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6 Ways to Embrace Your Glamour, by Deborah Castellano

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Glamour is everything that makes you interesting and exciting to yourself and others. Using glamour gives you exciting opportunities to accomplish your deepest desires both magically and mundanely. Not sure where to start? Don't worry! I've got you covered!

1. Let's whip out a glam honey pot to get things going. (If you want to be fancy about it, do it on a Friday.) Write down your intention on a piece of brown paper bag without your pen leaving the paper. Sprinkle it with cinnamon (to bring your intention faster!) and roll the paper towards you. Put it at the bottom of a small jar. Add in some dried rose petals (to make you more alluring the the Universe), jasmine petals (to open yourself up to the glamour of the world around you and in you) and cedar (to open yourself up to prosperity, because who doesn't need that). And, of course, a little glitter never hurt anyone. Pour honey into the jar, over your components and seal the jar. Put the jar in your sink. Use a chime candle in the color of your choice (I prefer beeswax chime candles, but whatever you can get is fine). Inscribe the candle with a pin with your intention. Put some rose oil on the candle, drawing it to you. Light the candle, say your intention out loud. Drip a little wax onto the top of the jar. Press the candle into the wax on top of the jar and let it burn out. Do this every night for 13 days and then every Friday.
2. Dress with intent. The makeover montage isn't new. (If you want to sound really scholarly about it, it's called kosmesis, which is also fun to say.) It's been around since ye olde Iliad days when Hera and her girl posse wanted to keep messing with the Trojan War so they make Hera look fiiiiiiiiiiione to Zeus, have her sex him up, and when he falls asleep they zap him with magic to keep him asleep so they could go about their warfare business without Zeus making frowny faces at them. So, if playing dress up Barbie/Hera worked for Trojan war business, believe me, it's going to do something for you on a Tuesday at the office. Think about what kind of impression you want to make for whatever you're doing (going to a PTA meeting to face down Sheila, going on a date with someone you might like-like, getting your spouse to agree to watch a million episodes of Real Housewives, trying to skate out of work at three on a Friday, impressing a new group of friends at a cocktail party, bowling with your college dorm mates and you need to borrow bio notes, whatever it is you do). Think about what you want to wear to accomplish whatever you're trying to accomplish—don't be afraid to have a little solo dress up party. Get a glass of wine. Put on some music. See if you really like what you are wearing and how you look in it. Do your hair, skin care, make up, fragrance, whatever is applicable to go with it.
3. Let's do a little quasi-alchemy. Why not you? Get some spirulina powder from your health food store or Amazon.com. Mix: ½ teaspoon spirulina, ½ lemon, 1 teaspoon honey, 1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar with 2 cups spring water (or filtered water). Spirulina is antioxidant-rich, lemon is cleansing, honey is a natural energy source, and raw apple cider vinegar is healing. Together, this will make your skin look radiant. It's easier to be in touch with your glamour if you literally love the skin you're in. Put everything in a glass (with a little room for stirring). Put your intention in the glass. Stir it all together clockwise while focusing on your intention. In Omnia Paratus! (Ready for anything!)
4. Get a glamour secret weapon. What is something you wear all the time? A fragrance, a piece of jewelry, moisturizer, a lipstick, anything that touches your skin and you can wear every day. Enchant your item by holding it and putting your intention into it every day for ten minutes a day for eight days. After that, wear it daily until you see your intention manifesting and then wear it as needed.
5. Practice working with your glamour.
