The Rowdy Goddess

An Ecstatic Vision of the Goddess, dancing in harmony with the Universe.

Archive for the tag “Magic”

Dimes are Magic Money

dimesOut of all the coins, I have always loved dimes.  They are small and they jingle daintily in your pocket or purse.  A small amont of them can really add up in no time and they don’t take up much room as they accumulate.  When I was in the first grade, our teacher read us a book called Follow My Leader:  The story of a blind boy and his guide dog by James B. Garfield, and that book has had a lasting effect for a variety of reasons.  In this case, his teachers show him how to distinguish dimes from other coins–by sized and by the ridged edge.  I think the ridges make the coin very interesting.

I also like dimes because they used to have Mercury on the face and the reverse was very mythological.  While that has changed, I feel like that magical spirit in today’s coin.  I also like dimes because they used to be silver and are still silver colored evoking the moon.  And of course, I like them because they are shiny.

The very first spell I ever did was a money spell that involved dimes.  It was from a Scott Cunningham book and I have been unable to locate it since.  The spell involved taking seven dimes and a candle (I love fire) and burning the candle over seven days and saying a chant.  I can still picture doing it and the tools I used, clear as day.  It worked too.  I got the first promotion that put my career on a track of accomplishment rather than struggling to succeed.  I didn’t get big bucks that time but I have managed to be have a long and successful career since then.  Whenever I write a money or prosperity spell, there is always a dime involved!

About twenty years ago, I participated in some of the Sisterhood dances from AmyLee, a controversial native teacher, who shared a couple of prosperity methods.  I still consider them what my tradition calls “oathbound, ” so I won’t share them,  but I will share my adaptation of what I learned.  After participating in the dance, I began saving dimes.  Even now, I don’t spend them unless I need to.  I put them in a container.  When I feel like the time is right and I need something, I count them out.  I donate some of the money and then spend the rest on what I want or need.  It has a way of adding up.

A few years ago, I was talking to a friend about money and I told her “dimes are magic money,” and described my first spell as well as my collection of dimes, which is at the very least an intentional action and probably also a spell since I chant “dimes are magic money” as I clean out my wallet!  She began doing the same thing.

Recently, a sister in my circle said she did a dime spell with a wonderful variation.  She really needed some fast cash to cover an expense not covered by their medical insurance.  She empowered a handful of dimes and then sprinkled them along the path for someone else to pick up and use.  Generosity, faith, and hope in one small gesture.  In quick succession, three things happened that brought her family some unexpected money.  Dimes are magic money!

Springing Forward

Spring forwardI read a lot of blogs on a variety of topics:  witchy stuff [technical term], Tarot, embroidery and quilting, and library stuff [another technical term].  I get most of them aggregated and read them in digest form, delivered to me first thing in the morning.  It’s my morning newspaper.  That is the reason I read Deborah Blake’s Saturday post on Sunday morning.

I slept late yesterday, and since the time moved forward into daylight savings time, it was well past mid-morning when I had my tea and morning “paper.”  Bleary and lazy, I read Deborah’s post on Springing forward, called “Spring Forward:  Time for a Change.”  In her post, Deb wisely claims the time change as a time for magic, to spring forward into a new habit and a new routine.  It’s like the “boing” of the spring pushes her to be more magical, wise, and witchy.  What a good idea, I thought, a sort of refreshing mini-new-time-resolution.

Especially since I’m not fond of the whole spring forward thing.  I miss the hour we lose.  Although on balance, we are gaining daylight and our sunlit days become longer and more hopeful.  You might ask, what is so Pagan about time change?  It’s like many constructed holidays and changes in our environment, even though it isn’t spiritual per se, it has an impact on our lives.  In the fullness of our lives, everything is magical and everything is full of possibility.  Daylight Savings Time, unless you live in parts of Indiana, is part of the rhythm of our lives and our Universe.  Why not, as Deb says, tap into that energy.

Usually I feel like the energy is out of control as time propels me into spring and summer.  It’s an exciting idea to harness the power of the spring and move with the energy.  I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes [once a dork, always a dork] from Richard III by Shakespeare, “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer….”  Why not spring into glory!  Snap!

So what will I spring into?  Something I’m excited about.  My doctor recommended and I followed up on signing up for a year-long program of diabetes prevention.  I long to prevent diabetes in my life and I think I can do this program but I also have a history of failure in terms of this kind of change.  Now I’m going to spring myself from the shackles of failure.  It’s time to spring into this.  As I will it, so shall it be!

Using My Powers For Good….and not for Evil!

As I’ve mentioned before, I have some expressions that my Source of image: http://annetaintor.com/ friends have dubbed Gailisms.  For the most part, most of these expressions have a story behind it or it is really an expression used by my family.  I love stories.  I love to tell them and I love to hear them.  A good portion of my family are storyteller — telling stories about each other and on each other.  To me, geneology is boring a sort of family organizational chart.  What I love are the pictures and stories.  In my family, when we show each other a photo or a drawing made by one of us, we know a story is going to be told.  This habit and method of communication extends to my family of choice as well.  In this way, we create community or tribe.

Many years ago, my youngest brother was telling me about three incidents that involved his thinking bad thoughts and having them come true.  I don’t remember the incidents exactly anymore but it involved things like, “you’re going to get hurt doing that,” and then the other person gets hurt.  He was talking to me on the phone about these situations and I quipped, “You should use your powers for good and not for evil.”  From that point on, if he was nervous about something, he’d email me or say, “Use your powers,” or “I’m using my powers.”  Then my sister picked it up and it became a family expression.

The use of this expression has extended to my work.  We are holding a raffle fundraiser for our social committee in celebration of Valentine’s day.  The prize is a basket of wine and chocoloate.  When a young coworker came in to buy his tickets, he said he’d better win.

I said, “Too late, I’m using my powers.”

And he said, “Are you using your powers against me?”

“No I’m using my powers for MY good.”

Obviously the application of this statement has infinite variety and opportunity for cleverness (at least in my mind).

This was around the time I went from a solitary to a Pagan active in a community and this quip took on new power.  As Wiccans and Pagans, we believe we do have the ability to create change by bending our thoughts and will to the change we want or need.  We also try to use our abilities (powers) in harmony with the Universe.  When our actions follow the trail of our mind and the Universe, we create magical change.  Then, for me, the quip, “using my powers for good and not for evil,” took on a more textured meaning.  It acknowledges that we, as humans, do have the power to effect our lives and the world around us, and that we need to act responsibly and  with gratitude and compassion.

I’ve also quipped that you can tell when it’s going to be a bad movie if the characters over-pronounce certain words:  Goddess becomes gawDESS and evil becomes eeeeeeevvvvvvilllllllllle (long, very long e).

So when using your powers, know that it is prounounced EEEEEEVILLLLLLLLE.

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