Just because the leaves are off the trees, doesn't mean we can't continue to serve Gran Bwa! Feeding the birds is a wonderful way to serve Gran Bwa in the colder months. Here is a bird feeder I found at the siore that reminded me of Ogoun as well 🙂
Light and Love,
Sister Bridget
“The things you want are always possible; it is just that
the way to get them is not always apparent. The only real obstacle in your path
to a fulfilling life is you, and that can be a considerable obstacle because
you carry the baggage of insecurities and past experience.”
~~ Les Brown
Baggage. We hear
that term tossed around alot, dont we? …. but what is it? How do we get it?
Most importantly, how do we get rid of it? As we go through our daily
lives, stuff happens. Sometimes its big, bad stuff. Hopefully, that does not
happen very often. But it does, and it leaves it mark on us. Or it can leave
its mark on a loved one. How this *stuff* effects us might not be readily
apparent right away, but with time we may see some behavior pattern or reaction
or even overreaction to something that might raise an eyebrow. Sometimes, we
might feel like the picture above, dragging our past along into our future.
That slows us down and can keep us from achieving our goals.
Not all
baggage is relationship based, by any means. But many of us here are working on
relationship issues, and it seems to be a common topic.
Almost everyone today who has
experienced a failed relationship is carrying around some degree of emotional
baggage. The problem with these left over feelings is that they are usually
negative in nature, causing fears and
doubts that carry over into future relationships. This can very well sabotage
relationships that would otherwise have long term potential. The tricky thing
about emotional baggage is that most of us do not realize that we are carrying
it even after it has presented itself time and time again within our romantic
relationships. It is essential to learn how to recognize our own emotional
baggage in order to enjoy healthy and happy relationships in the future.
Emotional baggage occurs when we experience a hurt within a
relationship and that hurt is not resolved or dealt with. We then internalize
those negative feelings and develop fears that we may or may not be aware of.
When we then go onto the next relationship, these same fears and negative
emotions trigger negative or irrational thoughts and behaviors within us. These
behaviors then have a negative impact on the new relationship. Instead of
protecting you from having the original hurtful experience repeat itself, these
behaviors can actually cause that experience to recur time and time again. The
fears and hurt feelings only then grow and now become justified within your own
mind as correct. This creates a cycle that you then feel unable to escape from
in your romantic life.
How can we stop the cycle? Lots of ways….there are traditional
ways, like therapy, self examination, journaling, talking to a close
friend or relative. Really becoming aware of recurrent thoughts, feelings and
actions can really help. But, since you are here reading the blog of a Voodoo
Sister, I am going to assume that some magickal advice is being sought as well
😉
The Lady Samantha Hex Removal Kit is the first and most powerful option
we have. This kit is an extremely powerful spiritual cleansing, and while you
may not have been hexed, this kit is also very appropriate for cleansing away
what holds us back emotionally.
The Milk of Damballah White Bath kit is another option. An excellent
spiritual and emotional cleansing bath.
White image candles, white seven knob candles, a Cosmic Voodoo Healing
Egg for yourself are also very good choices. And would work wonderfully
as a follow up to the Hex Removal Kit or the White Bath, to allow you to
continue to slowly and gently release issues one layer at a time.
Whatever method you choose, traditional or magickal (or best yet a
combination of both) addressing baggage and healing from it will definitely be
worth the effort put forth 😉 Remember, the most powerful healing we can do is for ourselves.
In Service,
Sister Bridget
Hey there!
Ok, so here we are – back in the blogging saddle again! hee hee ;-) I am always looking for things on the net that can be potentially helpful to clients. I know I havent been blogging much in the past month or so – but that is all about to change! Now, I have this stack of stuff I thought was cool and helpful and Im going to make the time to pass it along to you all. It would be really awesome if my blog could be more interactive with you all. Please do feel free to comment – good or bad – as comments start discussions, and from discussions we can ALL learn !
