Thursday's Toolbox-Aconitum

A Baneful Ally

I have tried blogs before, but always kind of failed at it because I never had a clear direction I wanted to go. Being a font of information is no use when your brain runs like a Mobius strip.  Also doing everything at once can make yours truly overwhelmed and burned out.

Anyway, enough of my follies let me introduce a plant in my witchy toolbox, Aconitum.

Aconitum is a genus of over 250 plants native to the Northern Hemisphere. These plants prefer cold/cool wet climate which make them a particular bitch to grow where I live (thank you hot, dry, summers of the Southern USA).

Two particular plants in the genus have charming names that most people will immediately recognize wolfsbane (Aconitum vulparia) and monkshood (Aconitum napellus).

Monkshood is the one used mostly for Medieval flying ointments as wolfsbane is actually much more of a skin irritant than its sister plant.

Aconitum is associated with Saturn, a ponderous and dark associate of the Underworld and illness and destruction. A smart magician or witch knows how to take these associations and use them to both help, harm, and heal in their own life.

Wolfsbane

Sacred to Hekate, the flowers can be left as offerings to her at an appropriate crossroads along with garlic.  She created the plants from the saliva of Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld.

Working with the spirit of this plant can help one make Underworld journeys and connections with past Ancestors. Attempting to grow the plants is a great way to get to know the plant, its quirks and personality. But as I mentioned before, it is a real princess so do not be too disappointed if the seeds fail to germinate.

Aconitum is a highly poisonous plant. I caution working with it without doing research into how to handle the plant.  I believe it goes without saying, but Do Not Ingest at all.  It takes very small doses to kill an adult. If you decide that you want to grow one, wear gloves when handling it as the toxins are transmitted through the skin. 

Addendum 8-5-2014

It was brought to my attention that wolfsbane is a subspecies of A. Lycoctonum. Therefore the full scientific name is Aconitum lycoctonum vulparia; at least this seems to be the case for the yellow colored ones.

Tarot Tuesday:: The Empress

All Sides of the Empress

I will not lie to you; this article is perhaps the hardest one for me to write.  The research into it, the meditation, even reading the books that come with the decks was very tedious and slippery.

I have a confession. Of all the cards in a tarot deck the card I least identify with, the one that always gives me trouble is the Empress. I find it nearly impossible to scratch beneath her smile and find the beating heart of the card.

Wizard's Tarot: Healing Herbs all around

Something pinged for me Monday morning though when I was doing my own divination. I had the three Empress cards spread before me and pulled my own card for the day. 8 of Wands from the Thoth deck. Swiftness of thought and communication. I guess I do have what I need.

In every deck I have owned or seen, the Empress is always pregnant and usually seen in some kind of pastoral scene or surrounded by plants.  The obvious connection is life, nature, and motherhood.

The motherhood connection, there is the rub. We have, as a whole, a skewed view of the Mother. We have pulled Her teeth and Her fangs and made Her kind of weak and something to be relegated to one role only.

Scratch the surface of that gentle smile, the gentle flowers and pastures, and find the beating fiery heart of all Nature in its glory. Living, vital, joyous, dangerous, mesmerizing, and scary Nature that can heal or kill you probably using the same instrument.

The beautiful scenes of forests and plants and wide open fields the Empress is sometimes surrounded with did not happen easily or quickly. One need only look at the fossil record and computer renderings of what ancient Earth looked like to know that Nature is not always gentle or forgiving.  Volcanoes, earthquakes, wild weather and oceans, venomous animals and poisonous plants show the darker side of the Mother in Her glorious wrath.

The Mother is more than just giving birth.  It is fierce protector and also the end that we all great.  Life and Death.  Remember the Spartan mothers that told their sons, “With it or on it,”.  It is the cauldron of the Mother that the souls return to on death and leave at birth; only to return once again at death.  Ceridwen is a Mother figure, and yet She ate Gwion, later to give birth to him as Taliesin. Just because it has the face of the Mother does not mean it is always looking to coddle you. Sometimes for us to truly grow we need a harsh lesson in life to forge a stronger spirit.

Steampunk Tarot: Fires of passion and creation

The Empress is also associated with creativity and art. It can feel for an artist as if each piece, each stanza, is a child. It takes shape inside of the artist and sometimes the process of getting the project out is a lesson in pain and heartache till it is just perfect.  Creation can be a messy process that makes us look inside our core and painfully dredge up the emotion and imagination needed to get it done.

