Totem Tuesday - Question Time 2 In this video I look at one of your Totem Animal Questions... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for watching! Please share this video with your friends as it really does help me out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find out more on Laura's Blog http://www.witchcraftdiaries.blogspot.co.uk Follow Laura on twitter http://www.twitter.com/lauraredwitch Laura also has an Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraredwitch This video and all content is copyright © Laura Daligan 2013
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
The Witches Zodiac - Samhain ★ Witchcraft Diaries
The Witches Zodiac - Samhain ★ Witchcraft Diaries All video for this series was shot and edited by Gordon C Burns (www.gordoncburns.com) You can find out more about Zoe at http://www.astrozo.com Or follow her on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/AstroZo/364263490338 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for watching! Please share this video with your friends as it really does help me out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find out more on Laura's Blog http://www.witchcraftdiaries.blogspot.co.uk Follow Laura on twitter http://www.twitter.com/lauraredwitch Laura also has an Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraredwitch This video and all content is copyright © Laura Daligan 2013
The Witches Zodiac - Samhain ★ Witchcraft Diaries
The Witches Zodiac - Samhain ★ Witchcraft Diaries All video for this series was shot and edited by Gordon C Burns (www.gordoncburns.com) You can find out more about Zoe at http://www.astrozo.com Or follow her on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/AstroZo/364263490338 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for watching! Please share this video with your friends as it really does help me out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find out more on Laura's Blog http://www.witchcraftdiaries.blogspot.co.uk Follow Laura on twitter http://www.twitter.com/lauraredwitch Laura also has an Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraredwitch This video and all content is copyright © Laura Daligan 2013
Friday, 20 September 2013
A Day with the Faery Queens & Kings - 28th September 2013
Journey to the realm of enchantment with the Faery Queens & Kings...
Spend a day away with the faeries and immerse your (s)elf in the myth, magick and rich folklore of faery royalty.
What do you picture when you visualise a Faery Queen? The depictions of faeries and their sovereign guardians have always been diverse. Popular culture from Victorian times onwards has depicted them in a diminutive, patronising and often perverse fashion. But still they persist in our imaginations, our hearts and in the wild natural places.
You may say 'I don't believe in faeries' whilst walking through the glaring lights of the supermarket, collecting plastic wrapped food, but step into the Autumn woods at midnight, or through snow white fields on a frosty morn, and the world seems very different... unknown, magickal and wild.
In this workshop we will:
* Connect with and journey through the realm of faery
* Meet our very own faery guides
* Learn about the faery clans, their stories, customs and all about their Royalty
* Discover how to *see* faeries
* Immerse ourselves in the powerful female archetypes of Morgan Le fay, Vivan, the Lady of the Lake, Titania, the Snow Queen, the Morrigan, the Scandinavian Huldra, Melusine and many more...
*Walk the path of the Faery Kings
*Discover the Sidhe of the Hollow Hills
*Craft a little piece Faery Magic for ourselves!
Come join me on this magical workshop on the 28th September in Grays, Essex
Booking and more info here.
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
FULL MOON BADGER PROTECTION RITUAL
Hi gang,
As the situation with the Badger Cull is getting worse here in the UK, most of us are feeling horrified and heartbroken at the cruel Cull, which is causing so much needless suffering. Here is an idea for a ritual I will be doing. If you'd like to get involved that would be fabulous. You don't have to do the full ritual, you could just do the meditation/visualisation.
This is also only a guide line/idea - please feel free to do your own thing if you prefer.
If you would like to, come find me on facebook or twitter to share experiences.
As the situation with the Badger Cull is getting worse here in the UK, most of us are feeling horrified and heartbroken at the cruel Cull, which is causing so much needless suffering. Here is an idea for a ritual I will be doing. If you'd like to get involved that would be fabulous. You don't have to do the full ritual, you could just do the meditation/visualisation.
This is also only a guide line/idea - please feel free to do your own thing if you prefer.
If you would like to, come find me on facebook or twitter to share experiences.
Full Moon Badger Protection Ritual
I’ll be starting the ritual at 9.30pm this evening (Wednesday 18th).
It’s
the Full Moon in Pisces, which is a deeply psychic, intuitive time. The energy
of Pisces is going in to the still depths of our soul, so in light of this it
probably won’t be a ‘wordy’ ritual, and more about feeling and strong deep, powerful
intent. We may feel tearful or emotional too, that's part of the energy so be very gentle with yourself.
