Egg History & Rituals for Ostara + The Spring Equinox

Ostara, also known as the Spring or Vernal Equinox, is the dawn of the fertile season on the Wheel of the Year. Light and dark are in equal balance and moving forward, the light of the sun will outshine the dark of night, pushing nature into a flurry of growth and expansion. 

This season corresponds to growth, fertility, manifesting, and the maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess. The energy of this season calls you to begin taking concerted actions towards your desires. Eggs and hares are common symbols associated with this season, but their associations may not be as ancient as you thought.

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole, no pun intended, on this one! So, before we dive into egg rituals for you to practice, I want to share a bit about the history (we do know) of Ostara. If you don’t care, skip on through to the egg rituals, but personally, I find the history of our rituals not only interesting but important in crafting a meaningful practice.

Eggs and Ostara, Where’s the Connection?  

There are a couple of stories that link Ostara to eggs and hares. One being that a hare out foraging for food found an egg and gave it to Ostara an offering for Spring (read a more elaborate version of this story here.) The other story speaks of Ostara finding a bird with frozen wings that she turned into a hare to save. The hare retaining its ability to lay eggs, laid an egg for Ostara as a show of gratitude. You can find variations of stories passed down similar to these or possibly have some in your lineage. 

As with much of Pagan and spiritual practices from the Celts and Anglo-Saxons, these traditions were passed down orally. However, there’s actually no written pre-Christian evidence of the Goddess Ostara and her connection to hares and eggs. Ostara is first mentioned in a text by a Christian monk named Bede in 725 AD. 

This isn’t to say that it’s not possible that ancient Northern European folks honored hares, eggs, and maiden Goddesses like Ostara and Freya during this season. Still, there’s no written evidence supporting these stories. Here’s a great article that dives deeper into the history we know about Ostara and her connection to eggs and hares.

Card feature from the Goddess Oracle by Amy Sophia Marashinsky.

When Christianity dominated these areas, the oral traditions were slowly extinguished, as well as many of the ancient practices associated with them. So the truth is, we may never know if Ostara and her connection to hares and eggs were real. You can view this as a hardship or an opportunity. I choose the latter. Not having a script for our ancestors' ancient ways offers you an opportunity to go within and form personal meaning with each season. 

Give this post a listen here:

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Symbolism of Eggs

Regardless of how the connection of eggs came to be associated with Ostara and this season, their connection to fertility, life, and union is found worldwide. Vedic texts reference the cosmic egg, the Orphic egg in Greece, and the Serpent’s Egg in Druidic practices, just to name a few, all of which deal with the beginnings of life and fertility. 

Many of the ancient mythologies surrounding eggs tell stories of life, balance, and creation, which are all energies undoubtedly linked to the energy of the Spring Equinox. For these reasons, regardless of the history of eggs and Ostara, the egg is still a beautiful and potent symbol to work with during this season, or really anytime you’re focusing on fertility and growth. 

Egg Rituals for Ostara

Here are a few simple ways to weave eggs into your Spring Equinox rituals. Vegan? No worries, use fake eggs. As with most magical practices, your intention is the most important part. Working with fake egg-shaped decorations is an ideal substitute for the real deal. You can purchase egg shapes in paper, plastic, and wood at most craft stores. For the rituals shown below, biodegradable eggs made from paper or wood are best. Please, don’t bury plastic eggs!

1. Eat them!: Obviously, if you’re vegan, you can skip over this one. But if you’re not, enjoy eggs in your favorite way or bake with them to connect with their energy of creation. Consider holding the egg in your hand and infusing it with your desires that you’d like to manifest over the coming months. 

2. Decorate: Place plain or decorated eggs on your altar or in your home as a symbol of fertility, balance, and growth. If you’re using real eggs, you can blow out the contents of the egg with a needle and a straw; otherwise, fake eggs will work fine as well (raw eggs shouldn’t be used if left out for more than two hours.) 

3. Egg manifesting ritual: Write wishes, draw Runes or a Sigil on an egg (raw, hard-boiled, or a fake egg) in alignment with your desires. Bury your egg in the ground to let the fertile energy of the earth help it manifest. Amplify this ritual by burying your egg alongside some seeds. As your plants grow, they will serve as a reminder of your desires being manifested. 

4. Egg offering: Hard boil one or more eggs and leave them as an offering out in nature to give thanks for the season's fertility and growth. 

Now you can work with eggs this season and have a better idea of what we do know about their history in regards to Ostara. Remember, even though we don’t have written history, it doesn’t mean that Ostara wasn’t honored. In the end, this season is a time to work with the energy of fertility and growth, and if honoring Ostara, the hare, and eggs is a way that helps you do that, I encourage you to do so! Continue creating a practice that’s meaningful to you. 

Check out our past blog posts about Ostara here.

Winter Solstice & Yule Spell Jar for Rebirth

The winter solstice, also called Yule in Germanic traditions, is the longest night and shortest day of the year. It is the time we have the most darkness, and after the winter solstice, the sun returns — growing each day.

Because of this darkness and the return of the light, the solstice is deeply associated with rebirth. A kind of new year for witches, if you will. In this blog post, I’ll share how to make a DIY spell jar for rebirth in honor of the winter solstice. This would be a great practice to do on the winter solstice or in the days after it! 

So what are spell bottles or jars? Spell jars are a form of folk magic that can be used for many different purposes. I share more about spellwork below - keep scrolling to read it!

A LITTLE ABOUT SPELLWORK

To me, spells are about directing energy in a specific direction. They’re about using magick, which Dion Fortune defines as “the art of changing consciousness at will,” for healing, manifestation, and connection. 

I believe that they can be simple, and all you really need is yourself and your energy. Other items, like the ones we’ll use in this spell, are supportive in infusing some extra magick and energy into the work — but you don’t need them to do spells.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

For this spell, you’ll need:

As with all spells, use what you have. Feel free to substitute items, and don't worry if you're missing something from this list. Your intention is the most important part of any spell!

• A glass bottle/jar of any size 

• Salt of any kind for protection

• A piece of paper and pen to write your intention

• 3-5 drops of oil that supports rebirth like eucalyptus or peppermint 

• Stones that represent rebirth to you like moonstone, green aventurine, and howlite for peace as you transform. Other stone options could include malachite, citrine, moss agate, or quartz.

• Dried or fresh herbs that support rebirth like spruce, pine, or nettle.

• Dried or fresh rosemary for clarity and protection.

• Cinnamon stick for luck

• Dagaz rune, which represents dawn. This can be placed inside your jar or drawn/painted on the outside of your jar.

• White candle

• Any other representations of rebirth for you 

Let yourself be intuitive with your spell ingredients, and feel free to use what you have around you! 

SPELL STEPS

1. Like any spell, you’ll want to center and ground yourself before working the spell. You might spend a few minutes meditating, letting your eyes drift around your space, or doing breathwork or anything else that feels grounding to you. Find ideas for grounding here. 

2. When you feel ready, cleanse each of your items. You can use smoke, sound, salt, or another cleansing technique you align with.

3. Write your intention for the spell on the paper to add into your bottle.

4. If you’d like, you can paint your bottle with symbols that represent rebirth to you.

5. After your bottle is ready, take your time to place each item inside your bottle intentionally. Raise energy as you do this, either with deep breaths or chanting. I recommend coming up with your own chant that focuses energy on connecting to your intuition and developing your intuitive abilities.

6. When you’re done filling your bottle, seal it, hold the vessel in your hands, and keep chanting or breathing as long as you’d like.

7. Light your white candle and place it on top of or next to your spell bottle. Be mindful of your candle surroundings and never leave your candle burning unattended. Tip: Melt the bottom of your candle with a flame to make it stick to the top of your jar.

8. Spend time meditating on your intention as your candle burns. Connect with the feeling of rebirth. Visualize rebirth moving through your cells, making you whole. What would it feel like, look like, even sound like, to be reborn?

