Wicca Spirit Newsletter Crafts, Sponsors, Book of Shadows

Text Box: Crafts for home, garden, Sabbats and anything else that may appeal to the Wiccan heart. Each issue will offer a new craft idea with complete ‘how-to’ instructions.. And, as always, YOUR craft ideas are welcome. Share your crafty know-how with our readers in a step-by-step approach. Send your craft articles to us …Click Here _____ Candle Box What You Need A wooden or paper box. sandpaper (if wooden) wood burning tool (if wanted) markers (not children’s washable markers) Paints and brushes acrylic spray Paper Cover area with paper (newspaper, wax paper or whatever you want) Decide what you want to use your candle box for. Love, job, health, or protection. Then pick the patterns that supply they energy you want for the box. Example if for love you would decorate with hearts.
Outline and use burning tool if wanted. Or you can paint some designs on the box. If you are unsure of your art abbilities; make simple patterns. Or you may use decopodge to decorate the box. (Pictures cut outs can be used glued to the box in a crazy quilt type pattern.) Allow the box to dry. Test the markers to see if the spray will make them run (don’t use children’s washable markers). You can decorate the box with markers if you want. This is all up to you! Seal the designs with a sealing spray; art and crafts stores have many different type of acrylic sealers. Follow directions carefully. Use carefully in a open area. Please! Add candles remember the colors to symbolize the energy you want. Best when enpowered and blessed during the full moon. --- Mabon Craft: Mabon Prosperity Candles ..note: for more Mabon Crafts visit the Wicca Spirit Forum Mabon is a time to be thankful for all the things we have -- a garden full of crops to pick, full apple trees in the orchards, and the bread we've been baking with the grain already harvested. Although this is a time of balance, it's also a time to look at what you have and be grateful for it. Celebrate the abundance of the harvest season by inviting prosperity into your life. These simple candles can be given as gifts, burned on your altar, or placed around the house to bring abundance your way. You'll need the following items on your workspace before you begin: An unscented candle in a harvest color -- yellow, orange, brown Your choice of Money Oil or essential oil of cinnamon, orange, or ginger Something to inscribe the candle with -- a pencil, stylus, etc. A pinch of dried basil, sage or dill If you normally cast a circle or invoke Deity before a working, do so now. Using the stylus or pencil, inscribe your intent upon the candle. For example, if you need money to pay the bills, carve that on there. If you just want extra fun money, write that on the candle too. If you're not sure how much you need, you can use symbols of money such as the $ dollar sign or a runic symbol. In traditional runes, Fehu is the sign of prosperity (see image at right). A Little Candle Magic Once you've completed your inscription, anoint the candle with the Money Oil. If you don't have Money Oil, use another essential oil that brings prosperity -- cinnamon, orange or ginger are all good to use. Focus your intent into the candle, drawing abundance to you. Rub a small amount of the dried basil, sage or dill -- all herbs connected with money -- into the oil. As you do, clearly visualize how you will be using the money that comes your way. Will you use it to pay off debt? Buy a new car? Take a class for personal growth? Light the candle, and meditate on the flame. Continue focusing on your intent, and imagine it building, first as a small spark, and then growing into a large ball of light. Maintain this image as long as you can, and then release it into the candle flame. Make sure the candle is in a safe place so as not to be a fire hazard (a bowl of sand is perfect for this) and allow the candle to burn out on its own.

Text Box: Mabon, also known as Autumnal Equinox, the Wine Harvest, and Alban Elved takes place on or around September 21st and marks the beginning of Autumn. This is the time when the sun is directly over the Equator, and day and night are of equal length. The harvest is well under way birds are starting their southward journey, and leaves are in their autumn splendour . Mabon is typically celebrated through harvesting grapes from the vine and apples from orchard. Colors are Orange, Dark Red, Yellow, Indigo, and Brown. It is the festival of thanksgiving. The Goddess manifests in Her Bountiful Mother aspects. The God emerges as the Corn King and Harvest Lord. Mabon Deities: Goddesses-Modron, Morgan, Epona, Persephone, Pamona and the Muses. Gods-Mabon, Thoth, Thor, Hermes, and The Green Man. Mabon Altar: Prepare your alter with russet and orange candles. A dark maroon table cloth covered with wheat colored lace is also an attractive addition. Some witches include crystals of garnet to represent rebirthing and quartz to represent the rainbow of colors that blossom as the leaves change for the fall. Gold or brass serving trays and goblets for ritual offerings are also placed on or around the alter for easy access. Arrangements of early fall flowers and foliage should also be included to recognize the harvest part of the festival. If your alter is outside or you have space on your interior alter, you might include baskets filled with examples of the vine and orchard harvest. Symbols of Mabon: wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, vines such as ivy, dried seeds, and horns of plenty. Mabon Herbs: Rue, yarrow, rosemary, marigold, sage, walnut leaves and husks, mistletoe, saffron, chamomile, almond leaves, passionflower, frankincense, rose hips, bittersweet, sunflower, wheat, oak leaves, dried apple or apple seeds. Traditional Mabon Foods: Breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions. Mabon Incense: Pine, sage, sweetgrass or myrhh. You can also mix marigold, passionflower, and fern, using frankincense or myrhh as a resin for Mabon incense Mabon Stones: During Mabon, stones ruled by the Sun will help bring the Sun's energy to you.clear quartz, amber, peridot, diamond, gold, citrine, yellow topaz, cat's-eye, adventurine. Mabon Activities:
Select the best of each vegetable, herb, fruit, nut, and other food you have harvested or purchased and give it back to Mother Earth with prayers of thanksgiving.
Hang dried ears of corn around your home in appreciation of the harvest season.
Do meditations and chanting as you store away food for the Winter.
Do a thanksgiving circle, offering thanks as you face each direction -- for home, finances, and physical health (North); for gifts of knowledge (East); for accomplishments in career and hobbies (South); for relationships (West); and for spiritual insights and messages (Center).
Decorate the table with colorful autumn leaves in a basket.
Display the fruits of the harvest - corn, gourds, nuts, grapes, apples - preferably in a cornucopia. Or decorate with wildflowers, acorns, nuts, berries, cocoons, anything that represents the harvest to you.
Like its sister equinox, halfway across the Wheel of the Year, the Autumn Equinox is a good occasion for a ritual feast. Plan a meal that uses seasonal and symbolic fruits and vegetables. You can serve bread, squash, corn, apples, cider and wine.
Make some homemade wine, gather and dry herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods.
Make grapevine wreaths using dried bitter-sweet herb for protection. Use ribbons of gold and yellow to bring in the energy of the Sun, and decorate with sprigs of dried yarrow or cinnamon sticks.
Make a protection charm of hazelnuts (filberts) strung on red thread.
Make a witch's broom. Tie dried corn husks or herbs (broom, cedar, fennel, lavender, peppermint, rosemary) around a strong, relatively straight branch of your choice.
Make magic Apple Dolls Gifts of the Harvest can be used to make tools and emblems that will remind us of their bounty all year round. Look for colored leaves. Collect fallen leaves and make a centerpiece or bouquet for your home. Save the leaves to burn in your Yule fire.
Visit an apple orchard and, if possible, pick your own apples.
Hang apples on a tree near your home. Watch the birds and other small animals who will enjoy your gift. Mabon Spellwork: Protection, prosperity, security, and self-confidence. Also those of harmony and balance. At Mabon, Witches of many traditions prepare for the season of sleep, the dark time of Fall and Winter. Witches call to the animal spirits for guidance and insight as we enter this time of inner searching. We prepare to meet our true inner self and grow and further our journey toward self enlightenment. We undertake this journey so that when we return to the coming cycle of light, the seasons of Spring and Summer, we can do so in a more peaceful, harmonious and balanced state. Our energies can then touch the community around us and help to promote peace and harmony within it. Use this time of balance, to look closely at the balance in our life. How do you balance your personal needs with your commitments to the outside world? How do you receive and how do you give? You might want to reflect on this in your journal or make it concrete by putting objects on a scale. For everything which represents one side of the scale to you (for instance, a book representing quiet time alone), place something on the other side which represents its opposite (a letter or phone for reaching out to friends). Spell of Plenty you need: cornucopia, made or bought tea light and holder essential oil jar of salt dried foods such as nuts and seeds that keep well Place the cornucopia on your altar and anoint with the oil, hold and visualize you and your family surrounded with all that you need... the Yule table laden with food, meat roasting, wine racks filled with wine, well stocked cupboards and freezer; visualize plenty of heat during the coming winter, lighting and fuel, the car running perfectly through bad weather, and enough money to pay the bills. When finished visualizing, take your cornucopia to the kitchen and place on a window sill; fill with the seeds and nuts. Place the tea light on one side and the salt (this represents money and finances ) on the other side. Light the candle and say "As the world is full of abundance I accept abundance into my life. I accept good food and drink, I accept warmth and light, I accept financial prosperity. Fill my home with happiness, Fill my home with health and abundance. With harm to none - So mote it be." Allow the tea light to burn out and light a candle each day as you cook the evening meal. _____ New information for your BOS in each and every issue….
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