Lavender Labyrinth

Lavender Labyrinth
This was posted on my Facebook page. Isn't it beautiful?! Wow! Can you imagine the awesome scent it would give?! When we finally get to our Kansas property I will most definitely be planting one of these in front of the church building, with the entrance facing the church doors.

Lavender (Lavandula officinalis):

Magickal Aspects:
Chastity, Clairvoyance, Devotion, Dreams, Faery magick, Handfasting, Happiness, Healing, Longevity, Love, Meditation, Mental clarity, Money, Peace, Protection, Purification, Sexuality, Sleep, Virtue, Wishes

Deities: 

Aradia, Elves, Faeries, Hecate, Saturn

Gender: M

Planet: Mercury

Element: Air
 
Doing the math to figure out how large a diameter I want and the number of seeds to plant or the number of plants to buy will be lots of fun! I'd like a Mimosa tree in the center. I think the pink blooms with the beautiful lavender flowers would be a gorgeous contrast. LOL Of course, as large as the Mimosa gets, that means the lavender labyrinth will be quite large as well! Maybe I should re-think the tree in the center!

Mimosa

Autumnal Equinox, Mabon & the Season of the Witch

Autumnal Equinox, Mabon & the Season of the Witch
This is my favorite season of the year. The trees and other plant life are still green but quickly begin to turn to their beautiful Fall colors and finally are bare, brown & black. Stark against the gray skies and white snows. Autumn is the most versatile of all of the seasons.

For Pagans, Autumn is the Season of the Witch. Here are many of the correspondences associated with the Mabon Sabbat, which falls on Saturday, September 22nd this year. This information is from my book: A Witch's Craft, Volume 2: A Witch's Book of Correspondences, (Chpt. 11: Wheel of the Year, pg. 323). 

Mabon: September 21^st (approximately)

This festival is celebrated on or about September 21^st and is the eighth Sabbat of the year.  It celebrates the Autumn Equinox and is the second harvest festival, when Nature is preparing for the winter months. Night and day are of equal length and the God’s energy and strength are nearly gone. The Goddess begins to mourn the loss she knows is coming, but knows he will return when he is reborn at Yule.

Element:	Air
Herbs:	Acorn, Aster, Benzoin, Cedar, Corn, Cypress, Ferns, Grains, Hazel, Heather, Honeysuckle, Hops, Ivy, Marigold, Milkweed, Mums, Myrrh, Oak, Passionflower, Pine, Rose, Sage, Sassafras, Solomon's Seal, Thistle, Tobacco, Vegetables, Wheat
Oil/Incense:	Apple, Apple Blossom, Benzoin, Black Pepper, Hay/Straw, Myrrh, Passionflower, Patchouli, Pine, Red Poppy, Sage
Colors:	Blue, Brown, Dark Red, Deep Gold, Gold, Indigo, Leaf Green, Maroon, Orange, Red, Russet, Violet, Yellow
Stones:	Agate, Amethyst, Carnelian, Lapis Lazuli, Sapphire, Yellow Agate, Yellow Topaz
Foods:	Apples, Blackberries, Blackberry Wine, Breads, Carrots, Cider, Corn, Cornbread, Grapes, Heather Wine, Nuts, Onions, Pomegranates, Potatoes, Squash, Vegetables, Wheat, Wine
Symbols:	Acorns, Apples, Autumn leaves, Balance, Berries, Corn, Cornucopia (Horn of Plenty), Dried Seeds, Equality, Gourds, Grains, Grapes, Ivy, Mysteries, Pine Cones, Pomegranates, Second Harvest, Vines, Wheat, White Roses, Wine
Activities:	Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honor those who have passed over
Spellworkings:	Balance, Harmony, Protection, Prosperity, Security, Self-confidence
Deities:	Goddesses - Danu, Epona, Modron, Morgan, Morrigan, Muses, Pamona, Persephone, Sin, Sophia, Sura Gods - Esus, Green Man, Hermes, Mabon, Mannanan, Thoth, Thor
Other Names:	Autumn Equinox, Cornucopia, Witch’s Thanksgiving, Alban Elved
Related Festivals:	Sukkot - This Jewish holiday which is celebrated in early October commemorates the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the desert.  It is also a harvest festival of thanks. Thanksgiving - This is a secular holiday which is similar to the Pagan festival of Mabon; a day to give thanks for the food and blessings of the previous year. The American Thanksgiving is the last Thursday in November while the Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated in October. Festival of Dionysus - There were several festivals that honored Dionysus, the God of Wine. It was a time of fun, games and feasting and of course drinking of wine!

