Welcome my sisters to our first month of winter Sabbatical! I am so excited to begin our work here and welcome you to our sacred space. On this page you will find videos, archives of our live sessions, guided meditations, and written offerings to inspire your work this season. I update the page every week, so check back often. I also let the Facebook group know when new content is here.
SACRED CRAFTING – MAGICAL INTENTION PERFUME – JANUARY 19
Getting you ready for our first sacred craft of 2016! We will be making beautiful perfume together and I’ll be sharing some of my trade secrets as an artisan perfumer with 25 years of experience and aromatherapy training.
Here is the list of supplies you need to gather:
1. A carrier oil of your choice. My preference is jojoba. Alternatives are sweet almond, olive, and rosehip seed. You can use fractionated coconut if you like!
2. Three essential oils. Something earthy for a base note, something citrusy or resinous for a middle note. Something floral for a top note is my general guidance. Of course you can choose to create an all-floral, all-citrus, or all-resin blend (like frankincense, myrrh and amber together for example).
3. A small chip stone to use when crafting and bottling.
4. A double-terminated quartz wand if you have one.
5. A vessel to hold your perfume. Choose one for the size you wish to create. I will be guiding you with a recipe to make one fluid ounce of perfume, which requires one ounce of carrier oil plus 15 drops of EO for base, middle, and top notes (all rough measurements – you will learn to discern and use your nose and intuition).
6. White sage or alternative smudge to clear energies before and after you craft.
A WORD ON NOTES
There are three levels or layers of notes in perfume: Top, Middle, and Base. Base notes have longevity in scent, lasting 30 minutes to upwards of 24 hours in some cases) while middle notes tend to last 15-30 minutes and top notes are fleeting, lasting less than 10 minutes. Top notes are the first notes you smell when you apply a fragrance, followed by middle notes as the scent ‘dries down’ and base notes, last of all.
I like this graphic a lot – with the exception that I would personally add the florals into the category of top notes, and also I consider vetiver VERY much a base note. This should be a helpful guide as you choose your scents!
Let your intuition guide you as you choose your scents and your carrier oil. You’ll find, if you do, that what you create is exactly what is needed at this moment in time. That’s a great example of emergent, intuitive magical practice – exactly what you are here to learn and experience! Aho.
PREPARING FOR ELDER COUNCIL – JANUARY 8
To prepare you for Elder Council Friday evening: What an incredible experience you’re about to have! Elder Council is a space in the outer realm where spirit guides, ancestors who have not reincarnated, pure spirit beings, angels, and spirit animals reside. Since I began Sabbatical 4 years ago I’ve been guided to journey there with the women in this group 4 times a year. The only ‘price’ for admission to this space is their request that we ONLY bring matters of some urgency to Council. The big questions – questions that will shift something in your life depending on the outcome. If you’re not sure what to ask, just go with the journey and listen with an open heart and mind. The guides speak in symbols, scent, and sound. Leave behind any expectations of the experience and soften into it as we go. Each time will be different, no matter how many times you go. WHAT YOU NEED: Be sure to have some kind of perfume or essential oil with you, a few stones, a blanket in case you get cold, and a journey to write in afterward. I like to light my Spirit Guide candle. You can discern whether a candle is needed. Sage or a smudge alternative is helpful. Pillows to make you comfortable for sitting or laying. I have a “journey box” of treasures that I keep with me every time I journey. You might create a journey box too and decide that certain stones or perfumes will be your journey talismans. I recommend Elder Council, Shaman’s Song, Transition, Deep + Dark, Priestess, Vision Quest, or Sacred Space from the SG line. Please let me know if you have questions. I can’t wait to visit Council with you.
