Of Eclipses, Nature, Thoughts and Uncovered information~~~

Hello Dear Readers,

This has been a busy week for me, with family visiting and the Eclipse happening,  some of my family members packed a picnic lunch and we drove inland to an area where it was not overcast to see the Eclipse even if the area where I live it would have been only a partial eclipse.

Taking precautions to not damage our eyes we saw the moon block out ¾ of the sun, the air turned very cool, the birds that were chirping became silent as if going to sleep, the atmosphere around us became a dusty brown color because there was still ¼ of the sun showing we only saw a few of the most powerful stars.   But the magnificence of the interaction between the sun, the moon and the earth was beyond words. 

Some believe that during an eclipse it’s important to take time out during it to pray for enlightenment and to understand the harmony that the Divine Presence can show during this astronomical dance, I know once seen never forgotten, it was moving and beautiful.  For those who got to see the total eclipse they must have been awe-struck. 

I strongly feel that this is a reminder that we should stop at least once a day or once a week, set aside our electronic toys and gadgets and get out among nature, to listen to the birds, observe even the actions of squirrels in urban settings, walk in the forest or go to the ocean and listen to the rhythm of the waves and see how perfectly they curl, to just observe and enjoy that which is free.   That is why in big Cities they have parks for those who cannot go to the mountains or forest or oceans, because some wise planner knew that we have to see more than just concrete, brick and stone and grey sky.  

When I was a little girl I use to wonder why some elderly people would toss stale bread or bird seed to the pigeons in the park, but now at my age I understand the need to connect to nature, and that is why I make it a ritual to have my coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon and sit on my porch to observe nature, to plant plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies, put up a seed dispenser to attract birds and sometimes an adventuresome squirrel, and I’ve found it to be far more fun than watching T.V.

So if you can dear readers take one day a week to connect to nature in some way, you’ll find that its uplifting to your soul, and connecting to the spiritual energies around us.

On a different subject, my niece and one of my other relatives have been helping me sort through and---believe it or not---catalog my books and papers.   I never realized I had so much “stuff”, including news clippings of strange phenomena and oddities.   But among my “stuff” we came across a missing page in regards to the ritual of candle dressing.   Now I knew that my Granny before she would dress a candle would wash her hands first and in-between preparing it she would from time to time wash her hands, but over the years I had forgotten the exact reason behind it.

Now when applying oils you do not want to mix the different oils on your hands and confuse the energies, but this paper gave the exact formula as to what to do prior to handling the candles,  I will put this in another post, and I may have to go back to the “Art of Candle Spells”  the section on preparing the candles and re-edit it.   So something more to come in the works.

Bright Blessings,

Ms. Q  

OF ECLIPSE’S AND SLOW TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

Hello Dear Readers,

Well if you live in the USA the big thing here is about the total solar eclipse which will transverse across the US from Oregon down to South Carolina.

The Eclipse will start at about 9 a.m. PDT and end at 11:30 PDT.  If you live in the mid-west or East Coast it will start later for you, so check the internet for the time in those areas.

But one thing that I must stress to everyone, even if your area you’ll only get a partial eclipse, DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WHILE IT’S HAPPENING.    I cannot stress this enough, if you do look at the sun while the eclipse is happening you will burn out your eye retina and become blind and this will be permanent.

The most absolute safest way to view this happening is to get either a paper plate or a large piece of cardboard and with a pencil or something a little larger punch a dime size hole into it. 

Hold this cardboard to one side of you so that the sunlight will stream through the hole and reflect on the ground or a flat concrete surface, this makes it an indirect pin-hole camera obscura and you will see as the sunlight is reflected on the ground how much the moon is covering the sun without burning your eyes.

Now because many area’s use solar power to power up their various equipment, for the 2 ½ hours the sun is blocked will cause a drain on the power grid, unless it is necessary avoid un-necessary use of electricity, having your refrigerator working is fine and running a fan if it’s very hot, but avoid anything else that would be a drain.

