Wit of the Week

I'm Not A Complete Idiot,

Several Parts Are Missing.

Shop Chat  -

'magickal solutions to everyday problems'

I feel a big idea brewing inside, trying to get out,  based around the concept of applying 'magickal solutions to everyday problems'  . .

This is based partly on the responses to a recent survey of customers and readers; and partly to questions of how I see us staying both current and relevant in the future.  I know so many of us have had big problems this past year - around all the usual suspects - : money, work, relationships, health etc.  So, in what ways can we best help each other - both as believers in magick and in terms of our strong sense of community ???

Margaret 

PS if you feel called to you can still take that problems and opportunities survey, or simply email any ideas you have on these issues.

In the News - Decoding mysteries of the divine femme (India)

 . . . . . After the British invasion, the practice of goddess worship was mostly lost and many were resorting to fraudulent means. So Raja Deva Nandan Singh, an aristocratic zamindar of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, compiled the correct practices of worship of goddesses and brought out the book Saktapramodah in the 19th century (1860).

  . . . in the 15th and 16th centuries, the worship of goddesses was an anti caste tradition - outside the vedic mainstream. "Like Mathangi who is associated with impure substances and Umavathi, a widow. It was a tradition that formed a new social base and was born out of struggle. It widened the base of worship," . . .

"And the interesting part is," . . ..  "These goddesses were not worshipped individually but as a group. They encompassed femininity." These include vedic goddesses like Kamala and Lakshmi, Saivites like Tripura Sundari and Bhairavi, Buddhist goddesses like Tara and Chinnamasta, and Kali among others.

The goddesses, she says, went underground with the beginning of a patriarchal society in the first century. "Now, after 2,000 years, we are re-reading the texts and finding  the archeological evidence. In India, however, things are better off. The goddesses have only transformed. People used to worship smallpox goddess once and Santoshi ma, granddaughter of Lord Siva, was worshipped in the 1960s," . . . .. 

read the full article 

Community Notice - Registrations are now open for the 2014 Australian Goddess Conference

 . . . . .Australia's people of Goddess will gather at Pennant Hills, Sydney, on 24-26 October 2104 for three days of ceremony, ritual, storytelling, teaching, music, dance, workshops, creative play and festive feasting in honour of Goddess.

The theme for the 2014 Conference is The Wellspring - a theme which will take participants to a place of the receptive waters of woman and the moon, a place to share how we can preserve our sacred Earth's waters, a place to be embraced and nourished with the wisdom of the Primordial Mothers.  

Some 24 presenters will be offering topics around different aspects suggested by this theme. The line-up features international guest Max Dashú and Australian shamanic musician and sound healer Jane Elworthy.

In the News - Monte Farber's Psychic Thoughts: How to Fall Asleep with Ease (USA)

 . . . . .

Lie down. Your body should be as relaxed as possible. Close your eyes and scan your body for tension.

Pay attention to your breathing. Place one hand on the part of your chest or abdomen that seems to rise and fall the most with each breath. If this spot is in your chest, you are not utilizing the lower part of your lungs as you should be.

Place both hands on your abdomen and follow your breathing while noticing how your abdomen rises and falls. Breathe through your nose. Notice if your chest is moving in harmony with your abdomen.

Now place one hand on your abdomen and one on your chest. Inhale deeply and slowly through your nose into your abdomen. You should feel your abdomen rise with this inhalation, and your chest should move only a little.

Exhale through your mouth, keepin

g your mouth, tongue, and jaw relaxed. Calm yourself as you focus on the sound and feeling of long, slow, deep breaths.

Say the following prayer:

I call upon the angels high,
The moon and the stars up in the sky.
Good night, family; good night, all.
I will sleep with ease 'til morning's call.

 . . . . . cont.

Goddess of the Month
Hecate by Kimi Ravensky

Known as the goddess of the crossroads

There are two main artistic impressions of Hecate,

That of a three headed goddess depicting that of the maiden,mother and crone aspect (also the representation of the waxing,full and waning moon) and as a three headed creature depicting, the heads of a dog, a snake (or boar),and a horse.

She is commonly misperceived as a goddess of evil, and darkness.  But she did some great things, one being, helping Demeter find her daughter, Persephone (Kore), who was in the underworld.  She led Demeter by two flaming torches with two great dogs by her side as protection.

Her parentage is ascribed to Zuess and Hera.  Though Olympus was her home she dwelt in the underworld.  She was to the Greeks and Romans a goddess of the crossroads where the traveller has to face three choices.  On some cross roads there are  statues of her, and offerings are still made to her in the dead of night, on the eve of the full moon - i.e. "Hecate's Supper"!

She is said to haunt grave yards and crime scenes -being a goddess of expiation and purification.  Hecate is the dark Mother, in both positive and negative aspects, her symbol is the torch, for she holds the light which illuminates the unconscious and reveals that which is hidden.  She was described by Shakespeare as....The Goddess of  the moonlit crossroads ,Hecate of the three faces.

Look her up and get to know her better
NAMASTE..TO ALL

For further study this week also see:
http://www.owlspiritsnest.com/hekate.html 

this article was originally featured in one of our newsletters from 2008 with thanks to Ms M for forwarding them on - also check out our goddess items

Your Say - jokes

HI.

The joke {Last weeks wit of the day "They say ancient Romans could tell time by looking at the sun. but I've never been able to make out the numbers."}

reminds me of:  "I tried the nicotine patches, but they were too hard to keep lit."

 M