Magical House Keeping - Kitchen Cleaning

I had a friend ask me the other day why I chanted while I house clean. It was kind of funny because a couple years ago I would have had the same question if I saw someone chanting while they scrubbed the floor or cupboards. So I thought I would explain - and share some of the chants/blessings that I use when I am cleaning my home. 


I think that what it boils down to for me is that I want to make sure that I have the most positive energy possible in my home. When I take the time to cleanse, clean and bless my home I am moving negative energy out of my home and drawing positive energy in. Now people say well can't you just do a general house cleansing and blessings and I say off course you can. This is just a personal choice that helps me to find balance and peace in my home. 


I currently have a relative living with me. He is a great guy but the truth is that he is in a stressful situation right now and when he comes home from work you can often feel the negative energy hovering around him. The first thing that he does is make himself something to eat. It only takes him a few minutes to settle down and let go of that negative energy but where do you think it goes?  So that energy that he brings in gets immediately dumped into my kitchen. Believe me that is not the kind of energy that I want to have filling up my not so big kitchen. So when I clean I also cleanse the energy of my kitchen. Sometimes it is simply singing which moves the energy. Sometime it is actually chanting something specific. Sometimes it is speaking a blessing. Sometimes you might even catch me dancing around the kitchen. What do all of these things have in common? They raise and move energy.


I also have blessings for my appliances. Why? Well think about it. All of our appliances use energy - they heat our food, cool our food, chop, whirl etc etc. What better way of getting positive energy into our food than blessing those appliances, the energy that they use and that they give off. I can't see that it would be a negative things at all.


 I am not saying I use them every time I wipe down an appliance or clean my counters but when I do a good cleaning I love the energy that flows from a cleansed and blessed kitchen (or bathroom or livingroom or any room for that matter!) That said I will share some of the chants and blessings that I use when cleaning. Some are serious but most have some element of fun. I hope you enjoy them. 


Feel free to use them if you like but please don't post them elsewhere without asking - as they are my original writing.

 a chant to use while cleaning your counters.

Meals for my family and meals for my mate

On your clean surfaces I will create

Whether cooking or crafting or mixing a brew

You lend your aid to whatever I do

So cleaning you now is the task I employ

To help fill this kitchen with magick and joy

A Blessing for Cupboards and Drawers

Behind you are hidden the tools of my craft

From garden and forest and even from Kraft

Blessings in boxes and jars on your shelves

Things to bring healing and health to ourselves

So blessings upon you my cupboards and drawers

And thanks for protecting what’s hid by your doors.

Fridge Blessing

On the cold depths of freezer and fridge

I place this blessing to help cross the bridge

From mundane to magick your aid I request

That all who eat from you will be pleasantly blessed

So guardian of condiment, veggie, fruit and meat

Blessed are you that holds what we eat

Stove/Oven Blessing

Source of heat to cook our food

With the power of fire our meal’s imbued

Blessings upon you the source of the heat

That cooks all my veggies, my grains and my meat

Magick you bring on whatever I brew

Blessings upon you for all that you do

Microwave Blessing

Fast and quick you reheat our food

Whether boiled or brewed or even if stewed

You light the fire and you bring relief

Because you make reheating so incredibly brief

Bless us with magick upon the mundane

As you are a link in my strong kitchen chain

Coffee Maker

Maker of the bitter drink

I would rather toss down the sink

Send your blessings to my guy

Cause without his coffee he would cry

Bless this house with the morning scent

A magick moment joyfully spent

Food Processor

Whirling, spinning, chopping, ground

The uses of the processer sound

Saving fingers as food flows

You take the burden of chopping woes

Continued blessings we ask of you

Add your magick through and through

Blender Blessing

Spinning magick, swirling food

With the power of four imbued

So beat and whip and mix and blend

Bless with magick as your path you wend

Blender magick as you whirl

Let sweet magic around us swirl

Toaster Oven

A place for toast or pop tarts sweet

You cook all things from bread to meat

You warm and brown, you broil and bake

Adding warmth to all I make

Bless the house with your toasty heat

Bless all in this kitchen who would pause to eat

Slow Cooker

When life is all crazy, just hurry and rush

When the running around leaves me all in a flush

You pour out the blessings of food cooked on time

To simply sit down to a meal is divine

No hurry, no rushing a blessing indeed

Thank you dear crock pot for from cooking I’m freed

Raiwvynn Dusana Windsong

Answers to some questions....