AN INTRODUCTION & A FEW WORDS ABOUT MAGIC
I want to offer context for our work in Sabbatical, both for those of you who are new and those of you who have been with me for some time – a refresher of perspective, if you will. Given my work in the world, I think a lot and deeply about the concept of magic. It’s a tricky word. As someone who believes I had at least one past life as a priestess in an ancient time, perhaps even before there were countries we name today as Greece and Egypt, I struggle with the word magic itself. I don’t think I/we would have called what I/we do now “magic” in those times. The word has developed a connotation of trickery or slight of hand, when in fact to me magic is simply the ability to work safely and constructively with energies present in the Field that surrounds all living things toward a defined end. For those who share my sense of having lived a temple life at one point, deep in our soul lineage we remember a time when “magic” was our way of life. At sunset, our work began, lighting the torches and lamps to bring firelight for our ceremonies. We remember shuffling our bare feet across the marble and onyx floors, made rough with sand blown from across the vast desert landscapes. We remember the complete silence in which we would begin our prayers. The hush of reverence to the many gods and goddesses we believed were watching over us from the beyond. We remember bowing our heads in the stillness, and sensing our connection to the elements, to the Earth, to the heavens, and to each other. We remember being conduits of the energies. We long to feel this connection again.
In my research, what I’ve learned is that it will be difficult if not impossible in this lifetime to experience that level of connection. Why? Scholars of sacred geometry and ancient Egyptian magic explain that our Ka – our spirit – used to operate quite differently in those ancient times (which they date back between 13,000-16,000 years ago when some fundamental shift occurred in all of our lines, one which altered our basic DNA). We used to breathe Ka through the tops of our heads (which is why, they say, infants retain the open space at the top of their skulls), down through the Pineal Gland, and the breath literally connected us to our intuition, to the seat of our inner knowing. We moved differently – in energetic “chariots” that were a set of interlocking triangles we know now as the Merkaba Star. I imagine, when reading all of this information, how entirely different our experiences of life and being must have been for us then. Now, our pineal glands don’t operate fully (if at all) which is partly why we have so little access to our potential brain function. We don’t know anymore, most of us.
I maintain that some of us do know. Some of us are able to access that wisdom and sense that other life. My goal is to resurrect as much of that ancient wisdom, soul lineage, and “magic” as possible. I believe it’s why I’m here – to summon those glimmers of what was. I’m not sure what YOU will remember as you do this work, but something will stir inside of you. Let it rise to the surface. And for many around you, none of what I’m saying will ever make sense. That is as it should be. If you’re called, it’s because you are supposed to awaken. I wonder what your awakening will look like, what it will bring into being with you.
Now you know why when I say magic, I pause. To me, it’s not magic really – it’s knowing. It’s a remembrance. It’s an awakening. But because of the limitations of any language to describe what we do, and what is unfolding, I stay with the word. Just know it doesn’t capture much. It can’t.
JANUARY COURSEWORK
And so Sabbatical begins as a container to hold the awakening fire in our spirits. Winter is a time of natural hibernation, when we turn inwards and reflect on our soul’s progress over the year past. We make space for this wisdom to come in, so by the arrival of the New Year we have a sense of clarity to guide our investment in the coming months. Our energy, our time, our love – every action has a cost and return, but harmony is always within our reach. Our work this month is to seek the wisdom to know what no longer serves us, and the courage to let go of those ties. Which brings me to introduce our guiding goddess…
THE GODDESS KALI
Kali Ma is the Hindu goddess of destruction. But fear not, hers is not a harmful force. Rather, she aligns with the Divine will of the Universe, burning through toxic bonds and weighing energies to prepare our souls for rebirth. She has so much to teach us about the creation of our Universe. Some sources say she was the primordial force of creation, a great ocean of blood and water from which all life arose eons ago. Her name comes from the Sanskrit word “Kal”, which means time, signifying her truth that all Earthly beings have a finite life span. Humans, plants, animals, relationships, material possessions… they are held in a container of time and ultimately come to an end. She bears a mortal energy, so blood sacrifice and magical work is important for channeling Kali because she works on the line of both sides of life; death and rebirth. She teaches us to allow these departures in with grace, for it is only when we resist this inevitable force that we experience suffering. We call on Kali to help us destroy our ego self, the part of us that holds us back from fulfilling our Highest Self. When our ego has too much power, it blocks our connection to Source, and traps us in earthly trials often fueled by negative attachments. So Kali uses her sheer force to destroy what is harming our Highest Good.
