Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 14

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Jenny Tyson, author of Spiritual Alchemy, Art of Scrying & Dowsing, and the new Art of Channeling.

When I first learned about changing the past from the present (retro-causality) I was pretty skeptical. I felt certain that time only went one way. I felt uncomfortable with the idea of multiple timelines, and the idea of having aspects of my consciousness and being within these timelines. I am me! I exist in this timeline! I have memories of it, photos, friends, and family. Retro-causality went against the grain of my ideas of personal identity and how the universe operates. I did not believe you could change the past. That is, until I actually did an experiment to do just that: change the past.

When I first tried this experiment, my usual work involved predictions using scrying and dowsing of minor events, such as ballgame outcomes and stock market changes. I used this type of simple prediction because it gave me a very clear picture as to whether or not my perceptions were accurate. At the time, I was also participating in a parapsychology group studying precognition. The experimental setup was already in place, and the structure was strict—cheating or lying to myself was not possible.

I called on a spirit familiar to help me with the time travel experiment. The spirit would channel the information to me as I scryed a specific event in the future. His task was to go to the future and relay the information regarding the outcome to me as I was doing the scrying session. As a result, the predictions were produced by both scrying and channeling. I was scrying the future event, and also channeling the spirit’s information as he looked at it in the future and studied the outcome.

I then waited until the time passed and the event’s outcome became known. This was a few days to a week after the scrying and channeling session. After the results were known, I asked the familiar to send the message regarding the outcome of the event in question to my past self.

The result was astonishing. My accuracy rate spiked from its usual 65% to over 90%, which is nearly impossible with the strict hit-or-miss standard of the experimental study. The 65% hit rate was measured over the course of 18 months previous to the retro-causality experiment. It was done by a third party, so neither the tasker (project manager) nor I knew what the target was. I had to hand in the prediction two days prior to the event that was being predicted. The prediction was either a clear miss or a clear hit—there was no ambiguity. It was evident to me that something significant was going on with the sudden jump in accuracy. I had not spiked a high percentage hit-rate over the previous 18 months.

The implication of the hit-rate spike was that sending a message to the past was effective in changing my present and future. This meant that the past was not dead or fixed, but was as dynamic as the present and future. If the past were fixed, there would not be such a drastic spike in my hit percentage. This was a very challenging result that confronted me, causing in an unavoidable breakdown of what I had previously believed about time and space.

This experiment eventually led to the scrying and channeling techniques I use today. It showed me that spirit communication was really happening, regardless of how I was feeling or what the physical setting might be. When I started working with channeling, my approach was very formal. I used a ritual circle and sigils. As the experiment progressed, I became more focused on the communication itself. I never saw an apparition or had any paranormal manifestations during this course of this experiment, but the results were solid and undeniable.

The results changed the way I look at spirit communication and scrying. They changed my life. The techniques in The Art of Channeling in part come from this experiment in time travel. The experiment raised my standards of what I consider to be good channeling and scrying work. It was hard to wrap my head around the idea of time travel, but I knew by looking at the carefully measured hit rates during the experiment that there was no other explanation.

Our thanks to Jenny for her guest post! For more from Jenny Tyson, read her article, “A Quick Channeling Tutorial.”

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Shelley A. Kaehr, PhD, author of several titles, including Heal Your Ancestors to Heal Your Life, Blast from the Past, and the new Journeys Through the Akashic Records.

I’m incredibly excited about the release of my latest book, Journeys Through the Akashic Records: Accessing Other Realms of Consciousness for Healing & Transformation, because for the first time in my over twenty years as a past-life regressionist, I am finally sharing all of the many journeys that I’ve been taking clients on over these many years.

The Akashic Records are typically viewed as a huge cosmic library or storehouse where all of the information from the past, present, and future are stored. Answers to all questions, all thoughts, and all possibilities are out there for us to access. Rather than a physical space, however, we should perceive this realm as a multidimensional storehouse, a cosmic energy that contains this information. For many years now, I’ve accessed this realm and I believe this is exactly what happens when people go into past-life experiences.

What I’ve found is that with some people, they need much more than a past-life regression to receive the help they need with various issues. The guided journeys in the book will help you gain access to the wisdom of your own soul. I truly believe that everybody has answers to big questions within themselves if only they can find the way to receive that guidance.

Here are a few of the many pieces of information you can receive via the Akashic Records:

Past Life Details: Of course that’s one of my favorite areas and who you were in the past is definitely contained within this realm.Soul Purpose: Why are you here? What is your unique gift that you bring to the world?Soul Groups: There are very few coincidences in this world. We go around with the same people again for healing, support, and sometimes for life lessons. Who are you here with and what are you learning together? This is very helpful to know and understand!Grief Healing: You can meet with your deceased friends or loved ones and have those conversations that you perhaps did not get a chance to experience in waking life.Forgiveness and Blessings: Meet with others who you need to forgive or who need to forgive you and again, say what needs to be said.

