Magic

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Astro-Housewitchery; Vanilla

June 11, 2009 in Good Housewitchery by Mystic Medusa | 30 comments

vanillaplant

It’s harder than you might imagine to get the real essence of the Vanilla Bean. And cleaning your fridge with the stuff is way more evocative than you’d think from whiffing the synthetic grot that is most “vanilla essence.” The real thing - this is just one example – is so totally worth getting your hands on because it is SO magic.

A la saffron, vanilla was once more valuable than gold – it has it’s own dark & torrid history/mythology – linked by legend with a lost princess-Persephone-style bride of the MesoAmericas, it was bought to America by the conqueror Cortez but they could not cultivate it until a then 12 year old slave boy named Edmond Albius figured out how to hand-pollinate vanilla. I would LOVE to be able to say that he lived happily and prospered amidst his gloriously scented vanilla plantation but twas  not so! It has long been a tale of exploitation.

The real essence is an aphrodisiac – truly, i have tried this and i don’t know if it’s because i smell like a cupcake or not but vanilla is a POTENT lure-all kind of an aphrodisiac. Ylang-Ylang’s vibe is more Uranian and urbane & Rose makes one feel Queenly – only Vanilla works to draw them all in….It has other medical effects, still being studied. One says it is calming- the next that it increases adrenaline.

The real vanilla is traditionally part of a fast-money fix along with the essential oil of cinnamon & you burn and/or wear them both in a blend. I add vanilla to rose, patchouli, grapefruit and ylang-ylang to make a  mix I call Venusian 9. It is awesome but you have to watch that one doesn’t tip in too much vanilla – it wants to dominate & it is a plant of Pluto.

AND – yes – REAL vanilla is fab in cooking but i am so un-flash a cook that is been perhaps less than ten times that i’ve ever used vanilla pod/beans in cooking…thoughts? The association of the word “vanilla” with lukewarm sex or whatever as in something tempered down is SO odd! Vanilla is WILD – snort some of the real essence and you will totally get it. Anyone who thinks they are so smart for referring dismissively to something as VANILLA WHATEVER is ill-informed…

They are maybe talking about the synthetic vanilla?  The true vanilla bean is magic.

Dissing The Disbelievers

May 26, 2009 in Metaphysical Quirks by Mystic Medusa | 27 comments

15412626671Lawrence Weiner

“I don’t believe in astrology. I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.” Arthur C Clarke.

I never get bored but an emotion close to it, i think, infuses me whenever I am faced with an old-school sceptic. It’s not that they haven’t the right to think/believe w.t.f. THEY want but they so often seem determined, smug & pass-agg-insistent on dialogue with me. My fave retaliation is the George Santayana quote that “skepticism is the chastity of the intellect” but rather than responding to that, they just sort of dirge on. I think it’s actually Taurus (men, soz) who are the most pompous about it. Aquarius too – they’re either super-logical & will cheerily crap on with all sorts of spurious shit or else they’ll try to out-weird one with a harmony-0f-the-spheres rant.

But just as I was about to launch forward on a dissing the disbelievers rant, i thought isn’t it fabulous that many of us live in a time when we can express all these things & share them openly? And how much would many of our ancestors (especially those who lived in darker times) would have ADORED modern freedom of speech, being able to bung up charts on the internet, sharing stories about Mugwort on one’s blog…And i felt amazingly grateful that it’s just the occasional dullard grumbling…”Surely, you cannot possibly believe in xyz…”

The weird thing is that I DON’T know how astrology works. And yes, I have read Cosmos & Psyche.

I just know that it DOES work and it seems to work better the more you do it. It works backwards, it works forwards, it works shallow (when Mars is on your Venus, you will meet hot guys sorta thing) and it works deep…a la Jungian astro et al. Or a Pluto transit. So if it works and it does, then how weird & intricate & MAGIC is our world? Our universe?

And it is all around us, so yes I believe in magic and then i get onto the Dark Matter situation. 90% of our universe is made up of this mysterious substance and scientists have no idea what it is. It sounds so satisfyingly witchy. I went through a stage a few years ago (when Neptune was on my Ascendent by transit) when I became obsessed with Dark Matter. Now I’ve calmed down but if I have had a few drinks & a skeptic is annoying me, i can download all my Dark Matter info (blended ad lib with some alchemy, surrealism, Ancient mythology and obviously astrology) into one Mercury-in-Aries rant enough to scare off any Skeptic.

Mysterious Dark Moon Weirding

May 23, 2009 in Astro-Passages by Mystic Medusa | 47 comments

6a00d83514b02453ef01157074539c970b-400wiCatherine Campbell

Usually, the very last day of the Dark Moon can be a bit of a drag – I so totally pity peeps who do not follow astro and try to actually DO BIG THINGS on that day. Awful – strange, low-ebb and yet bitched up socialising, dreary frump like feelings and low qi. Hence the usual plan of the astro-aware to get a massage, take salt baths, rest & throw shit out.

BUT this Darkest Day Of the Dark Moon is so different. It’s mystical and potentially mega-magic, thanks to the conjunction of Jupiter with Chiron. This can be a healing, a release or an incredible encounter. The Sun is also in trine to the North Node – adding to the fateful vibe. But it all takes place in a subtle and spooky atmosphere…It’s a good day to engage your every witchy instinct, stay aware and certainly don’t dither it away on obligatory crap.

Expect sensational insights, dreams, tangential or random insights & encounters that just reek of cosmic synchronicity. But it’s still a Dark Moon so don’t be rowdy. Think sagacious. Or magical realism.  Jupiter is also applying to a conjunction with Neptune – exact later in the week & Chiron is very close to an awesome conjunction with Neptune – not exact till Feb but in the air from now. This is the Auspicious Aqua-Weirding & why late Aquarius is so lit-up and blessed right now and through until Feb 2010. A time of magical transition in the house/area/any planets etc in the last degrees of Aquarius – late Libra and Gemini also benefit.

I think i just used the word magical about ten times but it IS!

Cosmique

March 25, 2009 in Metaphysical Quirks by Mystic Medusa | 29 comments

cel-alphabetb_wCelestial Alphabet by scherer and  ouporov

“According to the Hebrew rabbis, the letters of their alphabet are formed from the figures of the stars and are thus full of heavenly mysteries, both because of their shape, form and meaning and also because of the numbers contained herein…”

Agrippa Von Netteheim 1788

Honouring Jupiter

January 27, 2009 in Astro In Books by Mystic Medusa | 2 comments

From The Spell Of Rosette

What do the planets say?

“Good question. I’ve been under Saturn transits all year, of course, so hard work and slow progress is natural right now. But Jupiter approaches my Mars opposition Venus and squares the south lunar node. ”

Say it in a way that makes sense to me?

“I get the feeling of adventure, expansion and something to do with the past or someone from the past. Jupiter is honoured by being open to new possibilities and in return he expands the mind through higher learning, the body through travel and the spirit through deeper meditation and magic.”