KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

March 22 through March 28, 2021

We'll be under the spell of a waxing Libra full Moon this week, which will reach its peak on Sunday. Also known as the Crow Moon, this lunation is often filled with magic and wonder, as it can bring connections from the past back into our worlds as well as opening new doors to progress. Don't expect to get much done on Monday or Tuesday, as the Cancer Moon will have us spending more time daydreaming than working! Luckily, Wednesday and Thursday's Leo Moon will bring our energy back up to par, making it easy to tackle anything that fell on the back burner at the start of the week. Save detailed work and proposals for Friday and Saturday when the Moon makes its monthly cycle through Virgo, the sign of organization, and clarity. Sunday's full Moon will give us a chance to catch our breath and enjoy the day, and with the new season now unfolding, this would be an ideal time to get out in nature for a stroll or take stock of your garden/yard to see what needs tending.

How to Work with the Magical Element of Air, by Astrea Taylor

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

The element of air is all around us, but many people don't feel connected with it (as compared to the other elements). I believe this is because air is invisible, unlike earth, fire, and water. We simply can't see it most of the time. On top of that, many people only think about the physical and personal aspects of the element of air, such as the winds that blow and the breaths we take.

There's a whole other world hidden in the air around us, which is known as the magical element of air. You could think of it as its own energetic realm, with spirits, energies, psychic messages, and connections to everything else in the world. It has the same corresponding traits as the physical and personal aspects of air, such as communication, change, beginnings, spirit, travel, expansion, and so on, but it's one step beyond. It exists solely in the energetic realms, which are far more nebulous.

We live in the magical realm of air everyday, breathing it in and passing through it. It saturates our mindsets and spirits, but like fish in water, we aren't conscious of it. Without training, it's easy to ignore the subtle energies that tell us that it's there, that it's powerful, and that it wants to interact with us.

I've developed a few ways to work with the magical element of air to help other people get in touch with it. These techniques involve envisioning or imagining you can see it, but don't be fooled into thinking that envisioning is mere fantasy. It's a useful tool that helps us strengthen our minds and our magical work, especially when first dealing with things that are invisible to us. With time and practice envisioning the magical element of air, you may begin to see it for yourself.

Envisioning the Magical Element of Air
The simplest way to envision the magical element of air is as an energetic field. You could imagine that it's thicker than normal air, or you could pretend it's a vast ocean of air all around you. In your mind's eye, see this energetic field stretching up into the sky and outward, to all of the horizons. See it saturating the world around you as far as you can see. Now, envision the mass of air flowing over the earth, always moving, with little ripples here and there.

The magical realm of air interacts with you and everything else on earth and in the heavens. Everything is connected via thought and energy. You have several nodes that link you to the people with whom you're closest, your altars, your home, your pets, your neighborhood, your co-workers, and beyond. Many people perceive these connections as white or silver strands. Imagine you can see connections coming off you and traveling outward in a radial flow. The strongest connections may look thicker than the other threads.

Next, think of someone you're close to, but with whom you don't live. There's a thread linking the two of you, and there are threads that link you and this person to other people, things, and places. This person also has strands that connect with other people with whom you're not connected. Now, add a couple more people to the vision. See your connections with them and all the threads they have. If you keep doing this, you can start to see a picture of a web, in which we are all connected.

The magical realm of air is an active place. Messages and information are constantly being sent and received at lightning-fast speeds all across the world. In a way, it's like wifi. Every time a thought enters our minds, we have the potential to emit a message along this network, and people who are sensitive to the magical element of air may receive our signals. However, it's important to note that we do have some control over what's sent and what's received. Protective measures can be implemented to not broadcast your thoughts to everyone and to not receive thoughts from others.

Envisioning the Magical Element of Air in Witchcraft
The athame is a powerful tool that can cut through the air. If you cast a circle with one, envision your athame cutting through the fabric of the air to create a place between the worlds, perhaps in the magical realm of air. If you use an athame to draw pentacles in the air, as you do so, envision the athame cutting the air and leaving the marks there until you take them down. If possible, sustain the imagery of the athame cuts in your mind's eye for the duration of the working.

