elva-in-wonderment

[elva-in-wonderment]

“There’s a revolution that needs to happen and it starts from inside each one of us. We need to wake up and fall in love with the Earth. Our personal and collective happiness and survival depends on it.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

[elva-in-wonderment]

Solstice flower play: buttercups, daisies, lupins, fern, rugosa rose, beach pea, tufted vetch, astrantia, and lady’s mantle.

When I lived in Sweden we would pick seven kinds of wildflowers and sleep with them under our pillows on Midsommar.

[elva-in-wonderment]

Gustave Doré from Dante Alighieri’s (1265-1321) Divine Comedy - Paradiso, Canto 31  : The saintly throng form a rose in the empyrean 

[elva-in-wonderment]

Out of my personal grimoire. The moon phases through the end of the year.

[elva-in-wonderment]

2019-06-01

[elva-in-wonderment]

Hávamál - XXIII “Ósviðr maðr vakir um allar nætr ok hyggr at hvívetna þá er móðr er at morni kømr alt er vil sem var” - “The unwise man is awake all night and thinks of all sorts of things.  Tired is he  when the morning comes and his problems unchanged.“  © Forndom

[elva-in-wonderment]

[elva-in-wonderment]

Methods for Spells

TO BIND- wrap in black thread, drip wax over, or seal in a jar and hide it in the dark.

TO BANISH- burn an effect to ash and sweep off the back door step, cast it out a window, or bury in the ground and spit on it

TO ENCOURAGE-  plant it by the front door/steps, bury by a window, or place it on a windowsill

TO HIDE- place in a jar painted black, cover with cloth and bury, or wrap with a ribbon

TO CLEANSE- bury it in a bowl of  salt, burn herbs and pass through the smoke, or lay it in a moonwater bath

TO GLAMOUR- leave under the full moon, hold its reflection over a mirror with herbs, or 

TO WISH- place before a candle and blow it out, drown a coin in water, or let seeds blow into the wind

TO COMMUNICATE- (with a spirit or deity) - anoint a candle, leave out offerings, or open the front doors and windows

TO WARD- leave part of the spell in four corners, draw lines around the protected area, or plant an object of projection in the north, east, south, and west edges

TO CURSE- spit on it, drag your nails down it, or stick sharp things in it

TO DISCOURAGE - plant or bury by the back door, or burn to ash

TO JINX- say it three times out loud, or say a word the same time as someone else

TO MANIPULATE - use wax, use poppets, or tie several strings to pieces of an effect

TO BENEFIT - light a candle, charge a crystal, or create a talisman

[elva-in-wonderment]

Some posters I made for my portfolio of a few keywords associated with the majors! Feel free to use anywhere and anyway you’d like, but if you’re going to repost them please do credit me, or at least don’t claim as your own :) 

(part 2)  (part 3)

[elva-in-wonderment]

[elva-in-wonderment]

Subtle Witch Tips - Lammas / Lughnasadh

Happy Harvest!

I created a list of subtle witch tips for folks who are looking for some low-key harvest celebrations during this busy time.

🌽 Bake a loaf of Quick Bread - Unlike most breads which take hours to prove, quick breads are just that - quick! Have a search around Pinterest or your favorite recipe places and find something that strikes your fancy. I happen to be partial to beer cheese breads with caramelized onions. While mixing your dough be sure to infuse it with thankfulness for all that you have been granted this year.

🌻 Do a ritual centered around your goals for the year - Make a list of everything you hoped to work on this year and evaluate how far you’ve come. Make offerings in celebration of all you’ve accomplished and meditate on what you can best do to manifest everything you’ve hoped for. 

🌽 Go for an early evening walk - Bask in the warmth and light that continues to suffuse the later hours of the day. As the days grow darker, you will come to miss the greenery and easy evening productivity. There’s no easier way to be grateful for something than to acknowledge it in the moment and be fully present in the world.

