The Everyday Witch notices the magic in the mundane and uses the images of her environmental space to conduct effective Spelling.\u00a0\u00a0 In order to get to that point in our daily lives, where the magic is obvious, we must have the tools to visualize our space and experience the magic.<\/p>\n
For my introductory column, I am supposed to write some flowery stuff about me and my heritage and what I know.\u00a0 Instead, I will direct you to my new MySpace<\/a> and The Everyday Witch<\/a> website to give you the update on me.\u00a0 I would much prefer for you to be thinking about Correspondences and what they mean to you, what images you personally associate with Fire or with East.\u00a0 I have included a Correspondence table<\/a> for you to read.\u00a0 You can also use this Google Search link which looks for the key words \u201cwitchcraft correspondences<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n The first thing one must possess to practice effective Magic is Belief.\u00a0 Correspondence Witchcraft gives the Witch an edge on Belief.\u00a0 The corresponding ideas work together to form a synergy which aids in the visualization.\u00a0 What I would like to focus on for my first column is to give you something useful and relevant to the Correspondences that Everyday Witches use in their Craft.\u00a0 A project of sorts, timed to the moon and designed to assist you in visualization in time for Ostara 2009.\u00a0 You will need 6 panels.\u00a0 A box or heavy paper is sufficient.\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t the creative type, a journal with 6 entries on 6 pages will suffice.\u00a0 I do however, believe strongly in visualization as a means to success, so please make an effort to print or draw images during the exercise to help guide your learning process.\u00a0 This would make an interesting addition to a BOS or a Scrapbook on Wicca.<\/strong> The 6 panels will represent the 6 Cardinal Directions.\u00a0 North, East, South, West, Above and Below.\u00a0 It will also encompass the 5 basic elements of Earth, Air Fire Water and Spirit.<\/strong> This is the over arching Theme to my column, Correspondences.\u00a0 You could call it \u201cFoundations for Successful Witchcraft\u201d.\u00a0 The best way to classify the information in my column is \u201cThe rudimentary knowledge one should have before committing oneself to the Craft\u201d<\/strong>.\u00a0 I may want to be a Plumber, but without a wrench I\u2019m just a bald guy with bad butt crack.\u00a0 The tool is very important to the Craft.<\/p>\n While you are deciding between the journal and the box, I will tell you that I have always considered the world around me in a relational sense.\u00a0 This is related to that through this relationship.\u00a0 It\u2019s like an odd \u201csix degrees of separation\u201d.\u00a0 For me, Correspondences make sense of those relationships and gives them an order that no other religion or path of faith has provided me.\u00a0 Only witchcraft with the belief in the Goddess incorporated into ritual, has provided a sense of order and structure in my life.<\/p>\n I think it is best to say that my column is about the magic of ordinary things.\u00a0 In the 1970\u2019s, the Scholastic Book Club carried books by Ruth Chew.\u00a0 What the Witch Left<\/a> and The Wednesday Witch<\/a>.\u00a0 This genre of fairy tales that best describes Witchcraft are those of ordinary household items being magical tools.\u00a0 The Folk Practices of the 1600\u2019s Scotland included this tradition of Kitchen Witchery for the benefit of healing and family prosperity.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just a kettle, it\u2019s a magical cauldron!\u00a0 That is the stalk from which I am raised.\u00a0 The Hippie Love Flower Child of the 1970\u2019s with a spiritual philosophy of LOVE and The Brother\u2019s Grimm Fairy Tales are the tacky metallic wallpaper which cover the walls of my sacred space.\u00a0 I am a city witch, growing up primarily in the crowded apartment complexes and \u201cdesigned neighborhood community\u201d, with summer visits to the Southern California Desert and teenage years spent roaming the fields of the Silicon Valley\u2026 before it was the Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n You will find a book list in the coming months which focuses on the beginners path, and hopefully there will be some more \u201cadvanced\u201d discussions on religion, magic and the need for Ritual in our ordinary lives.