Athames can also be used to sever the threads that connect us with others. Although the strands may reform, they will not be as thick as they originally were.

Athames that are made of steel or another iron-rich metal also have the power to cut spirits, which is why they're used to banish them. If you use an athame to banish spirits, imagine your blade as a threatening weapon and in your mind's eye, see the offending spirit flee.

When you're raising energy for ritual or a spell, the air around you can often change. This is especially true if you're in a circle. The air can become thick, hot, dense, and even electric with magic. Try to see this change in the air—you may see wavy lines of heat or blurred, congealed shapes. You may even see a cone of power. If you use a wand to pick up the energy, envision the wand actually grasping onto the air for a moment before flicking it off at a higher energetic state. You may even be able to see the energy in the air around you as it rises higher and higher.

Wands also come in handy when you're releasing your magic into the world, as they can easily connect with the magical realm of air. When you're ready to project your magic outward, raise your wand. Allow your powerful will to shoot your intentions into the wand. In your mind's eye, see your wand either touch or zap one of the threads of the web of connections. See your intentions transfer to the air, travel along multiple strands at a lightning speed, and transmit your desires far and wide.

Envisioning Spirits
All kinds of spirits fly through the magical realm of air with ease—several ancient Pagan cultures believed that the air was full of spirits all the time. This mindset likely continued for several millennia before it was stamped out by the church and reductionist philosophies.

Try to envision the spirits in the air around you. Start by imagining your ancestors and beloved dead gazing lovingly at you. They may appear as congealed forms of air in human shapes. Next, imagine your guardian spirit as a peaceful, slightly larger entity nearby. After you've pictured that, look at the sky and try to see the spirits flying high in the air above you, perhaps on a mission somewhere.

The spirits in the magical realm of air have all kinds of forms, colors, shapes, and sizes. Some look almost human-like, and others look more like animals or a combination. Other spirits are nothing more than a shadow or a tiny point of light. When we astral project into the magical realm of air, we can see them and interact with them.

Spirits and thoughts can travel easily in the magical realm of air, and spirits are very sensitive to thoughts. They can hear the thoughts you transmit, and if their energy is similar, they may be attracted to you. Unless you have protective measures in place to keep away unwanted spirits, they can come to you as if called and mirror your energy back to you, sort of like an invisible correspondence or support system. You receive constant affirmation of whatever energy you project. This is one reason why it's important to keep your thoughts positive and supportive. It's also why it can be hard to break out of a rut or get into higher energetic modes.

If you haven't yet done so, learn how to protect yourself from spirits who may be malevolent or trickers. Learn how to banish spirits who aren't in your inner circle of ancestors, beloved dead, guardians, helpful spirits, and familiars. If you wish, you can also learn how to listen to those spirits and evaluate whether they're helpful or not before banishing them or allowing them to stay.

Negative spirits sometimes appear as shadowy figures that often prefer the corners of a room. These spirits should not be envisioned, as doing so can attract them. However, when negative thoughts and spirits arise, it's important to be conscious of them and face them, not ignore them. Often, these spirits act as sympathetic company to your shadow self, which ultimately wants you to face your issues and heal. The spirits that are attracted to negative thoughts can, in some ways, help you see the state you're in because they enhance that state. Negative thoughts happen to everyone from time to time, and they often contain valuable lessons about who you are, what you want, and what you need your boundaries to be. When you experience this, envision seeing your shadow self before you. Think of this part of your spirit as lovable, and perhaps as a protection mechanism you put in place to defer the conflict. I like to envision hugging my shadow self and merging with it. Once that happens, you'll start to heal and attract more beneficial spirits again.

Spirit work with the element of air includes automatic writing, divination, astral projection, communing with your beloved dead, receiving and relaying messages, protection, doing work for you in the world, creativity, and assisting you with your magic.

I hope these insights about the magical element of air have been helpful. Even though air is an elusive element for many people, it's definitely rewarding. My air magic practices have helped my practice evolve so much.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2021. All rights reserved.

My father recently died, and when the paramedics got to the scene, they took his watch off and set it to one side. He wasn't breathing when they arrived, and they worked on him for 35 minutes before pronouncing him dead. Here's the weird thing: Dad's watch stopped at the exact time they pronounced him dead, and he wasn't even wearing it at the time! How in the world do things like this happen?