   When I was younger, I desperately wanted my glamour to work all the time. I didn't have a plan for what I would do if I could get it to work all the time (. . .unlike now), which was probably for the best because lordess only knows what I would have done with it at the time. Start by focusing on what you want to accomplish with your glamour for that day. That will help narrow the playing field, otherwise you're just throwing spaghetti at the Universe's wall. Practice working on getting your energy to flow in that direction. Practice making your energy work for you so that you are perfectly charming. This was a hard concept for me for many years. I wanted a very specific how-to-do-it. The thing is, everyone does magic differently. While many books focus on visualizations, what do you do if you're not a visual thinker? Flail for a lot of years, if you were me. So keep your eyes on your own paper here; don't worry about how other people use magic, focus on how you use magic. I personally like to think of a lightning bug. When I was younger, I felt like I couldn't get my butt to light up. Then when I figured out how to get my butt to light up, I couldn't figure out how to turn it off. So let's work on how to figure out how to make your . . . (metaphysical) butt light up. And how to turn it off. And how to turn it on or off on command. If my methods don't work for you, play around with it until you find one that does. Maybe you need to chant, maybe you need to visualize, maybe you need to hear a certain song in your head, maybe it's scent-based. The point is that there's no wrong way to do this. If you are most people, you will likely not be energetically constantly lit up like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Ideally, you will be able to generate a pleasant level of copper wire fairy lights energetically on a near constant basis and then be able to jack it up to Times Square on an as-needed basis (as well as have the ability to lower it to a single tea light level of glamour when needed). Here's a suggested method in working with your glamour. Start by drawing up energy from your root to your throat. It should pass through your tummy and your heart and feel effervescent and sparkling. Practice getting that energy up to your throat quickly. Once you have a good handle on being able to do that, the next step is to take that energy and be sure it shoots out of your throat, your mouth, your eyes, and the top of your head so you are a fountain of sparkling glamour energy. Practice doing this with your intent in various social situations until you are comfortable with it. Sometimes, for many reasons, we may want to dim that energy a bit, especially once we get comfortable with it. Pull all of the glamour energy back down into your root, in a reverse of what you did to brighten it. Get comfortable with that until you are well versed in turning it on and turning it off.
6. Make an Offering. So, if you read my blog you know I talk about the concept of modern day #QueensInExile. The idea is that most of us who practice witchcraft are in exile in some way in our modern lives. Some of that carries over to our occult practice. Maybe you wouldn't talk to any of your ancestors Because of Reasons. Maybe you are in exile from your birth religion. Maybe you don't come from a practice that talked to saints all the time so trying to integrate that now feels weird. Maybe you just never connected with a specific pantheon. Why not consider an actual medieval queen as a chosen ancestor to work with? Feel free to pick your own from whatever part of the world you like, but Queen Elizabeth Woodville is a good choice if you don't know where to start. Getting into an offering practice would help boost your glamour because it never hurts to have someone looking out for you. Start a relationship the same way you would with a human. Give a gift/offering, tell her what you're trying to accomplish, ask for assistance. A few sincere compliments rarely go amiss, too. Suggested offerings for Queen Elizabeth Woodville: pink roses, mead, maids of honey cakes.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2017. All rights reserved.

