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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.

Is my intuition fooling me regarding getting back with my husband? How will I know? I have this deep feeling that my marriage will survive, but at this moment, we are not even talking and he has found another woman. Am I just fooling myself? How can we separate our intuitions from wishful thinking?

Maryanne

Astrea:

It's so difficult to know if what we're sensing about ourselves and the people closest to us is true or merely what we wish were true. When the question is romantic or something to do with other loved ones, it can be twice as difficult to figure things out.

Since it's so tricky, we often just give up and accept whatever we see on the surface as what's really going on. Right now, you say you and your ex-husband aren't even speaking to each other. I promise this will change over time, whether you both decide you want to be together again or not.

As hurtful as it is that he's found someone else, nine times out of ten, that person is Rebound Girl, and no one to take very seriously. Often people make something like that seem like more than it is to their ex simply because they're angry.

My psychic feeling for you is that this woman is a diversion because he can't face you at the moment to talk about anything real or serious. By having a girlfriend, he can avoid coming back home for a while longer.

I DO see you back together in July, however. According to my cards, you seem to really love one another. This is just a very bad time in your relationship, but it will pass into forgiveness and eventually reunion in a few months.

If you feel iffy about your own intuition, ask a reputable psychic for a second opinion. If you can't find a gifted, responsible reader in your area, there are plenty here at Kajama who can take a truly objective look at what is going on in your life.

If you don't like the diagnosis or if it seems way off from your own thoughts and feelings, you can try for a third opinion, but after that you should stop. That old saying about too many cooks spoiling the broth is true. Oftentimes, people will go from reader to reader until they get the answer they want to hear, and that doesn't help anyone!

Too many readings, even if you're doing them for yourself, will always make you feel more lost and confused. So if you're reading for yourself, beware. If we aren't in a respectful, objective state of mind, the tools we use can tease us and joke around about even the most serious of subjects.

Whenever you're unsure whether something you're sensing is a psychic intuition or wishful thinking, I believe it's time to call in an expert. I never, ever read for myself or anyone in my family. I can't do it; it's too hard. It gives me a killer migraine just to try to sort it all out.

If I have a question, I get someone else who is a reader to take a look. Is that the lazy way out? I don't think so. I think that asking someone outside the situation to look at it objectively is the best way to get some real answers.

*****

Susyn:

You pose an interesting question. It's one that most people struggle with at one time or another. There are ways to distinguish between wishful thinking and intuition metaphysically, though it can take some time for the truth to come clear.

You could actually be slowing down the course of destiny by hanging on to the hope that your husband will return. To deal with this situation most effectively, you will have to take your focus off of him and what he is doing, and return the focus to yourself. Once you do, you'll immediately notice things beginning to change.

I have found that in relationships between men and women, the man usually emulates whatever the woman is focused on. When you first met, your focus was likely on yourself, and his focus was on winning your heart. Over time, especially after marriage, a woman's focus tends to turn her husband and his needs. Once this happens, the man's focus returns to himself and his own needs or desires.

If you will regroup and start living according to your own best interests, and perhaps even consider the idea of dating someone yourself, your husband will notice this shift almost immediately. It needn't involve the exchange of any words or information; he will subconsciously pick up on your energetic shift toward detachment.

As an example, I was divorced from my husband for almost two years before I began dating again. Until then, my ex pretty much left me alone, but the morning after my first date with another man ñ boom! - he was on my doorstep. Even though the marriage was over, his focus was back on me in a veritable instant!

When you let go of this idea of reconciliation and begin doing things for yourself, whether that means taking a dance class, dating someone new, or clearing out his belongings to make more room for your own, you may discover that this separation is actually a blessing. You will find yourself feeling more confident, independent, empowered and attractive.

To find immediate relief from this struggle, start by making a list of things you love to do, and what you can do for yourself now that you have the time. One of the quickest ways to make this shift is by engaging in physical activity. To get the ball rolling, join a gym, plant a garden, or clean out a closet.

Though no one wants to fail in a relationship, this separation could be a blessing in disguise. If this marriage is meant to come back together, it will do so much faster if you are taking good care of yourself and are in a happy, high vibration. If you turn this situation over to the Universe, you won't have to make a decision about the future, for everything will all unfold in your best interests.

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.