\u00a0 To start with, I use the Seasons of the Witch Planner from 7th House<\/a>, as I find the information interesting \u2013 the mundane stuff like Planetary Hours can be found anywhere on the internet.\u00a0 Having a good calendar geared for Moon phases, Sabbats, and other helpful information like Astrology and Tarot is very nice to have in practicing the Craft.\u00a0 I\u2019ve used a lot of them, Seasons of the Witch is by far my most favorite.<\/p>\n The candles, the incense the altar, the chalice, the bread, the wine, all are part of the Witchcraft ritual.\u00a0 For people on the Catholic path, Witchcraft should appear familiar and easy.\u00a0 Witchcraft is very ceremonial \u2013 but it is not the ceremony which makes the magic, it is the belief and our ability to visualize our intentions.\u00a0 The ceremony is simply the descriptor for our Sacred Space.<\/p>\n Correspondence Witchcraft takes advantage of the visualization, providing a 6 sided \u201cspace\u201d with which to define our environmental space.\u00a0 Correspondence Witchcraft can be likened to the work of Carl Jung.\u00a0 The importance of imagery and visualization is very central to both his psychology and his other writings.\u00a0 The Correspondence Table for my personal brand of Correspondence Witchcraft is included with this column, as mentioned above.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the link again.<\/a> Keep in mind that you will most probably have a different path, a different set of Correspondences.\u00a0 You may be from the Southern Hemisphere reading this column on the Web, and of course it will be very different for you!<\/p>\n The Beginning is very important to one\u2019s beliefs.\u00a0 While the Wheel of the Year is a pretty picture, there isn\u2019t a lot to guide an inquiring Witch to understanding how the Wheel is read.\u00a0 So, \u201c Where do you start?\u201d\u00a0 I personally start in the East.\u00a0 When I finish my circle, I want to be standing firmly on the ground, therefore I end my Quarter Calls in the North, or Yule.\u00a0 Or think of it as, I start on the shoreline with the rising sun on the East and I end on the shoreline in the North.\u00a0 This makes Imbolg the first ceremony of the new year.\u00a0 It also makes Imbolg a Cross Quarter Sabbat.\u00a0 But we will get into all that in a future column.<\/p>\n Only you can decide the start of your Year.\u00a0 Is your path more Wiccan, does your Wheel start at Samhain, making your first Sabbat of the year Yule?\u00a0 Or is the wheel not a consideration and you begin every Ritual facing East?\u00a0 There are a multitude of justifications for where your box should \u201cbegin\u201d.\u00a0 Pick one that is right for you. <\/strong><\/p>\n My background in Correspondences began when I was a child.\u00a0 My grandmother and grandfather secretly practiced and taught me the importance of the relationship of \u201cthings\u201d. By the age of 34 I had become a Level 2 Energetic Healer and a 2nd Degree Priestess of Sankofa Pride.\u00a0 It was with Sankofa Pride that I discovered my knack for Correspondences and how easily I could associate colors and stars and goddesses.\u00a0 I worked with the Temple of Isis, Iseum of Isis Padeusis and remained close with Lady Sankofa.\u00a0 I established a \u201cBig Witch\u201d Circle in Long Beach CA where ritual witchcraft was practiced on a monthly basis.\u00a0 The Grotto enjoyed a full year and several months in Long Beach.\u00a0 I am finding it harder and harder to find the \u201cbig witches\u201d simply because most of us, at this point, retire and teach only our family.\u00a0 I hope that by laying down the basics, I can provide the impetus for a future Big Witch to carry on.<\/p>\n For the month of February, you should be preparing and gathering items to make your box, your 6 scrap book pages or your 6 journal entries.\u00a0 The craft store Michael\u2019s has some lovely sized affordable boxes to decoupage or paint.\u00a0 Your thoughts should cover what you want to do \u2013 box, panels \u2013 how involved you want to be \u2013 easy glue on or in depth detailed painting \u2013 and of course the visualizations.<\/p>\n I will let you be the guide to your own creativity.\u00a0 However, may I suggest using the Google Image Search to gather and meditate on your Correspondences?