Crystal Magic 34: Celestite

Welcome to the season of honoring the sacred light within, as we feel the presence of darkness, and move towards the rebirth of the sun at the Winter Solstice.  Entering this time of year invites a deeper sense of stillness, dreaming, and self reflection, calling us to see what we may have kept hidden within, while we were busy in the active months of light, what we need now in order to renew, and what we are getting ready to create.  Facing the inner world and the quiet of Winter can be challenging.  Our crystal ally for this month can offer the gentle medicine of love and cleansing, lifting our moods and calling on angelic support as we move through the longest night of the year.  Soon we will invite the gradual return of the Sun’s light.

With Celestite, we are reminded that, in the darkness, there are stars.

Celestite

The name Celestite means celestial, of the heavens.  This crystal was named for its most common color, a gentle sky blue that calls to mind the cosmos.  Connection with the cosmic consciousness is at the core of its nature.  It promotes angelic or spiritual communication, and helps to instill a sense of trust, patience, and relationship with the divine and its infinite source of healing.

Celestite can actually be found in more than one color, and there are variations of meaning between its color expressions, however most of the crystals found on the market currently are a pale, grayish, or deep watery blue and come from Madagascar.  (This is true of the lovely Celestite crystals that we currently have in stock at the eleventh house.)  Celestite is generally formed in clusters or geodes.  Though some blue tabular and double terminated Celestite crystals may be found, on occasion, they are far more rare.  This means that the most effective use of Celestite will be in placing them around the home so that they can emanate their calming, positive, and gentle energies, purifying the space and drawing the attention of protective spirits and the angelic realm.  Their presence can help counter fear, paranoia, anxiety, sleeplessness, and suspicion, replacing these difficult emotions with a sense of safety, protection, optimism, and even mild euphoria.

Perhaps this combination of inviting both protection and sweet enchantment is why Celestite is often a beloved stone of children.  These stones have been known to sparkle more when children are present, seeming to show excitement and connection, another sign of their relation to the Angelic Realms.  My young son has one that he holds and talks to often, and I’ve seen first hand how it shines in a special way for him.  It’s not only the young, but also the youthful spirit inside adults that responds to this beautiful crystal ally, as their presence often brings out a feeling of wonder and calm.  Gazing into them feels like swimming in a clear pool of fresh water, regenerating the Piscean energies within.  Because in their geode-like cluster formations they strongly resemble a light filled cave, Celestite clusters remind me of a Cenote, that clean and crystal blue water that can be found within certain caves, like in Tulum, when there is a moving current of water below the earth towards the sea, keeping it clear of stagnation.

As a form of sulfate, Celestite crystals have a natural affinity for clearing and cleansing, from supporting the healing of physical infections to cleansing the energetic field and environment of negative attachments.  They can be a strong ally in meditation and dream work as well, helping to open psychic capabilities and enhancing visionary states, while supporting clarity and the ability to maintain focus in altered awareness.  These beautiful, calming crystals are ideal for magical practitioners, increasing intuition, calmness, clarity, remembrance of the soul’s true nature and purpose, and the purity and protection of one’s sacred space.  They can help us to access inner power, while making relationship with celestial forces, and purifying our energy bodies and homes of negative influence, a threefold power of special importance in times of stress and uncertainty.  This is a crystal ally made for the months of Winter, glowing with divine light while uplifting the emotions, and encouraging us to be light as a feather for the deep work of dreaming.

There are many potent Celestite clusters and geodes of varying sizes at the eleventh house currently, and they are radiant with the energies of the stars.  This is the time of year to bring light into our worlds in all the ways we can.

May you be surrounded by gentle support, and the nourishing presence of the angels, held by the earth and filled with starlight.

Happy Winter Solstice Season,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com

Standing Still With The Sun

Happy Winter Solstice.  Welcome cleansing rain and quiet sacredness, in this moment before the next holiday and end of year celebrations.  It’s interesting to notice how it can feel as though the darkness of Winter comes so quickly on the heels of Fall.  In reality, the dark has been gradually increasing from the point of the Summer Solstice in June, though in the extroverted and active months of Summer it’s easy to miss the slow shift towards decreasing light.  At this point of the year, however, the dark of Winter calls for our attention.  We may not have the same hard realities and concerns that Winter brought to many of our Ancestors.  Most of us don’t face the potential of famine the way they did when their lands weren’t producing food.  There isn’t a need to butcher livestock which might otherwise freeze in the Winter, or not have enough to eat themselves.  Electricity and heating stave off the dark and the cold, at least for those who can afford to pay the cost of such luxuries.  Yet, the stillness, relative quiet, and inward attention of Winter create a different kind of challenge in our era.  Sometimes it seems as though our overstimulated, fragmented attention spans, accustomed to a bombardment of information, struggle more to align with the season of stillness.  Perhaps that’s why there is such an outward embrace of the holiday season’s festivities.  For generations these rituals have been a way to bring people together in community, creating a sense of warmth, light, and activity during these darker months.  Winter Solstice, and Yule, however, give us a special opportunity to embrace the stillness and depth within that is the opportunity of Winter’s dreaming magic.  We stop to find the light within, and we shape it with our intentions.  This is our way of planting a seed that will sprout in the next cycle of growth and harvest in our lives.

Winter Solstice takes its name from the Latin words Sol, meaning sun, and Sistere, meaning to stand still.  It is the day when the sun stands still, the shortest day of the year and the longest night.  At the Winter Solstice, the sun appears lowest in the sky.  Furthermore, the specific elevation it reaches at noon on this day appears to our eyes to stay the same for several days.  To the ancients, this suggested a moment of gestation, a time when the sun both dies, after its gradual decline, and is born anew to the Earth Mother.  From this point, the hours of light in a day will gradually increase by a few minutes each day.  This allows our consciousness to experience a renewal of hope and anticipation for the emergence of Spring, both within us and in the world around us.  At Winter Solstice rituals, the dark is honored with vigil, storytelling, and ceremony, and the light is celebrated with the presence of candles, a sacred fire, and the custom of singing up the sunrise.  How can we honor the presence of stillness with the same reverence?

Stillness can be uncomfortable, as it encourages us to look within, to see what we prefer to ignore, and to hear our deeper thoughts.  It allows us to feel what has been numbed or moved past too quickly to integrate.  Stillness can also be deeply restorative.  It allows the mind and body to realign and integrate the experiences we have lived.  It helps us to regenerate and rejuvenate ourselves, emotionally as well as physically.  It can help us to return home to who we truly are, without the distractions of our striving, our responding to stresses, and without the masks we wear for others.  True stillness within can be hard to attain, but is an art worth practicing.  It is the key that unlocks the door to most spiritual development and magical practice pathways.  And, stillness is a luxury too.  Sometimes survival, keeping up with the cost of living, and other pressures to succeed or take care of oneself and others, for example, allows for little rest and time alone beyond sleeping.

When we keep moving against the current of Winter, our physical and emotional health begins to suffer.  If rest feels like a luxury life won’t easily afford you, what are the small ways you can align yourself with stillness?  Would allowing your senses to take in the warmth, scent, and taste of hot apple cider, or the sound and scent of an early morning rain outside your window, be an opening into sacred stillness?  What kind of non-productive, nurturing rest can you give to yourself this week?  It’s not only rejuvenation that we gain.  Stillness allows for more receptivity too.  In stillness we create the fertile ground within us for dreaming.  Stillness allows us to experience fascination and awe, to self hypnotize in a sense, so that we invite our dreaming minds to awaken.  If we move too fast, we miss the cues in Winter that can help us deepen in this way and that give us the opportunity to plant our seeds of intention.  We miss the invitation to co-create in our lives.

Maybe this is why people have honored the powerful presence of the evergreen trees during Winter rituals for centuries. Not only does the green remind us that there is life and growth, even in the darkest, coldest times, but they remind us to consider a different relationship with time altogether.  The redwood trees outside of my home, for example, lived here for at least 100 years before I arrived, and they may live 100 years or more after I am gone.  Their roots reach down to the deep, dark, earth places that pull and ground us all, branching out into the Underworlds, as described in many spiritual traditions and folklore.  In the Pagan understanding, across cultures, this is often the territory of ancestral spirits, chthonic entities, and deities of initiation.  Trees penetrate the mysteries of these depths and draw them into themselves like nutrients.  Then they grow.  Their branches and treetops reach up to the heavens, absorbing as well the higher realms of the celestial, the divine, and the cosmic forces.  There they flower and fruit, bringing their gifts forward.  The trunk of the tree is a bridge between the worlds, as are we.  Trees are our sacred teachers and examples.  They have the benefit of time, but we have to catch our moments, mirroring their stillness and cycles, so that we too can root deeply and flower fully in our lives and soul paths.  This understanding is what makes the presence of the Christmas tree or the Yule log so significant during this time of year.  Though we are decorating with lights or candles, among other materials, we are also giving our psyches a clue as to how to stand with the sacred stillness of Winter’s quiet dreaming.