🌻 Let go of regrets with a burning spell - Lughnasadh is also a period of reflection as with the bounty of life comes the memory that death is not far behind. Sit quietly and meditate on what plans you had that are not working out, or what endeavors you should be letting go of. Write all your regrets and what you want to rid yourself of on pieces of paper or corn husks if you’re feeling particularly seasonal. Gather all of them up and burn them one by one to release yourself from such burdens as we go into the tail end of the year. 

🌽 Tidy Up - While we usually think of harvest time as a period of abundance, for farmers it is also a time of cleaning. Once the bounty of the fields is collected, work begins to prepare the ground for more crops, or for the soil to sit under a sleepy blanket of snow until spring. Take some time out of your Lughnasadh celebrations to clean your space - your altar, your home, or even just your bed or desk. Evaluate that which is no longer serving you and consider donating unwanted items so that others may benefit from your abundance!

Wishing you all a very happy first harvest! ☀️

[elva-in-wonderment]

Moon Phases 🌙

🌑 New Moon - Attracting New Things, Love, Luck, New Jobs, Health, Goals.

🌔 Waxing - Building On What You Already Have, Courage, Success, Strength.

🌕 Full Moon - Creating Something, Manifesting, Divination, Scrying, Wisdom.

🌖 Waning - Getting Rid Of Something, Banishing, Breaking Hexes.

🌑 Dark Moon - Hexes, Shadow Magick, Hecate, Wisdom, Truth, Scrying.

[elva-in-wonderment]

Hey there, witches! Spring is coming

Here are some tips for the season:

- spring for me is all about waking up and planning ahead for the next half year. Spring is slowly getting up, stretching and being excited for what is to come, so 

- get yourself motivated. Think of all the things you want to do within the next weeks and months and if you don’t have any plans yet, make some! The bees are starting their work again, and so should we :) 

- update your calender. Look up birthdays, transitions of planets that might influence you, vacations, deadlines, get that stuff written down. If you have a big garden, look up when to plant what

- if you have any long term wards, renew them!

- clean, clean, clean! If a full house cleaning seems like too much, break it down and start small. Change your sheets, open the windows and get the air circulating. Clean out your fridge. Take on one shelf, or one side of the closet. But get started, and I promise you, you will feel so good every time you look at your accomplishments

- and cleanse, cleanse, cleanse! 

- if your room is still full with that heavy, sleepy winter energy, do something about it. Let in the spring air in the morning and get the energies flowing. Stirr it up however you feel works best. I love me some harmoneous bells (which I feel wake me up as well), burning incense, any kind of jazz like music, but you do you! If you wanna smash some pots together, do so

- this includes throwing things out. Especially during the colder times we tend to hoard, and while there is nothing wrong with this, there might be things you do not need (anymore). Give away what you can and throw away the rest to make space for something new! Holding onto things that no longer serve a purpose attracts heavy, lazy energies

- get in touch with nature. As you feel nature waking up and slowly blossoming, you will too. If you can, spend time with children and animals 

- get a seasonal calender that provides you with info on what plants grow when

- to make a spring wish come true - take some organic paper and a coal pensil or a paint made from ashes, and write your wish down. Be specific and friendly. Place seeds in the middle of the paper over the writing, and fold it all up. In the early morning hours, but before dawn, bury it in fertile grounds. Dig the hole with your hands (make sure not to cut yourself on anything) and as you close the hole again, ask the forces that awaken nature to bring energy and life to your wish as well

- if you are not on a set schedule, take a few days to wake up with the sun, or generally wake up a bit earlier every day, and reflect on the passing of time from dawn to the sun being all the way up

- look up what local products you can buy and how to live more ecologically responsible to honor nature, small but steady steps, remember!

- take time to meditate about who you are and who you will be this year. If there is any anger or fears within you that might hold you back from living your best life, let go of it now. During winter, we take the time to look within. Choose now what parts of yourself you want to show the world

- connect and reconnect with others. after the time of isolation comes the time of connection - share your love and your joy with your dear ones to fortify it 

- make sure to clean your shoes from old dirt. As you clean them, imagine brushing off all negativity and all hindrances that might appear. You want to walk new places in the new year and not drag the past with you. Also you will have clean shoes and feel much nicer when you wear them

- spring is a great time to rewire your brain and your thought patterns to be more positive :) Each time you see a blooming flower or a new bud on an old tree or a young animal, think a positive thought about yourself or others

Most importanty: the morining stets the tone for the day, and spring sets the tone for the year. Show the universe you are ready for a wonderful year full of love and happiness. Make plans and stick with them. Send as many good vibes out there and get your vibration as high as possible. By all means, there is no need to over-do it and for godeness sake don’t compare yourself to others. Small and steady steps in the right direction will be all that is needed.

