Silver Chalice Wicca 'Zine Online #14

Magick and Intention

October/November 2009

Editor's Note

Somehow in the rush and bustle of summer, the Wheel has truly turned. Today I lit my first-of-the-year fire to warm the house. I regret the necessity, but deeply appreciate the ability to keep my home comfortable.

Isn't that just like this time of year?

It's sad to see the summer go. Yet the autumn brings with it gifts of its own...

• Great harvests

• Turning toward home and family

• Gratitude for all the blessings of the year

• Deepening our inner journey

• A somewhat easier pace, for those who live attuned to the seasons.

This Year of the Ox in particular has been full-on intense and busy, as Ox years tend to be. Tons of work, which can leave us feeling burnt out... but it's all good preparation for future harvests.

That's certainly been true for me. The summer has seen me on the move, from early March to late September.

Now in compensation for the shorter, colder days I appreciate the harvest of more time to reflect, to connect with those I love, and enjoy what my labour and intentions have produced so far.

At least, that's the plan.

I hope that this may be the autumn's gift for you, as well!

Have a happy Samhain!

With Bright Blessings,

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Wheel of the Year   Samhain   Wiccan Music   Wiccan Jewelry

Table of Contents

What's New on the Site	-- Wicca FAQs and Divination
Events & Announcement	-- It Makes It All Worthwhile...
Book Review	-- The Fox Sorceress, by Cerridwen Fallingstar
Magick Book In Progress	-- Magick and Intention
Ask The Priestess
Fave Quotes
Energy Field Barometer
Word on the Street	-- Sorting Out Gibberish From Information
Silver Chalice Details

What's New On The Site

The most important addition to Wicca-Spirituality.com is the new Quick Wicca FAQs page.

Here are the answers to the questions I am most commonly asked, via email. My inbox has been overflowing, and I've fallen way behind in correspondence. Most of the emails repeat the same questions, though, so this page should help make it more possible to keep up with email.

Please look here first, if you have a question.

The other addition is a new section devoted to Divination.

Here you'll find information on how it works, lots of different divination methods, the relationship between divination and spirituality, and lots more.

I won't list all the pages, because there are over a dozen of them. Some are multi-part articles too, like the articles on Palm Reading, and Using Pendulums, for example.

Come check it out!

Events & Announcements

The 2 workshops I led at the recent Wise Woman Festival were very well-received. Some of the feedback that was given includes...

"I feel empowered; I know how I can make a difference."

"I'm calm now, peaceful."

"I feel very tranquil."

"I felt waves of joy moving thru my body."

"I can see how this would be very healing."

Thank you to everyone who participated! It was my pleasure to share such a wonderful experience with you.

Book Review

White As Bone, Red As Blood:
The Fox Sorceress

White As Bone, Red As Blood: The Fox Sorceress, by Cerridwen Fallingstar, is an enchanting tale of a young Japanese woman coming into her power in an age of transition.

Fallingstar writes with such gentle yet skillful brushstrokes, she leaves you feeling as if you'd been gazing at an exquisite display of cherry blossom petals, softly falling where they may. . . .

An added treat is the delicate and beautifully wrought poetry. . . .

Fallingstar demonstrates a deep understanding of the ways of magic.

And an intimate connection and the Goddess permeates every page.

. . .   Read the Book Review

Wicca Magick -- Book In Progress

Singleness of Magickal Intention

Want better results from your magickal spells and rituals?

You probably need to focus your intention.

When magick isn't working, there are certain things that tend to be at fault. One of the most universal is that you might be working at cross-purposes with yourself ... without even knowing it.

Working Against Your Own Magick

An example will demonstrate this. Let's use my favourite thing to procrastinate (procrastination is a common example of being at cross-purposes with yourself.) …

Intention? Or Obligation? Does "intention" feel like the wrong word? "Have to do" sounds more like it, doesn't it? This is a clue that you are at cross-purposes with yourself. You've identified something that you're going to do, since you need to do it, but you neglect to claim that duty as an intention. This is a root of procrastination, and a common flaw in magick. In this situation, it is less a conscious intention than self-flagellation that gets the thing done. When you choose your obligations, they become conscious intentions... which makes them easier to accomplish.

Let's say ...

You have an intention to do your taxes.

So you know at some point you are going to do them. Part of you knows it's necessary. But another part of you is resistant, for whatever reasons.

Thus your energy is going in two directions at once... both toward and away from having a completed tax return.

Note the energy drain that this kind of situation causes. It's like having one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brake: you are burning a lot of gas but you aren't getting anywhere.

The more situations in your life where you have this happening, the less energy and less success you will have!

So do you ever file your tax return? If you're like me, yes... at the very last moment. But not without a lot of anxiety, stress, misery, fatigue, overwhelmence, and most notably delay.

How much more effective, not to mention pleasurable, to consciously choose the intention you want and consciously release the one you don't?

It's this kind of conscious action that aligns you with abundance, success, and happiness. In other words, this is how you can choose Learning Through Joy, instead of the default unconscious setting of Learning Through Pain.

Taxes are a very obvious example. It's easy to see both ways that our intentions pull us.

But there are many more subtle ways... so subtle you may not even be aware of them.

How do you know if you have these subtle cross-purposes of intention?

Easy. How well is your life flowing?

The easier your life and the more successful you are at achieving your dreams, the more you have SINGLENESS of intention.

When it comes to magick, that scattering of purpose may be the most common magickal block. It dilutes your energy, so you don't manifest what you would like.

Until you align your intentions into single-mindedness of purpose, you will always have one foot on the brake.

What Do You Think So Far?

I'd love to hear from you… Please write and let me know!

Ask The Priestess

Ask the Priestess will return next month. This month we had a book review instead...

Do you have a question you'd like answered? Email the Priestess and your question could be answered in a future issue.

(Note: questions may be edited for brevity or clarity. No real names will be disclosed. For reasons of legality, all questions become the property of Wicca-Spirituality.com.)

This column will resume when we return to the original formatting of the Silver Chalice.

Meantime, you can get quotes relating to Wicca by following Wicca Spirit on Twitter.

This column will likely not be included in the next few issues. But energy field updates are available through the Blog or the Facebook Wicca Spirituality Fan page.

Please check there to keep up on what's going around.

This column will resume when we return to the original formatting of the Silver Chalice.

Notice or suspect an energy field going around? Can you confirm this reading, or shed more light on it?

I'd love to hear what's happening for you! Please let me know.

What to do about being caught in an unpleasant energy field? Click here for tips.

Word on the Street

What People Are Saying About Wicca-Spirituality.com:

Thanks for such an enlightening site. You are doing such a great service for people, like me, who are searching and trying to sort out gibberish from information. I like your explanations and approaches to many of the questions that are fundamental to all form of religion and spirituality. -- T. in USA

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© erin dragonsong 2009. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprinting any of this is forbidden unless you obtain my written permission: karma and the law agree on this one. And Copyscape is keeping an eye on these things.