More Magical Uses for Easter Eggs

At Sunday’s Magical Chat, in discussing magical uses for Easter eggs, we talked about how eggs are used in different shamanic healing techniques, and my idea of how one could enhance such techniques by using eggs dyed in herbs and spices with beneficial qualities. An example was turmeric, which can be used to color eggs, and how in India, both Hindu and Muslim brides as well as babies may be rubbed with turmeric because of its auspicious golden glow. Looking through various sources on natural dyes for Easter eggs, I see that some other substances used to color eggs include beets, red cabbage, red onions, walnut husks, coffee grounds, caraway seed, sage, spinach, marjoram, young beech or wild apple leaves, and cherry or crab apple bark.

Also, I have been looking through my notes on traditional healers, and thought you might enjoy reading about some specific instances where eggs are used. The following comes from “The Mixe of Oaxaca: Religion, Ritual, and Healing,” by Frank J. Lipp. The author had gotten a bit of fright after falling into a ravine on one of his rambles. Because the Mixe (like many traditional peoples) believe fright deranges your energy body with a form of soul loss, he called in a healer. Lipp relates, “Beginning with the most painful area, she then rubbed my head with two eggs. The state of fright is not absorbed by the eggs but ‘taken off’ before it can spread through the body …” [Lipp 178]. The curer afterward buried the two eggs as an offering to the “Night Wind,” which she considered to be the malign spirit that seized his soul on the mountainside where the accident occurred.

This practice of rubbing the body with eggs is very widespread, especially in Latin and Middle Eastern culture areas, as well as South America. In her book, “Woman Who Glows in the Dark: A Curandera Reveals Traditional Aztec Secrets of Physical and Spiritual Health,” Elena Avila explains how she has found the egg useful in her practice of curanderismo: “I have been astonished at how rubbing an egg over someone’s body has helped me to read their energy. This tool has become a doorway that helps me to read peoples’ souls.” (The egg rub is part of the “limpia,” a spiritual revitalization process.) Avila is also able to use the egg in divinatory diagnosis, by breaking the egg and dropping it into a glass of water to “read” it, once the ritual treatment is finished. She says, “What I do at such times is to look at the relationship between the egg yolk, which symbolizes the individual, and the egg white, which represents the energy that does not belong to the client because she has just released it in the ceremony of the five directions.” [Avila 36, 166] Note that Avila uses the term “energy that does not belong to you” as a way of describing intrusive energy forms that others might label as evil spirits.

The next example is more unique, because it involves eating an egg as a way of recovering a lost soul fragment. This comes from Venetia Newall’s “An Egg at Easter,” and the original source is a 1966 National Geographic article by Peter Kunstader, who was working in northern Thailand, and reported a situation where, “a member of the Karen tribe [was] cured of fever when one of his thirty-two souls—which had escaped and so caused the illness—was recaptured inside a hard-boiled egg. Friends called to the soul repeatedly and, when they were able to balance the egg on a small stick stuck in the ground, they knew it had heard and gone inside. The sick man was then given this to eat and made a good recovery” [Newall 109]. This concept of having multiple souls is also very widespread, so dealing with soul loss is something which plays a primary role in shamanic cultures everywhere.

If you’ve ever experienced feelings of disorientation or fragmentation, you could be said to be experiencing a form of soul loss. To perform a little self healing after traumatic incidents have left you feeling a bit “beside yourself,” you could decorate an egg with your name, your birth-date, your astrological symbol, and other symbols that are special to you, then ceremonially eat the egg with the idea that you’re pulling some of your own energies back into your body. This would also be a nice treat for a child who has had a bad day at school, or any of the other number of upsets that children are sensitive to.

Incidentally, the idea of charming the wandering soul fragment into an egg reminds me of Russian fairytales in which a sorcerer hides his heart or spirit in an egg.