I've had a few people ask me some questions about what I post in my blog. They were interested in knowing why I do studies of the different Gods and Goddesses, why I do herb studies and so on. So I thought that I would elaborate on that.

Some of the things that I post are from assignments that I have done for the classes that I have taken at the Magickal Circle School. They are designed to help me learn more about the particular topics of the class but also to help me connect more with the Lord and Lady and nature. As I work on these assignments and explore the different deities I learn more not only about the nature of the God and Goddess but of myself. The deeper I dive into understanding them, the archetypes, and the historical understanding and impact the closer I draw to her that is the source of all things. This deepens and strengthens not only my tie to the Goddess and her consort but it helps me to know myself, to grow and deepen my spiritual walk.

So why the herbal stuff and the gemstone stuff?
Well the herbal stuff is research that I have done which I think is helpful for me because not only is it a good exercise in research and practice using herbs but it helps me to retain what I have read, or practiced. For me when I write things down in my own words they become more ingrained in my mind and I am more easily able to remember them. As well all of these are in my Grimoire (which is my herbal book of shadows for all intents and purposes.) As well there really are a lot of lazy people out there who won't do the research for themselves. In sharing here, hopefully some will read and see that there are pros and cons to using herbs - especially if you dont know what is safe and what is not. There are many people who don't understand that there can be issues using certain herbs... even common herbs- if they don't know what they are doing. So my sharing those projects here is out of concern for sharing good information and helping people be aware.

The stone studies are simple there because I love working with stones.

As always, I welcome any and all feedback.
I hope you have a blessed day!
Raiwvynn

The Augralids

The most common story about the Augralids is that they were originally Earth and Fertility Goddesses. They were worshipped in pre-Hellenic Attica and they ruled the area around Athens before the Greek Goddess Athena came into rule there. The sisters were Herse, Pandrosos, and Agraulos. There names in Greek connected them to the “fertilizing dew,” which is another reference to their status as Earth or Fertility Goddesses.

The story goes that Athena thwarted an attempt by Hephaestus to rape her but some of His semen fell on her leg. When she wiped it off it fell onto the earth impregnating Gaia. The resulting child was Erichthonius (meaning earth born.) Athena placed the child into a willow basket/or box and gave it to the Augralids with the warning to never open it. Aglauros and Herse did open the basket which held the infant and a large snake. (Some say that Erichthonius was a terrible snake while other stories say he was a child and there was a snake in the box with him.)

There are two stories about what happened after the two sisters opened the box. One is that they both went mad and killed themselves jumping off the Acropolis. The other story is that Athena let them live providing they gave up their power and position and were simply Goddesses of the Earth. After this, Aglauros was turned to stone by Hermes when she became jealous of His attentions to her sister Herse.

The story of Hersa and Aglauros and the box is believed to later have been transformed into the story of Pandorda.

Resources

The Triple Goddess by Adam McLean 

http://www.hranajanto.com/goddessgallery/athena.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandrosus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herse

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/aglauros.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aglaulus,_daughter_of_Cecrops

