Protection Spells for Our New Home

Protection Spells for Our New Home
As most of y'all know, we bought an old church & one-room schoolhouse on 3 3/4+/- acres in northwest Kansas and are renovating them. The schoolhouse is our home, and the huge church building is my husband's machine shop upstairs and my craft room and altar room downstairs.

As they are in the church, I consider them on sacred ground and thus protected by the Divine due to the many prayers and services and weddings and memorials that were held there for the 50+ years it was in use. Having sat vacant for 30+ years, the energies has settled and become dormant to an extent, but they're still there. I can feel it coming alive now, ever since we began clearing out the debris and trash that had been dumped there over the years. And a true blessing has been finding that Owls have taken up residence in the rafters. They'll have to be closed out permanently, but we're going to build them a house on one of the unused power poles behind the church. Hopefully they'll take up residence there rather than move away completely.

We call this one "Bam-Bam".

We call this one "Pebbles".

The Owl's Correspondences are:

Aspects:

Change, Contemplative, Darkness, Death, Deception clearing, Detachment, Discernment of motives & actions of others, Divination, Enlightenment, Extraction of secrets hidden within self or others, Fate seer, Hearing, Insight, Messenger of Death, Moon magick, Night magick, Omens, Patience, Riddler, Scrutiny, Seeing hidden motives, Silence, Solitude, Swift & exacting judgment, Totem of Mystics & Clairvoyants, Truth, Vision, Watcher, Wisdom, World view

Sacred to:

Annis the Blue Hag, Artemis, Asclepias, Athena, Blodeuwedd, Gwy, Hecate, Lilith, Minerva, Native American totem, Nyctimene, Persephone, Tlazolteotl

I consider these Owls to be extremely good blessings!

As for particular spells I will be doing around the house as we complete more of the projects, I have several planned:

1) When the window sills are finally put in place, I will pour a line of red brick dust first, then place the sill over it, sealing it in permanently. Also, each window (and there are alot of them) will have a SATOR Square inscribed on each sill around the window pryor to the finished sill trim being put in place and painted.

2) We have wood floors that need refinishing, so when they are at the point of sealing I will first draw on the floor with the brush a very large pentacle (a pentagram with a circle around it) of protection. I haven't decided yet, but I am considering a large one in the center, and 4 others in the corners, basically producing a Quincunx Cross. Each pentacle will be drawn according to what I wish to draw from that particular direction.

3) I will print out several of the Seals of Solomon to be attached to the back of the sheetrock as it is going up on the walls, both for protection, as well as for the blessings each bestows. There will also be Seals that are placed in the shops to bring in customers and income. (To see each Seal of Solomon I've chosen, go to the Lesson: Magic Seals of Solomon).

Shop's Seals of Solomon:

1st Pentacle of Saturn - Designed to compel others to submit to the possessor's wishes & requests.

2nd Pentacle of Saturn - Of great value when meeting with adversaries in business or competitions of any kind. It should be carried when looking for work or negotiating any financial contracts.

4th Pentacle of Saturn - This seal is liked by those who wish to impose their will upon others. It also alleged to bring good news to the possessor.

1st Pentacle of Jupiter - A Talisman for acquiring treasure for gaining business.

2nd Pentacle of Jupiter - The Magical Seal for acquiring glory, honors, riches, & tranquility of mind.

4th Pentacle of Jupiter - Serves to acquire wealth and honor.

6th Pentacle of Jupiter - Protects from all earthly dangers.

7th Pentacle of Jupiter - It has great power against poverty.

6th Pentacle of Mars - The owner of this cannot be harmed. If attacked, the foe's weapon shall turn against him.

1st Pentacle of the Sun - The 'El Shaddai' talisman which is alleged to bring the possessor all things they may desire.

3rd Pentacle of the Sun - Serves to attract renown, glory, riches.

1st Pentacle of Venus - Brings friendships to the possessor.

3rd Pentacle of Venus - This serves to attract love, respect, and admiration.

1st Pentacle of Mercury - Conveys personal magnetism upon the owner.

2nd Pentacle of Mercury - This Talisman is said to gain the impossible; granting wishes contrary to the order of nature.

2nd Pentacle of the Moon - Protects against all perils by water, calms one in the event of natural phenomena such as electrical storms, hurricanes, earthquakes or tornadoes.

4th Pentacle of the Moon - Defends from all evil, and from any injury to body or soul.

Home's Seals of Solomon:

3rd Pentacle of Saturn - Good for protection against any plots made by others & for defense against evil spirits.