How will you honor this time of year within yourself?  Begin with just one brief moment of stillness and breath.  Ask yourself what part of you is tired and in need of rejuvenation.  Notice if you can feel your feet on the ground, connecting to the earth’s depths like roots.  Feel into how far you’ve stretched yourself in the last year and what flowered in that journey.  Light a candle or sacred fire to honor the light that is held within and that which will be reborn in the world this Winter Solstice.  Gaze into the light with soft eyes.   With your breath and intention, gently release the excess of activity, thought, emotions, or weariness, until you feel empty and ready to dream.  Notice what arises in the liminal quiet, without having to do anything yet.  This is the time to do nothing but invite the fertile ground within to renew.

May you find yourself in the quiet and stillness of the Winter Solstice, and may a new dream be born with the returning light.

In Quiet Communion,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  You can learn more about her work and healing practice at www.metzmecatl.com

Plant & Crystal Magic 33: Golden Citrine & Peppermint

Welcome to the season of honoring the sacred light within, as we feel the presence of darkness, and move towards the rebirth of the sun at the Winter Solstice.  Entering this time of year invites a deeper sense of self reflection, calling us to see what we have been creating and what we may have ignored or kept hidden within, while we were busy in the active months of light.  Healing and integrating the parts of us that are disowned, wounded, suppressed, or dissociated is sensitive work, but it is also the path to wholeness and the full embodiment of our inner purpose and power.  Our two allies this month can be generous helpers, and our senses are directly drawn to them at this time of year.

Golden Citrine

Citrine is a special stone.  Its ability to align us to the realm of higher spiritual consciousness, while healing our inner sense of self worth and generating radiance and abundance in our lives, is unparalleled.  This is true of both the Natural Citrine, which tends to be a smokey, subtle gold or yellow color, and the deeply orange or bright yellow varieties that are more commonly found.  This month, we will be focusing on the latter, the deeply golden colored Citrine that captures the senses with its warm glow. This form of Citrine is generally heat treated Amethyst, which doesn’t preclude it from being a powerful stone.  Crystals, in nature, are often irradiated by earth processes, and those that are pushed in this direction by human intervention are somewhat changed but not exactly damaged.  It is always important to use intuition to feel into a stone’s properties before making a determination, but the variation of Citrine that has been heat treated has some nuance to offer, primarily because it’s color is so vibrant, and because sometimes it contains the presence rainbows, making it an instrument of light magic.  The eleventh house has a good amount of these striking pieces right now, making this a good month to highlight what they have to offer besides their beauty.

Golden Citrine, which is not an official name as much as a descriptor we’re giving to this variety, is a bringer of radiant sun energy into everyday life and especially into areas of shadow.    The sun has a profound effect on our physical, mental, and emotional health.  When we have the opportunity to be filled with its warmth and light rays, we feel more positive and clear minded, more vibrant in health.  However, during the Winter months, when the days are shorter and the light is more grey, our moods shift as well.  It is a time for dreaming and reflection, but for many this is an uncomfortable place.  Without the uplifting energies of direct sunlight, it is easier to default to the inner voices of psyche that are often ruled by our wounds and traumas.  Add to this the tendency to spend more time alone within one’s home, with less physical activity, and it’s easy to see why people fall easily into Seasonal Affective Disorder, a condition wherein people normally not suffering from mental health issues find themselves feeling depressed in the darker months.  Though its energies may be slightly lighter than the natural Citrine, Golden Citrine’s vibrant color helps to wake up the light within, and as with its natural counterparts, it is a stimulator of the 3rd chakra.

Citrine, in general, has a strong effect on the 1st to 3rd chakras, the places where what we receive energetically and create with our will is grounded here in physical reality, in partnership with the earth’s blessing.  If these first three chakras are blocked or holding old wounds, we often have trouble bringing out intentions fully into creation.  This may be because we lack a grounded connection with the earth, because we lack access to or vitality within our sexual energy, which also is an important place for creating, or we feel unworthy or powerless in the area of will.  The 3rd chakra, in particular, helps us to be assertive, to set appropriate boundaries, as well as to maintain them, and to feel outgoing and extroverted.  It is crucial for us to trust ourselves to say no when needed, and to communicate what is acceptable and what is not, higher within our throat chakra.  Without this clarity, assertiveness, and belief in our personal power and worthiness, it is easy to feel disempowered, taken advantage of, bullied, and unconfident that what one intends can ever come to be.  This, of course, dramatically affects our sense of self worth, our relationship dynamics, and our our abundance.  Golden Citrine can help to shine light on these areas, helping us to identify our problem areas with prosperity and personal power, define our true intentions, and begin to turn the tides towards better manifestations.

Bringing this golden color into the aura or home can also help to lighten up our energy, dispelling the heaviness of heart and more depressive thinking that keeps us feeling stuck.  It can bring optimism and a shifted perspective to shake up the old patterns and invite more joy, courage, and clarity to our inner worlds and outer expressions.  This is important, as the times we are in ask us to reclaim and embody more of who we truly are, which often necessitates a reckoning with past traumas, self-limiting beliefs, and unhelpful authority contracts.  It is a bit like bringing in the energy of the sun into the darkness of our Winter dreaming, revitalizing our unconscious minds and creations.  Beloved oracle Alana Fairchild has this to say about Citrine in both of its forms:

“If we are in a dark night of the soul, where challenge is so great, to have access to a source of light, such as the loving abundance increasing optimism and solar power of beautiful Citrine, is a true god-given gift.  It won’t take away the dark night, but it will remind us that there is love seeking us through it.”  (from Crystal Masters 333).

Peppermint

Another good ally for bringing in consciousness, clarity, and positive moods during the months of Winter, Peppermint is an herb already associated with this season and its celebrations.  Perhaps this is no accident, since its bright, crisp, clean scent is immediately uplifting and cleansing.  Peppermint is a potent herb for purifying our thoughts, and can also chase away the more stagnant energies that may accumulate in the home during the months of cold, rain, and staying indoors with windows closed.  Keeping fresh leaves on the home altar attracts benevolent spirits and its scent, whether fresh or in essential oil, raises the vibration of the environment.

This combination of clearing negative influence or stagnant emotional energies and attracting a higher spiritual resonance is the reason why it is a much loved scent in oil diffusers and natural cleaning mixtures. The familiar scent of Peppermint is at once a cue for the soul to stay present within the physical body, when one is tempted to dissociate, and also an emotionally soothing aid for relaxation, clarity, and deeper sleep.  This combination is particularly important when engaging in a healing process, as healing is far better integrated when we feel safe and relaxed, but fully present at the same time.  The mind can block the transformations we initiate, which is why it is important to take the time to cultivate sense of safety, clarity, and relaxed alertness, so that the mind is able to accept and integrate what is happening on the deeper unconscious levels.  Sharp, astringent herbs like Peppermint can be a great help in this process.

When taken internally as a tea, or an herbal accent in food, Peppermint works as a digestive aid, settling the stomach from nausea, gas, or cramps.  It is said that the leaves can be rubbed against the forehead to relieve headaches and to help in making clear decisions when feeling stuck, or to enter deeper states of meditation.  In addition, Peppermint has been used in magic involving love, abundance, and increasing psychic awareness.  Below are a few suggestions passed down in folklore for working magically with this bright green, fresh smelling, and generous ally:

Carry fresh Peppermint in your wallet, or rub the leaves into it or directly onto your money for increased prosperity.  Bringing Peppermint into your abundance spells or on an altar is another way to call in its money magic.

Place Peppermint leaves under your pillow in times of restless sleep, or to call for prophetic dreams.  You can add Chamomile as well, if nightmares are part of the problem.

Make a Peppermint infusion, and add its essential oil, along with some white vinegar as a floor wash that cleanses more than the dirt that has accumulated.

Make a satchel of dried Peppermint leaves to add to dresser drawers, closets, and bedding

Working with Golden Citrine and Peppermint Together:

A simple gesture can go a long way when it comes to reminding the psyche to stay clear and uplifted throughout the Winter.  Golden Citrine and fresh Peppermint would make a beautiful altar combination.  Create a grid of small crystals and fresh or dried leaves.  A spiral is a nice shape to use to keep the energies moving and clearing.  Augment this by making a spray of distilled water and Peppermint essential oil to keep your spirits high and your home clear, or invest in a good oil diffuser.  Make a ritual of tea drinking part of your Winter self care.  And, if you can, bring some Golden Citrine crystals into your home to remind you to hold onto your sacred inner light, no matter how dark your surroundings may seem.