In Communication with the Universe

I’m in the process of reading “The Secret Life of Nature” by Peter Tompkins (co-author of “The Secret Life of Plants”), which especially deals with the Fairy World as part of a Universe that is intensely alive and in constant communication with us. Tompkins’ statement that, “The idea that the entire universe communicates with the interior of our bodies and minds has been part of esoteric religious tradition for thousands of years” [213],” also has implications for divination techniques like Tarot and Bibliomancy.

Ancient peoples viewed divination as more than just a self-serving practice based on the desire to know what’s coming down the road so you can take advantage of it. When you get out your pack of Tarot cards or other divinatory tools, you are both saying and signaling, “Hey, I’m ready to pay attention.” This is a respectful act, because it amounts to paying attention to what the Living Universe is trying to tell you, and paying attention is paying respect. There is an exchange of energy here, a metaphysical coinage, an energy offering.

When we take the shamanic view, we approach the larger, Living Universe and all its individual life forms and expressions of life as kin to us. We can look at divination as a way of opening a friendly conversation with our spiritual kinfolk, so there’s nothing dark or boding or fearful about that. Persons with strong family feeling take pleasure in being in touch with extended family members; this is one of the reasons that so many Native Americans begin speeches as well as prayers with a greeting to “all of my relations.”

This can provide creative inspiration for Tarot artists: one could come up with something of an animists’ Tarot deck or Oracle, where you have not just human figures, but illustrations where the human figures are interacting with faery and spirit forms, as well as with other natural entities, and with natural and man-made features of the environment that are in some sense animated. I think I have come across some decks that at least hint at this. Can anyone jog my memory or suggest Tarot decks that illustrate this sense of communication with the larger world, and with the Intelligence of Nature?

Giving You Something to Write About—March 17, 2010

With the start of April getting closer in sight, I’m pulling my stuff together for my first-Sunday-of-the-month visits to the Triple Goddess, (with the first on April 4th, which is also Easter). As always, these sessions are free and casual, and among the reasons for stopping by are that novel events like my “magical chat sessions” give you something to write about.

If you blog or keep a journal, or if you are a person who tries to be dutiful about writing letters or e-mails to friends and relatives, you know that it can sometimes be difficult to find much to say beyond reporting about the weather and everyone’s health condition. However, if you happen by the Triple Goddess on one of these Sundays when I have some activity set up, such as the Faery Friends, Dollhouse Oracle, Animal Cracker Oracle, etc., at least you can write up something like, “I stopped by the Triple Goddess today, and there was this lady who was telling fortunes with animal crackers …” (or what have you). Think about it—how many places are there in this area (or anywhere) where you can just wander in and see something like that going on? Also, if you participate in the demonstrations of Tarot reading or other oracles, that gives you additional fodder for writing, because you can explore the meaning of whatever reading you got.

Just a reminder—if you would like to further probe the significance of your readings or other topics of interest, you can post questions and comments to this blog. I will be happy to respond, because there are always so many additional insights that one can pull out of a reading or discussion.

For those who are unfamiliar, when I come to the Triple Goddess, I demonstrate Tarot techniques or other Oracle techniques (among other things). Typically a small group of people will be present, and if it involves Tarot reading, people will bring their own cards or can borrow demonstrator decks from the Triple Goddess. As we delve into whatever is the theme of the day, individuals shuffle and lay out their own cards, and then we go around the table discussing the readings. If you are shy about having your situation discussed in a group, you aren’t obligated to participate. It is OK to just look on, and you can pick up pointers for reading that way.

A big advantage of the group experience is that when people come together, their Spirit Mentors also come together. Just as individual human persons have different knowledge, insights, and talents, so do people in Spirit, so this is an opportunity to tap into the greater collective wisdom of the Spirit World. And of course, a high vibration place like the Triple Goddess already attracts the better class of spirits. Some things I hope to continue to develop throughout this year’s sessions are new ways that we can CROWD SOURCE TO SPIRIT.

This is also why I very much encourage participants and onlookers to butt in as we discuss different peoples’ readings. If someone has drawn certain cards (or whatever), and something pops into your mind about their meanings, do speak up. Even if your comment doesn’t seem entirely pertinent or significant, it may be that you are getting a message from Spirit, with something that somebody there needs to hear. Also, with the Synchronicity Factor, a message for one can be meaningful to many. Often, in analyzing or discussing someone else’s reading, things will come up that speak to my own concerns. I think this is all the more the case for group members when a number of people come together.