9. Ground the energy after your meditation by placing your palms on the ground and returning any excess energy to the Earth.

I recommend placing the bottle on your altar, keeping it at the forefront of your consciousness while it works its rebirth magic. Keep your Yule spell bottle out for one lunar cycle, until Imbolc, or when you feel ready to take it down.Want more ways to connect with the season of Yule? Check out these articles from our blog: 

• Oracle or Tarot Card Spread for Yule

• 4 Ways to Honor the Winter Solstice

• 3 Ways to Bring Meaning to the Winter Solstice

4 Ways to Perform Chakra Readings with The Ritual Deck

Your chakras are a primary energy source in your subtle energy body. They connect to your physical body and the rest of your subtle energy body, like your aura. If you'd like to connect with your chakra energy in new ways and learn different rituals for balancing your chakras, I created The Ritual Deck to help you do this. This oracle card deck is extremely versatile!

In this post, I will outline four ways to use this deck as an energy and chakra reading tool. If you have the Ritual Deck already, some of this is outlined in the guidebooks (along with other useful card spreads, like working with the moon phases.) Update 2022: The original Ritual Deck is currently discontinued but we're working on having a similar version eventually! 

The four techniques I’ll outline in this post are: 

1. Daily chakra reading

2. Chakra assessment card spread

3. Seven chakras balancing card spread 

4. Using a pendulum with the chakra cards for an energy reading

If you want to learn more about the chakra system in general, you can deep dive into the chakra system, explore my new book, Understanding Chakras.

Keep reading to explore four ways to use The Ritual Deck to work with chakra energy.

Daily Chakra Reading

One of the simplest ways to use the Ritual Deck with your chakras is to separate the seven chakra cards and work with just those seven cards. Shuffle the seven cards and ask any of the following questions. 

1. Which of my chakras is overactive? 

2. Which of my chakras is underactive or blocked? 

3. Which chakra should I focus on today? 

You could also spread your cards out and hover your hand over them to make a selection. Here’s a video I shared with these techniques if you’d like to learn more about selecting your cards.

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Select a card when you feel ready. Now that you have an idea of where you should focus your energy, you can separate the cards with that chakra and choose a ritual. For example, if you chose the throat chakra card, you would separate all of the cards with the throat chakra symbol in the correspondence bar and select a card (either intuitively or as a personal choice) to focus on for that day. 

Chakra Assessment Card Spread

This technique works well if you’d like to gain general guidance about each chakra. It can tell you more about each chakra's health and where you may want to focus your energy to help each chakra. You’ll be using the entire deck for this method. This spread works well for yourself or others. Follow the steps below to try it out. 

1. Start by gathering the chakra cards and placing them in order (either vertically or horizontally) from the crown chakra to the root chakra. 

2. Hold the rest of the card deck in your hands and begin shuffling the cards. As you shuffle, ask aloud or in your mind, “What does each chakra have to share with me right now?” or “What do I have to learn from each of my chakras right now?”

3. When you feel ready to stop shuffling, start at one end of the chakras (either crown or root, wherever you feel called) and flip one card over for each chakra card. 

4. The card you selected for each chakra is the guidance that the chakra wants to share with you. It could share a celebratory card indicating it’s happy and open or a card that may indicate that it needs some extra attention. 

As with all card readings, rely on your intuition first and your guidebook second for what each card means for each of your chakras. If, after this spread, you feel like you have some chakras that need some extra love after performing this card spread, check out the one below for help balancing your chakras. 

Chakra Balancing Card Spread

This card spread, outlined in the guidebook, works like a charm to balance specific or all of your chakras. This spread is great to use on yourself, or to use with other people. Follow these steps to perform a chakra balancing card spread. 

1. Start by gathering the chakra cards and placing them in order (either vertically or horizontally) from the crown chakra to the root chakra. 

2. Separate all of the cards that correspond to each particular chakra and place them into piles. For example, all of the cards with a root chakra correspondence will go into a pile together. You should end up with seven piles (one for each chakra). There will be a different amount of cards in each pile. Tip: Use the correspondence legend at the end of the guidebook as a quick reference if you like. 

3. Place each pile on top of its coordinating chakra, shuffle them, and turn them face down.

4. Allow your intuition to guide you in selecting one card from each pile. 

5. Now you have seven cards, each corresponding to one of your seven chakras. Perform the ritual for each card to balance and restore your chakras. 

You can use the same technique for one chakra, the upper chakras (crown chakra, third eye chakra, and throat chakra), or the lower chakras (solar plexus chakra, sacral chakra, and root chakra). If you’re focusing on one specific chakra, you may decide to select multiple cards to practice more than one ritual.

Performing a complete chakra body balance spread will require time, so feel free to spread out the rituals over the course of an entire week. This applies to any other lengthy card spreads outlined here. 

Using a Pendulum with the Chakra Cards for Energy Readings

This is a technique I outline in my new book, Understanding Chakras. You don’t technically need the Ritual Deck to perform this one, but it does come in handy! You’ll also need a pendulum for this technique, preferably one that you’re already comfortable with using. If pendulums are new to you, you can read more about them here. 

Using a pendulum for chakra readings may yield different pendulum movements than you usually receive. Your pendulum will usually react in one of three ways when using them to read chakra energy. The pendulum will circle clockwise, counterclockwise, or be completely still. 

These are not firm guidelines and rather soft suggestions. Energy is unique and fluid. Use your intuition and trust your instincts when using this technique to determine chakra health. 

• Clockwise Spin: Chakra is healthy and open.

• Very Large Clockwise Spin: Chakra may be overactive. 

• Counterclockwise Spin: Chakra may have a disruption or could be releasing negative energy. 

• No movement: Chakra is blocked or has experienced extreme trauma.

Follow these steps to try this technique. 

1. Start by gathering the chakra cards and placing them in order (either vertically or horizontally) from the crown chakra to the root chakra. You won’t need the rest of the deck for this technique.

2. Hold your pendulum in your hands and ask it to help you determine the health of each of your chakras. 

3. Hold your pendulum over each chakra and make a note of its movement for each. Using a notepad or journal is helpful for this technique. 

4. Once you know each chakra's health, you may decide to back to the previous technique to help balance any chakras that need balancing. 

I hope you feel even more empowered to work with your chakras using The Ritual Deck! Chakra energy is one of many ways to use this versatile oracle deck. You can use these techniques in similar ways with the five elements and the moon phases.

Sinking into acceptance // 4 Rituals for the Waning Moon + Card Spread

The waning moon phase is nature's way of calling you inward. How can you truly know what you need to release, shed, or let go of if you haven't allowed yourself time to go inward and fully experience your emotions? This phase is your invitation to feel and allow.

The waning moon phases occur after the peak of the full moon to the dark moon. Energetically this phase represents a time of allowance, acceptance, and shedding.

Growing up, most of us are taught to bottle our feelings up rather than sinking into them and accepting what is. Acceptance doesn't mean rolling over and taking it or being okay with the status quo. Not by a long shot. Acceptance of the current moment means allowing yourself to fully experience whatever is bubbling up in you at the present moment. 

If things in your life, or the world at large, are not aligned with your desires and want them to change, you don't have to accept them as they are. What you do need to accept is your feelings about these situations. It's in the allowance and acceptance of situations that healing, growth, and change can occur.  

There's an opportunity to grow from every situation you're presented with, and this phase asks you to be open to the learning and evolving process rather than pushing against it. Imagine the energy of this lunar cycle as a big unconditional and loving hug. 

Here are a few keywords to understand the basic energy of this lunar phase. 

Energetic Themes for the Waning Moon

• Passiveness

• Acceptance

• Allowance

• Releasing

• Shedding

• Letting go

• Resting

The rituals outlined below will work well together, but if you don't have the time or tools to perform all of them at once, that's okay, do what feels most aligned with your needs. Keep reading for four ritual suggestions for the waning moon phase. 