\u00a0 I have provided a link here for you which searches the Google Images for \u201cwitchcraft correspondences East\u201d<\/a>. That should get you on your way to visualizations!\u00a0 Mix up the key words and see what comes up for \u201cAnimal Totem West\u201d or \u201cWater Undine\u201d.\u00a0 Save the images you most relate to or that speaks to you strongly.\u00a0 You will want to print those images in color for later decoupage (gluing) on to the box or panels.<\/p>\n Using basic Wicca concepts, your 6 panels will become the visual representations of North, East, South, West, Above and Below.\u00a0 Not everyone likes to do Below since the box is sitting on that panel.\u00a0 For the Ceremonialists reading along, please, note I am including this portion especially for you.<\/p>\n Starting in the East, you will want to sketch out the 4 cardinal points and their correspondences.\u00a0 You can also use the Season and the Sabbat correspondences to the cardinal points.<\/p>\n All of the panels should be sketched out as you want them by the first weekend of February.\u00a0 Decide where on your box or object the elementals will be placed, color choices for each Element should be identified and any photos or pictures you want to glue\/decoupage on the box should be printed in color and ready for application. The first Elemental Panel (your choice) should be traced or outlined on the box at the very least.\u00a0 Ideally you should be well underway with painting or applying the first panel.\u00a0 If you are using a journal or 6 scrapbook pages, you will want the Elemental panels sketched out, and your visual materials ready to be glued or stapled in place.<\/p>\n The Dedication Full Moon is February 9th.\u00a0 You will want to have the majority of the Elementals Sketches complete by now and well underway.\u00a0 If you are using a box, the material should be prepped \u2013 base coats applied, etc and so on.\u00a0 During your regular February Full Moon observance, you want to hold each of the elemental panels in your mind and meditate on their magic.\u00a0 As you attend Full Moon Circle for February, reflect on the images you have chosen to remind you of the Elemental Beings, the Animals and the Star Watch Tower.\u00a0 In your mind, go through all of the Elemental Beings and the ritual tools and the colors, for East, and for South, for West and for North.\u00a0 Hold these images in your mind and let them interact, let their synergy mingle. Hold this synergy in your thoughts and dedicate it to your future spells and intentions.\u00a0 This energy should be channeled into your box, your journal or your pages, for the seeding and planting of the magical tool which will aid your future intentions in magic working yet to come.<\/p>\n For the remainder of February, the Elemental Panels should be completed and\/or applied.\u00a0 Instead of playing Solitaire this month, spend those 3 hours a day researching the Goddess which corresponds to West?\u00a0 This is the \u201cget your hands dirty\u201d kind of Witchcraft preparation work that inspires the mind.\u00a0 Spelling is not just about words.\u00a0 Spelling is about visual images and 3 dimensional ideas we can hold in our mind.<\/p>\n For the March column, we will cover the structure of a Full Moon Spell used in conjunction with a Sabbat Ritual.\u00a0 You will need your box or your panels as Correspondence will be a central component.<\/p>\n Correspondence is the foundation, Spelling is the structure.<\/strong><\/p>\n Book List and URL References<\/p>\n The Everyday Witch – http:\/\/www.geocities.com\/girleegeek\/<\/a><\/p>\n The Everyday Witch at Myspace – http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/theeverydaywitch<\/a><\/p>\n Correspondence table – http:\/\/www.geocities.com\/girleegeek\/TheEveryDayWitch\/Witchcraft_Correspondences.htm<\/a><\/p>\n To Ride a Silver Broomstick \u2013 Silver Raven Wolf\u00a0 http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Ride-Silver-Broomstick-Generational-Witchcraft\/dp\/087542791X\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232566860&sr=1-1<\/a><\/p>\n To Stir a Magic Cauldron \u2013 Silver Ravenwolf\u00a0 http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Stir-Magick-Cauldron-Casting-Conjuring\/dp\/1567184243\/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232566860&sr=1-3<\/p>\n