6th Spell - To Texas

It all started with us leaving to Texas from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Now, usually in my posts, there's a lot more emphasis on magick in my day-to-day life, which yes, is an important factor considering this entire website. Maybe it seems more like a boring entry of my mundane life, but! The God and Goddess work in mysterious ways, right?

So, my fellow witches, allow me to spin you an interesting tale that I managed to weave from my departure from my former, temporary location (as you know how I just love moving around the world).

My girlfriend and I started off the morning not on the best note. Oh, with each other, we were fine.

This is perfect harmony, truly.

It was everything else that spiraled around me.

First, the taxi I had called to meet us at 10am had arrived early. Right as I was attempting to cram some Cherrios into my mouth.

Plus a banana.

I stumbled from the large kitchen, a mouth bloated much like a balloon with a strange, sickening combination of cereal, banana, and orange juice that I had been drinking out of another separate bowl, far too lazy to find a cup that morning.

Witches intake their food with magick. You should know this!

I went into the bedroom to see the girlfriend finishing up pulling out the suitcases. I was probably frantically waving my arms. I don't remember.

“The taxi is here!” I practically shouted into the room, and she gave me a look which told me, not only was I perhaps the strangest woman in the world, but told me I was being damn adorable while doing it.

“Okay,” She stated, ad rolled past me with the suitcases.

A couple of young men at the house helped up with our luggage, and off into the taxi we went. It was then that I remembered that I had forgotten to remove the talismans from the doors and windows of my room when we moved out. Well, either they would eventually be removed, or, the next person could find it helpful in their venture (but for future notice, once you have no more use for the talisman, make sure to physically destroy it).

We arrive at the airport, and after I struggled with my luggage, we checked in at the kiosk (which didn't work, of course). So, we had to go up to the woman at the front.

“Hello~” I chirped up, and I was trying to hide the fact that I knew a secret.

All of my luggage? Overweight. And I don't mean like, a few pounds or so, I mean like, painfully, me struggling to even drag it across the floor overweight. My overweight luggage would have cost me, total, about $180, and if I could get away with it, I would do my best to pull the wool over the eyes of the airport, especially since I had to pay for both my and my girlfriend's luggage.

The woman at the front smiled at me. “Welcome!” She handed me my tickets after check in, and behold! She didn't weigh my packages, and charged me the flat rate of $60 for both of them.

All was going well... until she saw me struggling to move it off.

“Oh...” She stated, and looked to my bag. “...Are your bags overweight?”

“...Maybe the top one is?” I let out.

Somewhere, a deity has docked off some of my karma.

She had me weight it, and sure enough, one of my bags was seventeen pounds overweight. Hahaha... the reason it was so heavy? All of my important books were in it. Mainly the ones on Egyptology, Mythology, and Magick.

But, like a good sport, she didn't charge me. Probably because she'd forgotten to ask in the first place. But hey! It sure saved me some money. One of my girlfriend's bags had been overweight as well (but only by five pounds), and that would have cost me extra as well.

After getting through baggage check (and putting my hair in a ponytail since my shoulder bag kept ripping it out of my head), we headed to the customs check-in of the U.S Homeland Security. And here is where it got interesting.

I moseyed my way over first. The guy at the counter stared at me.

Customs Guy: Passport.

Me: [ digs through purse and hands it over ]

CG: So, you from here?

Me: Yes. Like my passport entails.

CG: Why were you in Canada?

Me: Visiting.

CG: Who?

Me: [ insert name here ]

CG: Travel with anyone?

Me: My [girl]friend.

CG: How old are they?

...Wait, what?

Me: …. Twenty-one....

CG: What do they do?

Me: They're a student.

CG: What are you? What do you work as?

Me: ...I'm a student.

CG: What school?

Okay. We've just entered a totally new level of, can I say, uncomfortable? Why was he asking me questions about her? When my girlfriend came up to another guy and answered her questions, he halted in our own to listen in on her conversation—was he... was he cross-referencing me?

Did I look suspicious or something? Did she look suspicious? What the hell, America?

Witch trials, anyone?

I answered a whole bunch of more pointless crap (and even handed over another form of ID) before he reluctantly handed my passport and ID back. I took it and just walked off before he could even say anything else.

