Today, I am answering the question that has appeared more and more in my emails. What spell book do I endorse? Good Witch Bad Witch by Gillian Kemp is my most favourite. The spells are simple and affective. The two types of cards represent the balance of opposites within nature - day and night, summer and winter, good times and bad times. This is something witches respect as they honour the seasons of the year and all aspects of life. We might prefer to only have happy days but we can't avoid every misfortune and there are valuable lessons to be learnt from the sad times of grief and hardship. http://badwitch.co.uk/2008/01/good-witch-bad-witch-by-gillian-kemp.html http://badwitch.co.uk Good Witch Bad Witch by Gillian Kemp ISBN 9781903116517 Sweet Spells and Wicked Witchery Includes 52 Enchanting Cards and a 64 page Spell Book. With this beguiling set of 52 cards and accompanying book, you can revel in delicious devilment against your enemies, or weave good white magic around you and your loved ones. In Good Witch, Bad Witch there are two suits of cards: 26 Good Witches and 26 Bad Witches. Simply shuffle and lay them like tarot cards, then look up the prediction in the book and cast the spell. Remember, the good witch spells turn toads into princes and the bad witch spells turn princes into toads. All you need is this charming kit and a little hocus pocus. About the Author Gillian Kemp is a clairvoyant and medium who prophesies the future using astrology, tarot cards, a crystal ball and tea leaves. She appears regularly on television and radio as an astrologer, writes a weekly column in Baby magazine and is the author of books including The Good Spell Book, The Romany Good Spell Book (published in the US by Little, Brown), and The Love Spell Box (Cico Books, 2000). http://Gilliankemp.com
Beltane Chant (by Rudyard Kipling):
O do not tell the priests of our arts,
for they would call it sin!
We will be in the woods all night
A-conjuring conjuring summer in.
And we bring you good news by word of mouth.
For women, cattle, and corn:
The sun is coming up from the south,
By oak and ash, and thorn!
(Continue chanting 'by oak and ash and thorn')
The first day of May marks a festival of great importance for all those who follow the Pagan way. We call this day 'Beltane' which means 'Fire of God,' the Sun, renews his gift of Need-Fire to the Earth Mother. The spark of life has once again been delivered.
The Celtic May festival, to celebrate the arrival of summer; from Old Gaelic words meaning blaze-kindling. In Druidic times, two fires were lit, and the tribes cattle driven between them, in a purificatory rite. In later times, young men would leap over fires in tests or displays of energy and virility.
On April 30th in some areas, fires burn from dusk till dawn. Beltane or May Day at dawn wash your face with dew for a good complextion and good luck throughout the year.
BELTANE - The Celtic 'Flower Festival.' Marks the first day of Celtic Summer - the first day of the Light Half of the year.
Date - May Eve/May 1st (psychic high-tide; full moon before May 1st).
Modern Equivalent - May Day, Lilac Sunday, Lady Day Walpurgisnacht.
Celtic Godforms - Belinos, Flora, Bloodeuwedd.
Alignment - Male, Cross-Quarter Lunar
Customs - sexual license among peasants, May Pole erection, gathering flowers, wearing green, Fire Calling, feasting, merry-making.
Symbols - May Pole, daffodils, bright colors, smiling sun.
Sacred Foods - sweets and sugar products, heather mead, cakes, cookies, no meat or fruit.
Threshold - Dawn
Incense - lilac, heather, apple blossom.
http://afwcraft.blogspot.ca/2012/04/beltane.html
Wiccan Spells and Witchcraft
http://witchcraft.org
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: Annotations for the Witches' Chants (4.1.1-47) A dark cave. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder. Enter the three WitchesFirst Witch Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. Second Witch Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Third Witch Harpier cries "'Tis time, 'tis time." First Witch Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.All
Double, double, toil and trouble; (10)
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.Second Witch Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and howlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. AllDouble, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Third Witch Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulfOf the ravin'd salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat, and slips of yewSilver'd in the moon's eclipse, Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled
babe (30) Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, For the ingredients of our cauldron. AllDouble, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Second Witch Cool it with a baboon's blood. Then the charm is firm and good. [Enter Hecate, to the other three Witches]HecateO well done! I commend your pains;
And every one shall share
i' the gains;
And now about the cauldron sing,
Live elves and fairies in
a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.
[Music and a song: 'Black spirits,' etc, Hecate retires]Second Witch
By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.Open, locks, Whoever knocks! ____
Lions & Lambs --- Using the Energy of Sprinby Leni Hester edited and reprinted from her blog
“Season & Spirit” at PaganSquare.com The transition from Winter to Spring is a dynamic one, with lots of pulling and pushing as the weather goes from one extreme to the other. In this dance between two opposing forces, we can see the Earth’s changes at their most dramatic. There is increasing light, but the rain-heavy clouds are much darker and gloomier than the bright icy snow clouds of a month ago. Perhaps we see this transition as a movement away from the hardships and struggles of Winter, to the greater ease and gentleness of Spring. Or we feel the movement from the repose and introspection of Winter to the increasing noise and activity of Spring.
While we may welcome the arrival of spring, it’s not uncommon to feel irritable or restless and dissatisfied this time of year.
This transition is very much like waking up after a long sleep. Sometimes it takes some stretching and grumbling and rubbing of the eyes to get fully awake. Sometimes it’s not entirely inviting to get out of our warm bed and put our feet on the cold floor. But we cannot stop the Spring from coming any more than we can stop ourselves from feeling
the rising energy, noticing the excitement (anxiety) just below our skin, as the
world wakes up.
 Here in Colorado, the dynamic tension between the seasons is particularly noticeable. My coven’s Ostara ritual last month was canceled due to a blizzard that dumped about eight inches of snow. This is always a busy time of year, with the chores running from shoveling snow to turning beds and pruning trees. But out in the garden, even on the coldest day, even with the plants still dormant, I can feel the energy rising, ready to pop out and drench the world in color and life No matter how much it looks like Winter, Spring is ready to roar inside us.
This is the season to make changes and try to rewrite bad habits. For example, isn’t it silly to try and start a new diet on January 1, deep in the coldest part of winter, just when our bodies most crave heavy, high fat foods? In Spring, we begin to crave the bite of new greens and veggies, we want to cleanse and detox, we long forlighter fare as we shed our Winter layers.
The old tradition of “Spring cleaning” is a very natural inclination. This time of year, I find myself longing to re-organize my entire house for top to bottom. Cleaning out our space can really relieve so much stress and anxiety, of course, but the itch to get clean is not just for our spaces, but ourselves. We respond by getting new clothes or cleaning our homes, but what we long for is to be clean on the inside. Letting go of old bad habits and dysfunctional patterns and routines can be difficult, but the energy of the season truly supports these shifts.
Part of our restlessness as the Winter gives way to Spring, is that we begin to notice things that we were resigned or complacent about, and find we aren’t comfortable with them anymore. Maybe it’s a compromise we don’t want to make, or something in our home or workspace that is not working quite right. Maybe it’s a outgrown relationship, or a desire for new challenges. All the places where we fall short of where we feel we should be, everywhere we see dysfunction and breakdowns in our lives—whether magickal or mundane, personal or professional—these gaps rankle us, and spur us to action. We may wish to re-organize our lives from start to bottom, getting rid of anything that we feel no longer serves us. This time of year, I find I have no tolerance for procrastination and dithering after decisions are made. I also have very little patience with my own bad habits and dysfunctional routines. I want everything that feels like clutter, the feels extraneous and dysfunctional, out of my space.
 I know that unless I make sure I don’t over-schedule myself, I will over-commit my time and energy, and then look up suddenly and say, “Wow, when did Spring start? And where has it gone?” If I don’t remember that the impulse to clear clutter out of my house is so amped up right now, I will follow that impulse and get ri of things I might need later. Plugging into the rising earth energy after such a long rest can be exhilarating, and it can be also be overwhelming and uncomfortable.
At times of change and transformation, it helps to get quiet. Do not be fooled by the sudden pop of energy and action everywhere. We still need to get quiet especially when the world gets loud. Don’t lapse on your meditation practice now.
Speaking of meditation, as the weather get nicer, take some time to walk in a park or other natural area. Walk silently and take in the scents, sounds and sensations of the waxing year. Put all your awareness into noticing the life around you, even if much of it is still hidden.
Cleansing and purification are huge elements of the ritual work of this time of the year cross culturally. Clean your house, then purify it with smudge or incense. Open the windows, even for a brief time, to get the power of Air clearing out your space. Sprinkle your space with Florida water, or blessing oils or Van-Van oil diluted in water. If you drop the ball on New Years’s resolutions, now is the best time to give it another shot. In any case, here’s hoping that your spring (and mine) will be full of the energy and light of this dynamic and magickal season. Blessed be!
Leni Hester is a Witch and writer from Denver, Colorado. Her work appears in the Immanion anthologies “Pop Culture Grimoire,” “Women’s Voices in Magick” and “Manifesting Prosperity”. She is a frequent contributor to Witches&Pagans and SageWoman Magazines.
April 2013 BBI Media NewsPublishers of Crone, SageWoman, and Witches&Pagans magazines.
Please take the time to check out http://princesssarahg.blogspot.ca/
under the Team Member Reviews tab to read two reviews for my paranormal, magic realism book Severed Ties.
Thank you Kami and Christy for your kind words :)
FAE BOOKS - Publicist, Blogger, Reviewing Team
http://Faebooks.co.uk
fb.com/sarahfaebooks
@ WifeySarahG
@FaeBooks Wishing you the joys of spring!
At last! On the Edge, originally published by Club Lighthouse Publishing in May 2010 has been completely revised. Now titled "AT THE EDGE."
This week I posted an exclusive excerpt for my readers to get glimpse of the YA, magic realism, paranormal book. I'm leaving this excerpt up for only a few days, and then will be taking the read down. I'm excited to search for aYA book publisher to discover the best home for the new and improved story.
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About the Book "AT THE EDGE," - Real people developing relationships; while Carm is struggling to pick up the pieces after the death of her husband.
Two Quick Questions - 1. How important is it to you to create likeable characters?
I portray the characters inner characteristics and emotions as they struggle with issues of their own. The characters are realistic that the readers will believe. Tough and practical Paige takes command; Roxy under a watchful eye intimidates; always helpful Lizzy goes with the flow and Carm is consumed with sorrow and mental anguish. Gretchen, a witch is a welcome relief from life's pressures. To add support and conflict to the story are Thomas a friend everyone wants to deserve and Philip is certainly not safe to trust.
2. What do you most hope that readers will take away from the book?
In this book I provide a unique insight into the drug world and mysticism – addiction and the belief that direct knowledge of ultimate reality is attainable through intuition and the unseen world. I hope the reader will begin to believe if you change your choices while guided by Spirit you can change your life for the better.
Stop bt http://Witchskel.wordpress.com to read an EXCLUSIVE excerpt. Remember to forward this to your friends...so they too can check it out!
Smile and the world Smiles with you!
:-)
Spring begins with the vernal equinox at 7:02 A.M. (EDT) on March 20, 2013 in the Northern Hemisphere. Ah, spring! This season brings increasing daylight, warming temperatures, and the rebirth of flora and fauna.
Spring arrives this week, opening up a world of new possibilities. The Sun entering Aries on Wednesday heralds the Vernal Equinox, followed by Venus entering Aries on Thursday. These fiery influences team up with Mars and Uranus in Aries to ignite your passion, motivation and individuality, which will likely influence your love
life. Equinox Means "Equal Night"
Translated literally equinox, means "equal night." Because the Sun is positioned above the equator, day and night are about equal in length all over the world during the equinoxes. A second equinox occurs each year on Sept. 22 or 23; in 2013, it will be on Sept. 22 at 4:44 P.M. EDT. This date will mark the autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the vernal equinox in the Southern (vernal denotes "spring").
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