Firstly, allow me to apologize for the sparse entries I've been submitting of late. Unfortunately, even for a witch, modern computer technology and its inherent challenges have been visiting me on a regular basis! I'm casting a spell to allow me to acquire a new laptop, and hopefully I'll be back in force in a short while.
I've also had a dear friend and customer of Enchantments comment that she would like to see this 'witches blog' in its entirety become a bound book! I will admit to being quite flattered, but personal pride aside, I ask you, my magickal reader, if this would be something you also would be interested in? Please comment at the bottom of this discussion and I will take all suggestions and comments quite seriously, and try to provide you with what you wish. Again, allow me to express my humble thanks that so many have expressed such nice comments regarding my work. Now, onto the discussion of this evening.
Well, New England has certainly lived up to her fickle reputation of changing weather every few minutes, especially this week. The rain and spits of snow and sleet we've been graced with this past week has made me think about the elements a witch works with.
We've discussed before the four elements the witch focuses on, earth, air, fire and water. Our fifth element is spirit, which tops them all. The elements appear at first easy enough to work with, and many start by using them in ritual. The lit charcoal briquette along with the lit candles brings the element of fire to the altar, the incense as it wafts and floats in the air brings the element of air.
The water is of course the water element and the salt is earth. We use these in ritual, but the elements are also within us. How so, you may well ask. The witch believes we are made up of the elements and each element corresponds with human qualities.
The earth element speaks to our physical selves. The air element is our minds, our intellect. The fire element is our energy, our strength, our sexuality and our passion. The water element is our emotional selves. The fifth element, the spirit, speaks to our spiritual selves. Tonight's discussion will focus on the first four elements. The witch recognizes that each element in our world, around us and within us needs to be addressed, acknowledged, respected and worked on when there is a deficiency. Totally ignoring an element will eventually create an in-balance that can affect your entire life in an adverse way.
This can be a lengthy discussion as each element covers so much of our lives, we'll touch on one for each of the next few discussions. Tonight we'll discuss the Earth Element. It think it important to tell you that I have not read about these concept in any book, from any author, although I wouldn't be surprise if others came to these understandings on their personal paths of exploration and discovery, for that is how I came to this understanding of working and honoring the elements within.
Let's look at the earth element within. How healthy are you? How much effort do you put into your health? A witch knows that at times we need to be sick. I know!! Crazy, radical concept!! But if we do not give ourselves downtime, our bodies will take that time. Have you ever wondered how you can be around lots of people who are sick, perhaps everyone has the flu and you get through an entire cold and flu season with no illness? Or the contrary experience of getting a killer cold in the middle of summer, when no one else you know is sick!! What's up with that?? Simply because our bodies recognizes and deals with stress even if the 'stress' is a super fun vacation. Our bodies need downtime, to rest, rejuvenate and repair.
We need sleep. Period. I know, I know, just because you can get by on five or six hours of sleep doesn't mean your body likes it. If you normally have a short sleep cycle and you are strong, healthy and able to function at your highest level, o.k. you're a 'mutant'. But many of us adopt this sleep pattern because of work, responsibilities (new moms), extra curricular activities i.e. weekends, holidays, vacations etc. We, as a culture, no longer know what to do with ourselves when its just ourselves and the opportunity for down time. Besides sleep, there should be other opportunities for rest, that is so very important to keeping your earth element balanced and healthy. Just learning to sit and be. To be comfortable with yourself and your thoughts and just that. With no other distractions or 'stressors'.Now, I'm not saying all the time, but at least some of the time. Give yourself some time just for you to rest, relax and rejuvenate in a healthy way.
I remember growing up on the farm, and when the men would go out to the hay fields to load hay bales on a flatbed truck. A hay bale weighs appx 100 lbs, or the ones on my father's farm did. I remember asking once, and always thought when I was able to heft one myself, how strong I must be. I know now, depending on the wetness of the hay, they can average between 70 and 100 lbs. The men would walk along behind the truck and pick up these baled cubes of dried grass that a tractor driven machine would make a few days prior, by driving over the cut grass suck up the grass into the body of the baling machine, push the grass into a shoot and out the other side came bales of hay tightly wrapped with baling twine, each identical in size and shape. These would fall off the back of the baler and later that week, farm workers would pick up each and every bale of hay, and there were thousands in one harvesting season.
The men would work, hefting and stacking bale after bale, in the hot sun, sweaty, sticky and itchy as the hay seeds stuck and the dust from the hay covered everyone. A hot, messy, incredibly tiring job. Several hours in, and many trips to the farm and barns during the day, as the trucks needed to again be unloaded and the hay barns stacked with the hay that was just collected in the fields, it would be lunch time. Sacks with sandwiches and fruit would be opened and everyone would sit in the shade of the field's treeline and eat and just be. Seldom was there talking, everyone just ate and rested and just sat there. I think back and the silence, the stillness was so appropriate. After that much hard work, just giving into the moment to sit.
You may sit and relax after work at home, yet if you are over-indulging in alcohol, watching television, on the computer, even reading a book, you are still putting stress on your body and mind. Just sit. Interaction with another, or a few other people, a loved one, family members can be relaxing and rejuvenating, that's up to how you feel around that person. Some people can be 'stressors' and some people act as a balm to our souls. Seek out those 'balmy' individuals to spend quality time with.
Attention needs to go towards how we nurture our bodies also. But don't be thinking I'm going on some nature, health food kick here. I do try to eat healthy, more fruits and vegetables, less red meat, but within reasonable limits, of course. I mean, every body need a bit of chocolate, at least this witch does!
Remember in the Harry Potter stories how when the dementors came around to suck our someone's soul, the remedy to make the horrible feelings they made everyone feel go away was a healthy bit of chocolate! As it should be. A more complete magickal potion is yet to be created! Chocolate just proves to me the creator is a Goddess!! Of course over indulging in foods known to cause long term disease and illness, high fats, sugars, high calories can again set up a case of earth energy imbalance. Moderation is key.
Exercise, I personally believe, is important. Of course, you need to respect any medical limitations, but we are physical beings and our bodies are designed for physical activity. A lack of physical activity can also result in stress build up in the body. Find fun, stress relieving ways to exercise, and each person should find that physical activity they enjoy most. I won't suggest any, as there are literally thousands of choices, only you can decide that one. If you're having a hard time narrowing it down, think about when you last were sweaty and smiling. What were you doing? O.K. now, we're getting closer!
Addressing these areas of potential stress build up, which can be taxing on our physical bodies and can also affect the other elements within, can help you become more balanced and happy in your day to day magickal life. So your homework this week is to take ten minutes, just ten and just . . . sit. Sit and be.
Peace and Happiness
© 2010 Enchantments, LLC Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website.
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