What Are 'Correspondences'?

For those of you who have missed out on the full wonder of the Raven Newsletter (FREE to active customers and also available by Subscription - £5.00 in UK and NI, £10 Eire and EU) here is an article from our latest edition:

I suppose the principle of correspondences can be summed up in the words of the abbreviated Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus:

As above, so below

Correspondences are symbols which magically resonate together. They can be ideas, physical objects, colours, crystals, shapes, plants or animals, but they are all used to add power, success and effectiveness to spells and magical workings.
     Once you start doing any magical working, ritual or spell, you will naturally begin to use correspondences without thinking about it, and without even realising you are doing it.
     For example a simple spell for good luck:
     On a Wednesday with the moon waxing, mark an orange candle with the symbol of Mercury. Light the candle and put near it a marker you will use in Bingo and say:

Lady Luck, Lord of Chance,

Make the Bingo numbers dance

Help me win and fill my need,

Make numbers fill my card with speed!

     Let the candle burn down, then pick up the marker pen and say:

My Lucky Pen will help me win!

     Obviously take the pen with you to Bingo and use it to mark your card.

     The above spell makes use of quite a few different correspondences. First the day of the week, Wednesday is sacred to the god Mercury/Hermes who devised the first gambling game, bones or dice.
     The Moon waxing is used to increase anything as the shape of the Moon can be seen as waxing or growing towards full. In this case we are 'growing' our Good Luck.
     Orange is one of the colours sacred to Mercury and this is emphasised by marking the candle with the symbol of Mercury too.
     The marker pen you put by the candle is being infused with the energies of Good Luck which you are gathering with your spell, and becomes a lucky talisman for you to take with you to Bingo.
     Very often the sheer number of correspondences that an experienced magician or Witch incorporates into their rituals can be seen as overwhelming to a beginner. There are books written exclusively on this subject including '777' by Aleister Crowley.
     But really there are a few major ones which can easily be learnt: the energies of the phases of the moon; the energies of the days of the week; and the significance of colours.
     Many other correspondences are based on these few simple basic correspondences. For examples the correspondences of plants and trees is based on the Doctrine of Signatures which says that each plant contains indications of what it might be useful for, either in its colour, shape of leaf or root etc. This in turn leads to each plant being assigned and astrological planet, which again has the same correspondences as the days of the week.
     The significance of colours often also indicates what a particular gem stone could be used for. So pink stones are sacred to Venus, yellow ones to the Sun and so on.
     One other point about correspondences is that they can also depend on what you feel about a colour or object. And upon your cultural background too. For example to the Chinese red is the colour of wealth and good luck, so you could use a red candle in the above spell, and instead of marking it with the symbol of Mercury you could mark the candle 88 as the number eight is seen as being very similar to the Chinese symbol for happiness and luck, so 88 is the equivalent to the Chinese symbol Double Good Luck, which is a very potent and fortunate symbol to use.
     Have a look at our Fact Sheets number 2 Candle and Colour Magic and 49 Planetary Magic, these will give you the basics of correspondences and help you get on your way to effective, practical magic

Giving In and Getting On

If you have been reading my blogs and/or the Raven Newsletter, you may remember me writing a piece bewaling the perversity of knees which refuse to do the things they were designed for i.e. bending and straightening. Well this year things were not improved in the 'walking about' field when I managed to snap a tendon in my foot/ankle.

Of course it is improving, but as you get older you notice how much more slowly these things get better than they did when you were younger. It has meant that getting round a small supermarket has become a BIG achievement, and any visits anywhere have to be planned like a military campaign as basically I can go 20-30mtrs then I will HAVE to sit down. It also means we have to do a kind of 'plea bargaining' when Graham and I want to do several shops in one go, such as: well if I don't go round that shop, I should be able to get round the next one, but that will knacker me for anything else.

It has also meant that I can't go into pedestrian areas if there are no seats within easy reach, or if I do manage it, by the time I get to a seat I will be knackered and won't be able to make it round any of the shops. It is annoying and frustrating.

Incidentally there is NOTHING wrong with my mentality, my brain has not been switched off and I have not reverted to childhood. So why do people speak to me sometimes as if I am retarded or need to be humoured?

