Witch's Hangover

I've seen this term thrown around facebook in the past few days, largely by folks who misunderstand how the term is used. It does NOT mean a Witch who drank too much around the fire after a ritual. That's just a regular hangover ;)

A Witch's Hangover is when one is energetically depleted after intense ritual, spell work or other craft related operations which require vast amounts of metaphysical energy. Did you lead a circle wherein no one sustained the energy except for you? Did you take on a particularly energy intensive part in a ritual or spellcasting? Did you engage in trance or prophecy? Did you raise a lot of energy with the group? Were you the focus for the energy? You might suffer from a Witch's Hangover the next day.

What does it feel like? For me, it's like an actual hangover: I feel very sluggish, retain water, dry mouth and throat, headache and general signs of dehydration.

What do I do? Same thing for a hangover: I drink a LOT of water. B vitamins help me too! I find myself craving potatoes after intense work, a very grounding food.

Around the time of the full moon, some Witches find themselves on what is referred to as The Wild Hunt. Sometimes you can astral travel or journey without advanced planning. When you wake up feeling more tired than when you went to sleep.... could be Witches Hangover!

It's not the same thing as having a headache from too much energy, or the moon affecting the tides of your body. It's certainly not about acting the fool or being a "lunatic" as we know it in the muggle sense of the term. It's the physical consequences of spending a great amount of magical energy.

Yet another analogy: Ever start exercising after you've been dormant for a while? Or have an intense workout despite a regular exercise routine? I'm kinda sore the next day. You too? The same thing is true when you're talking in terms of energy, both for the problem and the solution: You have to grow your magical muscles. Doing that starts with a foundation of daily practice including (at least for me) ritual, meditation, and offerings. The more work you do with energy and with spirit, the stronger you get, the more you can do, and the less likely it is you will suffer a magical hangover.

But wow that last one was a doozy. After Saturday's Nemoralia celebration I was seriously hung over on both Sunday and some of Monday. It was only this morning that I realized where my bumps and bruises are because the general feeling of walking through cotton had finally lifted!

What can I say- when we magically party, we party hard!

I am not recommending the product in the picture, I just think the name is hillarious! And Appropriate!

Keep Dreaming...

I made it 2 nights in a row, before my dream novena collapsed. How did this happen so quickly? Did my reptile brain rebel to the point that I just gave up? Nope. It was my tarot cards. And really, I think they fulfilled the purpose of the week anyway...

I haven't used my cards in a long time, They've been very neglected. The last time I used them was in February at the Sacred Space conference. I'd never really used them to "talk" to deities or entities or ancestors. For me, that kind of contact was more direct: It came from whispers and especially in dreams. I never needed to do use a tool like tarot for those purposes. For some reason tho, my tarot cards have been calling me. I've felt incredibly drawn to them in the past week. I even had to take them with me when going out and about. They usually sit on the altar in my bedroom, but they wanted to be even closer. After kiddo finally got to sleep last night I sat on the floor to meditate. Newp. The cards wanted my attention. I cast a circle, called in Guardians, and opened up the pouch with the deck.

So last night, I didn't just meditate, I asked questions and received answers. Silly Libra me, I often doubt my interpretations when doing readings for myself, but this wasn't "for me" it was a Q and A and I recommend everyone sit down and do this. If you have any knack with the cards, if you have a patron you'd like to work with or a deity you're interested in, write up your questions and go for it.

I feel like the dream work I was trying to do was too passive. This was much more my speed. I'm a go-getter, what can I say? So last night, I did indeed meditate, I just didn't attempt the neutral channel. I didn't get to bed at a decent hour. I was still working with the cards until around 1 am and was so buzzed that I couldn't get to sleep!

We do what we can when we can. Novenas are also a once a week for 9 weeks endeavor. I think I'll do that, knowing that once a week I can sleep in late/go to bed early, and now I know I need to bring my tarot cards back into my practice.

Have a favorite deck? I learned on Rider-Waite and have a mini Rider-Waite deck that I like to use- it's easier to shuffle than the standard tarot size. I still love the Tarrocci Deck!

Tonight I will leave myself time to meditate. Otherwise, no pressure ;)

It's a start

I've discussed meditation briefly in the past. Last night, after posting, I signed off my electronic devices, turned down the lights, and sat in silence. Well, except for all of the noise in my head. I found it very difficult to get to the quiet space last night, so after a while, I stopped trying. At first I tried counting my breath, varying the count, then using different chants, but I had too much in the way. I even tried literally tuning into the neutral station by visualizing a radio and turning the dial. Then I picked a station on the television in my head and tried to punch it in on the remote, but that led to a meditation on numerology and wander wander chatter chatter wander...

I need a place to brain dump. If I Just get it all down on paper or in an email to myself, then it's out of my head. I'm not going to pressure myself to do this daily, tho that is best, but one morning a week, I will get up and immediately start to write in a journal, just to get it out.

This is not to say it wasn't helpful or effective. I actually had a wonderful revelation about one of my Patrons, the nature of the universe and insight into my own patterns and conflicts. My dreams afterward were interesting and I woke up with tired feet after walking a lot!

I refuse to have this be my brain dump, so to keep it interesting, at least interesting to me, let's talk a little bit about what's on the agenda: There are several drafts of posts brewing, including a few on reincarnation, the ancient concept of energy work and the laying on of hands, and "Prayer" vs "Magic." Hopefully my compatriots will highlight their current research too! It's nearly May so look for posts on the Floralia, fertility rites, and more from Empedocles.

Commitment

I've made one of those, to meditate and get enough sleep to leave time and room for dream work. I still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that this is what I'm choosing to do with the very little free time I have. Any parents out there will understand that your needs almost never come first. And any time to yourself has to be carefully carved out with sitters and late nights after the kids have finally gone to bed. Mine goes to bed late. I'm thinking about moving my start time to 11 and bed time to midnight. I'm torn between being practical and letting my reptile brain win and watching movies until I sleep.

It's not really my reptile brain wanting to just screw around, it's that I know I'm on the verge of something important and there is resistance. Have you ever felt that? You're about to go somewhere you've wanted to or meet up with someone or do something you've been planning for (especially when related to magic) and things always seem to get in the way? I honestly believe it's the universe, and perhaps other things, trying to test us to see if we'll fight for it.

Heh, that just makes me want it more and work harder to get it.  I'm going to be flexible about my start time. I do like guided meditation and hypnosis before sleep and I plan to set up a few things, magically speaking, so I will need about 30 minutes to get ready and I want to give myself a lead into that to unwind. I'm not going to sweat the start, I'm not going to try to be "perfect" because as soon as you try to be "perfect" you set yourself up to "fail." This isn't a pass/fail or win/lose situation. This is an exploration. One I've done before. So why is it daunting this time? Perhaps because I've announced it and there are expectations other than my own. Shrug. Let's see where this takes us.

Sogni d'oro!

Enjoy the Silence

Silence. Neutral Mind. Meditation. I try to practice this daily. Doesn't always work out. When I get to that place, where the mundane, daily "noise" is turned off, I find I can hear farther than before, and I don't mean the traffic on main street or the kids around the corner. I can hear what the Powers that Be are telling me. Sometimes I hear my own bs, but that's not the silent place, that's in the hallway leading to it. When you find the silence, it is truly a respite from the day/week/month. The more I practice, the faster I get there (and there have been times when it's taken weeks to get there).

I actually prefer to use mantras and chants in my meditative work: It's a way to drown out all the "noise" and bypass the mental chatter on the way to the silence. I feel like that's cheating. I don't like crutches, so I'll keep that in reserve for specific times and uses.

It's scary to confront yourself and all of the mental junk you have accumulated: Old fears and regrets hanging around, old victories or notions you manage to cling to, random thoughts jumping out, your stream of consciousness not so much a stream but a series of jump-cuts all over the place... Spring cleaning means inside as well as out. I plan to spend time every day, or every night as the case will likely be, to clean up my mental desktop.

I don't know if I will journal it, will likely do it before falling asleep and won't get to writing it down unless I'm particularly moved to do that. I won't post that kind of thing here.

So what do I chant? I have a few favorite mantras from my kundalini yoga practice, family "songs," and a few modern ones. My favorite kundalini mantra:

Ra Ma Da Sa, Sa Say So Hung
"is the Siri Gaitri Mantra, and is chanted for healing. Ra is the sun, Ma is the Moon, Da is the earth, and Sa is Infinity. Say is the totality of Infinity, and So Hung is "I am Thou". "Ra Ma Da Sa" is the Earth Mantra. and "Sa Say So Hung" is the Ether Mantra.

Here is a list of mantras and a link to hear them chanted.


Do you meditate? Did you ever? Do you plan to?