Interestingly, these otherworldly visits can yield incredible positive results in the here and now. You can often emerge feeling lighter and more able to move peacefully into your current life future. The Akashic Records and realm can help you access those brighter states of being and by so doing, you will empower yourself to greater heights. I hope you’ll check out the new book and use it to find those meaningful answers.

Our thanks to Shelley for her guest post! For more from Shelley A. Kaehr, PhD, read her article “Past Life Healing: Take Your Heart Back!.”

Will You Give Me a Reading? What You Need to Read Tarot with Confidence by Jenna Matlin

 

All new tarot readers will face that question someday: Will you give me a reading? No need to panic, Jenna Matlin has you covered. This incredible book guides you through the process, including how to handle common challenges. You learn to both connect more deeply with the cards as well as to wield them with grace and efficiency.

Here is an example of an activity that helps you understand yourself and your relationship to tarot better, leading to opportunities to work through your own blocks and shine through your own gifts (from the book).

Activity: Touchstone Tarot

The touchstone is a black slab of stone that was used in ancient times to test for purity in metals such as gold. Metallurgists and merchants would take a coin or a nugget and scratch it on the touchstone. The kind of mark it left would indicate the purity of the metals in the item.

Similarly, most readers have one card in the deck that they identify with. We use that one card to determine whether we will buy or work with a given deck. While deciding on a deck, if that card does not resonate with us in a way that strikes us as true, we keep walking.

Your touchstone is the one card that speaks to you most deeply. This card acts as home base for you as you tour through the images and stories within tarot. It is the card that you will scratch all the other cards against to see how true they are. It often acts as a gateway to the various images of the deck.

Your activity is to create a mini reading using your touchstone card. You will reserve your touchstone tarot card and pull one other card from your deck to create a two-card dialogue for each question. Write the reading as if your touchstone is interacting with the other card. If you are brand new to tarot, feel free to use the book that came with your deck or any other tarot book with meanings, but also feel free to add your own meanings. Ask questions like these (I’ll give an example of a mini reading below.)

What personal strengths do I bring to the world as I come out as a reader?What limiting belief do I have that will block my capacity to emerge as a reader in the world?What tools do I have that will help me make this journey as a tarot practitioner?How do I let go of what people think about me being a reader?

Example

My personal touchstone card is Strength.

Question: What personal strengths do I bring to the world as I come out as I truly am?

Cards: Strength and Ace of Swords

Strength: I learned to wield power with force, loyalty, and affection. My power lies in the balance of the mind and the heart, but I also must pick up the sword. What gifts do you bring to me?

Ace of Swords: When you wield me, I add boundaries, intellect, and clear communication to your cause. Through me, you learn to speak your truth. I add precision to your world of force. The lion’s teeth are a fierce thing, but my power is in cold calculation. Wield me with great care.

Your turn!

 

We are proud to bring our readers our twelfth annual tarot catalog! Discover the newest in tarot offerings from Llewellyn, Lo Scarabeo, and Blue Angel, plus get free shipping on US orders over $30 and 20% savings when you order online with the promo code TAROT22! Hurry, savings good through 8/1/22! (Note that you must be logged in to your www.Llewellyn.com account for coupon to apply to cart; not valid on current sale items, with other discounts, or on previously placed orders.)

 

 

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Brandon Weston, author of Ozark Folk Magic and the new Ozark Mountain Spell Book.

It might seem odd at first, but Ozark healers and magical practitioners have been working miracles with ordinary household string for centuries, and in fact, these methods, rites, and spells have an even more ancient lineage. One fascinating area to look at within this complex tradition is the repurposing of household objects for magic and healing. This practice derives from a sense of necessity, where hillfolk had to use what they could gather or grow on the land or what they could repurpose in their own cabins. Apart from these, one had to do without as the local general store or pharmacy was often several days ride on mule (if you were lucky) from hill communities.

Among the many items that have been traditionally repurposed for magical and healing rituals, ordinary string, twine, and yarn have yielded perhaps the most diverse set of practices. That is what we’re going to look at here in this small sampling of traditional Ozark spells.

Bringing Your True Love Closer
Ingredients: String, white or red, 2-3 feet
Spell: In this simple ritual, take your cut length of string, before dawn, out to a field where there are mullein (Verbascum thapsus) flower stalks growing. Find two that are close together, but at most a foot apart. Facing the rising sun in the east, repeat this charm while holding your length of string up toward the sun: “At the rising of the sun, so let my heart’s true love rise to meet me. Bring (him/her/them) closer to me! Bring (him/her/them) as close as these stalks I tie together.”

