Thunder Magick

Ah, Hawaii.

Rarely does Oahu get a good thunder-boomer going - but when we do get them, they come in from the North Pacific Ocean and generally dump torrential amounts of rain on us.  They are also not the typical Hawaiian rains, in that they stick around and pour for hours (usually, if you don't like the rain here, wait five minutes.)

But this is important rain - this is what keeps the island green, and keeps this land healthy.  And thunderstorms... well, a Hawaiian thunderstorm is no Great Plains boomer, carried across the land on the mighty wings of Thunderbird, but they have their place in magick, as well.

Mercury Retrograde - right and wrong

I find people cringing over Mercury Retrogrades more than any other planet, and really, it's not that bad.  In fact, we spend less time in a Mercury Retrograde per year than we do with any other planet.  (Pluto spends just shy of half a year at a time, grinding away in reverse...)  It's just that you can't fight the flow here: this time is meant for REVIEW, and for catching your balance again before you move forward again, if you leaped-before-you-looked.  It's all in how you look at it.  And so, at the risk of another shameless self-plug for GreenCorvid.com, here's my example of a Mercury Retrograde put to GOOD use:

GreenCorvid.com

Sun: 13'Cancer
Moon: 09' Gemini
Dark of the Moon

A shameless self-plug here, but I have spoken often about Monsanto and the other biotech giants, and their roles in promoting unsafe GMO products and deadly pesticides that are endangering entire ecosystems.  These are things that can and should interest Pagans, Wiccans, and anyone who claims to follow a nature-based religion.  I speak out often.  I Marched Against Monsanto.

Now I am putting my money, my reputation, and my honor where my mouth is in permanent business opposition to the companies that are killing the Earth and the creatures who live upon Her.  I am pleased to announce that my new online storefront has opened for business at www.GreenCorvid.com.

www.GreenCorvid.com will eventually carry the full line of Herbal Choice Mari health and personal care products: the entire line is certified cruelty-free and USDA Organic.  HCM is in the process of re-designing their labels to reflect the USDA Organic and Leaping Bunny logos, so I cannot openly list it on the website until Nature's Brands (Herbal Choice Mari's parent company) gives me the go-ahead, but the certification has been approved.

I am very glad to see it happening, myself: the USDA certification is an automatic guarantee that no part of the product was produced with sewage, radiation, pesticides or genetically-modified ingredients.  It means that there are no synthetic ingredients of any kind, including chemical preservatives (they keep themselves fresh based on their own natural properties).  Pthalates?  Hell no.  Parabens?  Absolutely not.  It is the highest standard of organic purity in the country, and the Green Corvid is proud to carry products that carry that seal.

Also, the development of these products was done and continues without involving innocent animals, either directly through testing or indirectly through parts and by-products.  Therefore, an Herbal Choice Mari moisturizer is based in purified water (meaning that it meets the Universal Standard of Purity), certified organic olive oil, certified organic jojoba oil and wildcrafted candelilla wax, all derived from plants, instead of lanolin (which comes from sheep's wool).  They are vegan-friendly and certified Cruelty-Free by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC). 

(As an affiliate, the rules of the CCIC prohibit me from displaying their Leaping Bunny seal of cruelty-free certification even though the company I am marketing for has already earned it for their product, but the company's direct website does display it proudly and the link above verifies that they do have the right to do so).

Not all ingredients can be certified as purely organic, because they are wildcrafted.  The only safe way to wildcraft involves a deep and unshakeable commitment to environmental stewardship, which is a business ethic in short supply these days and which I am very happy to support with my business, both as a customer and a marketer.

Finally, the full line of Herbal Choice Mari is created with the idea of not using any of the ingredients that are common allergens.  There are no nuts or nut products (no almond oil, for those allergic to tree nuts) in the Herbal Choice Mari line.  There are no glutens to worry about, no dairy byproducts, no soy (95% of global soy production is GMO, which would invalidate the USDA Organic certification).

I believe I have found a quality product line: I am removing the product testimonials that the parent company's website lists because I believe the ingredients' lists on every product speaks for itself.  I also support and hold the same commitment to non-GMO, organic, wildcrafting, and animal-free ethics shown by Herbal Choice Mari.  I truly believe that this is a line of products worth using, worth promoting and worth the price, and I am willing to work to ensure that the ethics driving Herbal Choice Mari and similar companies become more visible and more popular throughout the cosmetics industry: if it happens to be a way through which I can help provide for my family, even better.  This is something I can be passionate about.

To put it another way: 8 months pregnant with a baby girl, I am switching my house over to Herbal Choice Mari health and personal care products, because they are safer for my family than anything else I have found on the market and I wish I had done it sooner.  I am willing to use their organic products on my baby's delicate skin, because she won't pick up the toxic ingredients from them that she would otherwise from commercially-produced "baby products" like Johnson&Johnson.)

My Pagan side has brought me a good deal of knowledge of what different herbs and essential oils may be used for, both magickally and medicinally.  I find their product line offerings to be absolutely sound in this regard.

If you don't think organic is worth the cost, you might like to know what's in the products you're using now.  Check out the Environmental Working Group and their (very extensive) cosmetics database at www.ewg.org/skindeep.  Even some of the department-store "natural" and "organic" brands might surprise you.  (What are dimethicone, polyquaternium-7 and the ubiquitous, nebulous and ultimately undefined "fragrance" doing in JASON Brand Natural Cosmetics?  They're owned by the Hain Celestial Group - the same people who brought you Celestial Seasonings tea - which is known to carry dangerously high levels of pesticide contamination.  Same with Tom's of Maine, owned by Colgate-Palmolive.  How about Nature's Gate Organics?  Surprise, surprise... if there's anything in that ingredients list that a five-year-old can't pronouce, it's not natural, let alone organic: each of the companies I just linked make products that are commonly found at the grocery store in the "organic" section - and every one of them has an EWG score over 7, which is high-risk.  Compare to Herbal Choice Mari, where nothing - not the brand, not a single ingredient, ranks higher than a 2: safe.) 