A little while ago I came across this article on http://www.relationship-institute.com and I must have read it four times over. I thnk there is alot of good advice in this article. Many times, I hear from clients who are expressing alot of anger or frustration – some of it is from processing of spellwork, some of it is brought about by an HD who is processing spellwork, or it can be a carry over from a bad break up or negative experience that happened in the past, but has not yet been let go. Magickally, certainly there are things that caseworkers can recommend to clients to help them deal with – ideally heal and release – their anger. things like a Milk of Damballah White Bath, or a trio of white image candles, or even a Lady Samantha Hex Removal Kit (for longstanding anger issues) can all be helpful. But as you know, following up magickal work with changes in the mundane world can support the magick and allow you to really get great healing and feeling better. I like alot of what this article has to say about dealing with Anger. The part about communicating directly with the person who angered you – well, run that one by your caseworker first if your HD is the one you are angry with!
I hope you enjoy the article and find some helpful info here.
Light and Love
Sister Bridget Corfield
——begin article——
Dealing with Anger
Everywhere you look in today’s world, we are hearing about people expressing anger, often in a destructive, inappropriate way. "Rage" used to be a term reserved for strange, out-of-control people, but now we have road rage, workplace rage and even airplane rage. Violent outbursts are commonplace on TV talk shows. Gun rampages in public places have become a typical news event. What’s going on?
American culture has a bizarre relationship with the energy of anger and its inappropriate expression as violence. In our consumer lifestyle, we know that violence sells. The promotion of violence is a multi-billion dollar business, affecting virtually every aspect of our lives. Think for a moment about the expressions of violence on TV, movies, video games, professional sports, and many forms of recreation. We dare not show a single naked breast or penis on TV, but we can show hundreds of horrible, bloody murders every day of the week. A startling statistic is that by the time they finish elementary school, the average American child (who watches just 3.5 hours of TV a week) will have witnessed 12,000 murders and more than 150,000 other acts of violence on TV.
We teach our children to not hit their siblings and then roar in delight at the vicious fight at the hockey game or the bone-crushing tackle at the football game. The top stories on our local news are often nothing more than a review of the most sensationally violent acts in our community in the past day. By virtually any measure you use, American society is the most violent society in the history of recorded civilization.
This is some evidence that we are modeling what we learn through the media, where violence is often presented with few realistic consequences. The National Television Violence Study in 1995 found that 47% of the violent acts shown resulted in no observable harm to the victim; only 16% of violent shows contained a message about the long term negative repercussions of violence; and in a whopping 73% of all violent scenes, the perpetrator went unpunished. The study found 44% of the shows on network stations contained at least some violence, compared with 59% on basic cable and 85% on premium channels. It’s interesting to note that the more money people pay for a television service, the more violence it contains! Studies by George Gerbner, Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that children who watch a lot of television are more likely to think that the world is a mean and dangerous place; they become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others; and they are more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others.
With adults, people who cannot deal appropriately with their anger teach their children that violence is an acceptable way to deal with conflict. Men who have witnessed their parents' domestic violence are three times more likely to abuse their own wives than children of non violent parents, with the sons of the most violent parents being 1000 times more likely to become perpetrators of violent acts toward women. During each year women were the victims of more than 4.5 million violent crimes, including approximately 500,000 rapes or other sexual assaults. In 29 percent of the violent crimes against women by lone offenders the perpetrators were husbands, former husbands, boyfriends or former boyfriends.
So why as a culture do we teach, promote, and model destructive, inappropriate, unrealistic expressions of anger? We are fascinated with anger and violence because we are terrified of and uncomfortable with our own power. As a culture, we try to make nice, to make believe that we are not angry people, and harshly judge others that are. Our anger is the shadow side of the positive, upbeat, prosperous American psyche. Violence sells because it is tapping into a deeply repressed aspect of the American psyche. We tuck our anger away in the darkest, most shameful recesses of our minds and hearts, and then are horrified and surprised when it comes blasting out. Yet it is a fundamental principle of psychology that whatever we disown, cut off or otherwise repress in our psyche becomes stronger than it actually is, and eventually will force us to recognize its existence by coming to the surface in a distorted, exaggerated or impulsive manner.
So if there is an answer to this issue of anger and violence, it is that we all must recognize, befriend and own our own power, our own potential for anger and even violence, and come to terms with that energy. Anger is an energy that can be harnessed and channeled in any number of ways, some of them very constructive. But that can only happen if we’re willing to look our own anger straight in the eye without fear, denial or minimization. Anger is the elephant in our collective living rooms that no one wants to talk about other than in harsh, judgmental terms about other people.
