{"id":12173,"date":"2016-02-01T01:10:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T06:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=12780"},"modified":"2016-01-31T12:45:48","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T17:45:48","slug":"witches-soul-work-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2016\/02\/01\/witches-soul-work-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Witches Soul Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Witches Soul Work: Surviving Mercury Retrograde<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"soulwork\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a superstition bounding around the Wiccan, Pagan and New Age communities that communication will somehow be horribly affected when mercury goes retrograde within the astrological chart and all hell will break loose. The fear it invokes in some is truly surprising!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

People believe that because Mercury rules communication, clear thinking, truth and travel when the planet goes retrograde things to do with communication and travel seem to be difficult, problematic and messy. (1) Sometimes this is just a self-fulfilling prophecy; we believe communication will get screwed up so it does. If we are looking for validation that it\u2019s real, we find it. Believers in the effect of mercury retrograde find that it is more difficult to get things accomplished so here is some Witch magick to try and deal with the problem.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mercury is connected to head and mind so the connections that could be a problem, if you think it is affecting you, are mental level problems that impact on communication. In the Greenwood Celtic Shamanic Wiccan Tradition (2) we make a heart to heart connection whenever we do ritual together: from my heart to yours, the circle is cast<\/i>. This is an opening of the heart center and an attunement to each other on a heart level. We also use this heart to heart connection in animal communication and other non-verbal communication such as during healing and divination sessions. I\u2019ve noticed that making this heart to heart connection clears the way for real understanding between people as well and seems to bypass the whole problem of mercury retrograde. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We open our hearts to each other in ritual and enter the circle in perfect love and perfect trust. But opening your heart to everyone, strangers, co-workers etc. may not be the best idea as it could leave you feeling vulnerable. Having a totally opened heart to the world is actually one of the signs of an enlightened being! Let\u2019s say we\u2019re not there yet but we want to communicate on a heart level with people outside of circle without leaving ourselves too open and thus bypassing the dreaded mercury retrograde \u2018curse\u2019. Everyone has a Higher Self, or you could say a Sacred Self that is their connection with the Divine. Instead of opening to the heart of someone\u2019s personality or mundane self open your heart to them with the intention of connecting to the God or Goddess within them. This is the meaning of Namaste: I bow to the God within you. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you hear Wiccans saying \u201cBlessed Be\u201d to each other it is a way of bowing to the God\/dess within, the same as Namaste. It doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m the High Priestess and I have the power to bless you because I\u2019m better than you, it is short for a Wiccan blessing called the Fivefold Kiss: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed be thy [womb\/phallus], without which we would not be<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed be thy breasts, formed in [beauty\/strength]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names. (3)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A funny thing happened to me when I started to try and communicate with people this way. The heart to heart connection, higher self to higher self, felt very authentic and joyful. I started to get into the habit of communicating like this and after a successfully negotiated mercury retrograde I didn\u2019t really want to go back. So I\u2019m inviting all you readers to do an experiment. When you need to communicate with someone during the dreaded astrological times, imagine your heart center within your own Higher Self opens and sends out a beam of light to the heart center of the Higher Self of another. Send your intention to connect heart to heart and then listen and speak clearly. I would love to have some feedback from you all! Good luck and Blessed Be!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016, Mercury is retrograde from\u2026
\nJanuary 5th to January 25th
\nApril 28th to May 22nd
\nAugust 30th to September 22nd
\nDecember 19th to January 28th (2017)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. http:\/\/galadarling.com\/article\/how-to-survive-mercury-retrograde\/<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  2. http:\/\/www.sacredcauldron.ca\/the-greenwood-celtic-shamanic-wiccan-tradition.html<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0<\/span>Farrar, Janet; Farrar, Stewart (1984).<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>A Witches’ Bible: The Complete Witches’ Handbook.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>Custer, WA<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>: Phoenix.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>ISBN<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>0-919345-92-1<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Witches Soul Work: Surviving Mercury Retrograde   There is a superstition bounding around the Wiccan, Pagan and New Age communities that communication will somehow be horribly affected when mercury goes retrograde within the astrological chart and all hell will break loose. The fear it invokes in some is truly surprising! People believe that because Mercury rules communication, clear thinking, truth and travel when the planet goes retrograde things to do with communication and travel seem to be difficult, problematic and messy. (1) Sometimes this is just a self-fulfilling prophecy; we believe communication will get screwed up so it does. If we are looking for validation that it\u2019s real, we find it. Believers in the effect of mercury retrograde find that it is more difficult to get things accomplished so here is some Witch magick to try and deal with the problem. Mercury is connected to head and mind so the connections that could be a problem, if you think it is affecting you, are mental level problems that impact on communication. In the Greenwood Celtic Shamanic Wiccan Tradition (2) we make a heart to heart connection whenever we do ritual together: from my heart to yours, the circle is cast. This is an opening of the heart center and an attunement to each other on a heart level. We also use this heart to heart connection in animal communication and other non-verbal communication such as during healing and divination sessions. I\u2019ve noticed that making this heart to heart connection clears the way for real understanding between people as well and seems to bypass the whole problem of mercury retrograde. We open our hearts to each other in ritual and enter the circle in perfect love and perfect trust. But opening your heart to everyone, strangers, co-workers etc. may not be the best idea as it could leave you feeling vulnerable. Having a totally opened heart to the world is actually one of the signs of an enlightened being! Let\u2019s say we\u2019re not there yet but we want to communicate on a heart level with people outside of circle without leaving ourselves too open and thus bypassing the dreaded mercury retrograde \u2018curse\u2019. Everyone has a Higher Self, or you could say a Sacred Self that is their connection with the Divine. Instead of opening to the heart of someone\u2019s personality or mundane self open your heart to them with the intention of connecting to the God or Goddess within them. This is the meaning of Namaste: I bow to the God within you. If you hear Wiccans saying \u201cBlessed Be\u201d to each other it is a way of bowing to the God\/dess within, the same as Namaste. It doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m the High Priestess and I have the power to bless you because I\u2019m better than you, it is short for a Wiccan blessing called the Fivefold Kiss: Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar Blessed be thy [womb\/phallus], without which we would not be Blessed be thy breasts, formed in [beauty\/strength] Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names. (3) A funny thing happened to me when I started to try and communicate with people this way. The heart to heart connection, higher self to higher self, felt very authentic and joyful. I started to get into the habit of communicating like this and after a successfully negotiated mercury retrograde I didn\u2019t really want to go back. So I\u2019m inviting all you readers to do an experiment. When you need to communicate with someone during the dreaded astrological times, imagine your heart center within your own Higher Self opens and sends out a beam of light to the heart center of the Higher Self of another. Send your intention to connect heart to heart and then listen and speak clearly. I would love to have some feedback from you all! Good luck and Blessed Be! In 2016, Mercury is retrograde from\u2026 January 5th to January 25th April 28th to May 22nd August 30th to September 22nd December 19th to January 28th (2017) References http:\/\/galadarling.com\/article\/how-to-survive-mercury-retrograde\/ http:\/\/www.sacredcauldron.ca\/the-greenwood-celtic-shamanic-wiccan-tradition.html \u00a0Farrar, Janet; Farrar, Stewart (1984).\u00a0A Witches’ Bible: The Complete Witches’ Handbook.\u00a0Custer, WA: Phoenix.\u00a0ISBN\u00a00-919345-92-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}