May you glow with the radiance and clarity from within.

Happy Winter Solstice Season,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com

Cultivating Strength

Working at the eleventh house often means having deep conversations with many people in the community, as they come in looking to process the movements taking place within the self, and in response to the larger dance of cosmos around us.  This year’s strong eclipse season, combined with the changes in our world, as we take baby steps into a new era, has many people facing uncomfortable emotions, parts of the self that had formerly been suppressed, and false personality constructs that developed in their place.  Fear, sadness, shame, confusion, and anger, among other strong emotions, reveal to us where we are out of alignment with ourselves, but can often be so all consuming that we don’t see past them to the lesson that they are attempting to teach with their discomfort.

We live in a culture that seeks to push feelings like these down, finding something to soothe or distract from them, so that we can keep moving forward and being functional,

but when we do this the heavy emotions and uncomfortable self concepts are not addressed, and become more powerful in the dark of the Unconscious.  These emotions are emerging for a reason.  It feels as though in the unfolding of this new era we are being asked to become more of who we truly are.  This means reclaiming our gifts and soul purpose while cleansing ourselves of the survival instincts, generational trauma, and shadow personality traits that have helped to bury them, in times when they were not welcome, and perhaps not safe to express.

Our old wounds have the ability to hold us back, particularly when we become clouded by the limiting self concepts that they generate, but this is not all that they present to us.  Within our experiences, particularly those that have cracked us open, grows the seed of a kind of fortitude that cannot be cultivated within the mind alone.  Unprocessed trauma can stifle us, but when integrated it can deepen us, making us aware of a strength we didn’t know we had.  Often this work cannot be done right away, and so we may find ourselves sifting through the feelings, attitudes, and maladaptive personality traits that traumatic experience left in its wake, in order to cultivate deeper inner fortitude, freedom, and awareness.  This work is the territory of the Strength card in the system of Tarot, particularly when we look at it as a psychological and soul growth progression.

The Strength card depicts a woman leaning down to pet a red lion that is licking her hand.  She has a sensuous, earthy appearance, and wears a flower crown on her head, above which floats the symbol of infinity.  Flowers, in a mirroring infinity shape, also create a belt that connects the two.  They are often called Beauty and the Beast, both living within us, or Anima and Animus.  Behind them stand blue mountains, a coming together of heaven and earth, if we can look back and notice.  This card invites us into a kind of awakening of wisdom, and an initiation, where if we are willing to make the unconscious conscious, we will embody the growth and knowledge that has taken place within us.

This initiation begins in the soul and the instinctual levels of consciousness and emerges into the conscious awareness.  This movement activates a flowering within us if we acknowledge and integrate this process, yet it is not always an easy one.  To become this familiar with the wild thoughts, emotions, and patterns of behavior hidden in the Unconscious can be painful.  It can bring us face to face with what we would not want to accept about ourselves, both past and present, and require us to reconcile the split that can take place between the conscious and unconscious aspects of self, meaning between who we think we are and who we are in the most hidden territories of the mind.  The Strength card marks the sharp turn inwards on the journey of self development.

What is the work to be done here?  If we want to claim the depth of strength that has been hard won through experience, we need to face the Unconscious and its shadows.  We will need to fully express what is frozen there, the held  emotions of the past.  We move from conscious to unconscious with the Strength card, in order to fully see and cleanse what is there.  This takes courage, self compassion, and the resilience to continue when it is uncomfortable.  The reward of this work is that, in the end, it helps us to tame the lion of the Unconscious by directing it with will, clarity, and love.  This is a deep inner soul movement to recognize and reconcile what is within, including how that which has challenged us has also made us richer and stronger.  This brings maturity, and creates more energy and confidence for that which still needs to be met.  Ultimately, this is also the way that we marry the outer and inner life, how we create a bridge between the the divine and the everyday, enlivening the sacred with the sensual and instinctual.  

Merging the Unconscious with the waking mind, the soul and the world, is the purpose of many of our world’s spiritual practices and traditions.  It is what is essentially being asked of us as we become the people of the Sixth Sun or of the Age of Aquarius.  It is the deep work that needs doing before we can call home our lost gifts and awaken into a new level of consciousness.  This takes courage to see and to act upon, but the Strength card reminds us that we have more inner fortitude than we may have considered before, and it has been hard won through the experiences we most wanted to disown.  Now it is time to integrate it, to cleanse what doesn’t belong with us as we move forward, and grow into our fullness.  With Strength, the wild and instinctual within becomes an ally and we become more capable of being who we intend to be.

What does this mean within you?  What thoughts, fears, nagging criticisms, and emotions have been emerging from under the surface as you consider this journey to Strength?  It is an art to listen with love and to not turn away.  Spend a moment in the quiet and let your untamed thoughts be heard.  If this is difficult, spontaneous writing and art making can be a helpful inroad, especially when you don’t edit yourself.  The Obsidian Mirror is also a powerful tool for seeing just what is hiding within the Unconscious and adjusting it intentionally.  And when feeling stuck, Citrine can be a potent ally for recovering the power of self expression and spiritual clarity, among its many gifts.

Where will you begin?  It only matters that you do.

May you rescue what is truly wild and authentic within, and tame the wounded, fearful aspects with love.

In compassion and resilience,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  You can learn more about her work and healing practice at www.metzmecatl.com

Plant & Crystal Magic 32: Rue & Orange Calcite

The realm of magic, mystery, and the ancestral is near to us all the time, however it feels most palpable and inviting at this time of year.  Halloween and Dia de los Muertos bring us a sense of cultural acknowledgement, and celebration, of what many of us already feel at this time.  We are interconnected with the unseen, and the more we acknowledge the subtle, energetic levels of life, the more they acknowledge us as well.  Yet, as sensitives that have largely lost touch with many of the older cultural practices that would help us to understand and integrate what we perceive and absorb psychically, we are often vulnerable to unconscious subtle influences, from both within and without.  These healing and protective allies, Rue and Orange Calcite, meet us there, and can bring tremendous magical support into the realm of the everyday.

Rue

I have a special love for Rue, and so I have to admit that the first thing I tend to find when reading about its properties is something I don’t personally experience or entirely understand.  It is often first described as a foul smelling herb.  Even its Latin name, Ruta Graveolens, hearkens to this notion.  The word “graveolens” in Latin means “foul smelling,” however it can also mean “strong smelling,” and whether you enjoy the scent or not, it is certainly strong.  I work closely with Rue, as a Limpia herb, for spiritual cleansing and healing, and everyone who has smelled it in these personalized rituals has reflected being more enchanted and uplifted by its scent.  The variation of reactions to it more broadly may have everything to do with how it is approached.  I think this this is a clue about its deeply magical nature and its history as an herb of enchantment.  Rue is also commonly known as “herb-of-grace.”  This comes from the practice of wearing a sprig of Rue to church on Sundays in order to dip into the holy water at the church entrance, as a means of cleansing and blessing.  Whether it delivers grace and protection, or a kind of olfactory attack may greatly depend on the circumstances.  In literature, Rue can also symbolize sorrow and regret or the need for repentance.  Ophelia, in Hamlet, wears Rue to express her sadness and regret over the losses in her life, but she gives one to Queen Gertrude as well, letting her know that she “must wear her Rue with a difference.”  In other words, she should wear it to help her realize the need to repent her actions, which have contributed to the violence in the Kingdom and the madness of her son.  In this case, Rue is meant to bring clarity  back to the mind and heart of someone blinded by infatuation.

A lot of Rue’s magical or energetic medicine does seem to relate to its highly scented oil.  I have heard that it is an herb that helps to protect one’s home or property, for example, by sending out an overpowering, even noxious, scent to those who would enter to do harm or to steal.  For some people, the highly sweet and sharp fragrance that it emits can cause headaches or a skin rash, particularly if brushed against, while for others its scent is deeply soothing, and a leaf applied to the forehead can help to cure a headache.

I began my studies in Curanderismo with herbs and will always have a special reverence for their subtle power.  It is said that Rue can help us remember to accept and love ourselves, wherever we are in our journeys of growth and healing, just as we are right now.  This is huge spiritual medicine for our time, when we are attempting to heal generational legacies of trauma, while facing the collapse of many imbalanced systems in our world, and trying both to reclaim our forgotten gifts and step forward towards the co-creation of a new era.  Rue helps to call the soul home to the heart, bringing grace to the emotional and spiritual healing process.  Simultaneously, it helps to push away what is toxic or unwelcome, even using its scent to ring a kind of alarm bell when harmful intrusions are approaching.  Rue is an herb for magic, healing, protection, and purification.