After I finished lamenting to my girlfriend, we came up to our gate, which was beside a small bar and restaurant combo and a retail shop (mainly souvenirs and the like). While I contemplated buying a moose for my god-brother back in Texas, I decided this would be as good a time as any to exchange my Canadian currency for some American cash. We walked on over to her, and she looked over at us with a hollow gaze. Her hair was long, dark, and scraggly, and her figure tall, lanky, and sickly white. Her eyes were sunken in, with obvious dark circles under them. Either she hadn't gotten any sleep, or the airport had sucked out all meaning in her life. I personally voted the latter.

“Excuse me,” I called out to her, and she merely kept staring at me with her black eyes. “Uh, can I exchange currency here?”

She shook her head.

“Oh... well, I heard there was one back downstairs...”

This time, as she stared at me with her soulless orbs, her mouth parted, and she spoke, voice ominous.

“There is no going back.”

My girlfriend and I stared back at her for a moment, in dead silence.

But, we both finally burst out laughing.

“Man, that was intense,” My girlfriend joked, before repeating the line. The girl at the register merely lifted the corners of her lips in response as we laughed... and quickly moved away.

Since I had just started on breakfast, and my girlfriend never even entered the kitchen (that's a twist, considering she's the kitchen witch), we were both hungry by the time we made it though all of... well, that. We snagged a table, which was cool because the window showed the planes taking off and pulling into the airport. My girlfriend ordered a Philly Cheese Steak, since, our first connection was in Philadelphia and that was apparently grounds for hilariousness.

Cute.

I just got a bacon cheeseburger. But man, it was soooo good, it was ridiculous.

It was during our meal that I remembered a sad fate. My girlfriend and I's tickets didn't coincide with one another. She was going straight from Philly to Texas, where as I was going to Philly, and from there to Orlando, and from there to Texas. What was worse, we weren't even next to each other on the first flight! Way to be disappointed.

I pulled out a nice pen and a stationary tablet from my purse, my thoughts on my girlfriend and her journey apart. I wrote up a small charm in neat script for her. On her side of the table, she did the same.

When she was done, my girlfriend presented it to me.

It was folded up, sweetly, and I was in love with it as soon as I read its words. So of course, I told her I could keep it “close to my heart”, which in University Witch terms, means “inside of my bra”.

After eating, I had to use the bathroom, and I barely got out in time before they stopped boarding. That was certainly good luck on my part. We boarded the plane, and for the first ride, while we were seated apart, it went smoothly.

When we landed in Philadelphia, we took the shuttle to the other side of the airport. This was where we had to part. I was looking for gate 14, but I couldn't seem to find it anywhere as we walked down the hall. This was to be my plane to Orlando, and I couldn't miss my connection.

“I don't see fourteen anywhere,” I stated, voice anxious. My girlfriend glanced at me, looking at the gap between gate 13 and 15.

“Maybe its like Hogwarts,” She stated in a jovial tone, “And you'll have to pass through the wall to find your gate.”

I instantly glared at her.

“Orlando is not Hogwar--”

Hogwarts Castle, Universal Studios, Orlando

“--I can't even say that anymore.” I had just been there last year on vacation (as you can see from my vacation picture above).

She grinned. “No, you can not.”

We parted after many kisses, and I got on the plane.

And that was where my trip got horrible.

As soon as we hit the air, we got turbulence. Now, a little turbulence, fine. Stomach-churning turbulence? Not okay. Now, while my stomach was hurting I was fine. But.

I was on a plane. With turbulence. Towards one of America's top tourist destinations. Of course, that meant that there were a ton of children on that plane. They were screaming, and vomiting, due to the turbulence. So the plane smelled like, well...

...For two hours.

I finally landed in Orlando, and started heading towards my next gate. At first, it looked like it was going to be simple. The numbers got smaller the further I walked. Perfect.

“Wow, the airport actually makes sense,” I stated, and watched as happily children and parents made their way through the airport carting bags of Disney and Universal Studio memorabilia. I was on my way to gate 18, and when I reached 31, I halted.

Dead end.

I looked left. I looked right. I spun in a circle, and probably looked ridiculous to the line of people waiting at that gate. But nothing. I kept my cool, and decided to retrace my steps, in case I missed a hallway. I walked back, coming to the center of the airport, and made my way to a map.

In the section I was in, the gates only went down to 30. So where were the rest of them? I scoured the map, only to find that they were in another terminal. How did I get there? Shuttle. ...So where was the shuttle?

I found the, but they only went to gates 39 or something, and I waited for two more to pass before I realized none were coming for the lower numbers. And that was when I started panicking, because my flight was leaving in about forty-five minutes.

But then came an older-looking man in purple.