A few times recently we have attempted to go to a Boot Sale - I love finding treasures! But unless we are parked right next to the stalls, I cannot make it from the car to the stalls and back again. Which has meant Graham having to go round on his own - and you never know what that will lead to (well actually I can tell you what that will lead to now, he will find another exercise machine!).

This weekend Alford Craft Market is on. A great place to visit, as you might imagine a whole market full of fab hand made stuff, from pottery and cushions to paintings and jewellery. For many years we had a stall at the market, selling a variety of goods starting with hand made cosmetics and creams and ending up with hand painted glassware, and we still try and go to have a look around and meet up with old friends.

But this year, there was no way I could make it to the Manor House grounds from the car park, so Graham had to go on his own.

So we are thinking about getting a wheelchair for me.

I have been fighting this for a while as to me it feels like giving in. I should be able to walk, and if I could walk a bit more, I know eventually I would get better at it - but in actuality it is meaning that I am going nowhere, I am spending hours just sitting in the car waiting for Graham to do stuff and the pair of us are missing out on doing stuff together.

'Sounds just like my mum,' said Maggie on the Craft Market, 'She wasn't having a stick to walk with, then she had to have a stick. Then she wasn't having a wheelchair, now she has a wheelchair and it is so much easier for everyone, and she gets to go places with my dad.'

To be honest, now I have allowed myself to start thinking about the possibilities, I am starting to think this might not be a bad idea.

It may even give me more exercise as I shall be pushing myself around at least some of the time, and if I can wheelchair to a shop, then I can walk around the shop and know I won't be stuck at the end of it.

Wonder if I could do Robin Hood's Bay ? ....

Gang Aft Agley

The best laid plans of mice and men ... and even Witches too!

So this was the weekend of printing folding and stuffing. The mail shot was written - well nearly, I actually was finishing off the Newsletter while already starting the printing of other parts - and we were settling down to a weekend of getting all the various parts printed and folded then stuffed into envelopes ready for posting on Monday (today).

Because I do not trust technology, I always make sure that rather than printing all of one section, then going on to another, I actually print a hundred of each for a start, so that should anything go wrong, at least we can get some of the mail shots out. Not that I expected anything to go wrong.

So while I was finishing the Newsletter and printing, Graham had started sticking address labels on envelopes and folding the printed parts. This one is quite a complicated mail shot with several different sections including a new Book Shop, a section with tarot cards and divination sets, limited stocks of new books, a special Sale section, plus of course the Newsletter and order form. So quite a bit of printing.

So  I had managed to print out everything, except the main bit, the Book Shop, which I had just started on. When all of sudden the photocopier did its frantic 'I need attention' beeping. It does this for a paper jam, if it needs more paper or a new toner cartridge. So nothing too worrying until I saw a new message on the touch screen 'Waste Toner Bottle full, send for service.'

I duly made a note of the message and told it to carry on printing, which it said it would after it had warmed up - and then refused to have anything further to do with me.

Of course the photocopier service people do not work at the weekend. So there we were stuffed.

So thanks to my mistrust of technology, we did have some complete sets, and have managed to send out some of the Mail Shot, but there are still a lot which need printing.

So this is an explanation of where we are currently up to, and the rest of the Mail Shot will go out just as soon as the engineer has been and seen to the photocopier. Sorry if you are one of those in the 'delayed' section, but hopefully all will be sorted out within the next few days.

What Did You Do at Lughnassadh This Year?

It is a beautiful Lughnassadh morning, the sun is actually shining, which makes a change this summer. And I have already made some milk bread for us, which we had hot from the oven with breakfast.

I am currently upstairs keeping out of the way while Graham tackles the downstairs with wire doggy brush and vacuum cleaner.

Having two very hairy dogs, we have tried all sorts to get hair out of the carpets. A good tip was to use a rubber broom, and this does indeed work, but is an extremely physical muscle building exercise. Then one night when the dogs had had enough of the wire doggy brush, Graham idly started using it on the carpet as a joke. To our amazement it brings loads of hair out plus a surprising amount of grit. Yes you do have to be on your hands and knees to use it, but you can clean the carpet amazingly quickly, then vacuum around afterwards to pick up the grit.