Then, wrap the string around the two mullein stalks, pull them as close as you can together, then tie with three knots. It’s said your true love will make themselves known by the next full moon, or else you will dream of their identity in that time.

Catching Blessings in Knots
Ingredients: String, white, 2 feet
Spell: Knots are traditionally blown for both healing and hexes in the Ozarks. In this spell, take your length of string and starting at the left end, begin to form a single knot, but don’t close it completely. Many healers will repeat a verbal charm through the knot, but in a simple ritual all you have to do is visualize the blessings you want to impart to yourself or someone you’re working for then blow through the open ring made by the knot. While blowing, pull the knot closed, thereby catching the blessing. Continue these knots for three, seven, or twelve times then wrap it around your (or another’s) right wrist. Wear your string until it naturally falls off, then burn.

Tying Illnesses to a Tree
Ingredients: String, white, 3 times the person’s height
Spell: Begin by measuring out your string. This is traditionally done by holding one end of a string (still on the spool) at the height of the head (yours or the person you’re working for). Then, lower the string to the floor to get the total height. Repeat this two more times to get a length of string three times your total height. Cut from the spool. Now, this ritual is easier with a partner but can be done alone. Go out to the woods and find a strong, living tree. This is important as you don’t want to use a dead tree. Oak is a good all-purpose tree, but traditionally pawpaw (Asimina triloba), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), and even sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) have been used. Stand with your back against the tree. Have your partner wrap the string around your chest and the tree trunk three times. Then, repeat this charm three times, or if you’re doing this for someone else, have them repeat it: “What I name here, I leave here. *** begone you foul devil and be sunk into the ground as deep as these roots grow!” (Where you see the *** name your illness or simply say, “illness” or “hex” or whatever you’re wanting to get rid of.) Then, lower yourself out of the string loop, making sure it stays tied around the tree trunk. Then, pull the string loop tight against the tree and seal with three knots. Leave this string behind and return home.

Our thanks to Brandon for his guest post! For more from Brandon Weston, read his article “Ozark Astrological Magic.”

An ENORMOUS thank you to our LlewellynCon presenters today: Cory Thomas Hutcheson, Jean-Louis de Biasi, Lisa McSherry, and Christopher Penczak!

Unable to watch their presentations live? Click on their images below to watch the recording! And, be sure to follow our YouTube channel, where we’ll be sharing the recordings of each presentation!

Watch Cory Thomas Hutcheson: Folk Magic in North America

Watch Jean-Louis de Biasi: Unlocking the Mysteries of Esoteric Freemasonry

 

Watch Lisa McSherry: The Imposter Witch: How to Correctly Build Your Practice

 

Watch Christopher Penczak: Protection Magick & Psychic Self-Defense

Thank you again to all who presented and attended throughout this year’s LlewellynCon!

An ENORMOUS thank you to our LlewellynCon presenters today: Anne Bérubé, Frater Tenebris, Storm Faerywolf, and Anusha Wijeyakumar!

Unable to watch their presentations live? Click on their images below to watch the recording! And, be sure to follow our YouTube channel, where we’ll be sharing the recordings of each presentation!

Watch Anne Bérubé: A Spiritual Solution to Burnout: A Guide for Empaths, Over-Givers, and Highly Sensitive People

Watch Frater Tenebris: Exploring Dark Paganism

 

Watch Crafting the Witch’s Name: Creating a Magical Persona

 

Watch Anusha Wijeyakumar: Making Meditation Accessible: Debunking Common Myths

Thank you again to all who presented and attended!! We’ll see you tomorrow!

An ENORMOUS thank you to our LlewellynCon presenters today: Laura Tempest Zakroff and Cat Gina Cole!

Unable to watch their presentations live? Click on their images below to watch the recording! And, be sure to follow our YouTube channel, where we’ll be sharing the recordings of each presentation!

Watch Laura Tempest Zakroff: Applying Visual Alchemy: Harnessing the Magic of Art in Ritual and Spellcraft/a>

Watch Cat Gina Cole: The Use of Psychic Skills in Witchcraft

 

Thank you again to all who presented and attended!! We’ll see you tomorrow!

Tarot for Real Life: Use the Cards to Find Answers to Everyday Questions by Jack Chanek

Jack Chanek is an exciting new voice for Llewellyn. You may already be familiar with his name from his first book, Qabalah for Wiccans. Or perhaps you met him as I did, through his blog, particularly his articles on Baba Yaga.

