Where Inspiration Lurks...

Today on Facebook, CharmingPixieFlora posted the question: 

"Where do you find your inspiration?"

This is my reply blog!

There are a great number of places in which I find my inspiration, number one being in nature. I've been inspired by the tallest, most magnificent trees and by the smallest veins on the most ordinary leaves. I'm inspired by people, animals, rocks, even by architecture.

Whether or not I'm looking for inspiration, I always seem to find it when I need it the most. Whether that be when I am very sad and in need of a cheerful boost, or just when it's time for me to start writing or drawing again. Inspiration always has it's way of finding me.

This may be the work of Mnemosyne's Muses, the 9 Greek women who inspire humanity's artists. This would suggest that the Muses not only come to your aid when you ask it of them, but also when they are the only ones who know you need it.

In my opinion, the Muses have many different ways of showing themselves. They may appear to you as human; a person you meet and are suddenly inspired by, a friend who inspires you, a family member. They may also appear to you as an animal; perhaps a pet who inspires you to draw a portrait of them, or an animal in nature that strikes a fire in your creative mind, etc.

But to those who are open-minded, the Muses may appear to you in such things as trees, insects, intricate weavings or buildings, portraits, sculptures, even candles. It's an amazing feeling to glance at the flame of a candle and suddenly be whisked away by it's spark of majesty & wonder.

Some people don't believe in the concept of Muses, but they cannot deny that there is a force in the Universe that Inspires. This is a fact of life that can not nor should not be ignored. One of life's most wonderful gifts is the gift of inspiration. With the right inspiration, one may accomplish anything!

Just take today for example: I was about to turn off the computer for the day and not write a blog until tomorrow. I saw CharmingPixieFlora's question on Facebook, and I was inspired to write this post. I hope this answers your question! Blessed Be!

Peace, Love & Light!

-Anouchka

Image by ch3shirecat on deviantart

The Hermit's Song

This is a poem/song I found in a book called The Celtic Book of Seasonal Meditations. It reminded me of a friend of mine who identifies with the tarot card the Hermit.

The Hermit's Song

Dear to me is my little hut in the woods

Where pine-nuts and berries are my food

And the sweet well-water which refreshes me.

Sad would I be to leave my brothers the trees

For to me they are a living temple of my God

Which the wind makes to speak his praise continually.

Dear to me also are my little brothers the birds

Who daily sing their offices at dawn and dusk,

And the woodland creatures who keep vigil with me.

Sad would I be to leave the herbs and plants and grasses

That have been my strength and salve in times of weakness,

And the living streams that tongue the praises of my God.

Dear to me is my little brother the fish

Who joyously jumps from the well to feed me

And nourishes body and soul with his wisdom.

The Hermit Tarot Card

 

Goodbye Christmas, Hello Winter?

My first blog post today was about waking up to the snow, which was wonderful! In this post, I inform you that today is the day we finally took down our Fraser Fir Christmas Tree. I find it odd that the first day of real snow, we take down our tree, lol! But it had to be done. It was starting to look a tad ill, and a bit like a fire hazard.

After Mom got the tree out to the curb, she told me she was going to be vacuuming and to collect any of the pine needles I might have wanted. I'm glad she mentioned it, because I wouldn't have thought to keep them! There are plenty of spells and things that call for pine needles, and now I have a pretty nicely sized Ziploc bag filled with them. :)

The tree also left behind a little gift. Among the fallen needles, I found a tiny little pine cone, maybe half an inch in length! I thanked Spirit for the gift, and it is now sitting on my altar. I don't have a camera that can take a good enough picture of it to show you, because of how small it is.

Anyway! The rest of my day went pretty well. I played Scrabble Cards with Mom again, wrote a blog post about totem animals, and hung out with Kyle! Now I'm off to write some of my new material into my bos!

Baggy of needles!

Be Seeing You!

-Anouchka

Totems/Spirit Animals

I was asked the other night by a friend of mine if I believe in spirit animals or totems. This is always a difficult question for me, because a lot of people when searching for these things often just pick an animal that they really like, or an animal that makes them seem "cooler" (spirit animals often picked: the raven, the crow, the wolf, etc.), and that's not what totems are about.  

I believe that all people have certain spiritual connections with certain animals. This is what I would call a totem. I also believe that there are different types of totems. The first type are the totems that, once they enter your life, stay there forever. The other type would be the ones that enter your life when you need them, and leave when their teaching is done.

