KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

September 4 through September 10, 2023

Jupiter will turn retrograde on Monday, where it will travel backward through Taurus through the rest of the year. Jupiter speaks to healing, expansion, and gifts while Taurus deals with the physical and financial aspects of our lives, so we'll be asked to go back and make improvements in these areas over the next few months. A Taurus Moon hangs overhead Monday and Tuesday, making these two days the most productive of the week. Once the Moon saunters into Gemini on Wednesday, our focus will turn to more social interactions, communication, research, and surfing the information highway. Great ideas and new insights appear at every turn so have your notebook or smart phone ready to jot them down for future reference. Things ease up on Friday and Saturday under a flowing Cancer Moon, urging us to turn our attention to home and family. If you are wondering if there's any "me" time available this week, that will happen on Sunday as the Moon dances into Leo and provides a time of self-nurturing and the chance to indulge in your favorite activities!

by Awyn Dawn

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

In America and other parts of the world, mental health is too often thought of as a side note or a punchline. Sometimes it is not thought of at all, ignored in an effort to will away any topic deemed too uncomfortable to discuss. One of the duties you have, as a human being, is to keep your mind healthy. It does not mean that you must put on a strong front all the time, nor does it mean you have to hide your feelings (that is the opposite, in fact). Sometimes taking care of your mind will mean being on doctor-prescribed medication, going to therapy, integrating daily meditation, doing shadow work, letting go of grudges, and more. It will not always be easy or comfortable.

In my book, Paganism on Parole: Connecting to the Magic All Around, I devote a whole chapter to mental health because it is so important, not just for the magical communities, but for human beings as a whole. In this article, you will be given some starting points regarding mental maintenance and how they pertain to magic. As always, though, you are encouraged to use what applies and leave the rest. Just remember that if what you are trying (or not) isn't working, maybe it is time to try something else.

Have an Open Mind
The first topic I wish to discuss is having an open mind when it comes to mental health treatment. Going to therapy does not mean that something is "wrong" with a person. Everyone should go to therapy, even temporarily. A counselor's or therapist's office is a space where someone impartial listens to you talk about yourself for an hour. They then help guide you to a solution you already knew on an intuitive level but were unable to see. Sometimes it takes one session. Sometimes many. But the value of having someone around to give you honest feedback is beyond measure.

If you don't go to therapy, there are still many other ways to address mental wellness. Some will require you to get out of your comfort zone. It is okay to be uncomfortable, especially if the outcome is a stronger mind. A stronger mind makes for more powerful and accessible magic.

Study, Learn, and Seek Information
Anyone can put on a video. That's the easy part. The harder part is deciding what you are going to feed your mind. By instinct, many of us will go to a site that offers hours of "entertainment" with no benefit to the body, mind, or spirit. Instead of watching the newest TikTok or getting sucked into hours of animals-wearing-clothes videos (yes, they're cute), try watching videos that have been made by NASA, museums, and scientific or historical societies. Maybe I'm partial because I love historical and science documentaries, but when I read books, watch videos, and feed my mind, I feel satiated. The same feeling that people will gorge themselves with food to get comes through feeding the mind. And, depending on what you watch, feeding your spirit, too.

Now I'm not implying that everything you watch has to be a two-hour special on the Battle of Hastings, but if your entertainment diet is full of mass-made "garbage" TV and videos, then how are you caring for your mind? There are many amazing magical courses available on author websites, some free others for a fee. There are educational classes on sites like LinkedIn learning, and in-person workshops through libraries and rec centers. And, if you are feeling really adventurous, you could help rekindle a dying art (hello wool spinning). The possibilities are endless.

Let Your Mind Rest
Wait! In the last paragraph I was urging you to engage your mind, now I want you to let it rest? Yes, that is correct. Just as your stomach can be too full, so, too, can your brain be overloaded. You can recognize when this happens by some of the symptoms: headaches, increased periods of forgetfulness, mental fog, crankiness with new ideas, or when you can't retain new information the way you normally do. When these happen acutely, it means that a time for rest is in order.

You should not attempt magic when your brain needs a shutdown time. No, you will not accidentally unleash some dark ethereal being. But magic takes focus and energy. And if you are not focused and are low on energy, then you will be putting undo stress on yourself, and your spell will be ineffective. You can let your mind rest through meditation. This is one of the most effective ways. And because dozens of types of meditation exist, see Paganism for Prisoners: Connecting to the Magic Within; there are lots of ways you can integrate it and let your mind recharge.

Spend Time Outside
Nature is sacred. Spending time in the sun and fresh air is so important to mental and spiritual health. And it is a great place to commune with gods, goddesses, and land spirits. Now, you might be saying, "I go outside all the time." But how much of that time are you present in the moment? When I say spend time outside, I mean without taking 4,000 pictures for your socials, without walking mindlessly, without just being in a hurry to "get it done." Next time you go to a sacred place, allow yourself to be there in that place for no other purpose than to be there.