Today, however, the carpets are getting a particularly thorough going over, as last night when Graham was reading his book, a full stop suddenly leapt across the page, then onto the carpet, then my foot and bit me on the ankle.

Yes it was a mini traveller. A dog flea.

At this time of year it is almost impossible to be sure you are a flealess household as, even though the dogs have been flea-doomed twice this summer, they only have to walk somewhere out in the woods where a flea might be lurking to be in danger of bringing a visitor home with them.

So the dogs are currently hiding under the bed behind me as they fear they might be getting the blame for the amount of noise and swearing going on downstairs. And I am likewise staying out of the way of the man on a mission.

Have vacuum, will get traveller! (We hope)

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Summer

For those of you who have the misfortune not to be on the Raven Mailing List - and therefore miss out on the wonder that is the Raven Newsletter (sub £5.00 per year UK and NI, £10 Eire and Europe) here is an article which appeared in the last edition and I hope you will enjoy:

     We are now into the Dog Days when Sirius is snapping at the Sun's heels, making the Sun God burn even more brightly, heating the Earth.
     In these days people long to sit in the shade, or relax in the sun, but mainly doing nothing in the heat.
     Roses are in full bloom and the jasmine fills the evenings with sweet, seductive perfumes, for as the temperatures rise, so do the passions.
     Summer is the time when you can fall in love (or in lust) and perhaps do something stupid or out of character, like having a wild affair. Hopefully this will be just a brief aberration and no-one will get hurt, but that is rare and more often other passions will be roused: jealousy, anger and even the desire for revenge. How we humans hurt each other, even the ones we love.
     But how much more destructive and terrible can it be when gods are involved.
     Adonis is a typical story of love and passions, not all of them amorous.
     Let us start with the boast of a proud mother, that her daughter Myrrha was more beautiful than the Goddess of love, Aphrodite. Aphrodite who all men fell in love with as soon as they saw her beautiful face. Aphrodite who was jealous of any rival who might cause heads to turn away from her.
     So Myrrha's mother thought her daughter was beautiful enough to temps any man, Aphrodite mused, and laughed, so shall it be.
     And one night when drink had flowed freely and the inhibitions of the king, her father were lowered, King Cyniras seduced his own daughter and made her pregnant.
    When he found out what had happened, the king was both ashamed and angry and chased after his daughter with a sword to kill both her and her unborn son. Some say that Myrrha changed into a myrtle tree and her son grew safe within her. Others say she was killed by her father, but Aphrodite showed compassion by saving her unborn son, yet others that Myrrha and her son were locked in a box and thrown into the sea, and were rescued on a distant shore.
     But certainly the baby survived and was named Adonis, which means 'Lord' and he was the most beautiful baby, and child and young man that anyone had seen.
     Indeed he was so beautiful that the goddess of love, great Aphrodite fell in love with him and went down to earth to spend time with him. But she was not the only goddess who had seen the lovely young man striding through the forests, his bow taking down whatever game he aimed at.
     The goddess Artemis goddess of hunting and eternal virgin, had had the youth in her sights too - but Aphrodite had swooped down and carried off the prize.
     Artemis was furious, how dare Aphrodite take Adonis from her. Artemis grew more and more angry and in her rage sent a huge boar rampaging over the land, its tusks sharp, its anger as fierce as her own. It trampled and gored every creature it came across, laying a swathe of devastation through the land. And there stood Adonis, the youth, the Lord who would save the land by killing the boar.
     But Artemis was in a killing fury and when the boar passed, its tusks dripped red with the blood of Adonis, sprinkling the earth. Aphrodite found him, his blood sinking into the black earth and wherever the drops fell, wind flowers, anemones, bloomed, their blossoms as beautiful, fragile and short lived as Adonis.
     Aphrodite wept and the spirit of Adonis slipped away, down into the black, endless night of the kingdom of Persephone, queen of the Underworld.
     Aphrodite was inconsolable, she wept in Olympus and begged mighty Zeus to release Adonis from the Underworld. She begged and pleaded, baurtiful even in her grief, so beautiful that seeing her made the world weep with her. And in the end Zeus agreed and sent clever Hermes, the messenger, to the kingdom of Hades to retrieve the soul of Adonis.
     But the beauty of Adonis had survived even into the Underworld, and when Hermes found Adonis he was seated with Persephone. Hermes smiled and pleaded, and threatened and cajoled and Persephone said 'Whoever enters my kingdom will not leave again, that is the law.'
     Hermes returned to Zeus alone, and Zeus's temper grew and mount Olympus was shrouded in dark clouds and the thunder boomed and lightning flashed in sheets and spiky bolts, striking the earth randomly, but never reaching Persephone where she sat upon her throne in the Underworld and gazed upon the beauty of Adonis.
     So Zeus raged and Aphrodite wept, until Hermes suggested that they hold a hearing, where both goddesses could plead their case.
     Zeus appointed the Muse Calliope to hear the testimony of the goddesses and her ruling was that Adonis would spend four months in the Underworld with Persephone, four months with Aphrodite, and would have four months of freedom to roam the world as he wanted.
     So in the Spring Adonis returns from the Underworld and is free to wander the wide world, sprinkling his flowers to welcome the returning life and light. And in the Summer the earth blossoms with the flowers of love because Aphrodite is with her lover once more. And in the cold winter, when the earth lies dead as a corpse, Adonis sits with the cold queen of the Underworld and brings a semblance of roses to her pale cheeks and a hint of cherries to her lips.



