Hex Signs

Inspired by my friend Ryan and his blog A Changing Altar, I've decided to join the Pagan Blog Project. I anticipate posting every two weeks, so only once per letter of the alphabet. This Friday, the letter is H.

I think when many people hear the word "hex" they immediately thing of "curse". However, when used to refer to a type of folk art traditionally painted on barns and homes, hex takes on an entirely different meaning.

 "Hex signs" originate in Pennsylvania Dutch country and can be used magically or simply appreciated for their artistic beauty. Indeed, many historians and folklorists believe that the designs were originally nothing more than folk art brought over from Germany, but which later developed into a form of ethnic symbolism.  These days, many hex signs are associated with specific intents and carry quite a bit of magical power with them. But some are still just art. It's all in the intent, after all.

The term "hex sign" was probably picked up because of its sexiness. In a book published in 1924 about the Pennsylvania Dutch, many terms were used by local farmers to refer to the signs, including "blumme" (flowers) or "schtanne" (stars). However one farmer called them "Hexefoos" and that's what stuck.

There are a few classic designs for hex signs, many of which incorporate geometric shapes with symbols. Magically, the meaning of the hex is based on the shapes, colours and symbols used in its design. For example a six-pointed rosette chases away bad luck, an eight-pointed star invites good fortune and an eight-pointed star or "sun ray" with a circle at the center is a symbol for success. If you add rain drops and/or wheat to this design, the hex may mean a good weather for successful harvest, however if you add acorns to the design it may mean success with conception or with a new project.

Here are some traditional meanings for hex signs:

• Rosettes: Luck (or chasing away bad luck)
• Stars: Luck or success (or protection)
• 4-pointed sun wheel: Warmth and fertility
• Acorn: Fertility or "humble beginnings"
• Dove: Peace or friendship
• Heart: Love
• Oak leaf: Strength and endurance
• Raindrop: Good weather or abundance
• Tulips:  Faith, hope and trust (or chastity)
• Wheat: Abundance, prosperity (abundant crops)

 If you are creating your own hexes then I believe that you can use symbolism that is meaningful for you and that has some sort of universal or cultural associations around it. The same goes for colour and geometry. Like other forms of magic that involve creating something (such as a talisman), you will be drawing energy to the spell and starting to form it as you work out the design of your hex. While creating the design, really focus on the intent or purpose of the hex, including the specific symbols and how the symbolism will empower the hex. Afterwards, raise energy to give it more juice if you want to, but sometimes the simple act of purposeful and focused creation is enough.

Hexes can be drawn, painted, embroidered, knitted, carved, planted as a design in a garden, decorated into a cake, or made in any way that results in a visual symbol. It's a fun and powerful form of spellcraft.

Witchy Ways of Knowing. What's Yours?

As witches, we believe in (and hopefully regularly engage) alternative forms of 'knowing.' We don't just rely on the material realm and reality to give us information. Many of us pay attention to 'hunches' or intuition, have conversations with our gods or spirits, consult divination systems like the tarot or runes, read clouds or tea leaves, or practice some other form of nature divination or augury. The information we receive supplements--it does not supplant--the information that our analytical self is receiving from the material world.

I think some people use intuition, or similar ways of knowing, without really realising it. Think of the people you know who always seems to carry good fortune with them or be 'at the right place at the right time.' However many of us tune out our intuition or come to doubt it through many years of people telling us that decisions and actions should be based on facts, not feelings. I find this particular ironic because just about all the successful research scientist I've spoken to have told me that most of their 'big discoveries' have come from following hunches or even vivid dreams.

What's interesting about the scientists is that while they may be following a sense of intuition, or even guidance, in their research, their methods are rooted in a strong foundation of practical science. The two--conventional and alternative knowledge--work synergistically. It's through building practical foundations and actively developing our intuition and other ways of knowing that we can gain our deepest understandings and work our most powerful magic.

A wise witch once told me that an effective witch should know (and trust) the different intuition-like ways that they receive alternative knowledge, as well as being proficient in several different systems of more tangible divination to help check or deepen the guidance. For example, I often will follow-up a hunch or omen with a tarot or rune reading and some material research.

What are you ways of knowing? We don't all receive alternative knowledge the same way. Do you get flashes or visions? Hear sounds, voices or hold conversations? Sporadically perceive deeper meaning from seemingly everyday things, occurrences, conversations or songs? Get 'gut feelings' or read 'vibes' off of people or objects? Have vivid or prophetic dreams? Simply 'know' something? Get a whiff of a scent or aroma, or a taste on your tongue, real or not? Or perhaps the hairs on your left arm stand up or you get a pain in your right big toe.

Pay attention to your ways of knowing. Develop them. One way of doing this is to keep a small notebook and simply jot down when you have a 'flash.' As part of your daily or regular practice, see if there are patterns to any of them. Which ones ring true or are revealed as true over time? You can also work with a flash through divination, art or stream of consciousness writing.