Anger Management
Anger is a natural, adaptive response to threats; it inspires powerful, often aggressive, feelings and behaviors, which allow us to fight and to defend ourselves when we are attacked. A certain amount of anger, therefore, is necessary for our survival. On the other hand, we obviously can't lash out at every person or object that irritates or annoys us. So expressing your angry feelings in an assertive, not aggressive manner is the healthiest way to express anger. To do this, you have to learn how to make clear what your needs are, and how to get them met without hurting others. Being assertive doesn't mean being pushy or demanding; it means being respectful of yourself and others.
The goal of any type of anger management is to reduce both your emotional feelings and the physical arousal that anger causes. While you can’t always change the situations or people that upset you, you can learn to control your reactions. Here are some great tools to try:
1. Relaxation – simple relaxation tools, such as deep breathing and relaxing imagery, can help calm down angry feelings. Books such as The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson and Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabatt-Zinn are excellent sources for instruction in meditation and relaxation. Once you learn the techniques, you can use them in anywhere to quickly calm down.
For additional help with relaxation, practice breathing deeply from your diaphragm; breathing from your chest doesn’t tend to elicit nearly as deep a sensation of relaxation. Picture your breath coming up from your diaphragm while you slowly repeat a calm word or phrase such as "relax," "take it easy." Repeat it to yourself while breathing deeply and putting attention on your breath. Use imagery: visualize a relaxing experience, from either your memory or your imagination, with as many senses involved in the visualization as possible. Hatha yoga is also a great method for relaxing your muscles and making you feel much calmer.
2. Change Your Thoughts – Angry people tend to think negative, critical thoughts about themselves or others. When you're angry, your thinking can get very exaggerated, overly dramatic and irrational. Try replacing these thoughts with more positive and rational ones. Remind yourself that getting angry is not going to fix anything, that it won't make you feel better (and may actually make you feel worse). Also, when angry, people often feel victimized. So it’s helpful to reflect on what’s happening and take responsibility for whatever you are doing to partially create the situation that frustrates you.
3. Communicate Directly After you Calm Down – when angry, people make assumptions that may not be true about others’ intentions. So slow down, calm down, and speak clearly about whatever it is that is frustrating you to the person(s) involved. Talk about your feelings and perceptions rather than blaming others. At the same time, listen carefully to what the other person is saying and take your time before answering.
4. Take Time for Yourself – make sure you have some "personal time" scheduled for times of the day or days of the week that you know are particularly stressful. One example is the woman who has a standing rule that when she comes home from work, for the first 15 minutes "nobody talks to me unless the house is on fire." After this brief quiet time, she feels better prepared to handle demands from her kids and husband without yelling at them.
There are some excellent self-help books available on the topic of dealing with anger. Two of our favorites address specific gender issues that men and women face: The Dance of Anger: A Women’s Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships, by Harriet Lerner and Beyond Anger, A Guide for Men: How to Free Yourself from the Grip of Anger and Get More Out of Life, by Thomas Harbin.
Anger is an expression of our life force. When manifest in an appropriate manner, it can be an intelligent expression and reaction to the circumstances of our lives. When we befriend our anger, we tame its impulsive expression and give ourselves a valuable tool to create constructive change for ourselves and the world. We encourage you to start wherever you are, with compassion and love for all parts of yourself, and begin to explore your own relationship with this powerful and necessary life energy. And be honest with yourself in the process: if you cannot understand this energy, if it feels like a wild beast or a scary monster, seek out help from those who can guide your journey of healing and discovery in a safe and constructive manner.
Hey there!
How is it going? Are you all still busy taking out the trash – both physically and energetically? So far, I have totally cleaned out my kitchen, all the cupboards and drawers have new shelf paper, all my cups and dishes and pots and pans are in nice neat rows. The floor is sparkly clean. I have also cleaned out the dining room, which was in pretty good shape — just got some new curtains made and cleaned the rugs 🙂 So, my downstairs is nearly done! Yippeeee!
So, whats next? I mean, once we have all cleaned up our enviornments physically, what can we do magickally to complete the cleansing? We have quite a few options:
Marie Laveau House Blessing Kit is a one time use kit which takes a few hours but will give you a really thorough cleansing and blessing of your home space. It can also be used at an office or workspace (so long as no one is around 🙂 ) or just in one room (like the room you sleep in or spend the most time in)
Do you have any leftover incense cones from your candle magick kits? Either the Black Banishing Incense or the Chango’s Mystic Chrysalis Incense would be very good for removing negativity from a space or cleansing. The Black Banishing is the obvious one. But the Chango’s is for change – so you would focus on releasing the old and icky stuff and getting ready for new and wonderful stuff (this is the change). Burn a cone or two in each room, in just the room that you spend the most time in. As Always — Never leave burning incense unattended!
