October 29, 2008

A PR Perfecta Trifecta

Today was a great triple play of PR for The Sacred Well, Rabbit, and Come As You Are Coven. We were all mentioned in a story in the San Francisco Chronicle, here.

I think the reporter, Susan Fornoff, did a great job of capturing the twisting, diverse threads of the pagan mythos in an easy-to-digest format. She weft a web of info that demonstrated both the deep magic and the wry humor of the pagan community. I also appreciated that there was no mention of, "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" in this article. That question gets old. Molly Blue Dawn offers my favorite quip, "I am an excellent witch."

Seriously, many thanks to Susan and to the staff and editors of The San Francisco Chronicle for offering the local pagan community such a wonderful opportunity to advance the cultural consciousness around Earth-based traditions.

October 27, 2008

Praise And Respect

Praise and respect to all my blood ancestors,
my four deceased grandparents...

Praise and respect to my grandfather George,
the sensitive one with the artful precise eye
and the seashell collection...

Praise and respect to my grandmother Libby,
a warrior spirit and careerwoman,
with a commanding presence...

Praise and respect to my grandfather Lester,
a private feeler who put on a happy face for his family
and impressed his only grandson by tying him into a pretzel
and pulling quarters out of his nose...

Praise and respect to my grandmother Harriet,
oldest of 3 daughters who lost their father as children,
with the quickest mind and most voracious appetite for knowledge,
who taught me inquisitiveness and serves as a spiritual touchstone:
Barry, scribe of Harriet...

Praise and respect to the other ancestors in Africa, India, Australia...
the astrologers, seers and speakers of truth...
the sensitive men and overweight lesbians...
trailblazers, drug-takers and witch doctors who instilled in me powers I still don't understand...
to the writers, poets, thinkers and goofy oddballs,
some who were tortured, beheaded or imprisoned for talking too much of the right things at the right times...

I hope to connect with you,
and repay you with my gratitude for making who I am and what I do possible...
by doing it to the best of my ability at any given time
and making you proud of me...

... in praise and respect.

-astrobarry

October 22, 2008

Election Day Spell

Election Day Spell by Iris and Rabbit

We aren’t going to try to tell you what to choose on Election Day. We hope we don’t need to :)

Instead, we have written a spell that creates intention for the best possible outcome in all initiatives, and the highest possible good for this country, state, county, and city. You may want to use this spell with a seven-day candle, and start it on Tues the 28th, the new moon. Or you may decide to do this spell with a three- or one-day candle, leading up to Election Day. We invite you to snag this and post it on your blog/list/chat as well. Please remember to include a link to this blog, if you don’t mind. And feel free to adapt and add your own magic as well.

You will need:
-a seven-, three-, or one-day blue candle
-a High John the Conqueror root
-a cinnamon stick
-a Justice tarot card from your deck…
…or else a 3 of Diamonds (the hard worker) from a regular deck
-a sample ballot (this is usually available for free at most public libraries and post offices, or you might check your local government website)
-a dollar bill
-a piece of string
-cinnamon, lemon, frankincense, and/or dragon’s blood oils (optional)
-frankincense tears and a charcoal, or else frankincense incense
-a pen

Begin by lighting the incense. Pass the dollar bill through the smoke three times. Then, write on the dollar bill, “This does not determine my vote.” Wrap the bill around the cinnamon stick and tie it with the string, in 9 knots. This will ensure that our voting process is neither bought nor swindled for monetary purposes by any representative of any party or constituency. Keep this bundle near the candle as it’s going.

Fill out the sample ballot with your choices of votes. Think carefully about each vote you place, and after you place your check mark, say out loud, ‘So mote it be.”

When you have finished filling out your sample ballot, place it on your altar. On top of it, place the Justice card or 3 of Diamonds. On top of that, place the candle.

Light the candle, and then anoint your High John the Conqueror root with the oil mixture, or else pass it through the candle flame three times. (Please don’t do both, because the oils are flammable.) Set it on top of the ballot at the base of the candle.

Chant the following daily until Election Day (or make up a suitable chant of your own.)
“By the power of three times three
As I do will, so mote it be,
With good toward all and harm to none
Civic duty will be done.
Transformation, both great and small
With liberty and justice for all.”

On Election Day, take your sample ballot with you to the polls and copy your votes from it. Touch it to whatever paper or screen where you vote to transfer the power of your intention. Tap the table, booth, or floor three times before you leave to seal the deal.

Blessed be!

October 6, 2008

Oh, Yeah... The Money Corner


I hadn’t noticed when the money corner of the store began to pile up with boxes and other crap.

It was only when Iris and I began to grid the store with four vials of alchemical Sacred Salt mix (made my friend Ben Commons, a Santa Barbara-based astrologer, alchemist & energy worker)—and realized we couldn’t reach that last far corner—that we discovered our feng shui gaffe.

Iris, bless her heart, proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes cleaning out our money corner. (She even found broken glass and a long-displaced food container in those hinterlands.) Thank you, Iris, as always.

Store gridded with the salt mix, money corner cleared and rededicated... the next two days were FANTASTIC saleswise.

That first day after the clearing, we even sold that amazing specimen-quality celestite cluster (a big ticket item, to be sure) within only a week of putting it out. I just picked it up at the Denver mineral show I attended last month, and had never seen a celestite cluster quite like it.

Needless to say, it’s only one of MANY goodies I found...