Join us tomorrow for our public prayer group! Click here for details.
June 29, 2010: 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time in the Spellmaker.com chatroom
(that is 8:00 p.m. Central time, 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time, and 6:00 p.m. Pacific time).
"Courage is fears that have said their prayers."
~~Dorothy Bernard
It
is time for our free Papa Alegba rituals to be done in our
Spellmaker offices! We will do this ritual in our office on June 13,21,
and 29, 2010. You can be included in this ritual in many different
ways: You can send in an email and ask for your petition to
be presented in our rituals. There is no cost for this! You can also
choose to do the ritual below on that to tap into the group energy of
the days we will be working or on any other day you desire – also free!
You can also choose to use Papa's Ritual Pack on any or all
of his special feast day or any other day you desire! You can use his
special bath on these days! You can use his special oil and
incense and do a ritual of your own to honor him! There are lots of
ways for you to participate at this special time of year when Papa
Alegba is being honored all over the world! The choice is completely
yours!
For details please click here!
Its not too late to join in! Hope to "see" you there!
I was finishing up some lamp work for a dear client yesterday, and had to take a picture of this vial of oil. It looked so pretty with the herbs, I really wanted to share this with you all.
In Service,
Sister Bridget
It
is time for our free Papa Alegba rituals to be done in our
Spellmaker offices! We will do this ritual in our office on June 13,21,
and 29, 2010. You can be included in this ritual in many different
ways: You can send in an email and ask for your petition to
be presented in our rituals. There is no cost for this! You can also
choose to do the ritual below on that to tap into the group energy of
the days we will be working or on any other day you desire – also free!
You can also choose to use Papa's Ritual Pack on any or all
of his special feast day or any other day you desire! You can use his
special bath on these days! You can use his special oil and
incense and do a ritual of your own to honor him! There are lots of
ways for you to participate at this special time of year when Papa
Alegba is being honored all over the world! The choice is completely
yours!
For details please click here!
Its not too late to join in! Hope to "see" you there!
Perseverance seems to be a theme near and dear to me lately. When I came across this poem by Maya Angelou, it really spoke to me….I hope you find some inspiration in it as well.
In Service,
Sister Bridget
by Maya Angelou
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise. I rise.
Hey There!
Those of you who wrote in with your favorite songs for Ogoun, Thank You!
I know there are several of you, and there were comments posted in several places (here, FB, etc)
Those who wrote (and you know who you are!) please write me directly at bridget@spellmaker.com to get your prize 😉
Light and Love
Sister Bridget
What is life without happiness and contentment? Full of stress. Meditation is one of many ways to deal with stress. Meditation cannot be well described, it can be experienced, tho!
While medications bring in side effects to any problem, the side effects of meditation only include confidence, positivity, self-belief,
contentment, patience and sorry to pause but they are really countless
(many which you may never be able to express to anyone).
For beginners, there are some simple steps to help you reap the immense benefits of meditation:
Counting your Breaths
This is perhaps the simplest meditation technique for beginners.
Concentrate
on your each breath that goes in and out. This helps you tap its
rhythm, it is in fact but natural to find it hard to concentrate. So,
do not be disappointed and start tapping the rhythm of your breath
again. Do not stress your mind by trying too hard to regulate your breath.
Try
breathing initially without counting for a few minutes and when you
believe your breathing is at a regular pace and cycle, then start
counting it.
Set targets on the basis of the duration or number of breaths and gradually increase them.
Important
Note: After you are done, the process of opening your eyes, accepting
the surroundings and getting up should be slow and gradual.
Visualization Method of Meditation (Essentially for tension and stress)
In
this method, sit down, close your eyes and start breathing like in the
previous form. Now, start visualizing your each breath going in through
your nose, filling up your lungs and as it goes out.
Start to visualize all the positive thoughts coming in and the negative thoughts going out with each breath.
Then visualize an image or situation that instills a feeling of calmness and serenity in you.
Gradually visualize all your senses like smell and touch.
Flame Mediation
In this method, light and place a candle at eye level in a semi dark room.
Prior to focusing on the candle, sit down close your eyes and do deep breathing like in the previous methods.
Next, open your eyes and focus on the flame while breathing deeply.
Do not think of anything but the flame.
Now, close your eyes and visualize the flame for as long as you can conveniently.
When the image of the flame disappears while your eyes are closed, open your eyes and focus on the flame again.
I recently was making a playlist in ITunes of my favorite songs I often play when working with Ogoun. It got me to wondering what other songs might be out there – what songs are YOU listening to? Post your favorite song here in the comments section, and you could (or you all could) win a prize at the end of the week 😉
AYIBOBO!
In Service,
Sister Bridget
I just got a hold of the new Jimmy Buffet CD that came out just before the holidays. The pictures were taken at a hotel in West Africa, near Timbuktu. The paintings on the walls behind Jimmy are really interesting! ( You can click on the pictures to make them larger )
Enjoy!
Light and Love
Sister Bridget
Hello!
Some of you wrote me yesterday asking about how to make a dream board. I had read some general guidelines about these, but they were boooooring. So, I took some time, lit a candle, and came up with these ideas of how to make a Voodoo Dream Board! I am still working on mine, and I will post a picture of it in my photo album here as soon as it is done. I would love it if any of you who make a dream board would send me a picture of it! I would love to see what you come up with!
1. Get your board. This can be whatever works for you. Oak Tag, a cork board, a piece of plywood, or something fancier you might find at a craft store. It is your board 😉 Use what suits you.
2. Get some glue, tape, push pins, whatever you need to stick stuff to your board.
3. Get a stack of magazines. Spring is coming, and I bet you know some folks who are tossing out some old magazines. Let your friends and family know you are needing some. Get a decent sized stack on various different subjects.
4. Schedule some special time to go thru the magazines and cut out pictures of things that represent your goals and dreams! Get creative! Play some of your favorite music, make your favorite drink and have fun! You can even invite Papa Legba or any Lwa you feel close to to come by and help you! Light a candle, set out a drink or a cookie for them and ask for their guidance. Make it a team effort 😉
5. If you cant find a picture for a goal you have in mind, try hitting Google Images and see if you can find what you are looking for there. Print the picture and use that on your board.
6. If you are working with a special Lwa while making the board, you might consider using some background color that corresponds to that Lwa and is pleasing to you. Like, for my board, I was asking for Ogoun and Papa Legba to assist me, so I used some red oak tag/poster board to put my photos on. BUT if I didnt like red, I woul have tried another color 😉 White is always good, but use something that YOU like to look at, as it is YOUR board!
6.Fix your pictures to the board in a manner that is pleasing to you. You can do this in the same session or another session if you like. Set some special time aside and really enjoy yourself. Focus on the pictures one by one as you place them on the board. What does this goal mean to you? What does it feel like? How will it make you feel when you realise it?
7. For an added nice touch, you can draw a Veve of whichever Lwa you asked to be your "Board Buddy" and place it on the board in honor of them and their assistance.
8. Place the board in a location where you can look at it for 5- 10 minutes twice a day. Near your bedside is a great place, if you can pull that off, as you can look at the board as you go to bed and rise in the morning.
9. Revise the board as you feel guided too. If you find a new picture that appeals to you and represents a goal of yours, add it. Every few months spend some time really contemplating each picture – evaluate your status towards that goal? Have you made any progress? Is it still something you desire? Has some other desire eclipsed this goal and you now are working towards something else?
10. Most importantly, make it fun and positive ! Look forward to looking at and working on your dream board. You will be so glad you did 😉
Light and Love
Sister Bridget