Finding your life totem(s) isn't something you seek out and find all in the same day. Generally, when you're actively searching, you won't find them. They find you. All people who really know what their totems are will tell you that there was a defining moment in their lives when they discovered them.This moment is different for everyone.

It could happen when you're out walking, sitting in your backyard, driving down the road, hanging out at the zoo, strolling through a park... anywhere or anytime. When it happens, you see the animal -- who knows -- grazing, feeding their young, basking in the sun/moonlight, or even making direct eye contact with you. In that moment, there is no question of whether or not this animal is your totem. It hits you as if you should have known all your life and that maybe the only reason you didn't was because they hadn't decided it was the right time to tell you yet. This is how you find your life totem... not by looking through an encyclopedia of animals and choosing the coolest looking creature you can find, but by having a truly spiritual experience.

As for the second type of totem animals, like I said before, they will come into your life when they are needed and they will leave when their job is done. All things in nature have wisdom and knowledge to share. It's up to you whether or not to learn from your fellow creatures & plants. Let's say you're having trouble accepting a certain part of life. You may know it, but you may be completely oblivious to it. An animal totem may come to you to help you understand this aspect of life. When they enter your world, they will do something significant to catch your attention. It may not be something significant to everyone surrounding you, but it will most definitely be significant to you.

Let's say that the Lion King didn't completely get through to you, and you need help accepting life cycles and the food chain. Observing a crane eating a snake from the river, or a raven carrying off a baby squirrel from it's nest may be the universe's way of helping you accept the circle of life. Perhaps Crane or Raven didn't get through to you the first time, and only upset you. They will try teaching you again in another light, and will stay with you until you are able to accept the circle of life and move on. 

Sometimes, certain animals may not show you visually what you need to learn. They will always do something to grab your attention, but once they have it, it may be up to you to realize what they are trying to tell you. You can do this by opening your mind to hear what the animal has to say, meditating on the image of the animal when you're alone, or even by listening to the sounds they make whilst in your presence and interpreting what they mean to you.

Any way you choose to look at it, totems, or "spirit animals," are just that: Spiritual. You can walk away from this blog post, take the spirit animal quiz on gurl.com and go on thinking your totem is a coyote because you happen to be a trickster. But if you really want to know what your totem is, I would suggest a little soulsearching, meditation, and patience. Your totems will all come to you in due time.

(So yes, Grim, I do believe in totems! lol)

Coyote Image Result From gurl.com

Peace, Love & Light,

-Anouchka

Waking to Snow

I woke up this morning and to my delight, I found myself looking out my window at a yard full of still-falling snow! 3 nights ago, I performed my Colleda Snow Charm, which is basically just calling snow to my region. I'd never done a weather spell before, so I was a bit worried that it wouldn't work, but I put all my will into it nonetheless! That day, on http://www.noaa.gov/ there was a 20% chance of snow for Wednesday, but it wasn't expected to stick. Here I am on Thursday afternoon with grounds of white! It started snowing very early this morning & hasn't stopped yet. On the same website, there's now a 100% guarantee of snow for today & tonight! I'm very excited, seeing as we haven't had snow all winter long (except for a few days when a few flakes drifted from the sky & melted soon after), and I live in Wisconsin! Anyway, I just wanted to share this news with you all! I'm off to play Scrabble with my mom while gazing out at the winter wonderland! :)

Cell phone picture of my backyard this morning!

Peace, Love, Light & Snow!

-Anouchka

Cleansing My Bedroom

Tonight, I did a basic cleansing of my room. I wanted to get rid of all the negative energy that has accumulated in here over the past year since we moved in.

I sat on my bed facing my open window with 3 candles lit & cast a circle. Then I did a shortened & slightly altered version of Ann Moura's Witch's Rune to call on my deities & the elements & to amp up my casting for the night.

To get rid of the negative energy, I pulled it through my receptive hand & sent it through my projective hand into a small dish of black sand. I then put the lid to the dish on top of it, took my white working candle into my receiving hand & sent light, positive energy into my room with my sending hand.

After I did this, I took the dish of black sand outside. I poured the sand down a steep hill & let it return to the universe.

When I returned to my bedroom, I circled it three times while smudging with a sage bundle.

My room feels much better now than it has for the past few weeks! :) I think I will feel better about casting in here & stop procrastinating. I haven't felt right about casting with the negative energy that had been floating around.

Well, that's all for tonight. I just felt like sharing my cleansing with you all! I will be going back to casting now!