Another good thing about these sessions is that the good folks at the Triple Goddess allow—and indeed encourage—us to work with their demonstrator decks. So, if you’ve been thinking about buying a particular Tarot deck or other oracle deck, but are wondering how it would work for you, or if you just want to familiarize yourself with a lot of different decks, this is a great way to try them out.

By the way, among the things we’ll be doing at the April 4th session are a Tarot reading and Tarot spell on the theme of Resurrection, which will be focusing on the Judgment card. If you have a chance to come by a little early, you might take some time to go through the demonstrator decks to see if any of them have a version of the Judgment card that you’d like to try working with. Note that you don’t have to use the same deck for both the reading and the spell—it’s fine to use two different decks.

Apologies: Spammer Posted Comment

I'm still relatively new to blogging, so some things still surprise me. I just had to remove a comment to the last post, because it turned out to be pornographic spam. My apologies to everybody who is following this blog! If you got the comment link in your mailbox, I wouldn't recommend following it, because it could well have viruses. I have now altered my account so new comments will be monitored before being posted. --With profuse apologies, Janina

Festival Energy

A Happy Fat Tuesday to Everyone! (Or as we call it in this part of Michigan, Paczki Day.) This is the last day of Mardi Gras in New Orleans (and everywhere else, of course). Mention Mardi Gras, and most Americans think of a big boozefest, but I think it has magical potential, related to the feng shui effect which I have previously discussed in reference to Halloween and masquerading traditions. So, for example, I mentioned how a person in need of healing can engage The Principle of the Fantastic as well as the energy of the crowd, (“the swarm”), by dressing up in some outlandish get-up and parading. This form of shape-shift and the moving stream of chi both revitalize the energy body. (I apologize that I have not gotten around to tagging my older posts, but you can find some of this discussion in February of 2009 and October of 2008.)

To align yourself with the psychic energy stream that Mardi Gras generates—even if you aren’t a Catholic—it would be good to follow it with some form of fasting or abstinence, where you give up certain indulgences for a few weeks. The problem with Mardi Gras in America is that we don’t engage in fasting afterward, and without the lows, you can’t appreciate the highs, so they become meaningless bouts of overindulgence.

If you’re familiar with the movie, “The Sound of Music,” you know who Maria von Trapp is—and she was a real person who wrote a great book: “Around the Year with the Trapp Family.” In my old notes, I have some of her comments on the need for Lent, and I just did a search to verify that you can find some of this online, with keywords like “Maria Trapp ‘lean weeks of Lent.’” To paste in a few quotes from Maria Trapp:

“Nobody could stand a Thanksgiving Day dinner every day of the year. There can only be mountains if there are also valleys. It is a pity that the Reformation did away not only with most of the sacraments and all of the sacramentals, but also, unfortunately, with the very breath of the Mystical Body — that wonderful, eternal rhythm of high and low tide that makes up the year of the Church … Modern man lost track of this. Deep down in the human heart, however, is imbedded the craving to celebrate, and, in a dumb way, the other craving to abstain, perhaps to atone. In general, these cravings are no longer directed in seasonal channels, ... So modern man one day — any day — gets up and says, ‘Let's celebrate!’ And without any warrant, he decrees that his town from now on will have a festival on, let's say, August 18th; and as he can dance and eat and drink on any day between January 1st and December 31st, the most he will experience is a ‘good time.’ But he will never be able to "celebrate a feast.’”

Turning to other seasonal events, we have just entered the Chinese New Year of the Tiger, so, Happy New Year! The official start date was this past Sunday, which was also Valentine’s Day, so the celebrational energy has been very high, with so many festivities falling so close to each other.

A Year that Nurtures Dreams

A special Empress quality that I alluded to previously is the ability to nurture creative dreams, so I’m hopeful that this year as an entity will help nurture all of our dreams.