If you find a particular serene or interesting area, you can sit and speak to Gaia, in whatever form she takes for you. You can hold her nourishing dirt in your hands. You can breathe in the scents of her flowers. You can be cognizant of the wind teasing your skin. And when you do so, you will find yourself grounded and connected in a way that isn't experienced through any other means. You are the earth, and she is you.

Practice Each of Your Clair Senses Regularly
So far, we have been talking about the physical health of your brain. The brain is complex and multi-layered. It can do math, help compose symphonies, and tie our shoelaces, but it can also help us tie into the unseen dimensions of our world through our "Clair senses." That is clairaudience, clairvoyance, clairsentience, etc…

From a magical perspective, we can use these same senses to help manifest a spell's intention. In my first book (Paganism for Prisoners) I talk more in-depth about the Clair senses and provide individual exercises to connect with them. When you engage your Clair senses regularly, you are allowing a part of your mind to work that doesn't always get exercise. One of my favorite ways to exercise clairaudience is to focus on different channels of sound and single one out, then single out another. Each time you do exercises like these, you are inviting the extrasensory part of your brain to activate and strengthen your mental fortitude.

Emotional Release
Your emotions and your mental state are inextricably linked to one another. The emotional seat of the brain is the amygdala. This small piece of brain tissue has a big job. Along with regulating emotions, it also gives emotional context to our memories and aids decision-making. In a nutshell, this means our emotions are going to directly impact the decisions we make. This shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. I mean, who hasn't made a bad decision when they were emotionally overheated?

Emotions are normal, and allowing ourselves to experience them keeps us mentally healthy. Unfortunately, the world we live in feeds us stress-filled schedules and our emotions tend to get stuffed away. When you apply emotions to magic, the same capacity to make irresponsible decisions comes into play. Before you cast, incant, chant, or otherwise pursue a magical avenue, make sure you are in a state where you are not emotionally invested in the outcome. The easiest ways to achieve this are to meditate beforehand and maintain generally good mental health. So, when you need to cry, let yourself. When you need to release anger, hit the gym or go for a walk. And when you experience joy, let yourself sit in the moment.

Community
There have been a lot of studies done on the effects of community and engagement among human beings. The results tend to show the same thing: human beings need other human beings to help our mental state stay fit. This doesn't mean that you must be a social butterfly, but regular human interaction with a few close friends improves cognitive and memory skills and can increase the longevity of the body and mind.

The pagan community as a whole is growing. Depending on your area, you may see many groups and gatherings or only a few. The good news is that humans are complex, so you can find community in places you might not expect by exploring hobbies and interests both in and out of a pagan context. Though live interaction tends to be preferred to receive the full brain benefits, virtual meetings can also fill a need for community. During lockdown, many groups went virtual, and many chose to stay that way allowing for increased accessibility. So fret not, small towners, there are ways to build your relationships: start with Meetup, Facebook Groups, and similar venues and go from there.

Stones
Stones are ageless. Made from a swirling dance of chemicals over the course of thousands to millions of years, they carry vibrational properties that achieve many purposes. When you shop for stones, instead of looking up long lists of magical properties, go and look at a stone. Pick it up and hold it in your hand. Do you feel lighter? Happier? More emotionally grounded? More balanced? Focused? Inspired? Then THAT is the property of the stone. But, if you'd like a guideline or a starting point, then here are some good ones to start with. First, Selenite. Selenite absorbs any energy that is thrown at it, but it doesn't keep it. Energetically, selenite is neutral. Keeping a piece under your bed can help wipe the emotional stressors from you while you sleep and leave you feeling refreshed.

Moonstone makes its way onto the list because of its links to the moon and water. If you carry a piece, it can help you feel your emotions as they are, without the addition of fear and negative self-talk. If you ever find yourself asking, "Should I be this _____ over a situation," moonstone can help you sort that out.

Amethyst is a favorite stone for so many people. Its purple color is calming and healing. If you hold a piece on the right day with the right song playing in the background, you will likely find tears begging for release. It is protective in that it creates a safe space and healing in that it allows emotions to flow freely.

Also known as the "Happy Stone," Citrine is known for its ability to uplift the spirit. Natural citrine is very light in color, bright, inspiring, and resonating with the solar plexus. It is hard to hold this stone and not feel immediately more cheerful and optimistic.

The last one I want to talk about here is Hematite. Truly a magnetic stone, it is a good idea to carry two. This will keep blood flowing but will also keep you grounded in reality. There are times when our emotions like to carry us away. Hematite keeps that from happening. It allows the carrier to keep a level head even in heated situations. More information on stones and health can be found in my book Paganism on Parole: Connecting to the Magic All Around.

