Category: Spirituality/Paganism & Magick

All of us have experienced the magick of nature. And most of us have come to understand that Ireland is a magickal place, indeed. In this article, Paraic Donoghue gives us a personal account of magickal Ireland.

In Connemara, on the west coast of Ireland, I was blessed to have witnessed a diverse tribe of people. Each magical moment served a purpose for me, while the serenity of the land was always present. The perception the ancestors acquired was "Draocht an Nadur" - Magic of nature.

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Conamara, Ireland. Photo by Calum Hutchinson

About a year ago, when we began selling polished and raw gemstones at our store, The Unicorn Shoppe, we created this handout to help customers know about the metaphysical and healing properties of the various stones we keep in stock. We're passing it on to you as a reference.

Amber: Metaphysical properties: Amber radiates a soothing, light energy that is both calming and energizing. It is used for the manifestation of desires and to increase intellectual abilities, clarity of thought, Amber cleanses the environment around it by drawing out negativity. If you wear or carry Amber, it will bring patience, protection, psychic shielding, romantic love, sensuality, purification, balance, healing and calmness It's sometimes used as a good luck charm for marriage. Healing properties: The same property that makes Amber useful for cleansing the environment makes Amber good for removing pain by drawing out negativity. Amber is also used for purifying the body, headaches, bone problems, heart problems, circulation, ears, hearing problems, endocrine system, fibromyalgia, intestinal/digestive disorders, kidney, bladder, lungs, and general healing purposes.

On the Winter Solstice, we began our Visualize Sustainable World Prosperity Now working. In this article, we include the text of our meditation, for those of you who might wish to support our work.

At 6:30 on the morning of December 21st, a few brave souls from The Unicorn Shoppe in Winston-Salem, North Carolina got together to bring in the Winter Solstice and to Visualize Sustainable World Prosperity Now. At a meeting a week earlier, it had been decided that this group visualization would work best as a guided meditation, to make sure that we were all on the same wavelength, and I was given the task of leading the meditation.

Last night's celestial event, the "water" triangle formed by the Moon, Jupiter and Venus, bode's well for the "Visualize Sustainable World Prosperity Now" meditation being planned by our site.

Last night Isis, Nepthys and Ra appeared in the early evening sky and, for an hour or so, formed a perfect downward pointing triangle. I'm seeing this as an auspicious omen for the Visualize Sustainable World Prosperity Now meditation that we're planning for the Solstice. I'm also seeing this as a sign that humankind might be receiving some divine help as we try to turn the world economy around to avoid the specter of increasing global hunger or worse.

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Last nights celestial event as seen over the eastern United States.

We ask you to join us this Solstice as we work some magick to help bring this economic mess to an end. If you do decide to join-in, you must begin your prep work now.

The time is now. One way or another, the world as we know it is about to come to an end. We can either elevate ourselves to a new level, to live in harmony with the earth and with compassion for our fellow human beings, or we can slide deeply into a morass which will eventually lead to our extinction. In other words, it's time for us magickal folks to get off of our duffs and go out to help change the world. The great work lies before us.

All three of the gemstones representing December are rich shades of blue, ranging from ancient to very recently discovered.

With Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's Eve and other winter holidays getting so much attention, those with birthdays in December can understandably feel a little overlooked. If you know a birthday person who is feeling just a bit blue for this reason, there's no better guaranteed pick-me-up than a piece of jewelry featuring one of the three December birthstones - blue topaz, tanzanite or turquoise - all in deep, soothing shades of blue says online jewelry retailer Diviene.com.

An Iron Age chiseled stone slab found in Turkey indicates that ancients in that area believed in the separation of body and soul.

Archaeologists in southeastern Turkey have discovered an Iron Age chiseled stone slab that provides the first written evidence in the region that people believed the soul was separate from the body.

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A stone slab found in Turkey by a University of Chicago expedition reveals the first evidence for a belief in the region for the soul existing outside the body. People believed the soul lived in the stone.

November is National American Indian Heritage Month and author Laura Ramirez reminds everyone it's the perfect time to reflect upon the values that native people have contributed to mainstream society.

November is National American Indian Heritage Month and it's the perfect time to reflect upon the values that native people have contributed to mainstream society. Since these values are central to sound leadership, it makes sense to consider them as voters determine who will be the next president. Although these values are deeply rooted in native culture, it may be surprising to learn that they are the foundation for many of the mainstream beliefs held today.

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Laura Ramirez

Most of us know that nature provides us with plants to heal our bodies. What many of us may not know, she provides us with plants that can heal our souls as well. Nature, you see, is nothing if not holistic.

Since the beginning of human experience, plants have played a role in the evolution of our species, not only in the provision of food and medicine but in our deepest spiritual experiences and the development of consciousness. According to the shamans of the Amazon – one of Earth’s last (mostly) unspoiled areas and a bastion for deep and intimate plant knowledge – it was the plants themselves who taught us how to heal and know our souls.

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Ayahuasca being prepared in the Napo region of Ecuador.

In 2006, Peruvian shaman and visionary artist Pablo Amaringo wrote the foreword to Ross Heaven's book, "Plant Spirit Shamanism". After a lifetime spent working with plants and with plant spirit shamanism, what do plants mean to Pablo? This article is from the foreword.

The great visionary artist, Pablo Amaringo, was born in 1943 in Puerto Libertad, in the Peruvian Amazon. He was 10 years old when he first took ayahuasca - a visionary brew used in shamanism - to help him overcome a severe heart disease. The magical cure of this ailment via the plants themselves led Pablo toward the life of a shaman, which he pursued successfully for many years, healing himself and others from the age of ten.