I am rooting for you

[elva-in-wonderment]

Witch Tips

Witch tips from a witch who has practiced for many years; here are some of my traditional beliefs as well as things I picked up along the way. 💫

🔮 When foraging, do not forget to thank for what you took. Thanks the gods, the fae, the earth, or whomever you worship, but do not just take.

🌙 Wear beautiful clothes when performing a ritual. Before I get into saying anything else I want to say - There is NO PRICE VALUE which makes the ritual clothes beautiful. They do not have to be expensive, or a certain brand, or from a certain place, or anything of the sort. Just make sure that they are well taken care of and that you think they are beautiful.

🔮 People will rarely understand you, and most do not actually even want to. But the trees. The plants. Animals of the earth. Rivers, still and moving water. The stars and the moon. They understand, they will listen, and if you listen, too, you will hear what you need to and be validated and understood. People alive thousands of years before you have been sharing the same heartbreak, pain, suffering, and struggle with the universe. It understands. It has heard before, and will listen again.

🌙 When trying to meditate, you are not actually doing anything wrong by being unable to “clear your mind.” The goal is not actually to have a blank mind, but an open and receptive one. If a thought pops in suddenly, acknowledge it, dismiss it, and move on. It doesn’t mean you’re not focused or doing it wrong.

🔮 Another note about meditation; there is no shame in needing herbs to achieve meditation. There is nothing wrong with you. Some people just need the extra help, and that is okay! It is also a traditional part of many practices to smoke, ingest, or otherwise consume herbs before a ritual/meditation/journey/etc. This pertains to herbs such a kava, sage, wormwood, mugwort, and cannabis. (Do not use unless you ask a doctor, know it’s safe, and so on.)

🌙 Wisdom is the combination of emotion and logic. To make a wise decision, validate the emotion and why it is being felt, look at the logic and the facts, and combine the information for the answer.

🔮 Do not be discouraged that you cannot find witches (or Wiccans, Pagans, Druids, etc) where you live. We are here. We are all over the world. It is just unsafe in some places to practice openly. But if you look for us, you will find us.

🌙 Intent is the most powerful ingredient you have.

🔮 There are hundreds (if not thousands) or ways to create a sigil, and you can make a sigil hundreds of different ways. This also goes for charging and activating sigils.

🌙 You can practice both black and white magick at the same time.

🔮 Bullying other witches is never a good idea. Obviously, bullying anyone is never a good idea and you shouldn’t, but in my years I have seen over and over again it happen when one witch attacks another and then that witch comes down with horrible luck. That is not just because they were cursed by people who support the witch who was being bullied (which is also a huge risk, and causes a lot of issues and conflict) but the universe knows when a witch attacks another witch, and it doesn’t like that. (This does not include calling someone out in an appropriate way for unacceptable behavior and so on. But when you do it about differing opinions….)

🌙 Never stop researching. You will never know everything.

🔮 Deciding that you want to start to practicing witchcraft does NOT mean you have do denounce any previous beliefs. 

[elva-in-wonderment]

If I were to mention love- what do you see? Even our hearts can use our heads this way. Now take this image and use it. People now bathe in forests like we haven’t before. Now bathe in this, as if and like you haven’t before. Cleanliness is happiness and even happier then, when bugs and dust are washed away.

After this all, though I failed to mention love, what do you see?

[elva-in-wonderment]

Chad | @chadtorkelsen

[elva-in-wonderment]

“Man has become so utterly dependent on the plants he grows for food that, in a sense, the plants have ‘domesticated’ him”

-J.P. Harlan