The Empress is a tarot card that brings up a number of archetypal goddess associations, and the Empress ability to nurture dreams can be related to Jean Shinoda Bolen’s discussion of “Vision Carriers” in relation to Aphrodite as Alchemical Goddess in her book, “Goddesses in EveryWoman,” pp. 229-32. (Tarot illustrators have traditionally incorporated Venus/Aphrodite iconography into the Empress card.) In stressing the necessity of believing in your dreams and working to actualize them, Bolen points out that, “Often it is essential that another significant person believe that dream is possible: that person is a vision carrier, whose faith is often crucial.”

Bolen goes on to discuss how special women have often acted as vision carriers in offering encouragement to notable men, but regrets that it has been less common for men to nurture the Dream for women in their lives. Be that as it may, when we become aware of how important it is to offer encouragement, we can all become Vision Carriers for more people, and the Empress year prompts us to think about how we can offer encouragement on a larger scale. To help understand how this has played out in your life, think about all of the people you’ve encountered who have encouraged you in one way or another.

One can also think of ways that Society has helped nurture some individual dreams. For example, as a youngster in the city of Detroit, my school system sent me to Saturday classes for talented kiddies at the Detroit Art Institute. Each weekend, we carried our boards and easels into a different wing of that museum, to study and translate our inspiration from the art of different cultures and masters; this was very enriching and enabled me to feel special. I believe that when both individual persons as well as social institutions help young people to feel special, they are less likely to become alienated and anti-social.

By the way, a current film that conveys the Empress quality of Vision carrying is the recent Disney animation, “The Princess and the Frog.” If you haven’t seen it yet, I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler if I mention that the prince in the story undergoes major transformations after being turned into a frog. Prince Naveen had always been lazy and selfish, but as a result of his adventures in the swamp with Tiana, he resolves to work hard to make her dreams come true. I have heard that this movie has not done well at the box office, but for magical people, it’s a “must see.” Also, I love the priestess, Mama Odie, and her bottle tree—and the Shadow Man is right up there with the other great Disney villains.

Our Years in Memory

To pick up on the previous discussion of 2010 as an Empress Year because 2010 adds up, numerologically, to the Empress’s number “3,” this gives us a way to think of the year in terms of a personality. So, as different events occur in our lives and in the larger world, we can reflect on how these events either relate to or do not relate to Empress qualities. Of course, the same principle applies to our personal Year Cards, so we can also reflect on how well these cards are able to characterize our more personal experience of the year. (See the previous post explaining personal Year Cards.) However, in looking back, it may be easier to associate the card for the year as a whole, (as opposed to the personal Year Card), because there’s a little less math involved.

Thinking of different years as different personalities is a good mnemonic, (i.e., it helps us form memory clusters). When, in later years, we look back on our personal timelines, we might reminisce, “Oh yes, that event happened during an Empress year, and it was followed by that other event in the Emperor year, leading to such-and-such a development in the Hierophant year.” (This example could pertain to a situation where you started acting on a creative dream one year, had established some foundations for it by the next year, and had achieved some social authority in your relative field the following year.)

Also, mindful that 2010 is an Empress year, whenever the Empress comes up in a Tarot reading, you can think about how the matters it pertains to relate to your experience of 2010 as a whole. (Again, this also applies to your personal Year Card.)

Year Cards offer an additional level of interpretation to apply when you are doing tarot readings that involve a time line reaching into the past or future. So, if you are working toward some long-term goal and wondering when you’ll reap the rewards, if the Chariot (#7) comes up in a critical position such as the outcome position, that could—in addition to whatever else that card normally represents--denote the year 2014, (or whichever year is your personal Chariot Year). Similarly, when you are working with card spreads that include a position pertaining to the past, (such as the “below you” position in the Celtic Cross spread, which can sometimes point to past influences that exert an Unconscious motivating force), you might add up the numbers to see if the card in question may also point to a particular year whose significant events left a lasting impression or have some other bearing on the present matter.