Now, come find me at www.greencorvid.com and start kicking the toxins out of your body and out of your life.

Magickal waters

Sun: 03'Cancer
Moon: 26'Capricorn
Just Past Full

All right.  I admit, a big part of my practice is astrology.  But I also like the hands-on witchy work as well, and I am a biiiiig fan of charging water by the Sun, Moon, element or astrological aspect in effect for practical work.  (By "water" I mean actual dihydrogen monoxide, not oils or tinctures, those are for another topic.)

You see, while it's nice to be able to set your tools, talismans, crystals, self, etc. out under the Full Moon overnight for cleansing and recharging, that's not always possible or practical.  (People do steal, and not everyone has the privacy necessary for a skyclad Esbat - the neighbors probably mind, even if you don't!)  Charging waters, or the herbs to go into them, provides a standalone tool, a storage battery already tuned to the frequency you want that can be pulled out at any time.  You can make it as elaborate or as simple as you want: what you put into the water will catch the energies to which it is closest and radiate it into the water to hold.  It can be as easy as setting out a jar and a funnel during thunder snow (and use that water cautiously!), or as complicated as charting out the entire heavens at the specific planetary day and hour you want to capture.

A discussion on Fire

Sun: 24'Gemini
Moon: 29'Leo

A burst of colorful flowers in the sky, fading away in smoke trails just before another illuminates the night.  A campfire crackling merrily away, toasting your marshmallows, before it escapes the confines of its coals and transforms into a raging wildfire.  A volcano spewing embers into the storm it generates to wreathe its own summit in rainless lightning a la Etna, or fountaining smooth streams of heavy basalt into the sea as Kilauea so iconically does  A candle, steady or flickering in the wind.  The scent of bread baking in the oven and meat roasting on the barbecue.  The light by which you read these words.  The fury of the nuclear fusion at the heart of the warm sunlight on your skin (and the painful red burn it may leave after)...

These are some of the physical manifestations of Fire.

Earth may give us form and Water life, Air is breath (or death).  But no element has brought people together again and again the way that Fire does.  It is as beautiful as it is dangerous, tough to contain but impossible to live without.

Elemental shrines

Sun: 14' Gemini
Moon: 08'Taurus
Dark of the Moon

A short post tonight.  Now that our home's central altar is up and running, my husband and I are in the process of putting up several small elemental shrines around the house.  So far, one is in progress, the other three are in conceptual form.

Where we live in Hawaii is urbanized, but when you close your eyes and strip out the city from your awareness and focus on what is behind it, the elements are screaming to be heard.  This land, this solid earth, is born of fire from water's embrace, kissing the sky as the winds play over the mighty pali (cliffs) under the heat of the tropical sun.  You can't miss it, if you quiet down half a second to listen.  It's easy to overlook the origins of your land on the continents: when the volcanoes that gave rise to your island are still watching over you (and are still active or potentially so!), you don't forget.

Religious Freedom and the Constitution: The Summer Solstice Protests in Pahokee, Florida

Sun: 09'Gemini
Moon: 02'Pisces
Waning Moon, approaching Last Quarter



Among other rights, the US Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of religion to all American citizens.  Any religion, none at all - that is the right of the citizen.

The Bible says to love thy neighbor as thyself.  One interpretation of this, in the social-responsibility context, that if you would like to continue to exercise your rights, you must allow and fight for your neighbor to do the same.  I note, however, that the words of Jesus make no mention of categorization or exception: there's no exemption to loving your gay neighbor, even if you don't like the idea of two people of the same sex in a loving, committed sexual relationship with one another.  And there's no exemption to loving your Pagan neighbor, even if you don't agree with their faith.

So I am curious how the good Evangelical Christian folks of Pahokee, Florida justify the bigotry in their own ranks.  Bigotry is a strong word, but take a look at these gems...

May's Supermoon (Tales of Alohi)

Sun: 03'Gemini
Moon: 27'Scorpio
Full Moon

My sister Fyre, who owns and maintains her own blog at Tales of Alohi, just put up a new post of some interest with regards to the May 2013 Full Moon.

Not only is it a Lunar Eclipse, but it is also a "supermoon," and as the Sun is in Gemini and a Full Moon is always a Sun-Moon opposition, the precise Full Moon is at 04'Sagittarius.  (Sabian symbol: An Old Owl Sits Alone On The Branch Of A Large Tree.)  Excellent time to set your ritual tools out for a night or two to bathe in the light of Luna, or to charge some climbing vine seeds for late planting.  (Vines?  I saw my tiny little lemon tree sapling - barely more than four leaves on it right now, still in its starter pot, double its height overnight last night!)

I've noticed a horde of fairly significant earthquakes within the last 24 hours all around the Pacific Ring of Fire.  The Tsunami Warning Center usually doesn't say a word for weeks at a time, but they've pinged my phone more than a dozen times in the last 24 hours for over half a dozen earthquakes, none smaller than a 5.0 - the largest so far being an 8.3 in the Sea of Okhotsk.

While unrelated to the eclipse/supermoon, it should also be worth noting that there has been also significant solar activity over the last several days, culminating in a CME event (coronal mass ejection). 

No wonder my dog has been so on edge and protective of me during the last twelve hours or so!

 - Starlight