Marie Laveau House Blessing Solution can be purchased seperatley. It can be used to clean your voodoo workspace, or use it as a *touch up* around the house to clean up spots that might feel funky or are just dirty.
So, please please please let me know how you are doing with the takin out of the trash!
Stay tuned, because soon we start the inviting in or the totally wonderful!
Light and Love
Sister Bridget
Hey there fellow Spellcasters!
Its almost Febuary! Now that we have cleaned up our enviornment, a bit physically and energetically, its time to start inviting in new and wonderful things.
If you havent already heard, this year will be Spellmaker’s third year of holding a special ritual for Erzulie Freda for all who would like to participate. I am very excited this because this year the ritual will be a family event! The whole family – Marran Sam , Parran Matt, Sister Candi and myself will each be working hard petitioning Erzulie on your behalf. It is such an honor and a priveldge to be able to assist every one in this great month long event.
Marran Sam has put together some packages of items for folks who would like to add some of their own energy to their cause. Of course, so purchase is necessary to participate. But for those who want to, the special packages are helpful and specially priced. Marran Sam has even put together some suggestions and helpful tips on how to use these items.
So, I have been busy takin’ out the trash myself for the last few weeks! For Christmas my father have me a gift certificate for LLBean. I just LOVE Bean! So, tonight I decided to use my gift certificate and get me some things that are , well, lovely!
So, what did I get?
A wreath made of dried roses in the shape of a heart. I am putting this wreath in my kitchen, where it can be seen as soon as I come in thru the door from the outside. So that the first thing everyone sees when they come in are roses!
A set of flannel sheets with tiny candy hearts on them. Who can resist???
And a really lovely pink bathrobe. No way to not feel warm and fuzzy wearing this robe 😉
And my personal "plan of attack" for Febuary magickally (aside from the ritual being done by our family):
Erzulie Pink Bath on Feb 1st.
I have a quite a few straight pink spell candles and two bottles of Erzulie Marriage Oil and some Love Magnet Incense. With this combo of products, I can send ALOT of warm, pink fuzzy thoughts all over for a long long time!
Sweet Feelings Bath Crystals and Phraeda’s Tea Rose lotion are on the bathroom shelf! My plan is (as of now, until real life hits me hard in Feb.) to use the Pink Bath Crystals and tea rose lotion every morning in Feb (OK, stop laughing, really, Im going to give this a good ripple!)
So, that’s my plan as it stands now. I have already ordered a couple of Sheer Goddess gift baskets to send to two friends that are alone this Valentines Day, and wanted them to know someone was thinking of them. And they get the added benefit of Erzulie’s lovely energy as they use the products themselves! So, maybe next year, they wont be so alone!
So, that is my plan of attack (or maybe something else?) for next month.
Let me know what you are planning. Leave me a comment and lets get some chatter going here!
Light and Love,
Sister Bridget
Hey there —
So, the emails are coming in, asking me if my cheese has finally slipped off my cracker for good! What is the deal with all this cleaning? Well….it seems like now is a good time to let you all in on part 2 of my plan (insert evil laugh here!)
Those of you who have done work with Spellmaker before, know that the first step in some of the work that we do is elimination. To get rid of obstacles, negative patterns or thought processes, baggage from past experiences. In love work, the Leave My Man/Woman Alone spell is to address such things, and is the initial spell done in many love cases. Anyone who has done the Mind Body Spirit candle magick kits know that in the petitioning for them, we often recommend to first state what it is to be removed, and then what it is you wish to replace that icky stuff with. So, see the pattern here..remove and replace, remove and replace, remove and replace.
So, by cleaning up our living space around us, by decluttering, by breaking up the stagnant energy, by taking out the trash and opening up space, we will then be ready in a bit to do some heavy duty inviting in of some wonderful stuff!
