceived notions. You act from your center, where light and shadow come together like two great streams flowing into a river.

Begin asking, why?

Once you befriend your shadow parts, your pain, you find yourself dancing in the dark. You move into the sacred communion with your light and your shadow. Born of rhythm and fluidity. Because the shadow is not bad, rather it is the unwelcoming of the shadow that causes pain.

Take some time to express to your shadow all that you feel. Be open, honest and candied with your shadow. Express your deepest feelings of pain, disappointment and even resentment.

“What makes night within us may leave stars.” ― Victor HugoNinety-Three

What do you feel about your shadow? What has she done to you? Where have you felt held back in your life? What have you missed out on? Why, and how do you feel small in your life?

Openly express this to your Shadow self.

Check Out: The Alchemical Path of Expressing the Shadow 

LAYING YOUR GHOSTS TO REST

You have slipped into the Dark, and surrendered to her groove. Let her pulse through your heart, body and soul. You are losing old parts, and uncovering hidden ones. You are brave enough now for inner alchemy…Soul work!

In this dark, fertile place where transformation begins we must surrender ourselves to the experience. Which means we must move through our cycles of limiting thoughts, and crushing feelings… To get to the more inspired ones. You are detoxing from the high of resistant, fear based living.

“Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our souls, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.” ― Paulo CoelhoThe Alchemist

Now is the time for honesty. Come to terms with where you are inside and out. You do not have to be frightened anymore. Don’t deny yourself your sadness, or your rage. Just move into the feeling so that it can be cycled out and returned to the Earth, and the Universe as fertilizer for new intentions.

Check Out: Falling Curious, Finding Your Rhythm, and Making Peace with Your Ghosts 

MOVE INTO THE STORM OF YOUR SHADOW

After breathing into the chaos, the darkness… And asking these questions I find myself growing calmer, clearer and more able to move with the storm. The skies begin to brighten, and the world becomes more serene. My uncertainty and anxiety magnified the storm…. Because the Universe is a big mirror.

I like to move into the storm. Wrap myself in the water. And compassionately ask:

  • What do I have left to learn here?
  • How can I honor my highest good?

Check Out: Riding the Waves of Chaos and Confusion

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?

Your shadow, your darkness, your forgotten hungry ghosts are your friends. They hold bright blessings and paths to healing. You have begun to cultivate awareness. Breathing life and sustenance into these arid, darkened places. Begin to cultivate daily time with yourself. Before the shadow can grow hungry and despondent… you can dialogue with the inner self to find what hurts, what feels wrong and what needs fixing.

The shadow is born when you allow something that opposes your goodness to become your truth!

Journal on the shadow. And your personal light.

Source: How to Work with Your Shadow Self | Shaheen Miro

Slowing Down the Druid Way: A History of Time

What continues to drive me is to live more in line with my principles: to grow my food, to take care of my basic needs, take charge of my health and healing, and to live fully and honestly with myself in line with the living earth. For a while, as I have discussed on this blog, I ran a homestead as well as worked full time to pay for it, something that I stopped doing about a year and a half ago. Part of why I had to walk away from my homestead in its current model (and regroup) was that it was physically exhausting me, especially as a single woman. I was trying to do everything: hold a full time job, grow my own food, tend my bees, tend my chickens, tend my land, make lots of things, write my blog, engage in my druid studies…and I couldn’t do it all. It was a painful and hard thing, leave a year and a half ago and open myself up to future possibilities. It also has been good in that I’ve been working to confront some of the fantasies that made me pursue things in the direction that I did when that direction was, for me, unsustainable. I had a hard time understanding how my ancestors made it–how they were able to do so many things, when I seemed to be able to do so few effectively.

 

Source: Slowing Down the Druid Way: A History of Time | The Druid’s Garden

Feel Good Sunday: Clydesdales Help Purina Deliver Surprise to Horse Shelter in Need

Source: Purina Mills TV

“Annually, many Americans wait to see the ultimate and final “Big Game” of the year which just concluded in our own backyard, here, in Houston.  But also there are many who may not be football fans but annually look forward to the next installation of the heart tugging, mini-sagas put forth by Budweiser featuring the gentle giants of the equine world, the Clydesdales.  This year, the fans of horses were disappointed when Budweiser benched the ponies and went a totally different direction and suffered poor reviews on their attempt to document immigration history.  The result was a lose/lose on both-sides with Bud slipping in the ratings and the Clydesdales fans left without a horse fix, so we are here to help correct that oversight, today.

We issue a “tissue alert” in advance and would also like to add that we are not endorsing any one horse rescue but instead tipping our hats to all of the fine organizations out there filled with good folks who donate their time, their money and their lives to the effort of finding good forever homes and futures for equines in need.  There is no need to identify them as you already know who you are and we love each and everyone of you bright points of compassion, caring and love.  May you have a wonderful ‘Feel Good Sunday’ and never give up the good fight.  Keep the faith!” ~ R.T.

Source: Feel Good Sunday: Clydesdales Help Purina Deliver Surprise to Horse Shelter in Need | Straight from the Horse’s Heart