A Dark Moon Hex

A Dark Moon Hex
On Tuesday (Mars) I put together an herb mix of some wonderful hexing & cursing plants found around my property, then bound it all together with sawdust & wood glue and formed it into a (relatively) human shape. The entire time concentrating on the person (and their immediate associates) that it is meant for.

 I then placed the form on a glass tray on top of a mirror (which is used exclusively for negative works to reflect on the subject all the negative energy of the work as well as their own personal negativity to be exponentially reflected back on them), and stuck buzzard feathers in it (to have their life picked clean through to complete destruction) and laid others along side it. There is a switchblade knife (for obvious reasons) stuck through the center and an Ironweed flowerhead stuck in the head. Ironweed is used for control over others. Suffice it to say that the other herbs & plant materials used were just as "mean".

This sat on my altar for 3 days until the Dark Moon. I then took the buzzard feathers & the switchblade out, lifted one end of the glass tray and slid the black cloth back over the mirror (since being designated as only being used for negative works It is never allowed to reflect me or anything in my environment). Once the mirror was covered completely I picked up the glass tray with the now "dead" herb form and took it outside.

Our driveway has a hangman's noose loop shape to it, with a huge old oak tree on it that looks like it could've been a perfect "hanging tree" at one time. I took the form to the "noose" at the bottom of the loop, dug a hole and buried the form. This person & anyone associated with them is now under my control, hung in a noose, at a road that splits but circles around on itself (in essence going round & round & round without ever getting anywhere - essentially in limbo!)

I had set tealites up to burn but I tried something new and it didn't work - they wouldn't stay lit. Totally my fault, but I see now that the candles were not suppose to be burned at the time. Today, on the New Moon is when I was supposed to light them. The Dark Moon was to set, "glue", the destruction in place, sitting on the altar was to hold it and build its energy, and the New Moon was to begin the process of that destruction.

_______________'s destruction is now complete and viral.
Their life is now a downward spiral.
Black & dark their life will always be,
As it is so powerfully willed by me!
No light will ever shine on them,
In a box in the ground I do condemn.

As I do will, so will it be!

This is declared by me,
No repercussions shall there be.
Safe are me and mine,
Now, today and through all time.

Today is such a perfect day for this because it's cloudy and very overcast, no sun out at all, and it's very cool out with a good breeze blowing. Love it when it all comes together the way it's actually supposed to and not how I think it should be. Definitely have to listen to what we're being told from the Otherside. They know better than we do because they can see further than we can. Learn to trust their guidance. They're always right!

Now to sit back and see how it all develops. And if I don't get to see it all happen that's fine. I have faith that it most definitely will!

***
Follow-Up 11/29/2012
Well, in October the court didn't go the way they'd hoped. They were told that they were in the wrong court and would have to file in a higher court - at a higher expense as well. Which also meant having to get a lawyer. Hubby could tell by the looks on their faces that they didn't have the money or the will any longer to pursue it further.

Yesterday we were at the Dollar Store Market and when we got in line it turned out we were right behind them! They looked like they'd been punched. They refused to look in our direction, having everywhere else to look except at us. If they hadn't pulled their shit, we could've easily said our "hi, how are you"'s and moved on, but instead they were trying to get out as fast as possible and we were having a good time staring them down.

While I don't know their complete situation obviously, I would say it's safe to say that they're not doing so well. I wonder if they even got financing for the house they decided to try (again) to buy that they had been renting when they tried to buy ours. I'm trusting that they're still renting. And yes, that thought makes me feel good! :) They deserve the misery thrown back at themselves for which they tried to throw on us!