1. Candle Ritual for the Waning Moon

Candles are an ideal ritual tool for this moon phase because they can be used as a very passive tool. I suggest using this candle ritual suggestion in tandem with one of the ritual suggestions below so your candle can burn as you sink into a ritual. There's more than one candle color that will work for this lunar phase, here are three suggestions, go with what feels best for where you're at, or use all three!

Pink candle: Pink candles offer soft and loving energy. This candle color is ideal for bringing in self-love and acceptance. This candle color is often suggested during the waxing moon phase to call in romantic love. For the waning moon phase, its energy will be used as a tool to call in self-love. 

Blue Candle: Blue candles offer peace and respite. If you've been in a cycle of overwhelm and feel like you can't catch a break, this is your candle. The energy of this candle can help you soften into the present moment to access your emotions better. 

Purple Candle: Purple candles offer inner wisdom and perspective. If you're in a place of allowance with your emotions but struggling with accepting them, the energy of a purple candle can help open you up to a higher perspective and shed light on why you feel the way you do. 

If candle magick is new to you, and you'd like to learn more about how it works and the process I outline here, check out this past blog post on candle magick basics. 

Once you've selected your candle color(s), you may want to anoint your candle with a specific oil. I suggest lavender, bergamot, rose, or geranium work well with the energy of the waning moon. If you don't have any of these available, a simple carrier oil, like almond or coconut oil, will work just fine. 

Anoint your candle with your oil, hold it in your hands, and impress it with your energy. Repeat this intention or something like it that feels good to you, "I love and accept myself as I am. I am allowed to feel the fullness of my emotions and will let them flow through me. I trust that Spirit will show me what needs to stay and what needs to go. So it is."Light your candle(s) and stay with it as it burns. 

2. Waning Moon Meditation

If you're going to do any of these waning moon rituals, meditation is my top suggestion. I covered this topic in-depth in a previous post, so I'm not going to spend too much time discussing it here. But, if you've followed me for long, you know that I adore meditation. 

Meditation opens you up to your inner world, which is step one in allowance and acceptance. As I said above, you have to take the time to explore your inner landscape before you can truly know what needs to be released. Meditation and internal reflection is the first step in this process.  

Click here to get my free waning moon meditation or here to read my previous blog post on meditating with each moon phase. 

If you'd like to add some supportive crystals to your waning moon meditation, I suggest rose quartz and a grounding stone of choice like obsidian, black tourmaline, or garnet.

3. Waning Moon Card Spread

Use this card spread with your favorite oracle or tarot card deck. These questions can offer guidance on finding more acceptance in your life and suggestions for releasing anything holding you back from your highest good.

If you didn't begin with the candle ritual or meditation suggestion above, take a moment to connect with your breath and ground yourself. 

1. In what area of my life do I need to soften my resistance?

2. What lesson does my resistance have to share with me? 

3. Where can I focus my energy to bring more acceptance into this area of my life? 

4. How can I integrate these lessons into my life?

5. How will I hold myself back if I am unwilling to explore my resistance?

6. What old ideas do I need to shed to come into more wholeness?

Be open and honest as your cards reveal guidance to you. The next ritual can help you uncover any confusion you may have about your reading. If your reading is initially unclear, leave it, be open to signs from Spirit, and revisit it at a later time. 

4. Write and Release

This ritual suggestion works well after performing either the waning moon meditation or waning moon card spread because you should be fresh with emotion and insight. Take some time to write about what came up for you. Alternatively, if tarot and oracle cards aren't your thing, you can use the card reading questions above as journal prompts. 

Writing is a powerful tool for exploring, feeling, processing, and releasing your emotions. Here's a conclusion from a study conducted on the healing benefits of writing: "There is power in written expression and the personal sharing of one's story. Writing shows promise not only as a therapeutic tool during intervention, but as an ongoing avocational activity with many personal and health benefits." 

Try to write without judging what you're writing and let your thoughts and feelings flow. 

Choose to release your writing in a way that feels good to you. You can burn the paper in a fire-proof vessel, bury your text in the earth, release it into a flower body of water (ensure that your paper is compostable if you do this method!), or something else that feels good to you. You cannot do wrong; the purpose of all ritual is to bring meaning and healing to your experience, so trust that the releasing method you select is what will serve you best.

 I hope you feel empowered to love and accept yourself fully, emotions, and all. Dance with all aspects of your being. Know that in each moment, even the uncomfortable ones, there is an opportunity to go deeper and find wholeness.

5 Samhain Rituals + Samhain Correspondences & Card Spread

The ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), celebrated on October 31st and November 1st, marks the end of our seasonal cycle on the Wheel of the Year. This is why it's often referred to as the witch's New Year. Seasonally speaking, Samhain is the third and final harvest of the season or the last rally to store and prepare for the coming Winter season.

This sacred celebration reaches much farther than harvests and is also a time when the veil between the physical and spirit world is at its thinnest. The Celtic people believed that spirits walked among them during this time, so Samhain is accepted as an ideal time to communicate and connect with the spirit realm. Here's a fun drawing I created with ritual suggestions for Samhain. Keep scrolling to learn more about each one. 

Time to pull out all of your favorite intuitive and protective tools! Let's dig into four different ways to connect with this season through ritual. I'll also share correspondences for Samhain and a card spread to use with your favorite tarot or oracle card deck. 

1. Create a Samhain Altar + Samhain Correspondences 

Switching up your altar or sacred space for the seasons is an easy way to bring in each celebration's energy on the Wheel of The Year. Get a quick look at how I do this in this video I shared on Instagram for Mabon. 

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When it comes to changing out your altar, understanding the correspondences (items that carry the similar energy) of Samhain will be helpful. Here's a list of tools and symbols that correspond with Samhain. 

Samhain Correspondences:

• Themes: Releasing, cleansing, divination, protection, the underworld, offerings for ancestors

• Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon

• Crystals: Labradorite, obsidian, onyx, garnet, hematite, amethyst

• Candle Colors: Purple, black, orange, silver

• Tools: Besom (broom), cauldron, any kind of divination tool

• Plants and Scents: Mugwort, cinnamon, clove, patchouli

• Foods: Apples, pomegranate, pumpkins, nuts, meat

• Runes: Algiz, Daggaz, Ansuz, Perthro, Othalo

• Gods and Goddesses: Persephone, all crone Goddesses, Callieach, Cerridwen, and Hecate

To create your altar, select items and symbols from the list above and anything else that personally connects you to this season. Clear and cleanse (both physically and energetically) your altar space, then place your altar items with care and intention. I like to end my altar creation by lighting a candle and saying a prayer for the altar's intention. It could be something like this, but feel free to tailor it to your liking. 

With this altar, I welcome the final harvest season and the thinning of the veil. I remember my loved ones crossed over and all ancestors before them and share this offering as a sign of my gratitude. Myself and my space are protected from any beings that do not have my highest good in mind. So it is. 

2. Sweep away negative energy with a besom

With the thinning of the veil between spirit and physical, it's essential to clear out and protect your space from unwanted energies. I shared a thorough post a few years ago with steps to perform a Samhain house cleansing and blessing; check it out here. Because I already wrote all about performing a house cleansing, I'd like to dive a little deeper into using a besom for Samhain. 

A besom, or broom, is a tool used by witches to cleanse a space energetically. Though your besom can clean physically, it doesn't touch the ground when used as an energy cleansing tool. Simply open a door in your house, sweep right above the floor, and visualize negative energy leaving your space. 

You can make your besom or find them for purchase at certain stores. I usually get mine from Trader Joe's and like to add my own decorations to it. 

3. Connect with your ancestors and give offerings to loved ones in spirit. 

There are cultures worldwide who believe that our loved ones come back at certain times to walk among us. We see this in the Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico, Hungry Ghosts day in China, and in Samhain (to name a few.) 

