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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!

Weeds: 10 Magical Resources You Can Find in Your Own Backyard, by JD Walker

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

There is a saying in the gardening community: Grow where you're planted. It means to do your best to develop, grow, and yes, even bloom, regardless of your situation or circumstance.

I like to use this same philosophy when it comes to my spiritual and magickal work. I use store-bought things, and am very happy to have access to them. However, I want my religious tradition to be more than something I buy online or do on one of the eight Sabbats.

I want to see magick in the world around me. So, I often look for supplies right outside my door.

"But," you say, "I don’t have a yard or a garden. Where am I supposed to look for herbs?"

Right under foot, dearie.

I wrote A Witch's Guide to Wildcraft to help folks understand that they can fill a lot of their needs simply by looking at the world around them with new eyes.

Practically every residence, whether apartment complex, rental property, or house, has a yard. Take a look at that grassy expanse. You'll quickly see that it's not all grass. In the case of most dwelling spaces with an accompanying yard, it's not even mostly grass. It is, however, a wonderful shopping space for magickal supplies. For example:

1. Chickweed: This low-growing, fresh green, matting plant is called Stellaria media because of the tiny little star-like flowers it produces. It is a moon herb, good for lunar magick as well as for spells to attract or keep a lover. It can also be used in beauty spells.
2. Clover: Everyone knows clover (Trifolium repens) is a good luck herb. It is also used in magick for prosperity.
3. Onions: Wild onions (Allium canadense) are the bane of any homeowner who takes pride in his or her lawn. But witches use them for exorcism and protection.
4. Dandelion: You know you've wished on a dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) puff ball before! Children everywhere do. Blowing on the puff ball is also said to divine everything from how long you will live to the direction from which your true love will come. It is a good resource for any ritual work done to honor solar deities.
5. Violets: Violas or violets, on the other hand, can be used in workings with Venus, Aphrodite, Inanna, or any deity associated with love. I find it invaluable in mending a broken heart.
6. Grass: Even the grass that is growing in the lawn or the ornamental grasses gracing the landscape border or perennial flower beds have magickal uses. Gather what you need for protection and prosperity or use a handful to make a natural, temporary asperging wand.

Broaden your view and take in the plants that border the yard or that live in the landscape.

7. Hollies: Don't throw away those clippings from the hollies in the shrub border, even the ornamental Japanese hollies (Illex cornuta, I. crenata, etc.). They can be used for protection spells.
8. Honeysuckle: Look into that shrub border for the Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) that has probably snuck in there. It can be used in prosperity and binding spells. With a long enough piece of vine, you can make a wreath to hang on the door or above the altar to attract that prosperity.
9. Ivy: Another common vine is ivy (Hedera). This is a witchy herb if there ever was one. It is a Saturn herb but is also considered feminine in energy. Like all vines, it can be used in binding magick. Ivy has the added benefit of being used for protection and healing.
10. Moss: Even the moss (Bryophyta) that grows along the foundation of a residence or in the shade of a tree has magickal uses. Properly dried, it is a filling for a poppet. Fairies are said to love it, so use it to dress your fairy garden.

Without leaving your immediate area, you've found supplies for everything from spell work to ritual tools. When you respectfully gather your own herbs for your workings, you are connecting with the Divine, however you perceive the Divine. You are one with the Universe. You are a self-sufficient, enterprising Pagan who can stand on your own, regardless of where you are planted.

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

Lately I've been having some very clear, accurate psychic visions and perceptions. What I'm wondering is how you know what to say when you're doing psychic readings. I see all this seemingly random stuff in my mind, and it comes so fast that I don't know what to do with it all in that moment. Sometimes it's just a quick glimpse, and other times I just have very strong feelings around certain people. What I don't know is how to translate this into meaningful words and messages. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

Sarah

Astrea:

Putting psychic visions and intuitions into actual words in order to communicate them to others in a way they'll understand is one of the most difficult things to learn.

It requires a sincere lifelong chase for the Light and the commitment to keep chasing. Finding just the right language, words and expressions is never easy, but every reading you do will deepen your discernment.

As improving your ability requires practice, you're wise to do thousands of readings. With each one, your psychic vocabulary will grow.

Learn to slow the flashes down and examine them, and block some of those feelings. A psychic does not have to experience everything in a client's past, present and future to do a reading. Also, be courageous in what you say to your clients and friends.

Using a tool might help, and anything you're drawn to use can help you. Even rocks or pieces of colored string (which are much easier to carry than rocks!) can be used as divination tools. Experiment with lots of different things until you find something that speaks to you in a language you're able to translate.

Even if you don't get much from tools like tarot or astrology, using processes that follow a sequential order can help you figure out what to say. Combining tools can create another checkpoint in a reading.

Find tools that speak to you, and remember that you don't have to know why something works as long as it does - by which I mean that the person getting the reading finds the answers that are needed.

To me, the most important answers come in response to specific questions, as these help me focus what I'm seeing more than anything else. I feel it wastes time to speak about vague, general information when most clients are seeking specific guidance about some aspect of their lives.

However, if I'm answering a relationship question and I see an automobile accident, I SAY SO. I don't let something like that go by.

If you see, hear or feel something that could be a disaster for the client, and you communicate that even if she didn't ask you anything about that subject, you empower her to change the outcome of that negative event and perhaps prevent it from happening at all.

I'm sure a lot of readers will tell you that when they first started out doing readings, they were tentative. Each person learns things differently and in their own time.

You can learn how to say what you're seeing and feeling to others and feel confident that you're correctly passing on that information. Start with one or two readings every day, and build up from there.

*****

Susyn:

This is a challenge for most psychics and mediums when they first start out, as the rush of information that comes in can definitely be overwhelming. Your e-mail reminds me of the first time I started scrying or trying to read my crystal ball. At first, the images came in so fast I couldn't get a clear take on them. It was as if the Universe had the remote control and kept flipping through the channels so fast I couldn't even tell what was on.

As your skills develop and your trust in what you are hearing or sensing grows, you'll be able to slow down these visions so you can tell what the messages are and whether or not to share them.

As a professional psychic, I can tell you that not all the information we receive or the visions we see can or should be shared with the person we're reading for. This of course also goes for people we cross paths with who may spontaneously evoke psychic information. It's very important that we approach others with a clear sense of purpose and awareness.

For example, you might have a dream or vision of your neighbor that seems very profound, and based on how open your neighbor is to metaphysical matters, you may choose to share your dream, or you may just sit back and see if the vision comes to pass.

We all have experiences with messages, insights or visions that confuse us. I wonder how many people began sensing the events that unfolded on 9/11 long before they occurred. From what I have witnessed and others have shared with me, these visions were clouded in obscurity because this event needed to come to pass, without interference, for a higher purpose.

In fact, I had a tarot student call that very morning, really upset because she had pulled three cards: the Tower, the World and the 8 of rods (which often represents air planes or travel). I wasn't sure why she was upset until she told me to turn on the TV.

I encourage you to hone your gifts more through practice. This will give you the power to slow down and get more information. You may also want to strengthen and validate what you are sensing through another medium, such as tarot, astrology, or a crystal pendulum.

With practice, you can even ask Spirit to give you more information, clarify what you're seeing, and advise you on whom to share what with based on whether or not they are ready to hear it.

I also suggest you find a lapis stone necklace or bracelet to wear, as this stone has the power to bring your visions and subtle perceptions into a picture or form that will be easier for you to interpret.

I wish you the best of luck in mastering your psychic gifts, Sarah!

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.