It is not ideal, however, to take Rue internally in any form other than a flower essence.  Flower essences are the spiritual and emotional medicine of the plant, gathered with prayer and highly distilled, rather than the physical medicine that is more fully present in a tea, tincture, oil, or powder.  In the more direct forms taken internally, high amounts of Rue can cause problems for the kidneys and bladder, even organ failure.  It is also an abortifacient, and was once used to terminate pregnancy or as a contraceptive, though this was not always a safe practice.  For this reason, this herb is not one that should be used or touched by pregnant women.  The younger leaves and flowers are the most potent, whereas the mature leaves are non toxic when fully dried.  Smaller amounts of Rue have had culinary applications as well, though not as much in modern times.  It was also once mixed with Oleander, a baneful herb, as an antidote for snake bites.

Rue is a good plant to grow around your home with intention.  It is a beautiful bluish green, almost silvery color, with small yellow flowers that grow in clusters.  It can grow in partial shade and in difficult soil, as long as there is some drainage.  It is a great herb for a garden, known for protecting and for amplifying the other plants’ properties, and can be an excellent perimeter for around the home or near the entrance to the property.

Rue also has many applications in ritual magic.  Here are some lovely suggestions of folkloric magical uses that are listed in The Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, by Scott Cunningham.

Suggestions for working with Rue:

1.  Wear Rue leaves around the neck to help recuperate from illness and to ward off future health issues.

2.  Add Rue to healing poppets and incense.

3.  Breath in fresh Rue to clear one’s head in matters of love and for improved mental acuity.

4.  Add Rue to spiritual baths, to break curses, hexes, and heavy legacies carried through generations.

5.  Add Rue to incense and cleansing, blessed waters for spirit clearings.

6.  Protect your home by hanging fresh Rue by the front door, having Rue in sachets around the house, or by rubbing the fresh leaves on the floor boards.

7.  Use a sprig of fresh Rue to sprinkle salt water throughout the house to cleanse it from negativity.

8.  Carry a Rue charm as a protection from the evil eye.

9.  Mix fresh juiced Rue with morning dew and sprinkle it in a circle around yourself or another, while you perform protection rituals.

Orange Calcite

Calcites, in general, are great healing allies that have an affinity for helping us to overcome blockages and to cleanse and revitalize our energetic systems.  Calcites work powerfully but with gentleness, providing a soothing and spiritually uplifting presence.  They are a calcium carbonate mineral and are often a component in limestone and marble.  The name Calcite, in fact, comes from the Latin word “Calyx,” meaning “lime,” showing their relationship to limestone.  Somewhat translucent, smooth, and deeply colorful, Calcites are sensory rich magic in harmony with the everyday.  However, Calcites are also part of what makes up stalactites and stalagmites in caves, those mystical and arresting spires hanging down like icicles, or spiraling up like towers, and glowing from within.  Knowing this can help us to recognize the power Calcites hold to cleanse and make sacred space.

Orange Calcite looks close enough to a juicy slice of orange that you may at first consider eating it.  It is a vibrant, energizing burst of radiant light that can instigate emotional cleansing and healing, burning through negative emotions, like depression its corresponding stagnation.  It helps to stimulate creative energy and a new perspective, so that one can find new solutions to long standing problems, emotional blocks, and conflicts with others.  It can help bring harmony between people and within family systems, partly by giving a boost of creative energy to help release the gridlock of repetitive patterns of thought and behavior, burning through negativity and habit.

Orange Calcite also have a relationship to the second chakra (or tonalcayo), making it a good healing support for those who have experienced sexual trauma and abuse.  If this area in the energy body is blocked or too out of balance, it is hard for the flow of energy to move further up to the centers of the will, heart, third eye, and crown.  When this happens it can become harder to use our creative energy, also located in the second chakra, to create what we intend in life, and our access to the higher arts of lucid dreaming and psychic receptivity, for example, may be limited.  Orange Calcite can help us to heal from shame and restore our inner sense of playfulness, joy, sensuality, and confidence, when our second chakra has been wounded.

It is an excellent stone for bringing more light to the places where darkness resides within us, and for giving us new eyes to see old situations in a different light.  When feeling stuck, whether frozen in fear or depleted by despondency, Orange Calcite can bring in the element of fire to reignite hope, harmony, and energy, so that one’s will can be directed in more effective ways.  It is a stone of restoration and radiance and warmth, one which is ready to support in burning away negative energy, as well as that which is outworn, so that we can release what is not serving us and bring in more positivity.  As we move into the darker seasons, crossing through the threshold of Samhain, we can call on Orange Calcite to heal the old winds of generational trauma that has created blocks within us.  Where are you frozen or stuck, unable to access your emotions or gifts?  Where  have you been struggling with old issues that seem like they will never change?  In what area of your life does the road forward still look too dark to see the best way ahead?  These are the areas where Orange Calcite may have an illuminating influence.

Tips for working with Orange Calcite:

Orange Calcite is energized by being in cluster of stones, so it is nice to bring in a few pieces and place them together.  Create an altar of light in your home, or perhaps lay them on your body to help clear away what has been wounded or stagnant, inviting energy to flow, new perspective to develop, and radiance to return.

Working with Rue and Calcite Together:

My suggestion is to infuse these two magical helpers into a cleansing water to sprinkle throughout your home, or to use to wash your wooden floors.  This would be a simple purification to do on Halloween, or Samhain the Witches’ New Year.  After cleansing, make a crystal grid combining these two elemental allies, maybe as a pentacle, to protect, cleanse, brighten, and invite more harmony and creative insight into your home and life this next astrological and agricultural year.  This may provide a perfect gateway into the quiet and dark dreaming months of Winter.

May you be protected from all negative influence.

May you radiate with new clarity and joy.

May this sacred time of year ignite the mystical energy within you.

Ometeotl.

Happy Samhain,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com

To The Wise Child Within

Happy Halloween to the wise child within you.  On occasions like this, it is good to remember that each of us is both a blessed descendant and a future ancestor.  Though time has a way of moving so fast around us that we may only see what we are facing in the present moment, we exist in a circle of remembrance, renewal, and return.  We are in a generational conversation with those that came before us and those that will carry our legacies forward.  We stand in the eternal now, where what was lost can be retrieved, what was harmed can be healed and transformed, and when the future lines can be shaped and witnessed as they are forming.

When we spend time with the bright young ones who have incarnated in this intense and important time, the light of spirit and the wisdom of deep soul history feels very potent and alive.  They come to us with clarity and connection, full of possibility and purpose.  The children in our world can remind us to hold onto joy, wonder, and also the ability to trust our deeply encoded intuitive knowledge.  They are sacred, and so is that part of each of us, the child within that came in clear, and has also grown through life’s experiences.

Here is a little fun and an honoring for all of our young intuitives, and for the confident young one within each of us that needs to be valued, and perhaps welcomed home.

I dedicate this to all of you, and most especially to my sweet son Lucián…

The Purrfect Potion    

Do you hear that purring, a soft and steady hum?

The cats are all returning, from far and wide they come.

Have they been out wandering, roaming with no aim?

No, they’ve been out pondering about a brand new game.

They’ve been visiting all the children, sweetly in their dreams,

Looking for the stories with deep magical themes.

Then they gathered stardust and the moon’s bright light.

Now they are collecting together in the night.

Next, each of these offerings, they’ll pour into a bowl.

They’ll make a new elixir to soothe the weary soul

Of every grown up child whose forgotten who they are,

And all the ones that weren’t told they come from a bright star.

Then, with their secret whimsy, they will jump right in,

Rub potion on their fur, absorb it in their skin.

Magic and remembrance will glow behind their eyes.

And then they’ll be ready to help a new dawn rise.

They’ll return to their homes and visit a few more,

To snuggle with the young and old, as they are well known for.

But with each purr and gentle rub of fur onto flesh,

Hearts and minds grown stiff with age will become new and fresh.

Children’s eyes soft touched by whiskers wake up bright and clear,

Confident in their wise natures, find no need to fear.

They lead and grown ups follow, feeling hope and wonder.

Then the cats all smile and nap, purrs as loud as thunder.

-Melusina Gomez

May you be blessed with joy, rejuvenation, and wonder this season.  May you honor the magic within the quiet, and the wisdom within the young.