KALI’S ORIGIN
Kali’s energy can be traced back through many eras of time, as far back as the Upanishads, but her first formal presence was found around the year 600 in Hindu text. At this time culturally, India was at war, so Kali was especially present with her devotees. She watched over the soldiers through battle, revived their energy, and proved that on the other side of destruction is rebirth; old structures must fall down for new ones to be built. She brought solace to the pain of chaos and loss. While Kali originates from India, her energy has now spread around the world. Western spiritualists and those who honor the Goddess see her as a feminine power figure and call upon her energy to activate change and release toxic bonds.
SISTER ENERGIES
Newton’s Third Law says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This concept is made clear within Kali, for as much as she’s a force for destruction, she is one of creation. This explains why she is often depicted as an incarnation of the goddess Shakti, the Mother Goddess and body of creation. Kali dances with Shiva to inspire rebirth in tandem with death. Her energy is also likened to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of Volcanoes. I love to think of Kali in relationship to Pele, visualizing the lava surging up from Mother Earth, burning through vegetation to create a new foundation of rock. Ancient Egypt’s likened energy is the gorgeous feline goddess Sekhmet. She reigns over love and war, death and rebirth. She protected the pharaohs as they entered warfare. I encourage you to explore your own studies of warrior goddesses and see which figures call to you. What they all can teach us is how to embrace the cycle of death and rebirth for our own growth and renewal.
GEMWISE
Hematite:
- Grounding
- Protection
- Shadow Integration
Fire Agate:
- Root chakra healing
- Channeling fire energy
- Addiction recovery
HERBWISE
Hibiscus:
- Attracting passionate love
- Nourishing hair and nails
- Fertility
Jasmine:
- Connecting with your soul mate
- Promotes sensuality and creativity
- Aids insomnia and dream work
Dragon’s Blood:
- Banishing negative energy
- Generates good fortune
- Heals minor cuts and scrapes to the skin
As a place to begin our work this season, I offered an audio opening meditation in your player above. To the right is the illustration of the wheel I was given by my guides. I anointed my wrists in the audio following the points on this wheel. My handwriting isn’t easy to read, so here is a decoding of the messages aligned to each quarter and cross quarter:
NORTH ~ Father time and wisdom
NORTH-EAST ~ The wisdom of new beginnings
EAST ~ The Breath of Life
SOUTH-EAST ~ Brings courage to face the rising sun
SOUTH ~ Burn away all fears
SOUTH-WEST ~ Brings strength to feel the feelings
WEST ~ Grandmother Ocean washes away my pain
NORTH-WEST ~ Honors the wisdom of my tears
If you like, use these mantras as you touch these points on your wrist with the sacred oil or perfume of your choice. I used Elder Council and ABR in this audio.
JANUARY SCHEDULE OF GATHERINGS
Aho to the path we walk together. May it be long and blessed. And so it is.
January 8th, 5 p.m. Elder Council Journey – Click here to join
January 19th, 5p.m. Crafting: New Year Perfume – Click here to join
January 21st at 5pm. Gemwise and Herbwise: Kali – Click here to join
January 23rd, 6p.m. Full Moon Ritual for the Goddess Kali – Click here to join
Magical Sabbatical Recommended Reading:
The Great Work: Self-Knowledge and Healing Through the Wheel of the Year
Written by Tiffany Lizic
Published by Llewellyn Publications
2015 Edition
Spirits of the Sacred Grove
Written by Emma Restall Orr
Published by Moon Books
2015 Edition
Women’s Rites, Women’s Mysteries: Intuitive Ritual Creation
Written by Ruth Barrett
Published by Llewellyn Publications
2007 Edition
Sabbats: A Witch’s Approach to Living the Old Ways
Written by Edian McCoy
Published by Llewellyn Publications
2002 Edition
The Lost Civilization of Lemuria
Written by Frank Joseph
Published by Bear & Company
2006 Edition
The Lost Lands
Written by Lucy Cavendish
Published by Llewellyn Publications
2014 Edition
Stones of the New Consciousness: Healing, Awakening and Co-creating with Crystals, Minerals and Gems
Written by Robert Simmons
Published by North Atlantic Books
2009 Edition
Llewellyns Complete Book of Correspondence
Written by Sandra Kynes
Published by Llewellyn Publications
2013 Edition