5th Pentacle of Saturn - Protects the home, and guards all treasures & possessions one may own.

3rd Pentacle of Jupiter - Defends & protects against any enemy & against any evil spirits which may linger near one's person or home.

6th Pentacle of Jupiter - Protects from all earthly dangers.

2nd Pentacle of Mars - Serves with great success against all kinds of diseases when it is applied to afflicted parts.

6th Pentacle of Mars - The owner of this cannot be harmed. If attacked, the foe's weapon shall turn against him.

1st Pentacle of the Sun - The 'El Shaddai' talisman which is alleged to bring the possessor all things they may desire.

1st Pentacle of Venus - Brings friendships to the possessor.

2nd Pentacle of Mercury - This Talisman is said to gain the impossible; granting wishes contrary to the order of nature.

2nd Pentacle of the Moon - Protects against all perils by water, calms one in the event of natural phenomena such as electrical storms, hurricanes, earthquakes or tornadoes.

4th Pentacle of the Moon - Defends from all evil, and from any injury to body or soul.

I'm sure there will be other things I will add, such as Bindrunes, but these will be decided upon and made as I think of them at the time.

Not many people are lucky enough to be able to start from scratch, literally, as we are. But these protections and blessings can be done anywhere. It just takes a bit of thought and creativity. So think of what your needs are in terms of protection, blessings, and/or income, choose your Seals, print them out, and place them where you feel they will do their best work for you. Don't forget your wallet and your vehicle(s) too! ;)

I wish you great success in your works! :)

Build a Small Water Garden

Build a Small Water Garden

Water gardens are an beautiful & exciting addition to any home. If you enjoy vegetable gardening, you'll love this!

There are many interesting, odd, fun things to make a water garden out of, from old feed barrels to large copper pots (if you're lucky enough to find one cheap!), a plastic children's play pool, or buy a garden pond from the garden center at your local hardware. Find the size you think you'll be comfortable with to start. Don't begin with the largest just because you think it will look pretty once complete. It may, but you may also find you don't want it or can't maintain it. So start small and work your way up, if you want.

Select a location for your tub that receives a minimum of 3 - 4 hours of sunlight everyday. Remember, once they're filled, tub gardens are almost impossible to move. Almost any container can serve as a tub. If you use a barrel, such as a wine, olive or whiskey barrel, line it with PVC sheeting to avoid problems from the bacteria remaining from fermentation. 

A balanced pond should have four basic components; water, plants, snails and fish. For each square yard of water surface, you need 1 bunch of oxygenating grasses, 1 small to medium water lily, 1 bog plant and/or ornamental plant, 2 - 3 guppies or mosquito fish and 3 - 6 water snails. And if you live in a 4-Season location - you'll need a water heater to keep the pond from freezing over in winter! (Check with a pond company to find the best for your needs. You don't want the pond to freeze, but neither do you want to cook it to death either!)

To begin:

Fill the pond container with water. Use chloramine- and ammonia-deactivating products because water out of the tap has sometimes been treated. 

Keep the aquatic plants wet, and install them one at a time, each in its own pot about 6" across x 6" deep. Be sure to use heavy garden soil rather than potting mix, which will float out of the pots. 

Place the water lily in the center of the tub. 

Place grasses and bog plants aroung the outer edges. For height, set bog plants on a brick or block that lies on the tub's bottom. 

Next add water snails and fish. Water snails are scavengers and will feed on algae and fish waste. 

You can expect to achieve a good balance in your tub within 30 - 60 days. 

Trickle small amounts of chlorinated water into the tub daily for about 30 days. This will help to control algae until the garden is balanced. Small amounts of algae are necessary as food for fish and snails, but too much may indicate excess nutrients or insufficient sunlight. 

Periodically remove excess or old foliage and fallen leaves or twigs. 

Do not continually change water. Each time you change water, the tub environment will need to regain its balance. Once a tub is balanced, it can remain so for years with only occasional water addition to make up for evaporation.

So, there are your simple instructions for a beautiful addition to your wonderful garden! So start planning & designing and be ready when the weather turns warm!

***

New Chicken Coop

Plans, Plans, & More Plans!


Before it got too cold we had to build a new chicken coop. We decided to move them to the garden area, and give Liberace & Charli their place. Poor Charli had gone broody, refusing to lay eggs or come out of her house. Don't blame her, the "house" was a big round tub with a hole cut out for the door. Not warm at all. Liberace would come out in the morning with frost on his feathers! So I told hubby we had to put their "house" inside the larger coop that was where the big chickens were. Which meant building a new coop.