With deepest love and reverance,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  You can learn more about her work and healing practice at www.metzmecatl.com

Plant & Crystal Magic 31: All Heal & Malachite

We are living in a time of rapid changes.  If you have been following the astrological story unfolding, you may already be well aware that as we passed through this Fall Equinox, we aligned further with the healing, opening, and upgrade of our heart chakras.  With the intense light codes that are entering the planet and our own energetic and physical bodies right now, we have the opportunity to shed old self limiting concepts, and to both remember and grow into who we truly are.  More and more, we are laying the ground work that may allow us to embody what we have the capacity to be, as bridges between the physical and the Divine.  However, to be able to grow in this way, and to truly receive the messages, support, and activation from the cosmos that is attempting to help us evolve, we need to heal our hearts and consciousness from the old wounds that still limit us.  What does it mean to carry self limiting concepts?  If you consider the major traumas from your own life, including childhood, those memories that implanted within you the expectation of abandonment, victimhood, shame, and lack, for example, it starts to become clear.  Who might you have been, without the influence of those inner voices telling you you may never be safe, or never be enough?  In addition to this, there is the legacy of wounding that comes from your soul history and ancestral lines, which, over generations, has encouraged you to avoid the things that brought danger, such as intuitive forms of knowledge, ritual magic, and the mysticism of the Earth and Divine Feminine, and compelled you to repeat the problems that were too great to resolve in the past.  Add to this picture our collective trauma, oppression, and imbalance of power, and it is no surprise how much self sabotage, confusion, and numbing take place in our current culture.  Often the symptoms of these complex influences present themselves, while the root of the problem remains hidden in the unconscious realms of mind and soul.  Over time, we can come to believe that those harmful ways of feeling and thinking are natural to us, just part of who we are.  In this identification with the effects of past wounding, we accidentally cement our limitations into our sense of identity.  Over time, this makes it all too easy to despair and lose hope, closing our hearts to true receiving.  Yet, the heart center is the key to absorbing and integrating spiritual energy, including the light codes coming in now to offer help and the activation of our new era.  It is very important right now to find and address the deeper, older, core wounds of the heart in order to release the self destructive patterns that they have instilled, and to restore the heart to its natural capacity for alignment with the Divine.  We need this purification and realignment, but before we can open to it and engage the heart as a sacred key, we may need help looking into what is hidden in the dark of our Unconscious, and addressing it with courage, self love, and the willingness to transform.  This is where this month’s deeply supportive plant and crystal allies come in.

All Heal is Self Heal

All Heal is a perennial flowering herb with the latin name Prunella Vulgaris.  It grows here in the United states, as well as Europe, Asia, and Japan.  It has interesting purple flowers, which close up kind of resemble small hooded figures in lavender robes.  It is hardy enough to be considered a weed, and can grow to two feet high.  Its flowers are actually edible, blooming from June to August, as our its leaves.  It is an herb of Venus, making it an appropriate ally for our time.  It has many different names, and even more healing applications.  The name that I think is most apt is Self Heal.  It has been noted as a plant that can heal wounds, inside and out, with so many uses it was considered a gift from the Divine.

When it comes to physical healing, the reduction of inflammation is a key reason why All Heal has such a wide reach of impact on disease and imbalance.  Reducing heat, swelling, and congestion and enhancing or regulating the immune system’s response makes it a powerhouse for issues involving pain.  It improves the healthful functioning of the liver and kidneys, and can tone the lymphatic system, making it an effective support against stagnation and the problems this can create.  This is an herb interested in detoxification.

Though its physical healing applications alone are worth deep exploration, this relationship with moving what is stagnant and cleansing what is toxic to the system is a deep clue to its energetic, emotional, and magical healing potential.  “Self Heal” is perhaps more of a signature than a nickname.  When one is feeling hopeless, stuck, and mired in too much inner poison to feel empowered enough to begin the healing process, Self Heal can break through feelings of defeat and bolster courage and hope.  This can greatly assist us in the slow unraveling of our personal layers of unconscious trauma and their legacy of limiting mindsets and behavior patterns.  When we feel too exhausted to try and our hearts are closed to the hopeful possibility of feeling better, Self Heal can be just what is needed to begin the process of change.  Self Heal addresses the psychic poison within, so that it can loosen its grip on our hearts and minds.

Suggestions for working with All Heal:

All Heal/Self Heal has a strong affinity for addressing anxiety and stress, and works very well in herbal bathing.  Make a strong infusion (tea) by boiling water, turning the heat off, and adding about a cub of dried leaves and flowers.  Let it steep for 15-20 minutes, and then bring the temperature back up.  This can be added to bathwater, along with a strainer for sifting out the herb material after your bath.  The action of pouring the infused waters over you, while the heat opens your pours, allows for the medicine to deeply enter through your pores and olfactory sense.  Scrub the plant material on your body too.  As always, it’s ideal to also drink a cup of the tea to take it internally as well.

All Heal/Self Heal works well as a flower essence.  Taking a few drops of this highly distilled energetic medicine will serve to access the spiritual and emotional side of its potency.  Take it with intention, making a prayer, sacred ask for support, or spell as you do to direct the influence.

The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Magical Plants lists these fun folkloric magical uses:

“Drinking the tea before you look for a new home or apply for a job will ensure you of success.”

“Adding the flowers to a salad served to your beloved will improve your relationship and dispel any misunderstandings.”

“To deepen your connection with your inner wisdom, rub fresh or dried All Heal leaves on your forehead  before meditating.”

I think all of these are worth experimenting with.  Rubbing fresh leaves on the forehead is often a fast and effective way to take in the medicinal oil of the plant.

Sleeping with the fresh or dried plant is also a strong way to connect with its healing.  When we sleep and dream we have direct access to our unconscious realms, bringing in a strong healing ally into the dream can help to address the deeply unconscious psychic wounds, especially when we plant dreams with a healing intention or when we need to heal the influence of nightmares.

Malachite

Malachite is a deep green and relatively soft stone with swirling patterns of fibrous banding.  Though its color is in dark and light shades of green, its element is fire and it is very much aligned with the activation of necessary change.  It offers excellent healing support by combining the initiation of deep positive transformation with protection from negative energetic influence, even helping one to both sense danger and to become invisible to that which would bring harm.  In the Nahualismo tradition, this concept of invisibility comes up in the older teachings, as it does in other ancient cultures.  When we are vulnerable because of being wounded and our minds are turned towards negative thoughts and emotions, we are highly visible as targets that can be manipulated.  When we are actively working on healing ourselves, and perhaps others, we also become highly visible to those energies who would rather people stay trapped in fear.  In this case, negative influence can come as a kind of psychic attack meant to thwart that positive influence on ourselves and the collective.  This is where Malachite is a brilliant healing ally.  It has the capacity to reveal to us what is hidden within our unconscious layers and needs healing, to help us in the process of transformation from these old wounds and destructive patterns, and while it is instigating this work, it also helps by holding us in a protective shield.  This is a power stone, and a willing and appropriate healing tool for our time.

Malachite has a special affinity for the heart and heart chakra.  In addition to being the key to how we receive spiritual awakening, the heart is the place where we hold the memories of what we have lived.  The heart holds our traumas and their after effects, because in those memories are the stories we have told ourselves, perhaps again and again, about who we are and what to expect from life.  Looked at this way, it is no surprise that Malachite would have a relationship to this crucial part of our physical and energetic bodies.  In The Book of Stones, Who They Are and What They Teach, Robert Simmons says:

“Malachite emanates the healthiest energy pattern for the heart.  It benefits both the emotional heart and the pump itself through its harmonization of the heart chakra.  It assists one in maintaining emotional balance, in which one remains in a positive, benevolent state but is not tempted to take on the emotional baggage of others.  It also offers an enhanced ability to see where one’s own emotional traps and pitfalls lie, and to avoid them.”

Naisha Ahsian adds this:

“Malachite can be a powerful ally for those who are trapped in waiting for their reality to change.  It can assist one in perceiving the cracks in the walls that block one’s progress, so one can utilize one’s will to break through limitations, barriers and apathy.  It stimulates one’s higher passions for life and creating.  It lends one the strength to consciously own one’s responsibility in forging one’s life in whatever form one chooses.”

There are few stones that have this range of actions, helping us to perceive and heal our deep traumas and limitations, protecting us from negative influence and attack so we can be vulnerable in our transformation process, and aligning our hearts with inner balance and clarity so that we can receive from and co-create with the Divine, in sacred purpose.  This is a truly empowering stone that helps us overcome fear, overwhelm, confusion, and the legacies of victimization that keep us asleep in the dark.  It pushes us to remember who we are, to heal, and to create with intention and creativity.  No wonder time and time again it appears imprinted with the sacred number 8, another sigil of its power to activate our true agency and will and make it manifest, even if much healing is needed first.

