Correllian Shaman's Rattle

Blessed Imbolc!
For this week's Correllian Shaman assignment, I needed to make a Shaman's Rattle. A rattle is used for healing, cleaning space, to open blocked energy, focus energy and to assist meditation. The rattle is an important tool for a Shaman, so this took a few days of meditation to decide what materials I wanted to build it from and what I wanted inside it. Below I have included a sound byte of my rattle. 

After I decided I wanted a glass rattle, I walked through my house to pick one out... I have a collection of over 100 antique bottles and wasn't sure which one I should use. One of my newer bottles is a pretty little glass bottle that I had saved as it had a pretty gray spiral on it and thought I might find a use for it in the future. I decided that bottle was the one to use as it had the spiral and I wouldn't be heartbroken if, for some reason, it happened to get broken.

I painted the bottle with 6 coats of white paint and saved the gray spiral, as it worked well into the purpose of this assignment. The white paint was chosen for its ability to purify, consecrate, give spiritual strength, exorcise and support divination. I was happy with the spiral color already on the bottle as gray supports balance, to neutrality, usefulness in erasing, canceling and returning to the universe without repercussion or destructive energies. 

Once the paint dried, I added a small silver pentacle and three spirals on the bottom of the bottle. It just felt like the right thing to do. I chose silver paint due to its lunar power, its ability to purify and charge of female energy.  I then combined all the materials below and placed them into the rattle. I sealed the bottle with the lid it came with. It has quite a pretty sound and will come in handy when I need to consecrate my ritual space. 

Ingredients:
Rice was chosen mainly for sound assistance but it is also a purifier. 
Sea Salt was chosen for its purification properties.
Dragon's blood was chosen due to its ability to empower, purify, protect, consecrate and develop ritual energy. 
Basil was chosen due to its ability to protect and exorcise
Bay to protect and cleanse.
Lavender was chosen due to its ability to cleanse, consecrate, for psychic protection, to support magic and rituals. 
Rosemary to protect, concentrate, cleanse, exorcise, psychic protection, bless and support energy. 
Quartz was chosen due to its ability to transform an imbalanced energy field.
Copper conducts energy and inspires balance and good foundations. 

I hope this was a helpful article for you!

Correllian Shaman Mojo Bag Assignment

So today, I am going to tell you about how I made my Mojo bag. A mojo bag is a small spell bag that you make with intent and wear where no one can see it. They can be custom built to meet your needs. For mine, I included herbs, oils, crystals and chose the color of fabric, thread and ribbon based on my intent.

A mojo bag is full of magical power. You will want to wear it close to your skin the first week of use. This could be in your bra, undergarments, etc. After that, you can store it in a dresser drawer, in your purse or on the altar, but be sure to keep it out of sight. You will need to recharge it regularly.

Mojo bag for healing, protection and strength.

Ingredients:
Sea Salt - to protect
Dragon's blood - for protection and spell potency
Dry herbs:
- Basil - to protect
- Bay - to heal, strengthen & protect
- Lavender - to heal & protect
- Rosemary - To heal & protect
- Sage brush - To heal
- Mint - to heal
Oils:
- Lavender
- Cedar - To strengthen, heal & protect
Crystals:
- Amethyst - to heal
- Tigers eye - to strengthen
- Hematite - to protect

Brown, white and light blue fabric - stability, lunar magic & healing
Green & yellow thread - stability & stimulate nervous system
Red ribbon - protect and defend
Silver paint pen - lunar power

I began by cleansing and grounding. Everything was in my ritual area so that I could cast a circle and work this spell. The first step was to cut the fabric in a 4" circle. I used pinking shears to prevent unraveling. I then used the thread to make loose stitches around the circle.

 Next, blessed all of the materials and began mixing everything up. In the bag went the stones, dragons blood and salt. As I placed them I spoke my intentions. Then, I mixed up the herbs until they were in little bits, while speaking my intentions. These items then went into the bag.

 My final addition was the oils. I placed 3 drops of lavender and 1 drop of cedar on the mixture. I then pulled the thread tight wrapped and tied it seven times.

 After trimming the thread I then wrapped and tied the end of the ribbon around the bag three times. Then, the second end was wrapped and tied three times. Finally, the two ends were tied together once more.

The final product extends down to my breasts. This will allow me to wear it comfortably during the first week when I cannot just tuck it into my bra.

I ended by running dragons blood incense around it. Closed the circle, cleansed and grounded.

Pagan Fitness Challenge Update!

I am participating in the "Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge" I found at Pagan Health & Fitness. As I posted previously, the author asks us to come up with 5 things to go with the diet to represent the elements. The goals I chose were: 

Status Report: 

Air~ Breathe more intently. Do yoga to practice healing breathing. --> I did yoga ONCE this week... moving up a bit!

       
Fire~ Feel the burn of working out! --> I did do toning exercises twice this week, went walking twice and played basketball with the kids at work. Woot! I met my weekly goal! 

       

Water~ Drink more of it! --> I drank 8 glasses of water EVERY day this week. 

:-)

Earth~ Focus on being more grounded in life. --> I did ground and shield every day this week. It was a great week. I didn't let things get to me and I noticed my coworkers were also a bit more relaxed. 

Spirit~ Work on my attitude and accepting me. Goddess made me a beautiful person now, I just have to own it! I am working on this and think I am making very good progress. 

Week 4 goals: 

Water~ Keep drinking the water and this week I do not want to drink ANY diet soda. 

Air~ Do yoga twice this week. Focus on breathing and meditation. 

Fire~ Do toning exercises twice this week. 

Earth~ Focus on being more grounded in life. -- Goal is to ground every morning and evening. 

Spirit~ Work on my attitude and accepting me. Goddess made me a beautiful person now, I just have to own it! NO negative self talk. I know this one is not any different, but this is one of my biggest challenges.