But what is the magical meaning of an eclipse especially this one,  well for one it does occur when the moon is new, both the sun and the moon are in the sign of Leo when this happens.  This would be a good time for spiritually charged waters and crystals but do not charge any tools that you use in ritual during a solar eclipse,  it would confuse how to direct it’s energy.

Waters charged during an eclipse could be used for rituals to remove obstacles, burdens or flaws, so for banishing or taking things away but not for blessings.  It is also believed that a solar eclipse breaks things, metaphorically breaking symbolic changes that hold something down such as a project or getting rid of something.   

 Some people believe that charged waters from a solar eclipse is good for rituals involving shape-shifting or presenting a different aspect of one’s self that is if one considers that the sun would be masked by the Moon and is wearing the moon as a mask.   If you are going to capture solar eclipse waters put it into a black bottle or wrap the bottle in black paper or cloth.

There are legends in regards to solar eclipses as well as customs such as to never plant a seed or breed an animal during an eclipse or during the day of an eclipse that animals behave strangely during an eclipse and will not take care of its offspring.  That among humans a solar eclipse causes young people (teenagers) to become emotionally upset. 

On the darker side it is believed that doing a dark ritual during the time the eclipse begins allows for the gathering of dark energy and spirits that are attracted because it's tied to the sky darkening.   It is also believed that people born in the sign of Leo may become more sensitive such as feeling frightening  spiritual activity around them or even becoming very emotional.

 And it was often believed that wherever the eclipse was visible a cataclysmic event would occur that could possibly lead to change or the leader or the king of whatever country would pass away or be assassinated.

I do know that where I live we will have about a 77% eclipse of the sun, and that will be pretty spectacular. 

Now for my 2^nd part of my post. 

I am right now very slow to respond to any questions or comments at this time and may not be able to get to them until after the eclipse,  I have more family visiting and I get to see some young family members before they start their school year and I’m enjoying their company.   

So for those of you who have posted a question or comment, I will respond, but it will be a in a few days so please be patient.   Thank You.

And before I forget, if you don’t want to make a pin hole camera to see the eclipse then use a colander that one uses to wash salad and veggies, it has a lot of holes in it and you can see multiple eclipses.  

Bright Blessings,

Ms. Q

A meteor Shower this weekend~~~

Hello Dear Readers,

Well I did say that August was going to be a busy month and it is.

It seems I forgot that we are also having the Perseid Meteor shower which is starting today!

You can see I'm excited about this. 

The showers will run on August 11, 12 and 13.

The peak of the showers will be about 1 a.m. on August 12  PDT at least I think I'm right about the time---but check on the internet for where you live.

Part of the problem about viewing the showers this time is that we have a waning Gibbous Moon which is about 77 to 85% brightness for the weekend, so it may make viewing a bit hard.

Now you know I'm big on spiritually charged waters so if you want meteor shower charged waters this would be a good time. 

Now why is this shower called the Perseid?

Well it appears to originate from the constellation Perseus, and I know Who was Perseus?  Perseus was the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans, was, alongside Cadmus (founder and first king of Thebes) and Bellerophon the slayer of the Chimera, the greatest Greek hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles.

 From Wikipedia--- Perseus in Greek mythology, "Perseus was the son of Danaë, who was sent by King Polydectes to bring the head of Medusa the Gorgon—whose visage caused all who gazed upon her to turn to stone—as a wedding gift. Perseus slew Medusa in her sleep, and Pegasus and Chrysaor appeared from her body. Perseus continued to the realm of Cepheus whose daughter Andromeda was to be sacrificed to Cetus the sea monster.