When you see the Empress you see a woman in her prime.  All the sensual power that is Female and the power of Venus, the planet this card is associated with.  She is soft curves and obviously has the attention of her suitor for the swell of her belly speaks of his ardor. She knows who she is and she has grasped her full potential and taken it.

Take some time to study this card and really see the imagery on it. What does it say to you? Does it spark something inside, a touch of the creative soul begging to be free? What is your relationship with Your mother like?

Personal Gnosis

As I mentioned earlier I have a hard time working with the concept of Mother. It does not come easily and the face of my Goddess I see more often is the one of battle and sorcery. I am comfortable with these, but She called me to task for it. Even if I will never be a mother there is still a vital lesson to be learned. I took it to work for a month trying to connect with that aspect of Her.

I had one vision in the month that I worked and it was one that made me re-evaluate the Mother.

Queen of the Heavens

I had and still do, slip into the pitfall most of us have of ignoring the power that is inherent in the Mother. I generally saw it as weak and with no power beyond birth. But, the power of birth is very strong, I mean brand new life generated inside of something else!

The vision She showed me was a verdant valley with a small hill overlooking it. On the hill was a woman who was very pregnant. Below her, a battle raged and was tearing up the ground and growth. It was death and chaos. Yet as the soldiers fell their bodies dissolved into the ground while the souls rose and spiraled into a double helix and entered the woman’s womb. When the dust settled from battle the valley was green and fertile from the bodies and blood entombed in the soil.

It was a powerful reminder of the cycles of life and death and struggle.  When we gaze out and see these soul lifting landscapes we tend to forget the struggle that went into creating these places. It took millions of years to form and countless lives were swallowed up to create space for new lives.  

Before you leave...

This blog is a recent addition to what I have been doing. Monday through Friday I have a daily tarot pull over on Facebook and Twitter and finally also on Instagram as tenkoag.  Feel free to browse and connect with the Insight's on social media.

Card One-Wizard's Tarot by Corrine Kenner

Card Two-Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore

Card Three- Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley

Mansion Mania:: Dark Moon in Algebh

I am a firm believer that you do not always have to have the right day or hour or Moon phase to work a spell. This probably comes from years of working in folk magic. Yet, I will not deny that sometimes if you have time to plan out what you want, find just the right candle, herbs and stones, and work with the right planet and Moon phase you can get a great deal of extra OOMPH out of your spell.

For awhile on the Facebook page I was talking about the Lunar Mansion and work within them for the full and dark Moon phases and kind of let that fall out of favor.  There is so much information that can go along with Lunar Mansion working that the time for researching it unfortunately was cutting into research time for other subjects.

I kind of miss doing it though, so I am going to give you this Lunar Mansion information for the Dark Moon tomorrow.  I will endeavor to get these out about every other week to correspond with the full and dark Moon.

Jumping right in, tomorrow at 5:49 p.m CST the Moon enters its dark phase.  It will be in 3 degrees in Leo which puts it in the Mansion of Algebh.  Traditionally this Mansion is associated with ease of childbirth, banishing illness and enemies.  If you know someone who is about to have a baby you can use this time to

help make it quick, painless, and safe for mother and child.  If you feel that there is something or someone blocking your way you can find out who/what it is and remove that obstacle.

What else could you do?

There are many different combinations occurring at this time to give a push to whatever spell work you have planned or are going to plan.

Saturday is ruled by Saturn, the Sun is currently in Leo, and the time of this Moon phase is Mars about to move into the hour of the Sun. Do not forget the Moon will also be in Leo.

That is a lot to throw at someone, so I’ll break things down to help give you some ideas of what you are dealing with and what you can do with it.

The current sign of the Sun is Leo, the Lion, king of the all He surveys.  This can be a fantastic time to build your confidence, do workings to make you more eloquent of speech and take charge of your life if it has crumbled around your ears. Leo is fiery (no really the sign is associated with Fire and is a Fixed sign) and all that passion can be thrown behind a project to make it shine.  Leo is about creativity and the drive to create. 

Combine the creativity Leo in its home sign and add that the Moon is in Leo and you have a potent combination to nurture your projects to success.  The Moon is all about nurture and awareness. You can use it to compliment the drive for success found using the Sun to really get the ball rolling. Your spell work here can be to help awaken your Muse to write a book, a song, a poem; use it to make candles, soap or learn to embroider.