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9247/Aglauros

The Desert Moon Goddesses

The Goddesses Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Menat formed a Goddess triad that was worshiped in Arabia before the advent of Islam. They were worshiped widely throughout Arabia and as far east as Iran. They were very popular Goddesses in Mecca during the time of Mohammed.
Al-Uzza – meaning “the Mighty One” is the Goddess of the Morning Star
Al-Lat – meaning “The Goddess” is the Mother
Manat – is the Crone, the Goddess of fate or time
The Goddesses are sometimes seen as daughters of the God (Al-Lah) but sometimes Manat and Al-Lat are Considered daughters of Al-UzzaFrom
Al-Uzza, was the Goddess who was one of the most honoured Arab Deities. She had a temple at Petra as well as being thought as the patron Goddess there as well. She was commonly called to from the rooftops which was thought to be a suitable worship for a Star Goddess. Other names she was known by was Chaamu or Chalmous which means young girl or virgin. She also had a haven at Nakhlah where there were three acacias trees where were sacred to her. She is said to descend there. Al-Uzza was compared to Ishtar and Astarte as the Morning and Evening Star Goddesses. She is depicted standing befor the acacia tree with a Caracal (a desert cat sort of like a lynx.) She is also associated with Aphrodite.
Al-Lat is called the “mother of the Gods” or the “Greatest of All.” She is an Earth Goddess and is connected with fertility and prosperity. She too was identified with Aphrodite and also sometimes with Athena. This seemed to cause some confusion and Al-Lat and Al-Uzza were sometimes mixed up. Al-Lat’s temple was east of Mecca in Ta’if. Her symbol was the crescent moon but was sometimes shown with the sun resting in its cresecent – as the sun was also considered a feminine representation of her aspect. She carries a sheaf of wheat and a small chunk of frankincense as symbols of fertility.
Manat’s name means “fate, destruction, death, doom, part, protion, that which is allotted.” She was believed to be a very ancient Goddess who’s followers and cult may predate both of the other two Goddesses. She was worshipied as a black stone at Quidaid, near Mecca but her worshippers were extensive. She is a Goods of Death and is the actual personification of death. She was believed to actually bring people to their graves so in essence she was the representation of death and the actual force of death. She was petitioned to guard tombs and to punish any that would desecrate them. Her symbol is the waning moon. 

St. Patrick and St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick is known as being one of the great symbols of Ireland. Every March there is a day of celebration in his honour for the great service that he performed in driving the snakes out of Ireland. This was seen as a miracle.

The common misconception about St. Patrick was that he drove actual, physical snakes from Ireland. It is a fact that snakes are hard to find in Ireland but when you look at that fact it really is not all that surprising seeing as Ireland is an island and snakes don’t swim across large bodies of water to inhabit foreign lands.

The interesting fact that most people are not aware of is that “Snakes” were derogatory term for the early pagans of Ireland. As well snakes were significant symbols of the Druids as well where St. Patrick noted in his confession were at some conflict with him.  St. Patrick was the man who was touted as bringing Christianity to Ireland and in doing so almost eradicating paganism from the “Emerald Isle.”

Many historians believe that St. Patrick was born around 370 c.e. in either Scotland or Wales (though this date is somewhat disputed by historians.) His birth name was Maewyn and that he was the son of Calpurnius who was a Roman Briton. When he was in his teens Maewyn was sold into slavery to and Irish landowner. It was during this time, as he worked as a shepherd that he was said to have started having visions and dreams. He even had a dream that showed him how to escape from her current enslavement.

When he finally escaped from slavery in Ireland he studied at a monastery in France where he studied under St. Germain, the bishop of Auxerre. About 12 years later when he had finished his studies and felt his calling was to convert the pagans to Christianity. He returned to Ireland and changed his name to Patrick which means “father of the people.” (His Romanized name may already have been Patricus.) He was determined to care for the people and strive to bring them to salvation. He said that he baptized thousands of people, ordained priests to lead the new Christians and even was able to convert wealthy women (who became nuns) and even the sons of kings. In his confessions St. Patrick refers to some conflict with the Druids and pagans but that was not the sole conflict for St. Patrick. He was also accused of some sort of financial impropriety in which he eventually end up returning all gifts and monies from wealthy women and also did not take money for baptisms and ordinations.

St. Patrick died on March 17 461 c.e and was said to have been buried at Down Cathedral and Downpatrick, County Down alongside St. Brighid and St. Columbia though this has never been proven conclusively. He was considered an important spiritual leader for the early Christian Church in Ireland. However it does not appear that he was a good friend to the pagans of the time.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated with lots of festivities but for obvious reasons it is not a celebration that many pagans celebrate. But there are ways that we can make this day significant for us as well. Many pagans will wear a pin or badge with a snake on it instead of the typical “kiss me I’m Irish” badges. Some other suggestions would be doing spell work for good luck, or helping the pagan community, and making crafts or doing activities that involve snakes. I have included a spell submitted by Mordag and two crafts below that help us to remember the symbol of the snakes and how important it was to the Pagans. Not only as a symbol of the Druids and the pagan people but also as a symbol of the Mother Goddess herself.

Patti Wigington from about.com has this craft to honour the symbolism of the snake on St. Patrick’s Day. 

Snake Wreath

You'll need the following supplies:

• A grapevine hoop or other wreath form (available at craft stores)
• Spring greenery, such as ivy
• A bag of rubber snakes
• A hot glue gun
• Florist's wire
• Some ribbon

Start by decorating the grapevine wreath with your greenery. Don't use too much, because you'll want to leave room for the snakes.

Next, arrange the snakes around the wreath, and hot glue them so they don't fall off. Depending on the size of your wreath -- and your snakes -- anywhere from six to a dozen should be fine. Just a word of caution here - don't touch the tip of your hot glue gun to the rubber snakes. Trust me, they don't like this.

As a finishing touch, tie a length of ribbon into a bow and fix it in place with the florist's wire. Use an additional loop of wire at the top to hang the wreath up.

A Draught Snake (or a Draft Snake)

Get started

To make your snake you will need a piece of funky material for the body, a snake tongue (ribbon works well), some old clothes to stuff the snake with (about as much as 5-7 adult t-shirts), 2 buttons for the eyes, a needle and thread, a pen and a pair of scissors.

Carefully cut out the body of your snake making it about 100 cm long and 30cm wide

Fold the material in half lengthways so that what will become the outside of the snake is on the inside. Stitch together the length of the snake and one end of the body. You need one end to be open so you can stuff the snake.

Turn the snake's body the right way out. It should look like your snake is taking shape!

Cut up your stuffing material into pieces.

Begin to push the snake stuffing into the end of the body of the snake. Make sure it is as firm as possible as this will stop the draughts better. Don't fill the snake right to the end until you've sewn on the eyes and tongue.

With a pen, mark where you want the eyes to be on the snake's head.

Carefully sew on the buttons for the eyes.

Sew the tongue into the middle of the snakes head at the open end of the body

Fill the snake's body up with some more stuffing and then sew up the open end of the body with short, neat stitches.

Now that you've completed your snake give it a name!

Now you can have fun decorating your snake with ribbon / felt / sparkles / bits of material / unwanted jewellery

St. Patrick's Day for Pagans

Since St. Patrick's Day is a day of luck, I thought it would be a good time to make a luck satchel.

Materials:

§  tumbled tourmaline

§  rosemary

§  thyme

§  spearmint

§  green satchel (purchase or make your own)

On St. Patrick's Day, cast a Circle.

Concentrate on the good luck feeling of the day. Meditate upon it and see the green hills full of clovers in your mind's eye. Charge the tourmaline by meditating on any experience you may have had that you had described as "lucky". Tourmaline is good for double luck in any circumstance. Then, pour rosemary, thyme, and spearmint into your satchel. They may or may not be ground - whatever you wish. Place the tourmaline in the satchel as well and after which, state the purpose as you're closing the satchel and tying it shut. Charge the satchel in the Circle, and close when you're ready. Now you can carry it on your belt, in your pocket, or wear it as a necklace. Your luck will continue until you untie the satchel and break the charm.

~ shared with me by Mordag ~

Resources

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/st-patricks-day/st-patrick-drove-out-the-pagans--not-the-snakes-1318905.html

http://wilstar.com/holidays/patrick.htm

http://www.history.com/content/stpatricksday/who-was-st.-patrick

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/ostaracrafts/ss/SnakeWreath.htm

http://www.theholidayspot.com/patrick/historyofpatrick.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick#cite_note-13

www.igp-web.com/down/stpatrick.htm