Perseus rescued Andromeda from the monster by killing it with his diamond sword.^[8] He turned Polydectes and his followers to stone with Medusa's head and appointed Dictys the fisherman king. Perseus and Andromeda married and had six children. In the sky, Perseus lies near the constellations Andromeda, Cepheus, Cassiopeia (Andromeda's mother), Cetus, and Pegasus.<sup>"


So why collect that water, well if you need courage to overcome monsters of any kind this kind of water used in spells or rituals would be the kind you'd need.   And since it is a waning Gibbous Moon, waning moons are for banishing so it would work to help banish your fears. 

If you are big on star gazing then for the next three nights it should be fun, pack a nighttime picnic dinner and if it's chilly where you are be sure to include hot coffee or hot chocolate.

Bright Blessings,
Ms. Q</sup> 

 

Double Eclipses this month and a Mercury retrograde?~~~

Hello Dear Readers,

Well with the Big Eclipse of the Sun coming up towards the end of this month and the fact that Starting on August 7^th we’ll be having a Lunar eclipse, then on August 12^th  we’ll be beginning a Mercury retrograde,  this month is going to be shaping up to be very interesting.

Communication will go haywire, plans will fall through, we may have more heat waves, tempers getting more than testy, and in fact they may get downright mean.    As a matter of fact I’ve noticed myself having a lack of patience with a few family members, being cranky with them and then apologizing afterwards for my short-temperedness.

With 2 eclipses in this month and one of the going right across the United States this is making this an intense period where we will find our spirit is broken so wide open that we feel a tsunami of emotions, fears and major, possibly ‘earthshaking’ events happening in our lives bringing about unexpected changes in our lives.

This period which is including the Mercury retrograde,  can accelerate these changes, but also bring about the headaches of lack of communication,  our perceptions of things will be twisted around and see things differently,  the speeding up of these things can be either exciting or frightening depending upon what is happening in your life.

This is because eclipses bring about us seeing things that we haven’t seen or chose to not see, but we can’t avoid it, it’s going to happen, so even if it’s painful we’ll have to work through it if we want to learn or gain anything in our progress in life.

This will be a time for you to ask questions such as what has been hiding from me or I was not really looking at, where am I failing at, and what can I learn from this and grow with it?

In short this will be a time to put on your “Grown-Up Pants” and be honest with yourself, your dreams, and your goals,  have you made them impossible to reach, or are they un-realistic that you set yourself up to fail?    This would be a good time to come back to reality and re-evaluate what you need to do.

It’s not failure, not even a set-back, but it is a re-adjustment or realignment to be honest with yourself and make things right to keep yourself on track.  

Yes Dear Readers, you may find this Eclipse and Mercury retro-grade period a wake-up call.  And right in the middle of the Dog Days of Summer.

And we may be feeling some of it happening right now, creeping in with little spats here and there, a few little things going wrong,  mis-communication, things being late.   

So what can you do?  Keep Calm,  be focused, take deep breaths,  and know that there is a solution, don’t re-act to a situation, analyze it and come up with a solution.

Of course that’s hard to say when your house is on fire or your child has broken their leg or other disaster.   But even with that Focus and be Calm.  

When I fell and broke my ankle my Husband, and the Neighbor said to me in a panic “Can you get up and hop on one foot to the car and we’ll drive you to the ER?”   I looked at them with this thought running through my head “Are they Kidding???”  Finally taking deep breaths and getting my pain under control and my heart to stop racing, I yelled “I broke my ankle!!”   “What do you want us to do??”  they replied,  Well DUH!!!  I finally yelled out “Call the Paramedics!!”   Oh Good they reacted and did just that then they relaxed, and focused (finally) on making me as comfortable as possible until the Paramedics got there. 

And then in was in other people’s hands,  I and my husband and the neighbor can look back on that and laugh about it, but it was an example of how panic and not focusing could easily have taken over. 

So during this time especially, breathe, remain calm and focus and you’ll find your way.   And in doing that can avoid having conflicts and having a period instead of difficulty, turning it around to be self-discovery.

Bright Blessings,

Ms. Q