Samhain offers us a special time to connect with, honor, and remember all those who have come before us. You can do this in various ways, including by connecting with your ancestors for guidance through your intuition, remembering loved ones and ancestors passed on, or giving loved ones in spirit an offering. 

Your altar is a great place to give an offering to any loved ones who've crossed over. An offering to your ancestors could be pictures of them or favorite foods and drinks. You can also connect with ancestors in spirit through meditation and breathwork. Check out this past blog post for steps to work with your ancestors through meditation and breathwork.

Find a guided journey to your ancestors here.

4. Protect yourself!

The thinning veil is a double-edged sword for Samhain. Yes, it is lovely to connect with spirit so easily, but it also leaves you more susceptible to all energies, which may not have your highest good in mind. Because the veil is so thin during this time, take care to protect yourself and your space from any unwelcome energy. 

The featured oracle card deck is The Ritual Deck.

A protection tool that works exceptionally well during Samhain is burning dried mugwort. I shared all about this plant here. Some other favorites are salt for banishing, black candles, and the Rune Algiz. Find even more protection tools and rituals in a previous post here. 

5. Pull out your intuitive tools + Samhain Card Spread

If you want to connect with spirit, set the wheels in motion for a new desire, or want to learn more about yourself from a higher perspective, now's the time to pull out all the stops and dive deep into your intuitive practice. With the thinning veil between spirit and physical, the doors are wide open for profound intuitive growth, shadow work, and spiritual connections. 

Here's a suggested card spread to try out with your favorite tarot or oracle card deck. Samhain tarot or oracle card spread.

1. In what areas of my life do I need more protection?

2. What bonds do I need to break free of in my life?

3. What areas of my life are seeking renewal?

4. In what areas of my life do I need to allow grieving?

5. What messages do my ancestors have for me?

There are endless options for performing intuitive work, but some of my favorites for Samhain are candle spells, scrying, oracle and tarot card readings, and journey work.

Samhain is a truly magical time, and I hope you can feel how special it is with everything I've shared here. Remember, there's nothing to fear. At our core, we are spiritual beings too. This unique time offers us the opportunity to connect with a realm we already know so well, even if we've temporarily forgotten. Samhain blessings, dear one!

5 Rituals for Lammas & Lughnasadh

Lammas, or Lughnasadh, is one of the four cross-quarter days on the Celtic Wheel of the Year. This holiday, celebrated by ancient European pagans, marks the beginning of the harvest season. 

The name Lughnasadh comes from “Lunasa,” which means August in Gaelic. Lammas is the English word for this harvest festival, which is Anglo-Saxon for “loaf mass.” I tend to use both names, as I have both Irish and English ancestry. 

At the beginning of the harvest season, the themes of this holiday are abundance, gratitude, harvest, and honoring the fruits of our labors and intentions throughout the year thus far. 

Honoring the sabbats with ritual is a beautiful way to tune yourself into nature and connect with Mother Earth. Scroll down for 5 Lammas rituals to help you celebrate this day! 

1. Meditate to connect with Lugh. This holiday is associated with the sun god Lugh (which you can see in the name Lughnasadh). Lugh is a warrior deity in Celtic mythology known for being skilled in many things, including fighting, building, and the arts. 

For this ritual, sit in meditation (ideally, outside under the sun if that’s possible for you) and ask to connect with the energy of Lugh. In my practice, I like to work with deities energetically as archetypes that are already within myself, but please, do whatever works for you! You can ask Lugh to share a message with you, ask him to share his skills in a specific area you need help with, simply offer him gratitude, or bring forward another question specific to you.

Bask in Lugh’s energy until you feel complete, offer gratitude, and close your meditation with a few deep belly breaths.

You can find a meditation for Lughnasadh here to help you harvest the fruits of your labor over the previous year and tune into the energy of pride.

2. Explore what you are harvesting in your life at this time. Try this tarot or oracle card spread for deeper clarity around the abundance in your life right now. 

• What I am harvesting at this time 

• The roots of this harvest (aka, what happened to make this harvest possible internally and externally?)

• How to step into the energy of gratitude 

• How to continue to create abundance in my life 

Spend some time meditating with your cards or journaling about their meanings to go deeper. 

3. Support local farmers. I love when ritual becomes tangible and infused with life, and this is one of those rituals! Ask yourself how you can support local farmers in your life. Perhaps you’d like to commit to doing a CSA next year or buying some portion of your food locally. Perhaps you can go to the farmer’s market, purchase some things and get to know your local farmers. Get creative and support those who make our physical harvest possible every day. 

4. Bake a loaf of bread. Associated with grains, this is the perfect day to bake a fresh loaf of bread. Do this with loved ones if you’d like for a more collaborative process, and infuse intentions of gratitude and abundance into the baking process. Share the bread with your loved ones afterward, and talk about what the themes of this holiday mean to you.  

5. Make an altar. Making an altar is a beautiful way to honor any sabbat. Get creative and make it your own! To inspire your own creativity, here are some ideas of things you might like to put on your altar:

• Bread or grains 

• Yellow, orange, red, or brown candles

• Local, seasonal fresh vegetables 

• Your tarot cards from the spread above

• The 8 of Pentacles, 10 of Pentacles, or any other cards that represent harvest, abundance, and gratitude to you 

• An ear of corn 

• Sunflowers

• Citrine, pyrite, or tiger eye

To learn more about the different sabbats on the wheel of the year (plus, get a free printable), click here. Learn more about the intersection of the first harvest season, Leo season, and Lughnasadh and the history of the Celtic God Lugh here. 

A Card Spread for Empaths

I've been on a writing break after completing three new books this year. Today I'm dipping my toe back in and sharing a baby blog post with you! I've been feeling called to talk more about processing emotions as an empath. I'm not going to dive into what an empath is, because I've already shared a post all about it, here.

With all that's happening in the collective, you might be feeling like your energy is constantly being bombarded. I have a secret for you. It feels like this because that's basically what's happening. The intensity of emotions arising in the collective, whether people are aware of it or not, is affecting you, especially if you identify as an empath. 

So, what's a super-sensy empath to do? Though it might be tempting to crawl in bed, zone out on Netflix, or enjoy some other form of escapism, I'm going to ask you to do the opposite. The dense and heavy emotions floating around like fear, anger, and judgment really need your full attention. 

Hear me out. Rest is 100% necessary and needed, but so is an equal amount of action, especially right now. It's fine to zone out sometimes, just don't stay there. This world needs you and your unique spirit!

Today, I'm going to share a sweet and simple little empath card spread with you. This card spread is a tool to help you "check-in" with your energy. If you're feeling a little off, this card spread is your call to pause and tune into your energy. Use whichever deck feels best to you. I've performed it with my Ritual Deck and Starchild Tarot Deck and have received wisdom and healing from both. 

Here's the spread. As always, before you perform any spiritual work, take a moment to ground and center. Whatever that means for you, maybe take a few breaths, meditate, or visualize your connection to Mother Earth. 

1. What stuck energy is keeping me from growing? 

2. What do I need to invite in to help process my energy? 

3. In what areas of my life does my energy need more protection? 

4. How can I use my empathic abilities to be of service? 

Looking for more tools? Check out an older blog post I shared here, for eight suggestions to thrive as an empath. Purchase an Energy Reset Meditation Bundle here if you need some extra support. 

3 Rituals for Letting Go

What is your relationship with letting go?

Ritual and magical practice can help us with more than manifesting, attracting, and calling in. It can also help us shed, let go, and transform ourselves and parts of our lives. The winter season invites us to incubate, release, and hibernate. It is an ideal time for release work (as well as the fall!). The phases of the moon that correspond to release are all the waning phases - the waning gibbous moon, the last quarter moon, the waning crescent moon, and the dark moon. Learn more about the phases of the moon with The Ritual Deck (pictured below.)