Tips for working with Malachite:

Malachite is best used with intention.  It is a powerful stone, and has been said to cause sleep disturbance if kept in the bedroom.  This will vary greatly, depending on personal sensitivities.  Though it was once powdered into an eye shadow in Ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages, Malachite is toxic as a powder and can be tharmful to touch in its rough forms.  A polished stone serves best.  Because of this it is not suitable for infusion in water.

Meditation holding Malachite, wearing Malachite jewelry, keeping a stone in a pouch while traveling, and creating a crystal grid or altar are all good ways to work with this potent ally.

Working with All Heal and Malachite Together:

My suggestion is to use the ways listed above, such as sacred bathing, teas, and flower essences with All Heal, while engaging this plant and crystal intentionally each day for a specific cycle.  36 days is a good place to begin for healing changes, based on the number of the Sun’s cycle, perceived from Earth.  Start with setting an intention for healing transformation and the cleansing and opening of the heart.  Create ritual, engage in prayer, or use a grid formation to set a clear intention for change.  Then, come to these allies each day, no matter how you feel, asking for the courage, clarity, and catalyst to grow into the best possibility of who you can be, unfettered, open, aligned and empowered.

May we all heal the influences that have kept us from knowing what we truly are.

May we offer ourselves love, so that we can receive it more fully and offer it to each other.

Ometeotl.

With deepest care,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com

Being Your Own Demeter

We’re standing now at the gateway to the Fall Equinox, the threshold to the dreaming seasons.  At this time of harvest, and because we are living in intense times, as one era gives way to another, it feels feels right to stop to integrate the gradual changes we have been making, the healing that has taken place, and the older areas within us that still need attention.  This is the time of year when we imagine Persephone making her journey back to the Underworld.  If you recall the story, whatever version you may have read, you know that like most of us she never had a choice about her first descent.  Trauma catches us unaware, and yet some part of our soul, in the most unconscious places, reaches out for the new flower of experience and growth, and our journey deepens.  This is initiation on a soul level, and it happens when we embrace and integrate the experiences that pierce us, as well as when we choose the terms of our descent.

Having grown into a Goddess in her own right, deepened into power by the new eyes she gained along the way, Persephone returns to the unconscious realms year after year.  She does this knowing that she will meet her depth there, perhaps guide others who are lost there, and that ultimately she will emerge again.  She can do this deep work, and journey without fear, because the light of who she has always been is seen and lovingly held by her mother, Demeter, Goddess of the Earth, the grain, and the harvest.  I wonder…how many times have you been to the Underworld?  How many initiations completed, and how many left unresolved?  How many parts of your energy might still be trapped, running in circles, or frozen in fear?  I invite you to take a moment to remember the times you imagined you were lost, the losses and the wounds that de-centered you, and those that perhaps ultimately deepened you.  Yes, we are on the threshold of a change of era, but the change is within us as well.  If we are going to become more fully who we are, then we need to retrieve the parts of ourselves that are lost in old trauma, as well as cleaning our lives in the present to align with our soul truth.  It’s been a year of rapid healing transformation.  If you have been moving fast, you may not have noticed the change that has taken place within you.  How are you different from last year at this time?  

Part of your harvest to collect is the acknowledgment of the work you have done to heal, and the experiences you have had in the expansive months that affirmed the self that you are becoming.  Collect your harvest.  Hold yourself in the best and dearest light, just as Demeter does for Persephone, believing and insisting that you can always return to what is pure and innocent within you, even as you deepen and grow through life’s unexpected complexities.  Be your own harvest mother.  Make this your Fall season act of devotion to the Divine Feminine, and an offering of nurturing to the soul within you.  This Saturday, Chiron is in trine with Venus, making it a perfect time to integrate the healing you have done, and to engage the healing that has been waiting a long while to take place.  Old wounds that have healed the wrong way create limiting neural pathways that have a long influence.  If you are not sure what needs healing, spend some time with your thoughts.  How does your inner voice speak to you?  What areas are blocked, numb, or caught in a negative loop?  The Demeter within you believes that you can still cleanse all that stands in the way of who you really are, even as you become a little older, a little wiser, and a lot stronger on your path.  Chiron’s symbol looks like a key.  May healing the old winds unlock both your heart and your truth.  Here is a meditation I created for the Fall Equinox.  May it be a start to your healing harvest.         

Close your eyes.  Take a deep breath.

Feel your Mother Earth beneath your feet, pulsing love into you now.

She remembers everyone you have ever been.  She knows who you were before life pierced you, and who you grew to be after.  She has witnessed your descent again and again, and she will never give up her quest for your safe and triumphant return.  She gathers you close now and says:

“Look…the light is waning and Fall is opening its gateway.  Soon it will be time to go down and within.  But now the Harvest is before you, and it is time to collect what’s yours, so you may be nourished in the darker time of year.”

She holds a large mirror before your face and asks you to look closely.

You see yourself as Summer, all laughter, warmth, and experience, but you see, too, that there are new lines on your face that you had not noticed before.  One at a time you follow them with interest.  Each is a map of what you have lived and the ways it has changed you.  Follow the threads of these memories of Summer, Springtime, and beyond one at a time.

What feelings, what experiences, which learnings will you collect and integrate to nourish you, as you step over the threshold that divides the months of expansion from the months of quiet dreaming and new life forming underground?  Which will still feed you when the Winter feels long?  Which have prepared you to deepen your sense of who you can grow to be, as you dream your next phase of becoming?  Collect, now, your inner harvest.     

You blink your eyes and for a moment you see yourself again as the open hearted, innocent child of your youth.  Collect that sene of hopefulness and trust.

You blink your eyes and see your face of wisdom won through hard experience.  Collect that sense of confidence, vulnerability, and strength.

You blink a third time and these faces merge, combining gentleness and power.  You see your truest self, grown but not lost.

Just like Demeter, you remember everyone you have ever been and even glimpse who you will be in the new Wheel approaching.

Are you ready to step over the threshold?  Are you nourished enough?

Do you know now that you will never be abandoned or forgotten by your Mother the Earth, that you are held even as you are seduced and entranced by new depths within?

Is your harvest enough to sustain you?

There is still time.  What may still be needed to make your container strong enough?  What work may still need to be done to ensure that you can truly reap what you intended to, in the seasons of light?

Demeter gently removes the mirror from before you and puts it away.  Suddenly you find yourself surrounded by a beautiful feast of fruits, grains, golden honey, and fragrant herbs.  She takes your hand and asks you to celebrate.  Your celebration is all she requires in return for her gifts and her love.  You open your mouth and a song pours forth.  It is one word, a chant, and you sing it with your full and complex heart.  You know this word without hesitation.  With it you sing your gratitude and your resilience.  You sing your strength.  You sing your becoming.

With your song you bless every harvest, past, present, and future.

Ometteotl.  Blessed be.

May your harvest be abundant, and your hunger ever be met with nourishment.

With deepest love,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com

The Veil of the Black Madonna

The Veil of the Black Madonna

“I am all that has been, that is, that shall be, and none among mortals has yet dared to raise my veil.” -sacred words carved onto the famous veiled statue of Isis of Sais.

There is no question that, as humans, we move through cycles of consciousness and unconsciousness.  We may be part of the dance of divinity, even a uniquely designed vehicle for bridging the mysterious and the mundane, capable of reflecting the vast in a manner that is poetic in its blend of pristine intellectual appreciation and raw empathic ecstasy, and yet with humanness comes forgetting.  Collectively, we have not yet been able to hold onto the consciousness and connection to the Mysterious that we are capable of touching, without distorting it, fearing it, attempting to control it, disowning it, or making it dangerous to acknowledge.  And this, the knowledge and the power, the love and the magic, the enlivened mystery of the true dreaming consciousness of this earth, all that we forget and disavow, long for like an awaited miracle, this energy collects, waits, changes shape, stays close to us, and answers when we call.  This has been my understanding of the Goddess, and I have been humbled and deeply nourished this Summer to come to know her in what is perhaps one of her  most incredible, potent, and uncanny manifestations as the Black Madonna, the face through which the oldest and most potent mysteries of the Earth and the Divine Feminine remained active as a living mystery cult, even within the heart of the Catholic religion.   

