February Chapters To Read - Celtic Myth and Magic Study

ATTUNING TO THE CELTIC PANTHEON 

This month’s chapter is short.  The chapter focuses on aligning yourself with the power of the divine, Goddess and God, and most importantly within.  It touches on the science of brainwaves, and magic: how to attune to it, harness it and work with it using the knowledge learned from the first chapter and as preparation for future chapters. This will be the only post about the sub-chapters this month.

 Sub- Chapters to read this month – If you would like to see more challenges, poetry or what I am reading you can visit me at Instagram @Bittenbybooklust. I am always using my tools, tarot, and sharing my journaling alongside my spiritual path. 

 Week One

·      Learning to feel the power within

·      Altered States of consciousness

Week Two

·      Using Meditation for Occult practices

·      Centering at will

Week Three

·      Learning to feel the power without

·      Basic alignment exercises

Week Four

·      Celtic Tarot Prompt Challenge

·      Discussion Video Chapter Two

Monday Reflections and Exercises will be changed to Monthly Reflections and Exercises during the shorter months of the year. They will be posted at the end of week four along with the Discussion video. I wanted to explore options with studying, and as I am beginning my first semester of university as many students will be in Australia I wanted to still give you all support if you are following along, and allow flexibility to engage deeper off the page.

I am excited to work with my own power and combine the energy of my Goddess with the intention to learn, grow and expand on my skills as a Witch, Tarot Lover and a Co-Creator.

What are you excited to learn this month?

Do you have an area you want to expand on?

Share your experiences with me via your own Blog post, Instagram tag or Vlog.

Monday Reflections & Exercises - Chapter One- Week Four

We wrap up this week with an easy reading and while it didn’t take me long to get through these sub-chapters, the inspiration and questions provoked by them got my own creative juices going.

This week I got into the kitchen to make one of the recipes shared in the back of the book, a Celtic meal. I also worked with the correspondences and herbs with my Goddess Morrighan to create herbal tea that I will be using in ritual in the next coming months.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

At the end of the month, with the reflection of the Full Moon it is always a great time to reflect on what you have learned during the month, and to make note on what worked, what didn’t and what you are ready to let go off and bring into the new month.

The reflective questions and exercises this week ask you to pick up your pen and journal and make time, even if for a few hours to connect with the Celtic magic and sink into the myth by listening to the voice of the sacred [which is you]

*What is your relationship with food and drink and how can you bring it into your circle to heal it and make it a part of your relationship with deity?

*Could you adapt to a Celtic diet to honor your Celtic deities or ethnic preferences? What would you add to your daily spiritual eating [food] or as part of a ritual?

*What is one of the greatest mysteries you have discovered in your practice?

*How do you explore the unknown and what place does it have in your practice?

* How much do you want to leave unknown and mysterious about your deity? How would that affect your practice and path if at all?

*Drawing from the collective and personal experience of other Pagans, past and present, what elements of magic work in your rituals or would you like to try; an offering, a poem, an invocation as an example?

*Do you/ would you use Celtic paganism to develop a connection with yourself, deity or your CELTIC ANCESTORS

*What primal/ ancient questions are you most curious to investigate?

* At the heart of the seeker – where do you believe your path to be at present?

EXERCISES

Like the reflective questions. These exercises ask you to create in a different way and think about the way in which food, herbs and offerings play a role in celebrations, festivals and ritual. Whether created to share with family and friends or alone in sacred space use them in correspondence with some of the questions above for a more powerful pull into the Celtic energy and your own individual practice.

*Research food/herbs that corresponds with your God/Goddess or particular the ethnic preference

*Cook one as the meals recommended into the back of the book and have celebration with family/ friends or in your sacred space: Leaving an offering at the altar. ALTERNATIVELY: You could create your own herbal tea using correspondences with your God/Goddess.

*Tap into the Celtic Collective unconscious by addressing the OTHERWORLD or deity in your journal. Really LISTEN, turn of your analytical mind and freewrite/automatic write with the intent of connecting to the CELTIC UNCONSCIOUS.

