5 year anniversary
5 Year anniversary
Posted by Nightshade on September 26, 2010
I met my boyfriend at the end o grade 10. People always said that he and I would never make it, especially past matric and into university. But He and I love each other so deeply, so truly and with such an intensity that it aches to be apart.
I believe that he is my soulmate, and the term soulmate is a highly contentious one becuase people are constantly misintepreting it to mean that the relationship is as easy as making boiled egg. But it isn’t. Being soulmates does not mean that you do not fight, that you will always agree and that you will always get along 100% of the time. these unrealistic expectations lead people to put up with all sorts of torture, from real abuse (physical, mental and sexual)or to remain in an unsatisfying relationship. This leads to resentment and pain, it is unhealthy and is incredibly unfair to both partners.
Soulmates in my very personal opinion are people who are in your life to teach you something, to teach you about the world, about themselves and most importantly about yourself. a soulmate isn’t always a lover, it could be a sibling, a pet, a friend, or parent. My boyfriend is my soulmate. From the very moment that I met him, I knew I was safe, I had never felt that way before in my life, the beauty of our instant connection has burned and sparkled through space and time and to this day when I see him, I can’t help but smile. Even when I am annoyed I have to struggle to suppress the impending smile.
Shannon has been one of the people who has taught me so much about myself, about my potential for greatness and kindness. even when I am skeptical about my worth as a person he makes me feel like I am important. We laugh together, play together, argue together and drive each other insane, but always we are showing affection and appreciation for each other. the quickest way to lose the romance in a realtionship is to take your partner for granted. One always needs to show their partner how much they love each other, even in the small things like giving a hand massage and pinching sore muscles, making each other tea and taking time out everyday to say “I love You”.
September is one of my favourite months, it is the first month of Spring, where flowers are in bloom, where the birds are chirping all morning and time for summer lovin. It is also the month that I met my Shannon, the month I look forward to so that we can spoil each other extra.
I love you my Shannon and I will forever….
Come what may, I will love you until my dying day… – Moulin rougeTransformation through the magic of death
Posted by Nightshade on July 29, 2010
Well now that you know my views on death and how my guides have helped me to better understand death you perhaps want to know how I incorporate this into my practise.
Life and Death are sacred forces within my magical practice. They form for me the basis of my Religious Witchcraft.
Since becoming a Witch I have undergone changes in my views of dark and light, and death and life and this has led me to a greater understanding of the self. This has been discovered through serious soul searching, the experiences in my life and the way in which my guides have come to me to help me, including dreams and flashes of epiphany.
I honour Anpu, Hekate, Crow, Snake and Butterfly in every way that I can, this includes poems, pictures, prayers, incense and candles.
I am very attracted to graveyards as they are crossroads between the lands of the living and the dead. The energy that a graveyard holds is sad, but incredibly potent. Visiting a graveyard and leaving flowers for those who have passed, be they loved ones or not is an act of reverence. This is incorporated into my practise. The collection of Graveyard dirt (commonly seen in hoodoo and Voodoo practise) is part of a reciprocal relationship with the spirits that reside in and around the graveyard. When taking dirt from a graveyard it is customary to leave an offering, often this takes the form of coins or flowers. If you cannot offer either of those things then a little bit of your energy and getting rid of the dust and neatening up the gravestone is alright.
In Mexico, day of the dead (de Dios Los Meurtos) celebrations happen in and around graveyards. This day is celebrated on 1-2 November. It is customary for families to picnic in the graveyard near the tombs and gravestones of their departed loved ones. This practice can be incorporated into modern westernised magical practise as well.
Western culture fears the graveyard, they are places of ghouls and “black magic” and da voodoo. This is a gross exaggeration of death magic. Many people in Western culture however do visit graveyards in reverence of the dead, to gain closure and to converse with their loved ones. This common practise is not looked upon as strange when one is still in the grieving process, and many people can understand this. But what if none of your loved ones were all cremated and you visited the gravestone of people you didn’t know? You might be considered a little off I would suspect. At night, graveyards are largely inaccessible. There is good reason for this. Many times graveyards are desecrated by crazy youths or those who have no reverence for those who have passed on. I would likely never venture into a graveyard at night because you never know what nutters are around. People funnily may believe I am a nutter because I am goth, wear pentacles and ankhs and like graveyards but I offer reverence not disrespect.
As mentioned a few times in my blog, I use a red candle and a black candle as focal points for my energies. Red is the blood, the life, the power of movement and fire. The Black candle is the candle of the abyss, of darkness, of death, of the ground which many will be buried in, or black ash that we may become. When these two candles are lit, I stand in between them. I stand in the shadow realm, one foot in the realm of the living, one in the realm of the dead. I am the shamanic witch who operates in an ultimate crossroads. This space is the space of Crow, snake, butterfly, Anpu and Hekate. All of them operate in these realms.
This is the place where I feel that I can access my magical self the best when indoors at night. Other places of course would be at a crossroads, a graveyard or in nature.
I am a goth, and I have a very particular aesthetic understanding of death. The death parlour look, the vampiric look and the keeping memento mori is a great way fro understanding death within everyday life.
Memento Mori are those things which remind us of death, so that we may have a better grip on life. They were often used by Christians in the ancient times of the Byzantines and Middle Ages.in modern times these can be anything from skulls, to bats, snakes, grim reapers, colours of death, ankhs, spiders anything that reminds you of your own mortality. This may be considered a morbid way fo life, but in my opinion it encourages one to live life more fully as death is inevitable.
Further in my craft I will celebrate all of the death festivals that I can, this includes Samhain (April 31-May 1 in the southern hemisphere) Halloween, The day of the dead and ancestral days of honouring those that have passed including birthdays and fathers days for those who have left behind there mortal shell. Further I honour Anpu on the full moon, Hekate and dark goddesses on the dark, I honour my totems on specific days of the week and once a month I will set aside a special day to honour Hekate and Anpu.
Honouring the dying moon is another way of honouring death. The waning moon is a perfect time to be letting go of things, dying, so that one can be reborn. This often takes the form of simple spells to get rid of qualities that I do not like, that are no longer serving me or could simply take the form of communicating with the shadow self.
It is important to note, that many of us who are depressed or suffer from some psychological problems will feel a connection to this side of life, with that it is important to be able to keep a healthy attitude to life. Immersing oneself in death magic can be very dangerous if one is unable to cope with transitional energy, which is the essence of death energy.
Psychotic breakdowns are a real possibility and if one is suicidal the cling to death may be incredibly seductive like the kiss of a vampire.
Me being a depressed person myself have had to understand that my grip on reality can be easily swayed if I do not try and embrace life. We can become so dissociated from our realities that we may never want to come back and live.
So my advice is to go out and enjoy life as much as you can as well, go to the park and see kids playing, play with your animals, make love, be merry, laugh and most of all LIVE. One cannot be a witch if one is “dead”, the power is in that balance in between these two tenuous states of being. Being able to be like the crow, the snake, the butterfly.
Death magic is not about hurting others or oneself, it is about understanding the transitional nature of death, understanding that Transformation through the magic of death
Posted by Nightshade on July 29, 2010
Well now that you know my views on death and how my guides have helped me to better understand death you perhaps want to know how I incorporate this into my practise.
Life and Death are sacred forces within my magical practice. They form for me the basis of my Religious Witchcraft.
Since becoming a Witch I have undergone changes in my views of dark and light, and death and life and this has led me to a greater understanding of the self. This has been discovered through serious soul searching, the experiences in my life and the way in which my guides have come to me to help me, including dreams and flashes of epiphany.
I honour Anpu, Hekate, Crow, Snake and Butterfly in every way that I can, this includes poems, pictures, prayers, incense and candles.
I am very attracted to graveyards as they are crossroads between the lands of the living and the dead. The energy that a graveyard holds is sad, but incredibly potent. Visiting a graveyard and leaving flowers for those who have passed, be they loved ones or not is an act of reverence. This is incorporated into my practise. The collection of Graveyard dirt (commonly seen in hoodoo and Voodoo practise) is part of a reciprocal relationship with the spirits that reside in and around the graveyard. When taking dirt from a graveyard it is customary to leave an offering, often this takes the form of coins or flowers. If you cannot offer either of those things then a little bit of your energy and getting rid of the dust and neatening up the gravestone is alright.
In Mexico, day of the dead (de Dios Los Meurtos) celebrations happen in and around graveyards. This day is celebrated on 1-2 November. It is customary for families to picnic in the graveyard near the tombs and gravestones of their departed loved ones. This practice can be incorporated into modern westernised magical practise as well.
Western culture fears the graveyard, they are places of ghouls and “black magic” and da voodoo. This is a gross exaggeration of death magic. Many people in Western culture however do visit graveyards in reverence of the dead, to gain closure and to converse with their loved ones. This common practise is not looked upon as strange when one is still in the grieving process, and many people can understand this. But what if none of your loved ones were all cremated and you visited the gravestone of people you didn’t know? You might be considered a little off I would suspect. At night, graveyards are largely inaccessible. There is good reason for this. Many times graveyards are desecrated by crazy youths or those who have no reverence for those who have passed on. I would likely never venture into a graveyard at night because you never know what nutters are around. People funnily may believe I am a nutter because I am goth, wear pentacles and ankhs and like graveyards but I offer reverence not disrespect.
As mentioned a few times in my blog, I use a red candle and a black candle as focal points for my energies. Red is the blood, the life, the power of movement and fire. The Black candle is the candle of the abyss, of darkness, of death, of the ground which many will be buried in, or black ash that we may become. When these two candles are lit, I stand in between them. I stand in the shadow realm, one foot in the realm of the living, one in the realm of the dead. I am the shamanic witch who operates in an ultimate crossroads. This space is the space of Crow, snake, butterfly, Anpu and Hekate. All of them operate in these realms.
This is the place where I feel that I can access my magical self the best when indoors at night. Other places of course would be at a crossroads, a graveyard or in nature.
I am a goth, and I have a very particular aesthetic understanding of death. The death parlour look, the vampiric look and the keeping memento mori is a great way fro understanding death within everyday life.
Memento Mori are those things which remind us of death, so that we may have a better grip on life. They were often used by Christians in the ancient times of the Byzantines and Middle Ages.in modern times these can be anything from skulls, to bats, snakes, grim reapers, colours of death, ankhs, spiders anything that reminds you of your own mortality. This may be considered a morbid way fo life, but in my opinion it encourages one to live life more fully as death is inevitable.
Further in my craft I will celebrate all of the death festivals that I can, this includes Samhain (April 31-May 1 in the southern hemisphere) Halloween, The day of the dead and ancestral days of honouring those that have passed including birthdays and fathers days for those who have left behind there mortal shell. Further I honour Anpu on the full moon, Hekate and dark goddesses on the dark, I honour my totems on specific days of the week and once a month I will set aside a special day to honour Hekate and Anpu.
Honouring the dying moon is another way of honouring death. The waning moon is a perfect time to be letting go of things, dying, so that one can be reborn. This often takes the form of simple spells to get rid of qualities that I do not like, that are no longer serving me or could simply take the form of communicating with the shadow self.
It is important to note, that many of us who are depressed or suffer from some psychological problems will feel a connection to this side of life, with that it is important to be able to keep a healthy attitude to life. Immersing oneself in death magic can be very dangerous if one is unable to cope with transitional energy, which is the essence of death energy.
Psychotic breakdowns are a real possibility and if one is suicidal the cling to death may be incredibly seductive like the kiss of a vampire.
Me being a depressed person myself have had to understand that my grip on reality can be easily swayed if I do not try and embrace life. We can become so dissociated from our realities that we may never want to come back and live.
So my advice is to go out and enjoy life as much as you can as well, go to the park and see kids playing, play with your animals, make love, be merry, laugh and most of all LIVE. One cannot be a witch if one is “dead”, the power is in that balance in between these two tenuous states of being. Being able to be like the crow, the snake, the butterfly.
Death magic is not about hurting others or oneself, it is about understanding the transitional nature of death, understanding that
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