It isn’t entirely accurate to say that I wasn’t familiar with the Black Madonna.  I, like many Mexican American and Latinx people, have felt reverence and awe for Señora Guadalupe, the aspect of Mary that appeared to the peasant Juan Diego, at the site of the temple that had once belonged to the Nahuatl Earth Mother Tonantzin.  La Señora Guadalupe lovingly holds the hearts, dignity, and ancient wisdom of Mexican lineage people.  Her skin is brown in reflection of the indigenous peoples.  Her request for acknowledgment came to the most disempowered among colonial society, yet one with reverence in heart.  Her miracles are for everyone who needs them. Her robe carries the stars in constellations of relevance to the ancient tradition.  Her head is tilted at the same angle as the axis of the earth.  The golden rays around her reflect the sacred number of the New Fire, heralding the knowledge of the Mexica culture around astrological collective change.  Her image is entirely encoded with the ancient tradition.   It was a beautiful, intentional act of resistance, preservation, guided by the divine intervention of a Goddess who was determined to stay close to and tend to her people.  I just didn’t know that this was only one among many instances, in many different lands and in different ways, where this incredible act of love and magic happened.  I didn’t know that the name for this broader phenomenon was The Black Madonna.

The Black Madonna cult is the living mystery tradition surrounding a number of statues and paintings representing the Mother Mary and the baby Jesus as black or brown, and the mystical folklore of uncanny origin stories and deeply healing miracles that surround their presence in chapels and mountain tops.  They tend to have appeared originally either by a light emanating from the ground that led a person from the peasant or disempowered class, or a child or even first the animals to discover a land spot.  After digging in this place, the icon is found, often having survived the destruction of an earlier church or temple.  In some stories, it is an apparition of Mary who initiates the request for a church to be built with her image at a sacred site, as with Señora Guadalupe.  The famous Knights Templar also had a part to play in the history, discovering and bringing to Europe images and statues of The Black Madonna, however in some stories storms and shipwrecks determined where these emanations of the Mother landed, each time involving a miracle that saved the people and the relic, while the ship was destroyed, making it impossible to travel further.  There are many such images around the world, particularly in the areas of Italy, Spain, France, England, Poland, and into areas of the Caribbean, Latin America and Mexico.  In each place, people come on their own and sometimes in large numbers to make prayers, receive miracles, to walk in procession with her image, to enact the oldest rites of that land and its Pagan traditions, to dance, sings, and even to re-enact the miracles they have received as an annual pledge of gratitude.  The Mother responds by granting their prayers, changing her facial expression, and in some cases by bleeding or changing location.  When people have attempted to move these statues and images from their original site, they have the mysterious habit of moving themselves back.

If you ask, within the church, the meaning of the blackness of these images, you may hear something like the ash or heat from years of burning candles has blackened them.  Often this explanation is immediately undermined by the nuance of color that can be seen on the robes, lips, and eyes of the Madonna.  I have read on inscriptions that she is black because of her sorrows for the world, and her relationship to human suffering.  Some attribute the blackness to the material from which the statues are made.  They are often basalt, which was actually the sacred material in which images of Isis were carved.  Most of the statues are made of wood.  Some speculate that the images are black because they reflect the African origins of human civilization, the original Mother of humanity.  Some of the images have features, the shape of the eyes, nose, mouth, and general bone structure for example, that would support that and some do not.  Many believe that they mirror the dark skin that would likely have been culturally appropriate for Mother Mary and Jesus, given the part of the world from which they came.  And many more believe that they are images of Isis, the Goddess of 1,000 names, who is the one who changes her face and name to meet her children of all cultures, performs miracles of healing, resurrection, and magic.  We do know that the image of the mother holding the divine child on her lap that became Mary and Jesus, was based on that of Isis and her son Horus.  In reality, it may be that there is not one explanation alone.  There may be truth in many of these theories, though I am personally less inclined to believe in the more dismissive idea that it is discoloring alone.  Racism runs deep in our world, to the point that many of these images have been painted over to look more white, and others have been vandalized or stolen.  In fact, this living mystery tradition may be in some danger of disappearing, as already many chapels have had to lock her image behind glass, bars, or highly limit public visitation.  There is also evidence to suggest that there is a larger and more mysterious reason for the blackness of the Madonna.  There is even one image of her that is simply a black egg with a veil, perhaps suggesting that she is the pregnant darkness from which all of life emerges.

What I find to be the most intriguing aspect of what the Black Madonnas have in common is their arrival and placement in places that are special power spots on the earth.  They appear and request to be honored in places where the mountains meet the sea, places of high energy, elemental vibrations.  These are places that more ancient cultures were likely to recognize and mark as well, with the remnants of older temples and ruins often nearby.  Furthermore, the rites that are practiced in many of her locations, and in her honor, are very similar to the rites of the older Goddess traditions and Pagan cultures that held spiritual relevance for people for generations, before being banned and made dangerous by the rise of the Catholic church.  In some places, like Italy and Sicily for example, these can even include the ecstatic in dance, drumming, and sexuality, as well as the embracing of all who are other and in between.  The Black Madonna is also the patron and protector of those exiled, oppressed and excluded, often the poor, the indigenous, the cultures of color, the queer and gender non conforming.  She holds the hands of all that was left out of Spirituality, in the wake of Catholicism and Imperialism.

Perhaps the Earth Mother, or even the oldest concepts of the Goddess as the fertile darkness of cosmic creation and the power of the earth combined, is the true origin of the Black Madonna.  One of the prevailing theories of her blackness is that she is the black soil that is the most fertile ground for planting.  I can’t hear that without hearing the dual meaning of fertile soil.  In Nahuatl it is called Mactocuimanactan, and it also refers to the dark place of creation that exists in our deepest dreaming levels of mind, where true changes can be made and miracles manifest.  It is a state we can access and use to dream our lives with more intention, a place before the conscious mind, time, and agreed upon definitions of reality.  It is the place of deep magic and the awakened knowledge of what we are as bridges between the spiritual and the mundane.  Astoundingly, for the depth of mysticism that this embodies, it is with a gentle, loving, and compassionate hand that we are guided towards this activation by the Black Madonna, like she is gently supporting us where we are now, while she asks us to remember who we have always been. 

This is the medicine we found as we held our first Intuition Retreat to her sacred site in Mallorca, Spain, this year, and none of us were untouched by her grace and power.  I can still see the large heart in the sky that formed as we held our circle and reached out to understand her mystery.  I can see the streams of golden light that poured down from its center towards us.  I can see the mountain that we faced when we meditated and called to her in ceremony, with her chapel just on the other side of the ridge.  I can see the smile that formed on her statue’s face when I spoke to her and she answered, in the candlelit back room of the large Spanish Cathedral.  I can feel the soft, cleansing waters of the Mediterranean Sea cleansing us, and the gentle winds that moved through and cooled us as we danced into the night communing with her ancient energies.  I can feel the chill on my skin when we found the true earth temple beneath us in the form of an ancient cave that was like nothing I’ve ever seen, the shapes and majesty like an original blueprint for what the above ground Cathedrals would perhaps later model.  I can still hear her voice saying “I have always been with you…I have always been with you……I have always been with you.”

It’s possible that the Black Madonna defies clear definition partly because she is meant to remain mysterious.  She is Mary, Isis, Cybele, Diana, Hekate, Tonantzin, Yemaya, Kali, Demeter, Inanna, and also something beyond.  Her truth may be in the act of veiling the ancient and mysterious, and in unveiling it for us, when our consciousness is ready.  She is the egg of potential and power that has always been within the earth and exists within us too, waiting for the moment when we would be receptive, holding us with love and healing support until then.  She is the great act of preservation, veiling tradition and power through the dark times of Inquisition, colonization, and war.  She is the one who answers prayers in times of desperation, plague, victimization, and raw need.  She is the veil lifting and the old knowledge returning from unconscious to conscious.

The other day I was watching the sunset through the trees at my house.  The way the light moved through the branches and leaves created a kind of window, allowing the light to refract into colorful prisms of rainbow colors.  Patterns emerged that looked geometric like mandalas, like stained glass.  It was like seeing magic directly.  It looked like stained glass.  It occurred to me that someone must have seen this and designed stained glass to recall it.  It reminded me of the high ceilings and narrow, ornate spires within the caves I visited the day after the retreat, and how much they looked like shapes built into the cathedral.  What if the oldest cathedrals are underground and stained glass prisms of light are shining in the rays of the sun through the trees?  What if we have unconsciously or consciously built these mirrors all around us to remind us?  What if the unknown is encoded into the known and waiting for us to see it.  What if our time is pushing us to unlock these old mysteries because it is not necessary to hide and wait anymore.  What does this movement now ask of us?  What is still sleeping within you and asking to be awoken?  What are you meant to remember and reclaim so that you, so that each of us can grow into the people of the Sixth Sun, of the Age of Aquarius?  Do you need to go on a retreat, a journey away from the familiar in order to see it?  Do you only need to go outside and gaze at the amazing artistry of nature to perceive the codes of mystery embedded all around us?  Do you just need a moment to get quiet enough?  Do you need a healing miracle?