Now, he stood out to me because his white hair stood out against the purple he was wearing. I remember staring at him with wide eyes, it it must of bee those doe eyes that practically halted him in his tracks. He stared at me, clutching my purse, coat, blanket, and laptop case, looking like a poor, pathetic creature lost in the wilderness—or Hogwarts, as the case might have been. The man let out a sigh, then shook his head.

“Lost?”

“Verily,” I stated, and he offered a smile at that.

“I'll show you the way.”

I followed him into the shuttle, which was really through a whole pretzel of them, until we made it to where I needed to be.

“Just take this one all the way and you'll be fine from there, I'm sure,” He stated, and stepped off just as the doors closed behind him.

Help comes in some of the most mysterious ways, huh?

Well, my flight ended up being delayed, ad I didn't get back to Texas until about eleven at night. But my girlfriend and I were reunited—luckily her flight had been delayed too!

...Its a good thing I don't plan on taking any planes for at least another couple of years.

5th Spell - A Dire Divination

Sometimes, I feel like I'm a pathetic excuse for a witch.

It comes and goes. Sometimes I just feel normal. Once and awhile, I feel helpless and as if my magick cannot help me. Other days it feels like I'm carrying a secret that only I know, and it makes me feel special, or a bit better about the day.

On the best days I feel like a bad*ss futher mucker.

Magicking it up like a fearless b*st*rd.

Its not about faith or anything like that. I believe in magick, the god and goddess... it is not those forces that are the problem.

Its myself.

When I first started getting into magick when I was about eleven, I was the most interested in different types of divination techniques. Tarot cards were what attracted me first, and thus, I strove to learn them. My dad gave me my allowance when I was visiting him one weekend, and with that I purchased a deck. An Oracle deck, actually, as at the time I was very enchanted by faeries... even though everyone knows, if given the chance, faeries will royally f*ck your sh*t up.

Run.

I sucked at it.

I don't mean I was just bad. I was like, failingly bad. Failingly isn't even a word, and I not only know this because of my amazing literary prowess, but also because Firefox is doing that little... swiggly...little... red line... thingy. Anyway, that's just how bad I was at it.

Now, don't get me wrong. I memorized the cards meanings. I could do a spread and read it to you, one, two, three—fortune told! But it was like I was reading a book. I felt nothing for the cards, nothing from the readings, even though people told me a read it well, I was just reading them. It was impersonal, and, even at a young age, I felt because of that, any reading I did was insulting.

“He doesn't like you like you. Now get out of my bedroom, Sarah.”

I stopped for awhile with divination, choosing to more read up on knowledge, but I did pick it up again, attempting with a Crowley deck. Didn't work. It was even worse than before. I also tried palmistry, which bored me to tears, and then even attempting to learn how to cypher dreams. They all ended in nothing.

I eventually got so desperate to be able to have a niche in divination that I ended up turning to a Magic 8 ball for help for years, before I finally discovered it.

I had been in Des Moines, Iowa, visiting a couple of people when I went into a metaphysical store called “Ancient Mysteries”. I looked around, interested in the layout of the shop, when I came upon a small rack and paused to gaze upon glorious crystal shiny.

Pendulums.

A pretty gold and glass one caught my eye first. I had no idea how to use them, but as soon as it was in my hand, it started spinning wildly, and for some reason I knew it was the one. I purchased it without a second thought.

It met its fate barely a month later in the washing machine.

Disappointed, but, knowing that I was still drawn to the aspect of the pendulum, I sought out another one. The kind shopkeepers at a store in Texas called “Silver Pyramid” spent an hour with me attempting to find one that matched. They suggested crystal ones. But every time I held one it did just what rocks do best.

Sat there like dead weight.

After trying several, some of quartz, rose quarts, amethyst, onyx—I finally found the one. This one was beautiful—it was all gold metal, spiraled, and with a sharp end. The chain, however, was painfully short and the weight almost worthless. When I held it and asked it to go into starting position, instead of turning clockwise, it spun counter clockwise. When I asked it to go still it swung back and forth like an unruly child, trying to strike me. But, unlike the others, it moved, so I begrudgingly purchased the little twat and headed back home.

It was there, however, that I removed the chain I had managed to salvage form the death of the first pendulum, and switched them out. As soon as the fusion was complete...

It worked like a dream.

I named it Pro'disin.

But all good dreams come to an end.