It might be useful to get a map of the cull areas to focus your energy
on protecting (though it’s quite a large area) I’ll try and procure one today.
The intention of this Ritual is to protect the Badgers in the Cull
areas and to send healing to those injured.
You may feel you would like to focus on just one of these areas -
Protect or Heal depending on your skills or the time you have.
Cast a circle in your normal way, if you don’t normally cast a circle,
then simply cleanse and create a sacred space, with incense, visualization, or
whatever works best for you.
Invoke any warrior queen/protective Goddesses & Gods - or
Goddesses/Gods of the Earth/Animals you feel are appropriate. You may work differently, with Guides, Angels, etc - so please do whatever works best for you.
Light a candle for the Badgers, and place in your circle a picture of a Badger (or any other representation) and/or the map of the area.
Take some deep relaxing breaths
and focus your energy, either on the flame or the moon, or just by closing your
eyes. Begin to see a spark of light in your mind’s eye, it can be any colour. As
you breathe deeply watch that spark grow slowly until it becomes a circle of
light. The circle grows in size, form and brightness, and it connects with the
protective circle other people have been creating too. When you are ready, send
that circle surround the Badgers. Either visualize it going around the cull
area, or picture the badgers in your mind’s eye and send it to surround them. Stay
in this space of visualization for as long as you need to.
With your eyes still closed visualize the Goddess/God/Guardian that you
have invoked walking (or flying or swimming!) around the protected area, they
may carry a flame torch or other implements of protection!
You may like to visualize one deity guarding the Badgers, while the
other heals and nurtures them, again whatever feels right.
You may wish to chant something like:
‘Badgers be safe
In the night
Goddess protect you
With healing light’
Or
‘Deep in the Earth
Deep Underground
Badgers be Safe
Badgers be Sound’
Or
‘Safe, safe, in the earth
Safe, safe underground
Safe, safe in the woods
Safe, safe in this land’
As you chant you raise more energy and send it to the protective
circle.
If you are doing the healing, use the energy raised to send to the injured
badgers. You could use your picture to help.
Secret world in Somerset are doing a wonderful job of trying to help and
look after them.
When you are ready, bring your awareness back to the room and thank the Deities/Guides and close your circle in the normal way - if you have cast a circle
that is.
Eat and drink something to ground, and keep your candle lit as long as
it safely can be lit for.
THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS FOR THE BADGERS XXX
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Totem Tuesday Question Time!
Totem Tuesday Question Time! Hello! In this video I look at the similarities/difference of a Totem and a Witch's Familiar :) Thanks for watching and k ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for watching! Please share this video with your friends as it really does help me out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find out more on Laura's Blog http://www.witchcraftdiaries.blogspot.co.uk Follow Laura on twitter http://www.twitter.com/lauraredwitch Laura also has an Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraredwitch This video and all content is copyright © Laura Daligan 2013
Monday, 9 September 2013
An Introduction to the Mysteries of the Morrigan
'She is Death, She is Life... My Goddess Morrigan'
Trobar de Morte - Morrigan
When She walked into my life, spear in hand, through a cloud of mist and crows around a decade ago, I knew my path was never really going to be the same again. As I recall people were not too keen to work with Her then, but I've been so blessed to see over the past few years more and more people being drawn to her powerful, sovereign energy.
Now my journey spirals on, in devotion, research and action. I walk closer to Her daily, as She speaks to me in dream, crow caw and symbols... and sometimes with a rather large kick up the backside!
She most definitely is the Goddess of women (and men!) who don't take life lying down; She is known as a Battle Goddess, and this up to a point is rightly so, if you read the Celtic Myths She turns up at many a battle as protagonist and prophetess. If there wasn't a battle going on, She was known to start one by stealing a magical cow or such like... well the Celts did seem to love a good fight and cattle thieving session!
She could place fear into the hearts of warriors before a battle, separating the men from the boys, as it were and was/is a powerful force to have on your side.
Unfortunately that's as far as a lot of people get with the Morrigan, particularly as the Celtic myths were written down many many years after Christianity had 'replaced' the old Pagan ways and the Romans had exiled and murdered Druids. These later ancestors perhaps struggled to get to terms with a woman as complex and diverse as the Morrigan and her many feisty and sometimes sexy guises! We have little written down from what is called the Celtic era, as we know the Druids revered the spoken word over the written one.
Now if the word 'Celt' is a proper term or not is for another blog, but for simplicities sake we'll use that term for the moment.
Why Her role as a Battle Goddess was so important can be made clearer if we look at a woman's role in Celtic society. Women in Celtic Europe really did have it better than most ladies of the Greco-Roman empire, who were rarely seen as little more than a possession. Women in Celtic Britain could marry (and divorce) whom they chose, could take on roles such as Judge, Military Advisor, Druid (the only reason we see Druids as purely the domain of men is from a later patriarchal spin) and Warrior.
Women often accompanied their husbands into battle, and were often a more fearsome and terrifying prospect than their husbands! Yes I can see this relating to a lot of modern day relationships too :).
If a woman wanted to keep ownership of her lands she had to learn to fight, and there are tales and accounts of the prowess of both mythical and real-life female warriors. We of course have all heard of Boudicca,and even though her case was epic, I doubt she was a stand alone character in our land's history.
But battle aside, the Morrigan has many many many aspects to her bow - too many to go into here (though I will advise two good books on Her at the end of this post!).
She like many other Goddesses can be seen as triple aspected Goddess. In most cases triple aspected Goddesses represent maiden, mother and crone, and new, full and dark moon respectively, again with the Morrigan the lines blur a little more in this definition! However She does seem shape shift between lusty maiden to old crone at the drop of a hat!
Her trio can be Morrigan, Badb and Macha, yet often the Morrigan or Morrigu can be seen as an umbrella name for a trio of Goddesses - namely Badb (Crow Goddess), Macha (Earth and Horse Goddess) and Anu (Mother - Earth Goddess), or sometimes Nemain (A Goddess of Fury and Frenzy), depending on the story - or what you feel resonates with you more.
Each Goddess aspect has her own layers of myth and magic, which we'll go into much more in my Morrigan workshop this Saturday. Yet Her story takes us further into our own psyche.
The Morrigan is also Witch Queen, Shapeshifter and Faery Queen. More than one Faery Queen has been associated with the Morrigan, Morgan Le Fay, Queen Medb and Aine to name but a few. It is in this aspect we walk between the worlds as enchantress and elemental spirit.
.jpg)
She guards the pathways of life, death and rebirth, and as a liminal Goddess of deep inner (and outer) transformation she has really made herself known in my life. Through meditations, journeys, ritual and tattoo (!) I have connected with Her deeply in this guise.
Perhaps Her most important aspect is as Goddess of Sovereignty. The land was seen as female; as the Goddess. If a King wanted to prove himself to be worthy of this land, (and he needed to if he wanted to rule successfully) he had to prove himself to the Goddess. The Morrigan was, and is seen as the bestower of such Sovereignty. In my workshops and in further writings I'll discuss more what that truly means to us in modern times.
Trobar de Morte - Morrigan
When She walked into my life, spear in hand, through a cloud of mist and crows around a decade ago, I knew my path was never really going to be the same again. As I recall people were not too keen to work with Her then, but I've been so blessed to see over the past few years more and more people being drawn to her powerful, sovereign energy.
Now my journey spirals on, in devotion, research and action. I walk closer to Her daily, as She speaks to me in dream, crow caw and symbols... and sometimes with a rather large kick up the backside!
She most definitely is the Goddess of women (and men!) who don't take life lying down; She is known as a Battle Goddess, and this up to a point is rightly so, if you read the Celtic Myths She turns up at many a battle as protagonist and prophetess. If there wasn't a battle going on, She was known to start one by stealing a magical cow or such like... well the Celts did seem to love a good fight and cattle thieving session!
She could place fear into the hearts of warriors before a battle, separating the men from the boys, as it were and was/is a powerful force to have on your side.
Unfortunately that's as far as a lot of people get with the Morrigan, particularly as the Celtic myths were written down many many years after Christianity had 'replaced' the old Pagan ways and the Romans had exiled and murdered Druids. These later ancestors perhaps struggled to get to terms with a woman as complex and diverse as the Morrigan and her many feisty and sometimes sexy guises! We have little written down from what is called the Celtic era, as we know the Druids revered the spoken word over the written one.
Now if the word 'Celt' is a proper term or not is for another blog, but for simplicities sake we'll use that term for the moment.
Why Her role as a Battle Goddess was so important can be made clearer if we look at a woman's role in Celtic society. Women in Celtic Europe really did have it better than most ladies of the Greco-Roman empire, who were rarely seen as little more than a possession. Women in Celtic Britain could marry (and divorce) whom they chose, could take on roles such as Judge, Military Advisor, Druid (the only reason we see Druids as purely the domain of men is from a later patriarchal spin) and Warrior.
Women often accompanied their husbands into battle, and were often a more fearsome and terrifying prospect than their husbands! Yes I can see this relating to a lot of modern day relationships too :).
If a woman wanted to keep ownership of her lands she had to learn to fight, and there are tales and accounts of the prowess of both mythical and real-life female warriors. We of course have all heard of Boudicca,and even though her case was epic, I doubt she was a stand alone character in our land's history.
But battle aside, the Morrigan has many many many aspects to her bow - too many to go into here (though I will advise two good books on Her at the end of this post!).
She like many other Goddesses can be seen as triple aspected Goddess. In most cases triple aspected Goddesses represent maiden, mother and crone, and new, full and dark moon respectively, again with the Morrigan the lines blur a little more in this definition! However She does seem shape shift between lusty maiden to old crone at the drop of a hat!
Her trio can be Morrigan, Badb and Macha, yet often the Morrigan or Morrigu can be seen as an umbrella name for a trio of Goddesses - namely Badb (Crow Goddess), Macha (Earth and Horse Goddess) and Anu (Mother - Earth Goddess), or sometimes Nemain (A Goddess of Fury and Frenzy), depending on the story - or what you feel resonates with you more.
Each Goddess aspect has her own layers of myth and magic, which we'll go into much more in my Morrigan workshop this Saturday. Yet Her story takes us further into our own psyche.
The Morrigan is also Witch Queen, Shapeshifter and Faery Queen. More than one Faery Queen has been associated with the Morrigan, Morgan Le Fay, Queen Medb and Aine to name but a few. It is in this aspect we walk between the worlds as enchantress and elemental spirit.
.jpg)
Morgan Le Fay
She guards the pathways of life, death and rebirth, and as a liminal Goddess of deep inner (and outer) transformation she has really made herself known in my life. Through meditations, journeys, ritual and tattoo (!) I have connected with Her deeply in this guise.
My recent Morrigan tattoo
Perhaps Her most important aspect is as Goddess of Sovereignty. The land was seen as female; as the Goddess. If a King wanted to prove himself to be worthy of this land, (and he needed to if he wanted to rule successfully) he had to prove himself to the Goddess. The Morrigan was, and is seen as the bestower of such Sovereignty. In my workshops and in further writings I'll discuss more what that truly means to us in modern times.
Knowth Passage Tomb & Temple - Boyne Valley, Ireland.
Even though I have barely touched upon Her enchanting complexity, I hope this blog has sparked, or even rekindled your interest in the Morrigan. She is such an all encompassing deep and powerful Goddess, who will take you on the journey of the spiritual warrior. She can help you choose your fights wisely, and take the more magickal, honourable path.
Look for Her on a crow's wing, in green pastures, and ancient sites - and most importantly - within the deepest and most beautiful parts of your Self.
Copyright Laura Daligan 2013
Want to find out more? Come to my workshop in Gray's Essex organised by Inspiral Mediums.
Books to read!
The Guises of the Morrigan - David Rankine & Sorita D'Este
Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess (Invoking the Morrigan) - Stephanie Woodfield
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
hollow tree drum SAMPLE
hollow tree drum SAMPLE The first drum meditations will all be recorded out in nature in and around the trees. This is a small snippet from a recording made actually INSIDE of a hollow tree. AVAILABLE SOON AS A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FROM ETSY http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraredwitch ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for watching! Please share this video with your friends as it really does help me out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find out more on Laura's Blog http://www.witchcraftdiaries.blogspot.co.uk Follow Laura on twitter http://www.twitter.com/lauraredwitch Laura also has an Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraredwitch This video and all content is copyright © Laura Daligan 2013
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