As you become more adept as a pagan and/or magical practitioner, you will find ways to work spiritually that go deeper than anything you ever could have imagined. True power lies not in the mastery of the external but in the mastery of one's own thoughts. Remember this as you go forward in all of your endeavors.

Awyn

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2022. All rights reserved.

My family spends every Christmas at my parents' house, which is over 100 years old and has been in my family for at least three generations. My parents claim some odd things happened when they first moved in, such as furniture and objects being moved about. They say that these occurrences stopped when my older brother was born, but I have felt entities in the house throughout my life. Last Christmas my very verbal 14-month-old nephew was taking a nap in my parents' bedroom. When he woke up from his nap, he babbled and talked to himself quite animatedly for an hour. When I finally went up to get him, I asked him who he was talking to and he pointed at the wall and closet. I felt something else was in the room with us. How can I tell if my nephew is demonstrating normal toddler behavior or if he is really interacting with spirits? Would it be best to just see what happens as he grows? Thanks for your insights.

- L.

Astrea:

A hundred years! That's how old my house is too. Many people have passed through our houses, and a bit of energy from each one is bound to be trapped in them. The people who live there now will contribute to its future energy just as the people who lived there before your family moved in left a little something behind.

Your nephew is picking up on the same things most children his age know, the most important being that there isn't really much difference between people who are living in this dimension and those who have moved on to other worlds. We're all the same to him right now. He's not afraid, and unless someone teaches him to be afraid, he'll always be open to good energies.

You say your parents had some strange experiences in that house before your brother was born. Perhaps he was too sensitive to handle that energy, so his Guides and Guardians protected him from it by shutting down communication with the Spirit World until he grew up.

Your nephew is different. He draws that energy to him, and he enjoys the time he spends with it. It sounds like he's making friends with Angels and Spirits who are able to communicate with him. It's so great when there is a child in the family who can do that, especially if the grown-ups keep encouraging him to accept and expand his abilities.

I'm sure he's communicating with the people and animals that have gone before you in that house. There may even be some spirits lingering who have yet to go into the light. Talk to him about this even if he can't fully respond yet, for with the right encouragement, he can grow into someone who can help spirits cross over.

I don't think it's ever too early to mentor kids' psychic gifts, but there have to be limits and cautions, of course. At this age, he will naturally discern the basic goodness of the energies he encounters. There don't seem to be any negative forces at work around him, but watch out for that, just in case. Teach him to be careful, and if someone or something feels wrong to him, tell him not to play with that.

I hope you have his parents' cooperation to keep this going so that it remains a natural part of his life. Of course, this is One of the Things We Don't Discuss at School, but that can be explained to him when he's older. I had a long list of those things growing up, both for my own protection and my family's peace of mind.

While you could wait to see how things develop with him, if he's not encouraged now, his natural ability may dry up before he has a chance to really explore his power. Little kids are open to this kind of thing, so if you encourage him now, he'll be psychically blessed throughout his life.

*****

Susyn:

You've just witnessed a well-known psychic phenomenon: small children can see, sense and communicate with spirits much more readily than adults can. In fact, many children under the age of five can also describe memories from when they were being carried in the womb, and some can even go into great detail about their memories of being in heaven as well as some of their recent past life experiences.

Because they haven't been cautioned, ignored or scolded for expressing their thoughts and beliefs yet, little kids are more than happy to share their amazing experiences.

I'm reminded of when my nephew was three years old and his favorite pet fish died. My brother and nephew had a little ceremony to bury the fish via the toilet, and afterward, my nephew turned to my brother and said, Now he is with my little sister in heaven.

Since my nephew was an only child, this struck my brother as extremely odd. He questioned my nephew further, and the toddler was adamant that he did indeed have a little sister and that she was in heaven. They never did figure out what that was all about, but it was remarkable to realize that the little guy seemed to have some strong beliefs about the spirit world.

It's hard to imagine an old home that doesn't house a few friendly ghosts. Further, it's much easier for them to communicate with toddlers than to get adults' attention. When they get frustrated (as you mention happened with your parents) that's when they are likely to move furniture and such just to make their presence known.

According to your question, your parents say the paranormal events stopped when your older brother was born. However, I'd be curious to know if he had one or more invisible friends who kept him company in his early years. He may not recall this now, but I wouldn't be surprised if the same spirits who were talking to your nephew that day paid your brother a few visits as well.

I don't feel you need to worry about your nephew's safety here. I'm certain that if this had been a negative or malevolent entity, your nephew would have started crying instead of entertaining himself for an hour with his new invisible buddy.

If he is encouraged, then as he grows older he should continue to develop his natural psychic talents. However, if you treat this or other incidents with disbelief or alarm, he could do what many of us did when we had these experiences, which is to hide or deny them.

I encourage you to foster his gifts and invite him to share with you all that he sees and hears. Make it a fun game instead of something to be wary of. If you're lucky, he may even introduce you to some of his spirit friends!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.