Before my move up to Canada, Pro'disin started showing signs of... dying. Its strange to say that about an inanimate object, but that was almost what it felt like. I would ask it questions, or have it go into starting position, but it would be slow to respond. I tried using various techniques to recharge it, or even purify it, such as keeping it in its usual black velvet pouch and adding in some peridot,or running moon-kissed water over it. However, I wielded no results from these methods.

It was while I was in Nova Scotia, that I came upon a shop called “Little Mysteries” with my girlfriend. We visited the shop a few times while were where in Halifax for two months, and every time I diligently checked their pendulums for anything interesting. All I saw were crystals, and a couple of ugly-looking metal ones. I went home every time, disappointed.

My girlfriend was just a pro at making me feel better.

However, just last week, upon going and looking, my eyes lit up like diamonds at the sight of a crystal pendulum. Normally, they didn't draw anything more than initial curiosity, but I kept walking past the rack, and just staring at it. It was apparently so obvious that even my girlfriend commented on it (which yes, is important because normally I can keep childish wonder and awe off my face and to myself). It was a beautiful, translucent, almost dark-mint green, with a silver chain and purple amethyst weight. When I picked it up, I tried it. I mean, why not, right?

….

….

And it worked.

“It freaking works!” I exclaimed, and I stood there at the counter with awe. I started jumping up and down. I ran to the nearest associate to ask them about it.

“What crystal is this?!” I practically mauled the short-haired woman behind the glass jewelry display case for the information. She spared a glance at me and then at the pendulum.

“Fluorite,” She stated. “Relatively new to magick. Want some info on it?”

The rest of the trip was a bit of a blur, because I was so entranced with the pendulum that had suddenly come into my possession, and it hasn't left my side since. After months, I had finally found it—and a crystal, at that! Fluorite is good at negating stressful and harmful energies, helping headaches, and cleaning the mind of external thought. It promotes creative thinking and enhances magick and psychic abilities. Plus, it comes in a multitude of colors. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

And I'm super glad for it.

Of course, having a type of divination you are good at isn't needed to be a witch. But I'm glad I have it, at the very least. ♥

Patron Deities 101 - Ra

Welcome to yet another class at Magick User's University! I'd like to start a segment called “Patron Deities 101”. This will be a great way for those to learn about the different patron deities one can have to represent the god and goddess.

Of course, there is no rule stating you have to have one. For me, I like having a patron god in that represents the things I stand for, or want to influence in my life.

A patron god or goddess can come from any source. It doesn't even have to be the same one! For example, my girlfriend's patron god is from Chinese mythology, and her patron goddess is from Egyptian mythology. The god and goddess represent two sides of the same coin.

So, lets start with our God/dess of the Month, shall we?

For our very first class, I wanted it to be big. And since I have a love of Egyptian mythology, naturally, I chose...

*~ + RA + ~ *

Alternatively, Re.

Don't mess with this mofo.

+ About Ra

Most people know Ra, if only by one thing: he is the Egyptian god of the sun. Not only is he that, he is the top god, the head honcho, the big cheese (or the flaming pie in the sky), of the Egyptian gods. He created himself through sheer willpower, and the other gods below him came from his amazing ability to procreate on his own.

The most famous of his children are Osiris, god of the underworld, Isis, the mother goddess, Seth, god of chaos and storms, and then Nephthys, Seth's twin sister and the nursing mother.

As a creator god, he was the most widely worshiped.

It was said that he traveled on two solar boats—one in the morning, and then one in the evening, accompanied by other gods on his journey as he turned dawn into dusk. As the journey went on, he was said to age, and then, when the sun rose again, be reborn.

Humans were said to be made from Ra's tears and sweat, and he created all lifeforms. Because of this, the Egyptians sometimes referred to themselves as “the Cattle of Ra”. And the sun in the sky? Why, that is certainly Ra's great eye, beaming down on you, watching all who were under it.

+ So what makes Ra patron god material?

Ra can stand for a lot of things, but most notably creation, and life. He is a good patron god to watch over you in times of need. The Egyptians saw him as wise and omnipresent. Ra would be a wonderful god for those who wished to be protected, and to utilize his raw power while doing magick, or even for tasks in their every day life.

+ Holy Statistics, Soull!

Name: Ra

Alternative Names: Re

Nationality: Egyptian

Type: Creator/Sun god

Physical Appearance: Varied, though most notably a falcon-man with a sun-disk on his head

Colors: White, Gold, Yellow

Day of the Week: Sunday

Attributes: Protection, Wisdom

Want to see any specific gods or goddess in Patron Dieties 101? Leave a comment here, or even follow us on Facebook! ♥