Sage Bundle Image from examiner.com

Peace, Love & Light,
-Anouchka

Scrabble Card Game With Mom :)

Before I start my casting tonight, I thought I'd share with you the words my mom and I came up with today while we were playing my Scrabble Card Game. We didn't much like the rules for the game itself, so we made up our own :P Basically, each person gets 10 cards with which to spell 1 or more words. On each turn, you can draw up to 3 cards out of the pile, but you have to discard an equal amount. Once one person has their word/words, everyone playing stops drawing and has to spell out words with the cards they have. Our words today were...

Mom: 

*Rout

*Sequin

*Phlox

*Globe

*Fluke

*Raid

*Kilt

*Nanite

*Dub

*Geez

*Hop

*Tipi

*Laurel

*Quay

*Dazzle

Me:

*Jerk

*Geode

*Otters

*Lily

*Jungle

*Daft

*Yule

*Pajama

*Vomit

*Vows

*Reptile

*God

I wanted to share these because I thought some of the words we came up with were pretty funny. "Vomit," and "Vows," were in the same hand! lol. "Reptile," and "God," were also in the same hand together. We came up with some funny stuff! 

-Anouchka

Anouchka's Fey Milk!

This milk can be used for fey (faerie) offerings or offerings to many light goddesses.

Needed:

1-2 cups milk

1 tbs honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp ground anise (or cinnamon if preferred/handy)

1/2 tsp ground poppy seeds

"Mix these together to make a tasty treat, which will make the fey extra-sweet!"

Leave outdoors under the moon as an offering, preferably near or in a garden.

© AESC 2012

Image from: http://img0.etsystatic.com/il_fullxfull.259650608.jpg

NETI POT USERS, BE CAREFUL!

I know that a lot of Pagans use neti pots, so I thought I would share this news with as many people as possible. USE FILTERED OR DISTILLED WATER FOR YOUR NETI POT. This is no joke, 2 people have died from brain-eating amoebas contained in the tap water they used in their neti pots. NPR has an article about it here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/19/143960631/second-neti-pot-death-from-amoeba-prompts-tap-water-warning?sc=17&f=1001&fb_source=message

Image from methodsofhealing.com Note: this particular neti pot has absolutely nothing to do with the 2 deaths mentioned above. I simply googled "neti pot" to show what one looks like.

Be safe!

-Anouchka

Nortia's Board

Nortia's Board is an original tradition I will be starting next year on New Year's Eve.

At the New Year, followers of Nortia (Etruscan Goddess of Time, Fate & Destiny) would drive a nail into the wall of her temple to mark the ending of the old year and the beginning of the new. This is similar, but instead of a temple wall, it's a board that you can bring with you if you move to a new home.


Needed:
*1 wooden board (this will be your Nortia's Board)
*1 nail (per year)
*hammer

If you'd like to decorate your board, you can paint it bronze or gold. If you'd like, you can paint patterns around the edges, clocks or hour glasses in the background, etc. If not, you can leave it blank.

On New Year's Eve, just after the stroke of midnight, take this year's nail and drive it into the board while saying this spell:

"Nortia of Destiny & Time,

I mark the year, to hold in rhyme,

I honor thee, as the old year's passed,

I pray to thee, may the new year last,

So Mote It Be!"

Just like a calendar, hammer the nails into the board in rows from left to right. For the rest of the year round, hang the board somewhere in your home in honor of Nortia, adding a new nail every New Year's Eve.

© AESC 2012

-Anouchka

New Years Eve Surprises!

I posted here a few days ago that I was looking for ways to celebrate New Years Eve/Day incorporating my patron god Chronos.

On New Years Eve, I went into my basement and realized that there have been a couple of boxes down there since we moved into the house last year. I decided to look through them and see what was inside. I found a BUNCH of really neat stuff... silver goblets; candleholders; a glass with stars, the sun, and the moon on it... tons of neat stuff. But the thing that made me happiest was a glass with 3 Narcissuses on it. On the back of the glass, it says:

"Narcissus:

Flower of December

As the bridge of the old year and the new, the Narcissus embodies the freshness of youth and the aged beauty of maturity."

The reason it made me happiest to find this was because I was actively looking for ways to celebrate the new year on New Years Eve, and my intuition guided me to those boxes. I know it's just a glass, but I think I will use it on every New Years Eve now, just as tradition and remembrance of this year's events.

If anyone else knows or thinks of any other ways to celebrate the New Year, feel free to post them here!!! <3

Merry Meet!

-Anouchka

Crappy phone pic, lol.