The large coop was more of a shed size anyway, so now Liberace & Charli have their "house" inside on the right and all the chicken & horse feed, and my garden tools are on the left. Perfect use of all that space! It took Charli barely a week before she was laying eggs again, and she runs around in the pen all day. No more brooding! woohoo!


The Banties are still happy in their place. But now we have an empty pen. I'm planning on getting a few more chickens in the Spring that will live in that space. Maybe another breed of Banty since the space is rather small.


So, here are the coops & the chicken pens as they are now:

My favorite place to sit (when it's not too hot or too cold!)

 And the chickens:

Doe sitting in her favorite spot

Banties

Liberace (Showgirl: Silkie x Turken)

 Charli (Silkie)

In the Spring I'll start another garden but in a different location further down from the chickens, on the other side of the compost pile. That's if we don't sell the place in the mean time! Either way, lots to do once Spring rolls around!

Chicken Coops

Finally! The chicken coops are completed. Well, mostly. There are still a few minor things to do - but have to wait for some more funds for that to happen! But, at least the chickens are occupying their new abodes and seem to be happy about it.


This is the large one:

Here are some of the chickens:


Liberace & Charlie:

Charlie is a black Silkie and Liberace is a Showgirl, which is a Naked Neck Turken x Silkie. 


These are some of the others:

These lovelies are our ladies. Liberace should make some interesting chicks with these! LOL


This is our other rooster, Rooster Cogburn:

I can't wait for his tail feathers to come in, he'll be gorgeous!


Here is the smaller coop for the Banties:

So, that's finally (well, almost) the end of that whole project. The rest is "little" stuff. Now I can finally clean out the garden shed and get it set up properly as a garden shed rather than a messy substitute chicken cage. Ahhh, to have things "right" again! Lovin' it!


Blessings!

The Completed Garden - Dedicated to Lugh

The fence is up, the gate is finished, and the Runic & Ogham blessings are in place! The garden is dedicated to Lugh's aspect of the Fertility Sun God of the Good Harvest.

 The inside posts have a blessing in Ogham that reads, "Bless this Land".

The gate handle is an old horseshoe painted with runes "Abundance, Good Harvest", plus 3 individual runes; Kaunaz, Othila, & Ior. Across the top is a runic sentence that says "Here there be Dragons and Faeries":

The bindrune is a combination of Ior (good year, cycles), Jera (harvest, reward), Othila (gardening, home, land). The 2 side runes say, "Lugh".

Next week the seeds will be planted by the Moon phases & Planets. I can then relax, watering daily, weeding as necessary, but - LOL - at least the hard work is finished! :)

More on My Garden

OMFG! The garden is FINALLY dug! I can't believe it! That dig 1 day, rain 2 days, dig 1 day, rain 2 days.....routine was getting very tiresome after almost 3 months!


Today we're supposed to get the fence up so I can finally get to planting the rest of my seeds. (But guess what - its supposed to rain! aaaaggghhhh!) The first seeds planted are secure inside a portable 6' x 8' chain link kennel, which will be repurposed to the Dark Cornish Bantie pen once their coop is built next week. The remaining wire from fencing the garden will be used for the larger chickens' pen.


Then, to top it off I get up today and think "I need a scarecrow!" Oh yippee, another damned project! I try to ignore the idea. Ain't hap'nin'. Shit. So my mind instantly begins mentally going through my never-used wardrobe (being retired, I only wear a select few items - none of which are flattering, but they sure are comfy!). After deciding on what she was going to wear I had to make sure that I still had those things. I remembered clearing out everything a year or so ago. Luckily, I'd just stuffed it all at the back of the closet on the floor. All those pretty fabrics are NOT going to go to waste - I WILL find a use for them.........someday. And that "someday" has finally arrived for a few of those items: a pretty flowy yellow skirt w/ red & blue flowers, a red top, a floppy straw hat, men's ties for a "belt" and other ties to cover the string tied neck, hands, & feet. (I got over 75 ties for $5 at a yard sale years ago - and I finally get to use a few! They were just too pretty not to buy!)


So, once the fence is up, I'll start on the scarecrow. Once finished I will post a picture of her. Her name is "Hoodoo Hannah". :D


I want to thank the author of this blog (Laura Mayes) for inspiring me to go ahead with my scarecrow project: http://thequeso.com/how-to-make-a-scarecrow-without-involving-any-money-or-actual-skill/comment-page-1/#comment-18412 She turned a "scary" project into something I know I can manage - and she did it with such humor! Thank you!