Daily Practice

The Winter Feast for the Soul starts tomorrow. Are you ready?

If you're still looking for ideas, here are a few simple ones that have worked well for me in the past, or for people I know:

Read a poem daily with intention, preferably aloud. I rotate a few books on the coffee table and open one at random. Bonus: Serves as divination too!

Simple 5 minute sitting practice. This is part of my own daily practice and I'd be lost without it. Basically, set a timer and be your own company for 5 minutes. Be open to any messages from the Divine, your higher self, guides, etc

Say a morning and/or evening prayer. This is also part of my own practice. Write one yourself or use one from a book or website. Try to make it the same prayer(s) for the 40 days, or to change it no more often than weekly. Alternatively you can take a few moments in the morning and/or evening to say hello to your god(s), guides, etc, in the same way you'd greet or say good night to a parent, child or lover. Don't forget to listen for their reply!

Drink a glass of water or eating a piece of fruit each day with intention and attention. If you want, you can charge the water or fruit with an intention beforehand.

Commit to 5 minutes of stretching or physical activity each day. Pay attention to the energy in you body and set the intention that the activity will help release any energetic blocks and strengthen your energetic pathways. Again, don't forget to listen during this practice.

Do you have a suggestion for a simple daily practice? Let me know about it!

Winter Feast for the Soul

The Winter Feast for the Soul starts this year on January 15th, a new moon. It's a commitment to 40 days of daily spiritual practice. Winter, especially after the craziness of the Yuletide season, is a perfect time for this. For me winter is a time for drawing inward, introspection, and energetic preparation. The best way for many of us to do this is regular and consistent spiritual practice.

I love the quote from Rumi on the Winter Feast for the Soul Website:

What nine months in the womb does for the soul,
Forty early mornings will do for your growing awareness.

I'm not so sure about early mornings--that I think is a personal predisposition--but 40 days of consistent, mindful spiritual practice will certainly grow awareness, whether we want it our not!

I think that one of the reasons that many people find daily practice so difficult is partly because of that growing awareness. It's scary. It can challenge our preconceptions. It can open us up to new ideas. It can shine a light on those dark places of our selves or our environment that we'd rather keep hidden. It's often easier to subconsciously find an excuse not to continue the practice, or to do it so inconsistently that we are effectively starting over each time, than it is to face our demons or our grandeur.

I have a daily spiritual practice. There are simple 'things' I do every day regardless of where I am or how I feel; and they form the foundation of my spiritual being, in a similar way to washing my face, brushing my hair and saying hello to my loved ones in the morning. On specific days, or if I'm working on a particular exercise or goal, I may add to this litany; but the foundation is essentially the same. In a similar way that a painter prepares her canvas, my foundational daily practice is the primer coat for deeper spiritual work.

I haven't decided yet how I'm going to approach the Winter Feast this year, Usually the winter months have me yearning to deepen my work with the Iron Pentacle; just as the emergence of spring calls forth the Pearl for me. What I do know is that I'm going to use these 40 days to stretch my edges and open to possibility.

Will you join me?

Baking Soda in the Home

I use baking soda when I clean. Not only does it cause less damage to the earth than harsher cleaning products, it is also cleanses the energy of my home. Commercial cleaning products seem to have either little effect energetically, or they remove all the energy, just like they remove all the dirt!

I noticed the energetic effects of housecleaning with baking soda when I switched over for environmental reasons. At first I was simply amazed at how well baking soda cleaned the grime off my bathtub, removed dirt from my tile flours, and shined up my counters and all thing stainless steel. It took a little while longer to notice that my home felt different energetically. The rooms cleaned with baking soda felt lighter, calmer.

It's not surprising really. Chemically, baking soda contains sodium. Energetically, both are cleansers that remove and hold adverse energy or influences. The recommendation to bathe in salt water is common across many religious traditions for 'cleansing' or atonement. Many folk recipes also recommend bathing in water to which salt or baking soda (sometimes both) has been added to remove negative influences, or to release emotional or psychic tension. I suspect that cleaning my home with baking soda is affecting my home in the same way. It certainly feels that way to me.

Now I clean all my rooms to some extent with baking soda. Since baking soda is abrasive I adapt how it is used for what I'm cleaning. For example, I'll happily scrub down my tub with it; however on my wood floors, not so much. Instead I lightly dust the floors with baking soda before passing the mop.

On Ancestors and Dependents

Hmmm. I think my ancestors and house spirits are consuming more of our best scotch than I am.

And yesterday, over pie, my man started to muse about whether the government would accept if we claimed them as dependents...

Food and Magic

The lovely and talented Jen Byers has alerted me to a new blog that she's contributing to. I strongly suspect it will appear to the hearth-crafters and homesteaders among us: Magical Eating.

From the opening post:
"Our hearths and homes are our most intimate expressions of self; the seat of our magic and our values. We welcome our beloveds into these sacred places; we laugh, work, make love and share food together there..."

Mmmmm. Yummy. Food for the tummy and the soul.