Perhaps begin by stepping outside into the rays of the sun, or moon.  Ask for what you need to the Great Mother, as the Black Madonna, as Señora Guadalupe, as Mother Mary, or even perhaps as a different aspect of the Divine Feminine that most speaks to your heart.

She is the one who answers.  She is the one who opens the path to the awakening of the mystery here on earth and within the heart.

Ometeotl.

May all the beauty that was ever lost, be found. May every gift of mystery and magic once supressed, be recovered.

With love,

the eleventh house

Plant & Crystal Magic 30: Yerba Santa & Elestial Quartz

These two elemental allies are close to my heart.  They invite us into the liminal spaces and guide us towards meaning, healing and deepening within that vast territory.  And yet, their energies are grounded in the magic and mystery of the Earth, supporting us in the integration of our dreaming, remembering, and aligning with the esoteric and soul regions of knowledge.

Yerba Santa

It was about twenty years ago when I first met Yerba Santa.  It is perhaps the first herb that reached out to me, without my having had any awareness of it previously.  At that time my knowledge of the herbal allies was more limited, but luckily I did know how to listen.  I was in a circle with some others who, like me, were in a process of deepening within the practices of dreaming, visioning, and healing.  We would meet once a month to connect, journey, and to recall the hidden practices of our lineages, of both Ancestral and Soul origins.  We were utilizing the magnifying power of gathering in a group to go deeper, and one night we journeyed with the question “What would help us to dream deeper and advance psychically, as a group and individually?”  We each brought back a suggestion from the spirit realm, an original teaching from our trusted guides in the context of carefully crafted sacred space.  In my journey, I saw the green of the plant world and some golden light.  A strong energy introduced itself to me as Yerba Santa, and just to be sure I got the message, the letters spelling its name appeared before me.  The plant spirit said to make an infusion of its leaves in water and to wash our eyes with it every night before going into the realm of sleep and dreaming.  I remember feeling very reverent and grateful for the specificity of this practice.  I shared it with the group, but I think I was the only one who actually began this practice.  When I made the infusion, I also added a couple drops of the Yerba Santa tincture, and together this turned the water a golden color.  I suspect we could have begun dreaming together and developing more of a psychic link, based on what the plant told me and what I felt, but that didn’t happen.  What did happen was a gradual initiation into the art of dreaming and seership that began for me from that point, and was ultimately led me to study the magic and medicine of plants, which ultimately led me to find my true Ancestral lineage of healing and sorcery from Mexico.  I am grateful to Yerba Santa for opening the gateway that dramatically changed my life, when I simply asked with an open heart and enough basic training to distinguish thoughts from true visions.  I share this with you now with much respect and reverence for this teacher and opener of visions and pathways.

Yerba Santa has other names, like most magical and medicinal plants that have been loved by more than one culture.  It is also known as Bear Weed, Holy Herb, Sacred Herb, and Mountain Balm, for example.  It is associated with psychic power, as well as with bringing protection on the journey.  It’s been carried to increase spiritual strength and to ward off illness and injury.  Its leaves are used in healing incense formulas.  There is also a tradition of bathing with the fresh leaves and with infusions of them.

More specifically, it is a sacred herb of Northern Mexico and the South-Western United States, which even the Spanish named “Santa,” meaning holy or sacred.  It was most commonly used as a smudging herb to cleanse the energies causing disease and psychic imbalance, and to heal emotional conditions like melancholy, grief, and anger between people, with the intention of creating an inviolable space within the heart and allowing it to open.  In traditional Indigenous smudging practices and rituals, Yerba Santa was engaged to increase a person’s connection with Spirit, opening the crown and increasing psychic awareness.  Even the Spanish missionaries came to revere this sacred plant ally and recorded its affect on psychic sense and in cultivating healing for body, mind, and spirit.  It has been used to increase vitality, to provide spiritual protection, an to make offerings during ceremony.  Yerba Santa can help you deepen into the journey of understanding and merging with your higher soul self, while attuning you to divine connection, guidance, and protective support.  It is a true elder.

Suggestions for working with Yerba Santa:

I shared my personal story for a reason.  The dream of the eleventh house is to move towards our growth and expansion together in friendship and community.  I will begin again with my practice of washing my face and the area around my eyes, third eye, temples, and crown with a Yerba Santa infusion before bed.  This time I will add Yerba Santa flower essence.  The intention held this time is growth, expansion, deepening dreaming, and finding the path to becoming who we most truly are, as this shift of era invites us to be more of our intuitive, soul selves.  Would you like to join?

Elestial Quartz

In the last few months, I have felt similarly tapped on the shoulder by the medicine of Elestial Quartz, a powerful crystal ally that I had not known much about until our recent excursion to a Crystal and Gem Faire in April, where we bought several pieces for the store (along with many other magical beauties).  That night, I slept with one and had a deep, nurturing rest that grounded and rejuvenated me.  I have been holding it and dreaming with it since.  Lili Shuster, whom most of you know as the magical, light filled owner of the eleventh house, described Elestials as the Grandmothers of the crystal world, which can both nurture and give you the big medicine that you need, even if it is hard to hear.  I can feel that quality, and it’s potency, though it has been a supremely kind energy for me thus far, one that seems to encourage the remembrance and integration of soul history and knowledge.  My felt experience is that it grounds out any surface concerns or frenetic energy, relaxes my nervous system, and opens me to feel more like my deepest self so that I can meet life and act from the place of soul centeredness and divine connection.  And this is really just the beginning with this power stone.

Elestial Quartz is the name given to a particular formation of quartz that appears layered and structured with many terminations that look like plates overlapping each other on the surface, and growing in the same direction.  They are commonly Smokey Quartz, but there can be other variations like clear quartz and citrine.  Elestial Quartz is also known as Skeletal Quartz, or sometimes Crocodile Quartz, because it has the appearance of an earthy skeletal structure or even crocodile scales.  When found in Cathedral Quartz formations, they are also called “Libraries of Light.”  They do in fact have a grounding presence, with the particular nuance of grounding higher frequency vibrations into the Earthly plane.  They engage the with the highest levels of guidance, divinity, and multi-dimensionality, and help this energy to be accessible to humans here in the physical realm.  They remind us of our highest aspects and attune us towards connection with our deep soul truth and with the realms of Spirit.  Being in their presence invites the vibration of love and the Angelic realms into one’s body and home.  This can create ecstatic feelings of love and lightness, bring in protection, and cut through illusions, blocks, and disharmonies to make us more in touch with our true selves at the level of soul and psychic awareness.  This is particularly true with Smokey Quartz varieties, making them excellent aids in all forms of healing work, as well as in the unfolding of personal and spiritual development and vitality.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Elestial Quartz, however, is its connection with the Akashic records.  In addition to the healing and expansion that it invites in the present, even working with just one Elestial over time can awaken hidden soul memories and initiate the integration of who we have been and what we have known in the past.  These memories can hold the key to inviting home lost gifts, knowledge, purpose, and awareness that has been buried by trauma and the forgetting between lifetimes.  I believe that this remembering is key to stepping into our full selves at this shift of ages, recovering what has gone silent in the realm of the unconscious and engaging more fully in dreaming our lives with intention and co-creating with the dream of the Earth.  So much knowledge was hidden in the name of survival during the Fifth Sun, but remains at the edges of our awareness through the hints of intuition, dreams, and visions.  What might it be like to truly attune to the larger cosmic dance and to recover what we may have once known about our interconnection and relationship to it all?  These healers open us up to the Divine, while grounding us with the vitality and medicine of the Earth, and at the same time, encourage us to receive both new information and to recover what we have forgotten.  Perhaps Elestial Quartz is the healer and awakener for our time.

Suggestions for working with Yerba Santa and Elestial Quartz together:

Once you have primed yourself with a Yerba Santa smudge and/or face and crown wash, hold your Elestial Quartz to your heart and breath slowly.  Let it ground and align you.  Rest and listen.  If you feel called, bring it to your crown or third eye area and listen for what it wants to teach you.  With this and all forms of intuitive listening, you can also ask a specific question, if you wish to receive a specific kind of guidance.  This would be a beautiful evening practice before entering dreaming.  The rest of the time, don’t forget to keep your Elestial present in your home to promote more harmony and healing for all who live there and to include Yerba Santa in your space clearing and perhaps on your altar as an offering.

May we remember, and expand together,

Ometeotl.

Ever deepening with you,

the eleventh house

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez.  For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com

sources:

The Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, Scott Cunningham

“7 Spiritual Benefits of Yerba Santa” , by Carla Greenwood

Crystal Stars 11.11, Alana Fairchild

The Book of Stones, Who They Are and What They Teach, Robert Simmons & Naisha Ahsian