Before we get into the rituals, I also want to add that we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to let go of things, and I want to honor that letting go can be really hard. Especially if what we’re letting go of has been something we have loved and cherished but is no longer a fit, feels comfortable, and/or feels safe. 

So please, be gentle with yourself, be kind to yourself, and let release happen on your own timeline. 

Keep scrolling to find a few rituals to support you in letting go.

MOON RITUAL FOR LETTING GO

Our sweet, gorgeous moon is more than just an archetype, a deity, or energy. She is a real living body just like the Earth that we can go outside and look at, connect with, and talk to. I think sometimes we forget this but this is one of my favorite practices! 

This is ideal to do when the moon is in its waning phases but still visible (so not the dark moon). 

For this ritual, what you’ll need is yourself, an offering for the moon, and clarity on what you’re releasing. Your offering could be anything - a plate of your dinner, a glass of water, a branch, a flower, a drawing, a song - let your intuition guide you and go with what feels right. 

When you have your offering, it’s ideal to go outside and sit or stand under the moon. If it’s really cold out or you don’t have space outdoors to do this, you can also sit by a window - that works just as well! 

Take some time to center and ground yourself, entering a ritual space. Turn your gaze to the moon, ask to connect with her, and share your offering with her. Spend some time gazing at her and share your offering with her in whatever way feels good to you.

When you’re ready, tell her what you’re desiring to release. Ask for her help letting go. Sit in meditation, drawing down her energy and light through your crown and your whole body, letting this energy fill you up and either help you release whatever you’re desiring to release internally (blocks, fears, internal limits, ways of talking to self, etc), or charge you with the courage and power to release externally (a relationship, a job, a situation, project, etc.). 

When you feel the energy shift, you know you’re finished! Thank the moon, ground yourself again, and spend some time journaling and processing afterward. 

TAROT OR ORACLE SPREAD FOR LETTING GO

For this ritual, you’ll need your tarot or oracle deck and journal. Take some time to create a ritual space, whatever that means to you, and ground yourself before working with your cards. Set the intention to communicate with your highest self, spirit guides, ancestors, intuition, or any other deities or beings you had a relationship with.

Once you’re fully present, shuffle your deck and pull cards for the following questions:

1. What do I need to let go of at this time?

2. Why do I need to let go?

3. What is on the other side of this release?

4. Supportive energies to connect with to help me let go.

Take your time with each card, really letting its messages move through you. I find it incredibly helpful to either meditate with my cards or journal about each card and what the spread means to me. I always get more information and a deeper understanding this way.

When you feel complete, it could be nice to add the cards to your altar - particularly the first and third cards - to support you throughout the release. 

CANDLE MAGICK FOR LETTING GO

I love working with fire in spells and rituals, so naturally, I love candle magick! Fire is such a powerful element with its ability to transform and transmute - think of how fire turn logs into ash. It helps things change shape, die, and transform. 

For this spell, you’ll need a black candle, a tarot card or oracle card representing what you’re releasing, and a safety pin to carve your candle.

Start by grounding yourself and casting your circle. Call in any supportive deities, guides, or other beings you have a connection with to join your circle and help you.

Next, you’ll want to intentionally choose the card from your deck that most represents what you’re releasing at this time. Take your time with this and really make sure you’re clear on what you’re desiring to release.

Once you have your card, it’s time to carve your candle. Carve into your candle any words and/or symbols that represent letting go to you. For example, I like to carve the glyph for Pluto into my candles when I work with releasing spells. Pluto represents change, rebirth, and transformation. Symbols and words work best when they’re personal to you, so don’t worry as much about the technical meaning and just intuitively choose what feels right to you!

Once your candle is ready, set it up with your card under it and take a few deep breaths. Speak your intention aloud as you light your candle, saying, “As I light this candle, I release X.” You might like to spend some time gazing into the candle flame as you focus on this intention.

Then, it’s time to raise energy. You can raise energy however feels good to you - you might chant, sing, dance, do breathwork, or use any other tool that feels good to you. As your candle burns, you are raising energy in order to support this release.

When you feel the energy is at its peak, direct it with your intention towards releasing whatever it is you are releasing from your body, from your life. 

When you feel complete, ground yourself again. Let the candle burn all the way down, thank any beings who joined you to help facilitate this release, and re-open your circle. Spend some time processing in your journal afterward, writing down what came up for you and what you felt.

Three Dark Moon Rituals

The dark moon is one of my personal favorite times of the cycle. It’s the last few days of the waning time of the cycle, when the moon continues to shrink and eventually disappears from the sky.

Different traditions honor the dark moon at different times. Personally, I honor the dark moon when you can’t see the moon at all in the sky--which is technically the new moon. Others honor the dark moon the last few days before the new moon. I recommend using your intuition and noticing how you feel during these days to understand when to honor the dark moon versus new moon.

So what is the dark moon all about?

The dark moon is our time for radical rest, for deep clearing and releasing, and turning within. This is the time to cancel plans, to do shadow work, to go to sleep early and wake up late, and to pull tarot or oracle cards to tune in to your inner voice.

Keep scrolling for a few rituals to consider working with at this time.

WATER SPELL FOR CLEARING

One of my favorite spells to work during the dark moon is this simple water spell. Water is a helpful element for cleansing and purification, and this spell works especially well when the dark moon is in a water sign--Pisces, Cancer, or Scorpio. You’ll need:

• A large glass of water

• A piece of paper and pen

To start, choose what you’re focusing on releasing. Maybe there are blocks to self-expression, fear of being rejected, shame around your path, or blocks to abundance. Once you’ve decided what you’re ready to release (you’re welcome to spend some time journaling on this to get clear), start making a list of all the limiting beliefs and stories that you hold associated with this block.For example, let’s say you’re working with clearing blocks to abundance. Your list might hold beliefs like:

• I can’t make money doing what I love

• People with money are jerks

• It’s wrong to have money when other people have so little, etc.

Keep letting the beliefs flow! I tend to fill up a whole page when I do this spell.

Once you have your list, it’s time to work the spell. Ground yourself, cast your circle, and pick up your list. You’re going to say the first belief out loud, starting with “I clear the belief that ________ from my body” and then taking a big sip of water. Pause and notice, feeling and visualizing the water moving through your body, cleansing this belief from your system on every level.

Repeat this for each belief on your list, taking your time and really feeling the beliefs move out of your body.

Card featured from The Ritual Deck

When you’re done, use the energy of your palms to charge your last sip of water with what you do want - abundance, healthy self-expression, creativity, etc. - and feel your whole body being charged with this intention by the power of the element of water.

Give thanks to water and the Universe for their help, ground yourself again and open your circle.

CANDLE MAGICK FOR RELEASING

For this spell, you’ll need:

• Black taper candle

• Carving tool like a sharp point crystal, toothpick, or athame

• Black tourmaline, smoky quartz, or petrified wood

• A simple oil like grapeseed or bergamot essential oil

• Rosemary

Start by cleansing all of your items for the spell. This can be done by wafting rosemary smoke over them or visualizing light cleansing them.

For this spell, you’ll be carving what you’re releasing into your candle as well as the glyph for Pluto, the planet that helps things die and be transformed. For your words, keep them simple and powerful by carving the basics of what you’re releasing like “fear” or “self-doubt.”

Anoint your candle with your oil and roll it in your dried rosemary. As you carve and anoint your candle, visualize your all of whatever you’re releasing - your fear or your self-doubt as in the example above - pouring into the candle.

Place your crystal(s) and candle on your altar, light your candle, and start meditating on the flame. Continue to visualize all that you’re releasing pouring into the candle, and watch as it burns and turns to smoke. Stay with this meditation until you feel a shift in your energy - until you really feel a release.

Let the candle burn out if you can or snuff out the candle and continue the same spell each night until the candle has burned completely.