Here is a list of ten keywords from this chapter that you can use to connect with the Celtic unconscious. If none of these appeal go through each section and pick out a world, or topic that intrigued you the most that you want to go deeper with, use your dreams, tarot, automatic writing any other creative method that inspires to create a relaxing, and insightful session.

·         OTHERWORLD
·         TRANSITIONS
·         SACRED ANIMALS
·         SOVEREIGNTY·         WOODLANDS
·         GUARDIANS
·         SPIRALS
·         SCEPTERS
·          AKASHIC·         TRIFOLD

For all of you who joined me both privately and publicly during the month of January – Thank you. I am working my way through developing a practice that resonates with me, and in the future months I would like to share more of that with you as I journey through the book. While parts of it were disappointing, most sub-chapters have provided me with stepping stones that I look forward to engaging and discovering more about on my path.

Let me know how you found the chapter.

Will you be joining me in February as we delve into attuning with the Celtic Pantheon?

Did you do any of the Celtic Tarot Challenges? I would love to see your posts.

What would you like to see more of in February?

As always you can find me on INSTAGRAM @Bittenbybooklust

INSTAGRAM #CELTICMYTHANDMAGICKSTUDY2016

January - Chapter one - Week Four - Celtic Myth and Magick Study 2016

Hello sacred journeyers? How has your week been? Did you find a power animal using the Celtic Tarot challenge? Or pen your own poetry? Did you find music that inspired you in creative or sacred space? Feel free to share your workings, and study progress with me via email, Instagram or your own blog post. I love hearing back from you, and following others following the Celtic Pantheon.

As we round up the month and head into the last week of January the focus of the reading leans more towards preparation for the next chapters.  These are short and can easily be read in a day.

Whenever there are short chapters, I will be using the time during the week to focus on anything that really captured my attention and also research that I have made notes on over the past four weeks.

I have also made a change in when the week’s sub-chapters posts will be uploaded. I will now be posting Fridays instead of Thursdays.  Mondays will remain the same at the moment.

This week’s sub-chapters

• ·        Celtic Food and drink
• ·        When to do rituals
• ·        When to do pagan magic
• ·        The essence of paganism

POWER ANIMAL CARD EXPERIENCE

This week I wanted to draw my focus towards the sacred animals of the Celtic pantheon. Totems to me have always been an element of the practice both modern and ancient that has been fascinating fodder for writing, and provocation for my insatiable curiosity towards a more shamanistic path of magic.

I started working with my Wisdom of the Avalon oracle cards just picking out the ones that related to my Goddess. I have found that by honing in on those ones in particular my relationship with my Goddess has started to shift and is growing stronger in energy. I feel that by allowing myself to explore the different powers of the cards and the animal medicine of each I have found that I resonate strongly with the power energy of birds.

This isn’t something new entirely; birds have been always in my life. I have a collection of feathers, and there are feathers laying in every room somewhere. I have ornaments, pictures in my room and sacred space too. What emerged though was a deeper realization that I work best with the energy of birds and that is where I draw my power.

Initially I drew as a focus the SERPENT and the COW and that energy sat on my Altar with the Morrighan, and as I let it sit there, more animal energy came through and now I am working with birds. Usually my method of connecting comes from a heart cantered place, lately my mind has been analytical – swords like, air and that is symbolised by birds. Combined with the other elements [like water] I have been able to experience what their messages have been for me, and how I can integrate it into certain areas of practice.

Never be afraid to change things if they do not resonate.

Always ask why and make note of why that is.

Looking at the SERPENT and the COW the key themes were: knowledge, healing, nourishment, and asking, receiving, abundance. This whole month for me has been a huge lesson in asking for help, opening up, noticing where I am sitting in lack, being blessed by peoples generosity and receiving that love and support and knowing that knowledge isn’t always a need to fill the mental library it is also about coming back to the heart and listening to what is needed to heal and learn from there.

Power is in movement, in shifting, experimenting, exploring and being a Magician, Priestess, maverick seeker. 