February isnt far off now — just a few weeks. The wonderful month of Erzulie Freda and all the pink, romantic, warm , loving feelings that go along with her 🙂 See where we are going here??? There are lots of things that we can do to invite the lovely energy of Erzulie into our homes and into our spaces. The Feng Shui articles about romance and such will give you a good starting place about how to arrange things in the physical to help open up that kind of energy. Then we have products that can facilitate things on a spiritual level and much more specifically for inviting Ezulie’s blessings as well. I will get to more of the how next week. But, for now, keep removing what you can, cleaning and refreshing the space around you and be ready to invite in some new, wonderful vibrations in February!
Light and Love
Sister Bridget
Hi All,
A Voodoo Love Doll can be one of the most important items in your spell casting toolbox! Every case can benefit from one! Below is some info about love dolls that I collected from Mambo Sam. I thought it might be helpful to some of you , so I decided to post it here 🙂
You can check out our love dolls at http://www.spellmaker.com/doll.htm
Light and Love, Bridget
Here’s the 411 on the subject of love doll use (deluxe or regular –
doesn’t matter):
1. Never, ever do your love doll when you are in any way feeling
negative about your HD.
2. You must be feeling positive, loving, supportive and very much
in love with your HD otherwise what are you sending them????? If
you don’t feel like doing a doll session, then don’t. It isn’t
mandatory to do them any set number of days, times, or sessions.
You should always approach the love doll like you are going out on a
date with your HD. 🙂 You should be happy, positive, and excited
that you are going to talk with them.
3. Talk to your doll as if it were your HD.
4. Don’t always ask for something (a call, to return to you, etc.).
Instead, some of the sessions simply use the doll to send your love,
your support for any troubled times that s/he might be going
through, the message that the door is always open, etc.). Indeed,
you can and should use your doll part of the time to ask for all
that you are willing to give to be returned, but it is an extremely
good tool to use simply to send warm and fuzzy feelings.
5. If it seems to you that your HD is "overwhelmed" then make your
love doll sessions a little more casual. Do the ritual as
instructed, however, maybe just talk about some fun times that you
have had in the past or tell your HD what happened to you that day,
something like that. Remember, it is YOUR energy that is getting
through to your HD – so careful what you send; if you send pain,
chaos, resentment, etc., that is most likely what your HD will
receive and probably return to you.
6. Whether you are using a deluxe love doll or a regular love doll,
you are still sending some pretty powerful information out there, so
make it count and make it good. (And really the difference in
whether you use a deluxe or a regular love doll is mainly based on
your HD; if they are a stubborn cuss, then deluxe in the way to go;
if they are more easy going, then regular is the way to go!)
Truthfully, I think that everyone who is working on love spells
should use a love doll if they can. (Financial and living concerns
come first, that is why I say use if it you can.) That doll can be
your best friend, your open pipeline of communication to your HD,
and a powerful tool to send and receive the right kind of messages
with your HD.
And, lastly, a little bit of common sense goes a long way: Think
about what you really and truly want your HD to be thinking of you,
think of how you want things to remind him/her of you, think of how
you want him/her to be picturing you and put that into your doll.
You can check out our love dolls at http://www.spellmaker.com/doll.htm
Hi ! So, you have placed an order, gotten your spell kit, put serious time and energy into your casting and now have this wonderful little spell bag that you have made. How long you actually need to use the gris gris bag depends on your situation. Personally, I have on occasion, worn a hole right thru the bag. Hopefully that wont happen to you! But below, please find a few pointers on how to keep your gris gris bags clean, safe, organized, and hopefully hole-free.
Have a separate small glass jar for each bag. This can be any small jar, you don’t have to go out and buy anything special. Jam jars, canning jars, even mustard jars are fine. Soak the jar to get the label off. Wash the jar very thoroughly and very clean, including the lid. In the jar you can store the gris gris bag along with a piece of paper that has the incantation for that particular bag. Know how sometimes it can be easy to mix up bags which are the same color? Keeping each bag separate with its specific incantation can help cut down on the confusion.
Small taffeta favor bags can keep you from wearing your gris gris bag out! These bags are easy to find in the wedding/shower section of most craft stores. These come in different sizes and colors. Get a color that is appropriate for your gris gris bags if you can. Red or pink for love spell bags. Green for money/luck spell bags. When in doubt, white will always work fine. When the taffeta bag starts getting ratty or dirty – replace it! This will help keep your gris gris bag clean and from getting worn and torn.