SHADOW WORK TAROT OR ORACLE SPREAD

The dark moon is a deep invitation into shadow work.

What is shadow work?

Simply put, it’s an intentional exploration of our shadow side - the parts of ourselves that we reject, that we’re ashamed of, that we stuff down and hide. Click here to learn more about shadow work if you’re new to it!

For this ritual, you’ll want to create a ritual space - whatever that means to you. For me, it usually means cleansing my space with smoke beforehand, lighting incense, and lighting candles. Maybe you also like to take an essential oil bath beforehand, or sprinkle herbs in a circle around you.

All you’ll need for this ritual is:

• A journal and pen

• Your tarot or oracle cards

Spend a few moments grounding yourself, then shuffle your cards and pull a card for each of these questions:

• What part of my shadow is rising to the surface to be worked with?

• How has rejecting this part of myself manifested in my life?

• How can I show this part of myself more love and integrate it into my whole self?

Give yourself the gift of sitting with your cards after you pull them. Spend time meditating on your cards, journaling about them, or even painting with them to process and understand what their messages are for you.

Using the Cardinal Directions in Ritual

The cardinal directions, North, South, East, and West, can help you with more than navigation. Each direction holds a meaning of its own and corresponds to one of the four elements. There are both simple and complex ways of using the cardinal directions in ritual.

A variety of cultures honor the cardinal directions. This article is looking at them from a Pagan and Wiccan perspective. The four directions are often used by Native Americans on the medicine wheel. Neither way is wrong or right, just different, and for different purposes.

Read on for meanings and three ways to start using the cardinal directions in your magickal practices.

Connection to the Four Elements

Each direction corresponds to one of the four elements; understanding these connections can help you better understand the energy of each direction.

• North corresponds to Earth

• East corresponds to Air

• South corresponds to Fire

• West corresponds to Water

A quick note about these correspondences. The elemental correspondences can vary depending on your location, cultural background, or intuition. Catherine Beyer explains this in her article The Five Element Symbols of Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Spirit.

The Golden Dawn originated in England, and the directional/elemental correspondences reflect a European perspective. To the south are the warmer climates, and thus is associated with fire. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the west. The north is cold and formidable, a land of the earth but sometimes not a lot else.

If these correspondences don’t feel right to you, that’s ok! For example, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you may find that the correspondences feel off. You can reassign the elements in a way that feels natural to you or is in better alignment with your cultural background.

Direction meanings

Here’s a more in-depth look at some meanings and correspondences of each direction.

North

• Physical body

• Health

• Chakra: Root

• Element: Earth

• Color: Green

East

• New beginnings

• Change

• Transmission of information

• Chakra: Third Eye and Throat

• Element: Air

• Color: Yellow

South

• Hardships

• Challenges

• Willpower

• Chakra: Solar Plexus

• Element: Fire

• Color: Red

West

• Emotions

• Endings

• Self-worth

• Chakra: Heart and Sacral

• Element: Water

• Color: Blue

Three ways to use the cardinal directions in ritual

1. Add a layer of meaning to your ritual

The easiest way to start implementing the cardinal directions into your magickal practice is by facing the direction that makes the most sense for what you’re doing. This idea can be applied to oracle and tarot card readings, candle magick, ritual, spellwork, meditation, or working with the moon.

Here are a few examples:

• Face North if you’re doing a meditation focused on your health.

• Face East if you’re performing a card reading for the new moon because the new moon represents new beginnings.

• Face South if you’re asking your guides about how to overcome a problem.

• Face West if you’re doing a ritual to help you let go of something.

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2. Calling the quarters for protection

The next time you’re practicing a ritual or psychic work start by calling on the four directions, this is also referred to as “calling the quarters.” Calling the quarters will bring you protection and the energy of all of the elements during your practice. It’s also said to create a sacred space that is connected to the spirit realm.

There’s more than one way to call the quarters. A quick google search will offer you a variety of options, but here’s one way:

Imagine each direction as a wind that you’re invoking into your space. You can even imagine a specific Goddess or God for each direction. As you call in each direction, stand facing the direction you’re calling in and ask it to join you for your ritual practice. Many like to start by calling in the North winds first because it will keep your ritual grounded. Rotate in a circle, going through each direction, asking it to join you. When you’re done performing your ritual work, release the winds, and thank them for their assistance and protection.

3. Altar placement

Whether you’re creating a new altar or updating your current altar, the direction it’s facing will have an effect on it. Try to place your altar in a direction that matches the season of life you’re in or want to be in.

Has your altar or sacred space been in the same location for a long time? It might be a time to rearrange and face your altar in a direction that’s in better alignment with your life. Check the meanings for the directions above and note which one feels like where you’re at or want to be right now.

How to Create Oracle Card Spreads For Any Purpose

Wherever you’re seeking guidance, your oracle cards can help! Oracle cards are an intuitive tool that can help you gain daily wisdom or insights on significant life challenges. Though I’m partial to my oracle card deck, The Ritual Deck, you can apply this to any oracle card deck you’d like or, your favorite tarot cards.

Hint: Learn more about the difference between tarot and oracle cards here.

If you’re new to the world of oracle cards no need to be intimidated, you’re in the right place to learn how to perform oracle card readings for any issue.If you’re a seasoned oracle card reader, let’s breathe some new life into your card reading practice!

Bonus: Keep reading for links to download a free oracle card cheat sheet for love and a new moon.

Asking The Right Kinds of Questions

As is the case with most intuitive tools, oracle cards included, they will rarely give you a simple black and white answer. Your guides and higher self can help lead you but don’t expect definitive answers. Your life is your life, and you lead the way.

For example, if you’re trying to find a romantic partner. Instead of asking your cards, “When will I find love,” think about the different aspects involved with finding a partner and what you could focus on to manifest more love in your life.

Here are some possible questions to ask your oracle cards when looking for love:

Love 5-Card Spread

• How can I love myself more?

• What areas of my life should I focus on to find love?

• What should I look for in a partner?

• What is holding me back from receiving love?

• What is holding me back from finding a romantic partner?

Click here to receive a printable card layout for the 5-card love spread.

Sample Questions

Here are some open-ended sample questions that work well for oracle card readings.

• How can I invite more ____________ into my life?

• How can I overcome my fear of _____________ ?

• Am I going in the right direction with _____________ ?

• How can I let go of ____________ ?

• What should I focus on today?

• What should I focus on during this moon cycle?

• Where can I find more __________ in my life?

• What is blocking me from ____________ ?

• What is preventing me from manifesting ______________ ?

• In what ways am I holding myself back?

• How can I be in better alignment with my purpose?

How Many Cards Should I Pull?

You can pull one card or twenty cards. Your card readings can be as in-depth as you need them to be. It can be helpful to have an idea of what questions you’d like to ask before starting so you know about how many cards you’ll want to pull. That said, selecting multiple cards may lead to more questions! If more questions pop up, pull away, sister.

Designs & Cardinal Directions

Laying your cards out in a specific design isn’t necessary but can impart an added layer of meaning to your card reading. A simple design suggestion is to arrange your cards in an upward or downward-facing triangle. An upward- facing triangle will add masculine energy to your reading, and a downward-facing triangle will add feminine energy to your reading.

Click here to download the new moon card reading guide pictured above.

The four cardinal directions are another way to add meaning to your reading. Face yourself and your cards in a specific direction to add more meaning in this way. Here’s a quick description of how each direction can affect your reading.

• North: Issues related to the physical body

• East: Issues related to new beginnings

• South: Issues related to challenges or blocks

• West: Issues related to emotions

Let’s recap! Here are seven simple steps for creating oracle card spreads.

Steps to Perform an Oracle Card Reading

1. In what areas of your life are you seeking guidance? It’s always helpful to go into a reading with a plan. Without an idea of what you need guidance on your message may be unclear.