Saturn is a fairly dour planet, very chthonic and heavy. With the Moon entering its Dark phase you might take time to reflect and take stock of yourself.  Create a spell and ritual that gets the ball rolling on banishing the things that are holding you back in life. Most of the time, during quiet contemplation and an honest look at ourselves; we find out that we are our own worst enemy.  We create what we speak but also what we think. If you happen to be holding yourself back, make a conscious effort to change the way you look at a situation. Strive to be more positive, to have a more uplifted view of things.

So, let us say you are your own worst enemy.  This Mansion is for banishing that.  Pull up your Shadow self; make a conscious effort to start healing it.  With the war-like aggression of Mars and the success driven Sun you can do anything you desire about those road blocks.

Before we leave here, I would like to remind everyone that there is a daily Tarot card on the Facebook page and you can now follow the Insight on Twitter (@TenkosInsights) and on Instagram (tenkoag).  Have a wonderful weekend everyone and I will see you again Tuesday when we talk about the Empress.

Lunar mansion information found at::

Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Agrippa

Mansion of the Moon for the Green Witch by Ann Moura

**Minor edit, I had the time for the dark moon off by several hours.  It is really 5:48 pm CST.  The hours of Mars and the Sun are correct.

Tarot Tuesday: Strength

The Strength Inside

The tarot has been around for awhile in some form or fashion.  The modern version that we think of has been around for around 100 years.  There are as many decks as you can imagine, some traditional like the Rider-Waite and some a bit off the wall like vampire or cat themed. 

Most people associate tarot with divination and a few others will use them for meditation aides and spell

work.  The tarot has many uses and one of my favorite is using it as a teaching tool about myself.  It can be thought of as a psychological journey through your consciousness.

I could start this series with The Fool, and that would be very traditional, but instead I want to start with Strength/Lust.

Visually this card follows a theme across many decks.  In the three that I work with it features a woman with a dangerous creature (lion-Book of Thoth and Steampunk Tarot and a wyvern-Wizard's tarot).

What does Strength mean? Is a physical strength only?

That can play a role, and in some way it does with this card.  The woman is dealing with a fierce creature, so she would need to be strong to hold its leash.

But on a more esoteric level it represents a mental and emotional strength.  In many ways the beast featured represents our Shadow self.  This is the side of us that we desire to repress, our anger, fear, hatred, and a plethora of other negative emotions.  This is all of the hurt we experience while growing up and carry with us as baggage into our adult life.  If you show a moment of weakness the Shadow rears its head and can sink us down into a bog of emotional turmoil that is very difficult to break out of.

So repression, right, that is the key.

No.  For my journey through the tarot, I found repression of my Shadow self to be most detrimental.  It is better, from my point of view as a magician, to embrace that Shadow and understand it rather than keep it chained and locked away.  My Strength comes from taming with kindness so to speak and incorporating it into myself.  By doing so I have a very deep font of power to call upon when I am working magic and a much deeper understanding of some of my emotional hang ups and bad habits.

It takes a great deal of strength to look into the darkest recess of our mind and soul and embrace that which we do not value, what we seek to hide from.  Little do we realize that its these very actions that explain why we have trouble when it comes to personal relationships, work relations, and trouble with ourselves.

Another use of Strength comes from the Book of Thoth.  Crowley changed this card to Lust and moved it up a few places from its corresponding card in the Rider-Waite system of tarot to the 11^th position.  It still retains its connection to Leo and Theth (serpent).

Here we have an element stronger than just Strength but a visceral pull to possess. This card is more of turning morals on their head.  I like to use this card in meditation when I am looking to revitalize my practice.  It helps me reconnect with my more primal self, to find my passion for the Art and a zest for life.  This card has a way of making your turn you set ideas on their head and question everything that you have been taught from a young age.  What is sin?  What is wrong? What is immoral? What is it that I desire?  This card

reminds me that sometimes I need to let my hair down and dance to a song that only I can hear.

Pathworking Exercise

If you have a tarot deck pull out the Strength card.  Get into a comfortable place that you can meditate on the card.  I like to burn a yellow candle to correspond with Leo.  Do what relaxation that you normally do, I personally like to follow the first meditation out Penczak's ITOW.  This helps me get into a light meditative state.  Focus on the card, take in all of the imagery.  See the card become larger and a doorway for you to step through.

You may meet the figures of the card.  Listen to the message that they have for you about Strength.  Are you holding back? What are you running away from? Take note of who or what comes to you in this meditation and write it down.

When you are ready to come back step out of the card and do your return exercise.

Card One-Wizards Tarot by Corrine Kenner and John J. Blumen

Card Two-Thoth Tarot by Aleistar Crowley and Lady Harris

Card Three- Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell