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Sometimes we are influenced by writers without even reading them. I recently found out about early influences on me from writers my family knew. As I discussed in Writing and Writers part 1, with the story of the carob being an influence on Snorri's version of the Baldur tale, second hand or third hand influence can have a big impact. 

After I blogged about Honoring the Bear, I posted a link with some commentary on the Official Animal Spirit Beings Thread in my discussion group, the Asatru Facebook Forum. In my blog post, I mentioned that when I studied the martial art Shaolin Sho Shu Kung Fu Way of the Beast as a teenager I had learned an exercise to connect to the seven beasts of martial arts and had once seen myself in the mirror as a giant mantis, which had frightened me at the time. I had also connected with other beasts, including cat and bear.

Cinnamon, which you probably have a plentitude of in your kitchen cabinet, is a major source of prosperity and can even bring it about in a hurry. Here is a Jupiterian Thursday spell that will bring excellent opportunities your way. Gather some cinnamon, both sticks and the powdered kind, and place it all on your altar. On a Thursday, light incense (preferably cinnamon) and walk through your house, wafting the delightfully sweet smoke into every room. Light two altar candles, one brown and one green. Gather yellow flowers such as daisies and adorn your altar with them. Stand in front of your earthen altar and consider the wonderful, full life you are going to enjoy. Pour the cinnamon spice and sticks into a bowl and pray aloud:

This humble spice I offer to the gods who provide all.

Tolkien once wrote in a letter to his son that he was "a Hwiccian (of Wychwood) on both sides."*

Curious words, are they not? My mind generated an entire alternate universe in which Tolkien was the granddaddy of Fam-Trad Witches, and all the things in our culture that would be different if it were so.

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Is something getting in your way? Do you feel stalled out and overcome with procrastination? To overcome any blocks obstructing your creativity and productivity, you can dispel the negative energy by going for a walk in the nearest park. Find a round, flat rock, six to ten inches wide. This will become an altar supplied directly to you by Mother Nature, and it will have the purest energy. Begin by charging this stone on the full moon at your home altar. Light a white candle for purification, and then place your hand on the stone and chant three times:

Obstacles, take flight!

Here is another spell that will attract new employment opportunities to you, and one that does not have the prerequisite of a particular moon phase. Light a gold candle and place it in a special place beside a chunk of shiny gold pyrite. Repeat this incantation eight times while holding the stone in your right hand. In your mind’s eye, form an image of the job you most desire as you speak:

To see what the future holds,

Smash the patriarchy! That's a common cry these days in our efforts to create a more compassionate, egalitarian, inclusive world.

In the Tribe, we've talked about "the patriarchy" for a long time. But eventually we decided that wasn't the most accurate term for the issues we face today.