2. What question(s) could you ask that might shed light on this issue? Write them down beforehand to help stay on topic as you perform your reading.

3. Get quiet, breathe deep, and call on your guides and higher self to help you select cards.

4. Optional: Lay cards in a specific pattern that is meaningful to your topic.

5. Optional: Face a specific direction as you perform your card reading.

6. Pull your cards. Try not to judge the cards and what they might mean for you until you’re finished and can take in the entire reading.

7. Decipher your reading with an open mind using your intuition and any guidebooks for the deck(s) you’re using. Welcome nudges from your higher self and guides and be open to signs as you move about your day that may be related to your message.

What If My Message Didn’t Make Sense?

Didn’t receive the message you were hoping for or expecting? Before you doubt the cards, wait a few days, and look for signs. Often, you’ll find that the message you received was exactly what you needed and it will usually make itself apparent. If you wait a few days and the message is still unclear, try clearing your mind with a short meditation and asking your higher self or guides to make the message more clear and do another card pull.

I hope you feel empowered to perform meaningful card readings for yourself and others!

Four Abundance Rituals

Do you want to call in more abundance? You’re in the right place! Abundance can come in so many forms and means many different things to different people. Abundance could be time, money, freedom, or anything else that makes you personally feel abundant!

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing four rituals to help you connect with the abundance that’s always available to you. Keep scrolling to read them!

ABUNDANCE CRYSTAL GRID

Crystal grids are a beautiful tool for manifesting more abundance in your life! The ideal time to set up your abundance grid is at the new moon, and you can leave it up until the full moon.

Start by gathering your stones and cleansing them. Your abundance besties in the crystal kingdom are aventurine, citrine, quartz, moss agate, tiger eye, and kyanite! Try one of each stone, although if you have more than one, that’s great, too.

You’ll place your citrine stone in the center and arrange your other stones radiating out around the citrine in a way that feels good to use. Use the crystal grid in the Goddess Discovery Book or place your stones on a cloth or table.

As you place each stone, keep an image in your mind’s eye of what you’re trying to attract. Ask yourself how you’ll feel when you receive the abundance you’re requesting.

After all your stones are in place, trace your crystals with a pointed quartz. Imagine the quartz connecting your crystals and unifying their energy. Try to connect with your grid daily until the full moon!

ABUNDANCE SPELL BAG

Spell bags, known in Voodoo as “gris-gris,” or to Native Americans as “medicine bags,” are one of my favorite ways to make magick. The waxing moon is the best time to do any abundance spell work, so try to do each of these rituals then if you can!Here’s what you’ll need to make a spell bag for abundance:

• Basil or a sprinkle of cinnamon

• 10 of Pentacles tarot card (or a copy of this tarot card if you don’t want to put the actual card in the bag!)

• A knob of ginger

• Honey calcite, pyrite, citrine, or green aventurine

• Anything else that represents abundance to you. For example, if you work for yourself you might include a printout of an email where a client booked a session with you.

Spend some time with your spell bag to infuse your energy into it. Hold it in your hands as you meditate on abundance, and breathe into it before you pull it closed!

ABUNDANCE CANDLE MAGICK

You can work with the magic of fire to help you call more abundance into your life! If you’ve never done candle magick before, read this blog to learn how to get started.For this spell, you’ll need:

• Green candle

• Carving tool like a sharp point crystal, toothpick, or athame.

• Tiger eye, citrine, and green aventurine

• Patchouli or frankincense oil

• Coins or money

Start by cleansing all of your items for the spell. This can be done by wafting herbal smoke over them or visualizing white light cleansing them.

For this spell, you’ll be carving the Fehu Rune into your candle. Fehu is a powerful symbol of abundance. If you’d prefer to carve a specific dollar amount or item you’re hoping to attain you could carve this into the candle too.

Anoint your candle with the oil of your choice. As you carve and anoint your candle, visualize your abundance goal.

Arrange your crystals, money, and candle in a place where you can leave it up for a few nights. Light your candle and meditate on the flame. Visualize your abundance goal clearly, imagine yourself reaching your goal and what it would feel like to attain it.

You can continue this until the entire candle burns or snuff out the candle and continue the same ritual each night until the candle has burned completely.

Bonus! You can get this spell as a free printable spell card (along with spells for love, letting go, and connecting with your intuition) here.

ABUNDANCE TAROT or ORACLE CARD SPREAD

Turn to tarot or oracle to understand your blocks to abundance and what you can do to connect to more abundance. You can create a ritual space by grounding yourself first, lighting candles, burning herbs or incense, or doing anything else that feels right to you.

Cards from the Journey Tarot Kit

When you feel grounded and centered, shuffle your cards while holding the intention to connect with the wisdom of your highest self. Draw cards for each of the following questions:

• What belief system or patterns blocks me from the abundance I desire?

• How to release this belief system or pattern

• How to open myself up to greater abundance

• My mantra for calling in abundance

Spend some time journaling with your cards and meditating on your mantra card. If you’d like, you can place your mantra card on your altar!

4 Ways to Honor the Winter Solstice

The winter solstice marks the longest night of the year, and so we traditionally associate it with darkness.

But it’s also the beginning of the waxing phase of the year, as the days start to get longer and nights start to get shorter. We are reminded that light always follows dark. The balance begins to shift, the wheel of the year turns back again.

This sabbat, also known as Yule, is a time for us to connect with our darkness and alchemize it into lessons, into medicine, for the year to come.

Below are some ways to honor this sacred holiday.

Journaling prompts

Create a quiet, safe space (candles are recommended!) and let yourself free write to the questions below with no editing. No one’s going to read your answers but you!

• Write a love letter to your darkness.

• What am I most ashamed of? How can I transmute this shame into a source of power and love?

• What part of me do I want to feed and grow?

Tarot or oracle spread

Pull out your tarot or oracle deck and set the intention for your highest self tospeak to you through the cards. Give them a shuffle, and pull a card for each of the questions below. I recommend writing down the spread and the cards you pull, as well as your interpretations of them.

• What shadow wants to work with me?

• How does it want to be worked with?

• Advice for moving through shadow

• What wants to be born from my darkness?

• Advice for birthing whatever needs to come through

• Message from my inner child at this time

Lay out the cards in two rows of three like so. The deck featured here is The Ritual Deck.

Create an altar

Creating an altar is a beautiful way to honor any sabbat. Let this be an intuitive, creative process and place anything there that feels good to you! Some ideas to spark your creativity are:

• Your Death and Temperance tarot cards

• A Yule log or branch

• Holly or mistletoe

• An evergreen wreath to symbolize the wheel of the year

• Any red, green, or white crystals that you’d like (I love carnelian for red, selenite for white, and moss agate or malachite for green)

• Ash, frankincense, and any other sun herbs you like

• Pine cones

• White and silver candles

• A representation of something in your shadow that you’d like to honor and alchemize this year

Painting

One of my favorite ways to work with my subconscious these days is intuitive painting. Get out your paints, paper, and allow whatever wants to come through you as you focus on the winter solstice and what it means to you. Try not to focus on how it looks— no one needs to see it but you!

After you finish, you could place it on your altar.

Below is an infographic with a visual representation of rituals for Yule

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Want to learn more about the different sabbats on the wheel of the year? Click here to learn more about the wheel of the year and download your free wheel of the year printable.

3 Ways to Use The Ritual Deck

The Ritual Deck is here! Here are tips and tools you can use to jump in and start using your deck as soon as you receive it. Update 2022: The original Ritual Deck is currently discontinued but we’re working on having a similar version eventually!

Ritual has the power to ground you, help you manifest your desires, and unlock your intuitive abilities. I created this deck to help you tap into the power of ritual on a regular basis without needing to purchase several supplies.
There are three main ways to use The Ritual Deck.