Over the past week, I suffered from a sore neck and shoulders. Then I had a jarring dream several days ago. In the dream, I was in a wooded area and I kept encountering a puma/mountain lion. It was hostile and it kept leaping at my head and biting me on the back of my neck. Every time it bit me, I felt a hot burning sensation that was almost electrical. I don't normally feel anything physically in my dreams, but I did this time, and I kept feeling it even after I woke up. I woke up several times, and whenever I would fall back asleep, it was the same thing all over again. This puma wouldn't leave me alone, and he was really starting to frighten me. Then I noticed that later in the dream, my back was now covered with markings that looked sort of tribal. Then I remember a little boy talking to me. He was of a different ethnicity than me, and he told me his name was Justin. He had the same markings on his back, and he said that he had come into contact with this puma as well. I feel like I have some deeper connection to this little boy, but I've never seen him before in my life. He also seemed a little sad. It is also interesting that after I woke up, all my back and neck problems had completely cleared up where the puma had been mauling me. I felt sort of creeped out for the rest of the day. Could I have been remembering something from a past life? Might this puma have been a spirit guide? Do guides ever appear to be violent? I'd love to know your thoughts on this.

Nicky

Astrea:

Guides can appear to be violent in our dreams, but they aren't going to harm us in any way. I'm sorry yours frightened you, because when that happens to me, I get the same creepy feeling you had, and it usually lasts the whole day as well. This may sound silly, but try a warm drink before you go to sleep at night. My Guides seem to like it when I do that, so it's worth a shot.

Many times, dreaming of a large cat like a puma or mountain lion indicates that there is some very angry energy close to you. This is especially true with you because this animal attacked your neck. Since he didn't attack your throat, this is a situation with an angry person that you should be able to resolve quickly.

Try to remember what happened the day before you had that dream. Was someone in your life particularly pushy or aggressive towards you? Is there someone you want to avoid? Are you perhaps the one who is angry, and do you need to seek resolution to a problem that anger created?

One of your Guides has decided that you are in some kind of danger. While it may not be actual physical danger, it is SOME kind of danger to your self and/or your emotional well-being. Analyze your dream by asking your Guide to show you who or what it is that is emotionally stalking you, and who wants the worst for you.

Evidently the situation is escalating or your guide wouldn't be so aggressive in showing you what is going on. This Guide is relentless and will not stop marking you until you see what it is that you're being told. Concentrate on this. It is too important to let it go by.

You certainly could have been with Justin in a past life, but other things indicate to me that he was the same Guide as the puma. He came to you in the form of a little boy because as a puma, he wasn't getting through to you because that was too scary for you.

Often our Guides shape-shift to get through to us. Yours is trying to tell you something important about your job or the work that you do. Perhaps it's time for a total makeover in this area of your life. Evidently, from what you say about your dream, you've been contemplating this change for several months now.

Usually our Guides don't have to go to such extreme measures. Try to pay closer attention to what this Guide is telling you while you're awake. Since it's a good bet you won't be running into that puma on the street, look for Justin or a boy about his age.

Your guide might speak to you through a child, even a child who is a stranger. I'll never forget the three-year-old in the supermarket who diagnosed my thyroid disease. Even though I knew what she was doing, I ignored the message until I gained another forty pounds!

*****

Susyn:

Spirit guides can sometimes appear violent but in reality, they're just using assertive or dramatic energy in order to lead us to healing. We carry certain ideas about some animals and the danger they can pose, so it's only natural to interpret our interactions with them as violent, aggressive or dangerous.

Your ability to tie the dream and its circumstances to the pain you were experiencing in your neck and back, and those conditions being healed once you awoke are strong indications that you were being aided by this puma even though its manner of attacking these problem areas may have seemed frightening.

Puma medicine is very powerful. Metaphysically, the puma is known for its stealth, steady gaze (offering one the ability to look deeply into the soul) and its ability to heal bones, mend torn ligaments, and provide therapeutic pain relief. Native Americans have used puma medicine to heal the physical body for centuries. In fact, this is one of the sources of the belief that cats of all types have nine lives.

The young boy in your dream who carried the same markings you discovered on your back after the puma attack represents another spirit guide who appeared to assure you that this process was safe and designed to benefit you.

The name Justin represents an empathetic and supportive person. The name Justin also embodies the part of oneself that thrives on a variety of activities such as singing, dancing, painting or the performance arts. His presence in your dream, along with the fact that he appeared to be sad, could be a reminder that an aspect of your life is being neglected.

You may find it enlightening to paint or sketch a picture of this little boy, the surroundings you were in, the markings on your back, and the puma. These aspects of your dream can be drawn individually or altogether as a scene. This artistic task is a wonderful way to uncover the deeper feelings and more soulful aspects of the dream, which could then reveal more to you.

Oftentimes our spirit guides have been with us in past lives, so this is also an aspect of the dream you'll want to investigate further. You can meditate on Justin's ethnicity and also research the areas of the world where pumas are generally found to narrow down the field of where this past life may have occurred. You may also want to consult a psychic who specializes in past lives to get a more detailed account.

The next time you find yourself in physical pain, you can meditate on the puma and even ask the puma to help you to see if this eliminates the trouble. This will also affirm the healing powers of this very special guide of yours, and perhaps enhance your relationship.

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.