In this book, Chanek takes a fresh approach to tarot by putting as much emphasis on the minors as the majors, hence bringing our attention to where the archetypal energies manifest in the real world. By weaving his teachings on the practical aspects of tarot reading through the suits, we experience a beautiful unfolding. The practice and sample readings throughout the book help us learn to divine useful answers to pressing questions.

Here is an example of his practical and accessible approach to tough tarot topics. Reversals are often challenging, but Chanek gives us some easy (and easy to remember) options (from the book):

A Reversed Card Is N.O.T. Itself
Here’s a handy (if somewhat cheesy) mnemonic device to help with reading reversed cards. The meaning of an inverted card is N.O.T. what that card means when it’s upright: Negated, Obstructed, or Tempered. Reversals in different contexts can mean any or all of these three things; figuring out which one is a matter of your personal judgment, and it’s something you’ll get better at with practice.

Negated

Sometimes, a reversal can signify the complete opposite of a card’s ordinary meaning. If you draw a reversed card that usually represents hard work and diligence, the reversal may well mean laziness and indolence. If a card ordinarily means community and social connection, a reversal can draw out themes of isolation and loneliness. This is the truest sense in which upside- down cards are “reversals” of their upright counterparts.

Typically, this interpretation works best with cards that deal in ordinary, mundane themes rather than cards that are dramatically positive or negative. The Seven of Pentacles in reverse can easily symbolize impatience and an unwillingness to keep one’s nose to the grindstone. This is because that energy is contained, somewhat, in the meaning of the upright card; patience and impatience go hand in hand. They’re part of the same essence. To take our “Yes, but…” mentality, it makes sense to say, “Yes, we’re talking about patience and hard work, but you’re being kind of hot-headed and entitled.”

A doom-and-gloom card like the Five of Pentacles in reverse, on the other hand, is unlikely to transform into a card of resplendent joy and good fortune. That’s simply too far removed from the central theme of the card. It may happen occasionally, depending on the reading, but most of the time, we wouldn’t say, “Yes, we’re talking about hardship and suffering, but everything looks bright and joyful.” It usually only makes sense to interpret a reversed card as negated when the negation still fits into the broader theme that the card represents.

Obstructed

Reversals can also indicate obstruction or blockage in the energy of a card—something is interfering with the card, preventing it from expressing itself the way it normally would. This could be an external circumstance, another person, or even an internal psychological condition on behalf of the person who requested the reading. A reversal can indicate that someone is of two minds about something, that they think they want what this card has to offer but that some part of them wants something different. The blockage can be out in the world or it can be from within, but something or someone is impeding this card from acting as itself.

This kind of reversal can also manifest as a temporal delay. Particularly when you draw a reversed card in the “future” or “outcome” position in a spread, it can mean that something is going to happen, but that there will be problems and delays to deal with before it does. A reversed card means blockages, difficulty, miscommunication, and frustration—but it tells us that ultimately, those things can be overcome.

Tempered

The third major way we can interpret a reversed card is that it tempers the meaning of the upright card. It’s the same basic meaning, but weaker and more toned down. Where the Ten of Pentacles could represent an inheritance or an endowment, the Ten of Pentacles in reverse might represent something smaller, like a birthday present from your grandmother. Where the Nine of Pentacles is the payoff after a long period of hard work, the reversed Nine might be a minor payoff like a spa day. In this sense, reversed cards can take the same energy that we ordinarily see in a card and shrink it down to a less dramatic scale. You’re still getting the same thing, but in a much smaller quantity.

This can be helpful in a reading because it shows us that not all cards are equal. If you have three cards and two of them are reversed, then the influence of the upright one is likely to be much stronger and more prodigious. The other two are still present, but they have less total effect on the outcome of the reading. Using reversals in this way allows you to see themes that are still present and relevant to the question you’ve asked, but that aren’t the dominant forces at play.

An ENORMOUS thank you to our LlewellynCon presenters today: Emily Carding, Rachel Patterson, Diego de Oxóssi, and Thorn Mooney!

Unable to watch their presentations live? Click on their images below to watch the recording! And, be sure to follow our YouTube channel, where we’ll be sharing the recordings of each presentation!

Watch Emily Carding: The Truth within Faery Myths and Folklore

Watch Rachel Patterson: Curative Magic: Magical Self Care for Anxiety

 

Watch Diego de Oxóssi: Sacred Leaves: Orishas Herbal Witchcraft

 

Watch Thorn Mooney: Making the Most of the Magical Internet: Building Better Habits and Contributing to Healthier Online Communities

Thank you again to all who presented and attended!! We’ll see you tomorrow!