1. As a traditional oracle card deck for regular guidance from the cards.

2. Unique card spreads designed specifically for performing the rituals you need most.

3. The cards themselves act as energetic stand-ins for ritual, perfect for spell work or placing on your altar.

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I’m going to share a few ways to start using your deck here but keep in mind, The Ritual Deck comes with a robust guidebook that goes into greater detail on all three of these methods. The guidebook includes much more than I can offer here in one blog post! Beyond the guidebook, this deck is incredibly versatile, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find more uses than what is outlined in the guidebook.

Oracle Card Pulls with The Ritual Deck

First and foremost The Ritual Deck is an oracle card deck. Use it for daily card pulls to receive a message for the day or bigger oracle card spreads to find guidance on more significant questions you may have.

The triad card spreads outlined in the guidebook is a common one for oracle card decks because it has so many applications. Apply the triad card spread to any of the situations you’d like more guidance on:

Steps to perform a triad card spread:

1. Hold the cards in your hands and focus on your question.

2. Shuffle your cards.

3. Call in any guides, Gods, or Goddesses you work with to help (optional).

4. Turn over the top three cards in a straight line or in a “v” shape as pictured below. The “v” shape indicates that you’d like to bring more feminine energy into your reading.

5. Apply the chart above to your three cards and reference the guidebook for more information on each card you selected.

As an example, let’s pretend that your question is, “What is holding me back from my goal to find a new job?”. The first card represents your desire to find a new job, the second card represents what might be blocking you, and the last card references how your problem may culminate. You’d then be able to dig deeper into the meaning of each card in the guidebook.

Card Spreads for Ritual with The Ritual Deck

The Ritual Deck offers several unique spreads specifically based around rituals that can help you balance your chakras, follow the phases of the moon, balance the five elements within you or your space, and more. Here are the steps for practicing the five-element card spread.

The five elements are energies within you and outside of you that can help you feel more balanced. They can also be used to bring in a specific kind of energy you’re seeking. For example, if you’re trying to accomplish a goal on a short deadline you may want to bring in more of the fire element.

To perform the element card spread follow these steps:

Place the earth card North, the air card East, the fire card South, the water card West, and the spirit card in the center.

Next, use the correspondences on the bottom of the cards to sort the cards by element. For example, all of the cards with a correspondence of water will go in a pile together.

Place each pile on top of its corresponding element, shuffle the cards, and place them face down.

Starting with the top earth element card pile select a card. This will be the ritual you perform to balance your earth element. Continue around the circle selecting one card from each pile until you end in the center at the spirit element.

This card spread can be modified for just one element, and you can decide to pull as many ritual cards from each pile as you’d like! Space your rituals out over a few days, trying to do all of them at once may be overwhelming.

There are similar card spreads outlined in the guidebook for balancing your chakras and performing rituals for every moon phase.

Using Your Cards as Energetic Stand-Ins

Your mind is a powerful tool. By believing that these cards carry the same capacity as the actual objects, they will. I do not mean to discredit the power of real crystals and tools — they are potent healers that I use and adore, but it may not be convenient or possible to find all of the physical tools you need in a given moment for a ritual. That’s why I created this deck: to provide you with the tools you need to perform regular rituals and be transformed by them.

For example, if you’re trying to bring more feminine energy into your daily practice you could place these three cards on your altar as reminders.

Or, if you’re performing a manifesting ritual and need specific tools to perform a spell or ritual, you can use cards that align with manifesting as stand-ins rather than acquiring several different physical objects.

I hope you enjoy these tips for getting started with your deck! Of course, if you have any questions about using your deck you can contact us. Click here to read a blog post all about chakra readings with The Ritual Deck.

How to Balance Your Throat Chakra & Know When It's Blocked

When your throat chakra, Visuddha, is balanced, you’re able to speak your authentic truth from a place of love. You set loving and firm boundaries, and stick by them. You’re able to find your voice and share your unique gifts with the world. You trust that what needs to come through you will come, and you don’t get stuck in self-judgment or self-doubt wondering if you should or shouldn’t say something.

So many of us get blocked at our throat chakra. When your throat chakra is blocked, it may show up as:

• Holding back from saying what you’re thinking and feeling

• Not standing up for yourself

• Not having strong boundaries

• Being afraid to be seen for who you are

• Having a sore throat, neck pain, or hoarseness in your throat

• Fear of being judged for what you say

• Having trouble listening to others

• Always needing to have the last word

Scroll down to look through some simple tips for opening your throat chakra.

Featured card from The Ritual Deck

Yoga Poses

Any yoga pose that stretches your throat is going to be really opening for Visuddha. Try one of my favorites below!

Upward-facing dog

Lift your chin and breathe deeply into your throat space. Try holding this pose for a few breaths instead of just flowing through it on your way from plank to downward facing dog.

Heart-to-Earth pose

Try heart-to-earth pose coming onto your chin instead of your forehead. This is a really deep stretch, so have blocks or blankets nearby to help you if you need them!

Camel pose

If your neck is healthy, try releasing your head instead of keeping your chin tucked. Bring your awareness to your breath flowing through your throat, dissolving any blockages.

Crystals

Working with crystals can be a beautiful tonic for your throat chakra. Try laying on your back and placing one of these crystals on your throat, sleeping with them by your pillow, or simply meditating holding one of them in your non-dominant hand.

• Sodalite to help you express yourself, set boundaries, and grow your self-worth and self-esteem

• Celestite to promote peace and soothe anxiety

• Lapis lazuli to help you communicate effectively

Scents

Plants are here for us as medicine, so let’s use them. Pick your favorite essential oil (or two, or three!) from the list below and diffuse it, make a rollerball to use on your skin, or put drops in your bath.

• Jasmine for greater communication

• Clary sage to allow energy to flow more freely through your body

• Cypress for transformation and renewal

• Eucalyptus to promote inner freedom and expansiveness

Work with Tarot Archetypes

Queen of Swords and King of Swords can be your inspiration for opening your throat chakra. The Queen of Swords helps you do the inner work you need to understand why your throat chakra is blocked, and the King of Swords reminds you that you do have something unique to share and that what you have to offer can only come through you.Try this Queen of Swords inspired tarot spread to help you understand why you might be energetically blocked in this area:

• What am I afraid will happen if I speak my truth?

• The wound or shadow underneath this blockage

• Advice for healing this blockage

• Why am I afraid to set boundaries?

• The wound or shadow underneath this blockage

• Advice for healing this blockage

• Mantra for working with the throat chakra

Journal about anything that comes up for you as you pull these cards. Place the Queen of Swords and King of Swords on your altar to remind you to speak your truth.

Meditate

I find that the heart chakra and throat chakra are so connected. If your heart space is closed, you’ll feel disconnected from your truth and not even sure what boundaries need to be set, so how can you speak your truth and set boundaries?

Try coming to a comfortable seat, closing your eyes, and placing one hand on your heart and one hand on your throat. Send your breath to your heart space, simply visualizing it arriving there and filling your entire heart with prana, life force energy.

When your heart feels full, begin to send your breath to your throat. Visualize your breath flooding this area, dissolving any blockages with love. Continue breathing into your throat space for as long as you feel you need.

You can also use this guided meditation to balance your throat chakra

Affirmations & Mantras

The bija mantra for the throat chakra is ham (pronounced “hum”). Try chanting that mantra, silently or out loud (out loud is super powerful!), or work with one of the affirmations below:

• I speak my truth with love

• I set firm boundaries easily

• I clearly state my needs

• My truth is love

• I speak my feelings easily

• I claim and honor my truth

• I release judgment over what I did or didn’t say

Play with Color

The color associated with the throat chakra is blue. Try incorporating this color into your life more! Some ideas to spark your creativity:

• Paint with different shades of blue

• Eat blue foods such as blueberries, blackberries, and plums

• Write in a blue journal with a blue pen

• Light blue candles

• Wear blue clothing