The Holly . . .

Holly has long been associated with winter and the symbolism that a green plant carries when it shows life throughout the colder and darker months. It is thought in some circles that the first Christmas Tree was a Holly Tree but this most likely to be due to its associations with the pagan and Celtic festivals relating to the Winter Solstice and Yule. Holly is seen as protective, most likely due to its thorny leaves and poisonous berries. It is thought to protect elves and faeries during winter and druids and others would bring a holly bough into their homes to assist the fae folk. However, the holly bough had to be removed before the next Sabbat to avoid bad luck. It is also associated with the masculine again likely due to its perceived protective nature, this is where it also complements Ivy, the feminine. Another reason for the masculine link is the Holly King who rules from Midsummer to Midwinter. At each turning of the year he battles with the Oak King for the favour of the Goddess. Although these Kings are cast as fierce rivals they are, as are many magickal icons, two side of the same coin, one cannot exist without the other. The symbolism of Holly is deeply rooted in the King's short annual life, he mates with the Goddess, dies in her arms and is reborn, or resurrected. His colours reflect Holly and its berries, green and red, as well as gold and black. This is quite reminiscent of Santa Claus! Next up will be Ivy.

Be Your Own Biggest Fan

How often do you congratulate yourself on a job well done?  When have you ever bought yourself a present because you've been really kind to yourself and helped get yourself out of a rut?

As Christmas is just around the corner (in most of your local shops since just after Halloween), why not consider all the great things you have done for yourself this year? Don't be hard on yourself there will be awesome moments where you have taken care of yourself.  Times where you have just taken a step away from a situation sat yourself down and relaxed, those are the moments when you have truly helped yourself from the heart and shown yourself the love you deserve.

Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You may look back and see that you haven't rewarded yourself for these moments so for Christmas give yourself the gift of gratitude and celebration for who you are and the joy you can bring into your life when you love yourself.  Gratitude is usually something we reserve for others and so neglect our own spirit, there is no reason not to be grateful for your positive actions or for simple things that you have found difficult in the past, such as getting up in the morning!

Make sure the present is something that resonates with your heart and will energise your soul so that you are able to love yourself even more than you already do.

What is Love? It is life and living

Below are the lyrics to Bette Midler's song the Rose.  They are inspiring and thought provoking.

Are there any areas in your life where you are hiding, afraid to live as your heart knows you can?

Some say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor, that leads your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower, and you, its the only seed

It's the heart afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to be
And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow
Lies a seed, that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose

Bette Midler/The Rose

What is stopping you from finding love?

"Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find
all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it." 
Helen Schucman

How often have you blamed outside influences for your failure at finding love?  Or have you blamed it on your outward appearance?

The place to look for the reason is within.  What patterns are there to your failures? What can you learn from them? How could you do things differently?

Remember, if you keep doing the same thing you will always get the same results. 

Love Altar

Do you pray at the altar of love? Do you really desire love itself or is there something else?

If you want more love in your life create a Love Altar or a Love Shrine, whatever sounds good to you.

First choose the place you want to set up your altar.  There are various ways to do this, Depending on your inclinations you can either:

1. Follow your intuition: Which room feels right for a Love Altar, where would you regularly practice your connection to love?  Is there a particular place in your house where you just fell loved and comfortable?
2. Use divination: There are many forms of divination you can use probably the best would be a pendulum or dowsing rod(s)
3. Utilise Feng Shui: The ancient art of balancing the energies of any given space to assuring the health and good fortune for people inhabiting it.

Once you have chosen a space for your Love Altar then it is beneficial to cleanse the area and create harmonious energies for the altar space.  To cleanse you can use Sage or Sagebrush Smudge (Artemisia).

Gather everything you need for your altar.

• A table or box to be the base (big enough to allow spell casting and to accommodate everything you want to have on it!)
• A cloth that is rich and may be white, pink or red or reflective of love in it's pattern
• Pairs are great if you want to become part of a couple (a pair of candles, a pair of plants, a picture of a couple that inspires you)
• Use incense such as rose, jasmine and vanilla
• Include a pair of similar plants to tend and grow as your love grows
• A blessed and charged Rose Quartz crystal
• A statue or representation of a love God/Goddess such as Venus or Cupid, choose wisely ;)

Place everything according to your preference, you can always change it later.

Create a ceremony to sanctify your altar, use incense and sound to do this and call upon your deity to bless the altar.

Ensure you repeat the ceremony once a month so that your Altar is regularly blessed.  And be sure to connect with love at your Love Altar daily, it's a great place to pray, meditate and cast love spells.

From Blossoms - Li-Young Lee

From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee 

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

A beautiful poem that records a journey of the discovery of love and the magic that builds and builds through the simple and sensual sharing of wonderful times and mutual passions.

If you want Love Spells to Work then Keep Taking Action

You've just cast your love spell, you have hopes and are quite excited that you might soon meet the love of your life or discover that someone you already know is the one.  What do you do next?

If you sit at home and wait you probably won't be meeting them very soon. Where can you go? What can you do?

First things, first.  Ensure that you are practicing meditation or visualisation, this will facilitate the continued connection with the source of the magick that you have used for your spell.  The reason for doing this is to provide that when the source gives you a nudge, such as an idea to go shopping or to go to a particular park, then you'll know to go there because it's the spell working.

Second things, second.  Actually go there! Make the effort to go out and then once you're there follow your intuition and do what you feel you are drawn to do.  If you're not sure just find a seat or a bench and sit for a while until you are drawn to go to the next place.  Or go to a place you find inspiring wherever you are and lose yourself in that place until you feel the urge to move on.

Third things, third. Smile and keep your head up.  This ensures that your energy is attractive and that should you happen across someone in a similar state you may well connect.  If you are feeling down then you may find that just going to somewhere you love will provide the boost you need to raise your energy level.

Fourth things, fourth. Interact with people, you'll know if you are connecting even if the conversation doesn't flow directly.  Having continued your connection with the source you will will intuitively know in your interactions whether you are connecting.  It may be love at first sight or it may take longer to build the connection.

Anyway, after you've cast your love spell, to help it work you need to take intuition based action and get out there and interact with others.  You might well be advised to do this with a best friend in tow or at least tell someone where you're off to if you are nervous of going out alone.