Monday Reflections & Excercises - Week Three

 

 

 

This week’s reading left a lot to be desired. I was looking forward to reading about the Celtic history of music, dance, and poetry and found that the sparse historical knowledge was replaced for more of a tour guide or advertisement for particular places, shops and further reading. I love further reading, and I will source out any recommended reading list at the end of the book, however this chapter left me wanting and was rather disappointing. 

What little information it provided would be sufficed for the reader who wants a little tid-bit of facts. If you want more meat, it would be recommended that you look elsewhere as I will be for more of what I hoped this book would contain. 

The topic of sacred animals was fantastic and gave me what I needed with a brief overview of the animals, and importance in the culture. It is for this reason my reflection and exercises heavily reflect what I found useful. 

Let me know how you found the chapter and what you found useful and inspirational? Did you find there was enough detail or would you have liked to see it fleshed out a little more?

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

*Do you know what animals are connected with your deity/deity’s? If not, choose this week to do some research by reading their myths and stories – If you already know what they are – How do you feel you could go deeper into the symbolism and energy of the animals?

*Have you ever used animal energy in your practice/ritual before? What was your experience if so? What is your resistance if any? If you drawn to particular animals which ones are they and why do you feel that you are drawn to them? If you are not drawn to animals in magical practice why do you feel that?

*Would you see Deity or sacred animals harder to connect with [as animals have a physical representation as a living creature] what would you or could you use as a physical representation of the sacred animal and connection to deity?

EXERCISES

A lot of the exercises can be used with music in the background, in ritual, to connect and poetry is a topic I will be covering throughout the year within my own practice within the pantheon.

 I plan on remedying the lack of depth in these chapters with my own resources over the year and will include questions and exercises pertaining to any further books I read, videos I watch or links that reflect these topics.

*If you don’t have a particular deity or you don’t have a specific one and are intrigued by the animals mentioned, do some research of one animal and its cross references in other pantheons outside the Celtic Pantheon. Then for one week make a connection with that animal as a guide. WRITE to it – SPEAK to it & CONNECT with its symbolism. 

*Pick five animals not mentioned relating to ASTROLOGY and look for their associations within the Celtic Astrology or different pantheons and then relate the similarities and differences. Using that you have gleaned connect an animal to each month of this year, or choose a specific month such as JANUARY and work with the messages, and associations in your life and practice.

I will be connecting with the BEAR – CROW – BULL- SERPENT & DOG

*Create an artistic representation of the animals you are most drawn to – Draw, paint, collage, or find images that you can color online. There are lots of kids craft projects or crafty ideas that provide inspiration and reflect the culture. Connecting with the spirits of these animals honors your inner child, and can be powerful as an entrance into shamanic path walking. If you have children this can be a great way to engage with them & if art is not your think, dance the animals moves – let yourself go and allow the every of movement to bring forth the energy of the animal in your space, practice and altar. 

*Look through your Celtic decks and see if you can find any animals throughout. Make note of what cards they are present in and what you feel their connection is with the meaning of the card and your own intuitive interpretation.  Put the card on your altar or pull out the cards with animals in them and use them to draw from during this week.

I will be using my Wisdom of the Avalon Oracle card deck for this, and the power card. I will also be using my Druidcraft to spot any animals and what they mean to me in my practice. Inviting them in using different interpretations of art and meanings connects to community, culture and the magic of these beautiful beings. 

*Using music and the energy of your chosen sacred animal PEN A POEM that connects the two together that you can use in the next moons ritual with the shifts, release or manifestations ahead, in daily meditation or prayer, as an entrance into the otherworld and specific Celtic doorways, or as an offering to your sacred Deity.

CELTIC TAROT/ORACLE CARD CHALLENGE: POWER ANIMAL

Using the Wisdom of the Avalon oracle or Druid Animal deck or something similar that has Celtic animals in it, shuffle the cards asking the question:  

WHAT IS MY POWER ANIMAL 

WHAT IS MY POWER CARD  

for this week, month, or year of 2016.

Invite the animal into your circle for the next moon cycle, write and talk to the animal everyday & during your time spent with it ask:

HOW CAN I LIVE TO MY FULLEST POTENTIAL? 

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT INTEGRATING THE POWER OF THIS BEING INTO MY LIFE?

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