- Betty

Dreamchaser:

Weird things like this happen all the time. If you ever get a chance to talk to someone who is around death a lot, like paramedics, doctors or nurses, you'll hear lots of stories like this. I have heard of people seeing shadows, energy waves, light beings, etc. upon someone's death.

When my adoptive mother died, she looked up at the ceiling, smiled and said, Can you see him? He's waiting for me! When her nurse asked her who she was talking about, my mom said Jesus! and died with her arm reaching toward the ceiling, her eyes bright and wide open, and a big smile on her face. What my mom saw as Jesus I'm sure was her death angel.

Things like this happen because at the time of someone's death, there are more powerful beings in the room or area than anything else on this earth, for there are angels whose specific job is to come and collect the souls of the dying.

Everything from the Otherworld is made up of energy. When your father's soul left his body, he stopped being human and converted back to energy. Your father's watch just reacted to all the energy around his body at the time.

Maybe his death angel touched the watch to stop it so you (and other family members) would know the exact time of his passing. Perhaps your father felt it would be important to you and the family to know, and his death angel complied with his wishes.

It wasn't really that important to your father at that point, as he was prepared to go. He is very happy on the Otherside. He is whole, youth-full, and knows no boundaries. He can go anywhere, do anything, and be in more than one place at one time.

He wants you to know that he is sorry he left so quickly, but you know him - he didn't like a lot of drama. A long, drawn out death would have been too much for him.

Another reason your father wanted the angel to touch the watch was so that you and others could know that there is something more to life than what we can perceive with our physical senses. This sort of phenomenon makes everyone stop and say, Hmmmmmm.

Your father was very adamant about wanting to let everyone know what he was seeing and experiencing already. He wanted to leave a clue that there is MORE to life and death than what we can see or feel. I have to tell you that I like your dad's style!

He comes around each of you in the family from time to time. Just like he did with the watch, he uses energy as his vehicle. Watch for flickering lights and phenomena involving the TV, radio or telephone. That's the easiest way for him to say, Hey, I'm still here!

I wish you deep understanding of all that is.

*****

Astrea:

When contemplating the potential meaning of a pattern of events, I like to refer to Littlewood's Law: If there are thousands, nay, millions of events in our lives measured in transparently fractal ways, then it should be expected that for every thousand events, there should be two or more events which intersect. Notice that intersection and you will be aware of a meaningful coincidence...the meaning being that two disparate parts have something in common, whatever that intersection may entail.

I know this is highly cerebral. As complicated as it may be to internalize this notion, it speaks in a direct and reasonable way to what happened when your dad's watch stopped. BIG events do have meaning - that's why they stay in our minds forever.

There are a number of possible explanations for what happened here. The simplest is the EMT who was working on your father picked up his watch to establish his time of death, and by touching the watch, he electrically charged it just enough to stop it.

People have seen this sort of thing happen many times. Your father wasn't wearing the watch at the time he died, and there isn't any way to establish the reliability of the watch before he passed away. It's possible that the watch was finicky, and the events surrounding his passing caused it to fail.

It could also be merely a coincidence, of course. Amazing coincidences really get our attention, and they naturally make us wonder if there is some deeper meaning or purpose behind them. We may then assume there is even when there isn't.

It's human nature to look for explanations to these sorts of events. The mystical answer to your question is that when your father's biological clock stopped ticking, he sent out some kind of electromagnetic field that also stopped the watch. At the time of his death, the energy of his Soul leaving his body was so strong it affected everything around it.

You might think back and look for evidence of strong winds around that time in your area. Chances are there was some unusual or notable weather during the hours prior to his death. By observing and studying these sorts of patterns or so-called coincidences, we can gain greater understanding of life and death.

I'm sorry about the terrible sense of loss you experienced when your dad died, but death happens when it happens. Depending on your own intuitions and beliefs, you will choose the explanation that resonates with you and makes the grief you feel easier to bear.

Nothing can make the death of a parent easy, but faith that our lives have meaning can lessen the sadness. Know that your dad lives on in you and the rest of your family now, for love never dies.

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.