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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in emotions
Part Two: Breast Cancer and Repressed Mother Rage

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Ritual Elements Water - Immersing Myself in Water

Over the past few weeks I've been examining my practice with the Elements. It is one of the core pieces of magic I teach in the Reclaiming Tradition.I revisit this work every so often as a teacher and as a student. In my last two post I talked about my explorations with Air and my connections with Fire. Now it's time to dive into some deep Water.

Immersing myself in Water -

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Gwion Raven
    Gwion Raven says #
    I love that too Annika - There's a scene in the movie "The Graduate" where the main character sits at the bottom of his parents sw
  • Annika Mongan
    Annika Mongan says #
    Oh, what a great exploration and complicated relationship to water. I didn't grow up near water, my refuge and place of exploratio
  • Gwion Raven
    Gwion Raven says #
    Hello Crystal, thank you for commenting and sharing something of your story. I am a Fire sign actually, but I think your point st
  • Crystal R. Martin
    Crystal R. Martin says #
    Is earth by chance your element? I ask, because I too was scared by water as a child. I almost drowned, and it terrified me. I've
  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham says #
    As a child growing up in French Gulch, a tiny mountain community in the Trinity Mountains of California, the first voice of The Di

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

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I'm currently going through an emotionally painful time in my life, which includes plenty of tears, and I'm not ashamed or afraid to admit that. It has got me thinking about a lot more about my future, my place in this universe, and not only what my spiritual path means to me, but where it's headed. I foresee a lot of change this year in my life, and it scares me. Recently, while having one of my less formal 'morning chats' with one of the goddesses, I broke down and began to cry at the overwhelming pressure and fear.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Carol P. Christ
    Carol P. Christ says #
    Bless you Peter. I too have known the despair you feel now. I am so glad you felt the arms of the divine power holding you through
  • Peter Beckley
    Peter Beckley says #
    Thank you, Carol.

Posted by on in Studies Blogs
Imbolc and the Inner Child

               Often we find ourselves speaking about wanting to embrace magic in our lives, about wanting to reconnect to that sense of joy and wonder that we remember having in childhood, about reclaiming that excitement and exuberance that is so evident in the very young. Often we speak in terms that indicate all these experiences are kept in some faraway place: in memories of times so long ago. And in some ways this is true, but it is also a place that is very much within reach.

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Posted by on in Studies Blogs

In my previous post I discussed how to emotions could be used in magic and made the point that an emotion such as anger is not inherently negative. What makes anger negative is we choose to express it. In thinking further about my own approach to magic and what I use to fuel my magical work, I recognize that it's not just emotions I draw upon, but experiences and the feeling of the experience. A feeling is not necessarily the same as an emotion. A feeling is the awareness of an experience and emotions are just one component of an experience and the expression of that experience. This is important because when we work magic to bring a possibility into reality part of what we are working with is the feeling associated with that possibility.

Think about love for a moment. What does love feel like? Don't think just in terms of the emotion, but also the physical sensations of you holding someone else's hand, or holding the person or kissing the person. What does that feel like? How does it make you feel emotionally? How does it make you feel intellectually, spiritually, and physically? All of those feelings and experiences are what love (romantic) is comprised of. So if you were to do a love magic working, you'd want to draw on those experiences as part of the fuel for the workings, because those experiences shape that feeling in your life.

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The other day my wife Kat commented on a newsletter I'd written where I explained how you could use "negative" emotions in your magical work. She asked me if that was really a good idea, especially since I'd essentially be integrating those emotions into the magical working. It was a good question to ask, but what it highlighted to me is just how much cultural baggage we have around the word negative as well as specific emotions. I explained my reasoning by noting that I don't think any emotion is inherently positive or negative, but that if we believe an emotion is negative or positive it is because of the cultural associations that have been placed on that emotion. The problem with that association is that it causes us to not genuinely experience the emotion.

Anger, in and of itself, is not inherently negative. The expression of anger can be negative or positive, depending on what a person does, but that expression doesn't make the anger wrong or bad or negative. The expression isn't the anger in and of itself, but if we examine anger from a cultural perspective what we tend to find are associations of negativity with anger. The same is true with fear, sadness, anxiety, or any other emotion that is "negative" On the flipside love and happiness are considered "positive" emotions.  However expressions of love and happiness can be negative just as expressions of anger, sadness, and fear can be positive. There is nothing inherently polarized about our emotions other than what we choose to believe about them. 

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Mikey
    Mikey says #
    OHhh I forgot the counter balances of love. Love...is a warm and nurturing emotion. It has alot of power, like a parent protect a
  • Mikey
    Mikey says #
    Hi, I'm new, so forgive me if this sounds peculiar. However, I was reading the post, and I couldn't help but put my 2 loonies in.
  • Taylor Ellwood
    Taylor Ellwood says #
    Precisely my point. Thanks for commenting!
  • Greybeard
    Greybeard says #
    There is a lot of energy and power in anger, but it can lead to negative consequences. Be VERY careful.
  • Greybeard
    Greybeard says #
    There is a lot of energy and power in anger, but it can lead to negative consequences. Be VERY careful.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
How Being Pagan Cured My Winter Blues

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Jeanine Byers
    Jeanine Byers says #
    I do follow the wheel of the year and I think that has helped, but I still find it to be a difficult time. For instance, I am alre
  • Deborah Blake
    Deborah Blake says #
    Oh, it hasn't cured ALL my issues, Jeanine. Just helped my depression. I still struggle with the winter cold and darkness--for one
  • Jeanine Byers
    Jeanine Byers says #
    Exactly! I have CFS and it makes that worse. So, it's not just me. I always thought that was the weirdest thing, that that would g
  • Deborah Blake
    Deborah Blake says #
    I had CFS for 16 years (the fibro is what's left). You have my heartfelt sympathy! *hugs*
  • Jeanine Byers
    Jeanine Byers says #
    Awww! Thanks!! (((hugs)))

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