Hymn to Adonis, the Dying God

In Adonis's rosy arms the Lady of Cyprus lies, and he in hers.
A bridegroom of eighteen or nineteen years is he.
His kisses are not rough, the golden down being still upon his lips.
And now goodnight to Cyprus, in the arms of her lover
But in the morning, we will all of us gather with the dew,
And carry him forth among the waves that break upon the beach,
And with hair loosed, bosoms bare, and robes falling to the ankle,
We will begin our sweet, shrill song.
Be gracious to us now, dear Adonis, and in the coming year.
Dear to us has thy coming been, Adonis,
And dear it shall be when you come again.

                                                               Theocritus 3rd century bce

Holda - Goddess of Fruitfulness?

On the 10th of July I put up a post for remembering three Goddesses, Skadi, Holda and Hel and said that Skadi is the Northern Goddess of hunting and hunters, Holda goddess of the hearth and fruitfulness and Hel daughter of Loki and Goddess of the Underworld. They appear now to remind us that although it is Summer, Winter will come and so now is the time to ensure that you will have sufficient stores for the coming season.

The mention of Holda as a goddess of fruitfulness, has got a few folks baffled, so I thought it might be an idea to go into this more deeply.

Holda is also known as the Elder Mother, which is usually interpreted to mean that she is a Crone goddess. She is after all, one of the goddesses of the crossroads, who guards the gateway between the worlds. In folk stories she appears as Mother Holda, who has down filled mattresses which need to be turned regularly, and when they are, the tiny downy feathers are released and fall to earth as snowflakes. So she is a goddess of Winter, and often celebrated around the Winter Solstice. But her mattress does not dwell in solitary splendour, her mattress is with the home of Mother Holda, or Frau Holle. A home where things are kept in order, the hearth clean and swept, the cauldron bubbling busily over the fire, the mattresses turned regularly. Frau Holle is a proud house wife, her house is spick and span, ready for whatever work she chooses to do whether it is making jam or brewing a potion.

Notice though, in both of the above she is referred to as 'Mother'. This can, of course, simply be an honorific, a title showing respect. Or it can refer to the fact that she is a Mother Goddess.

Holda is a complex goddess, and as she is linked to the Elder Tree, her nature changes through the year and can be represented by the changes in the Tree. In the spring time the elder is festooned with lacy heads, and full of intoxicating perfume, and clouds of pollen, it is the very essence of fertility, a Maiden in her prime enticing bees to come and pollinate her. At this time we are also reminded that Elder is a fairy tree, and the door to fairy land can sometimes be found beneath an elder. Elders are also wishing trees and at Beltane, they are one of the trees we tie scraps of rag and ribbons to when we make a wish. Elder flowers also make a fizzy intoxicating wine, that is both simple and quick to make.

In the Summer Elder sets her fruit, and her leaves are a shady place to keep off the worst rays of the sun. Incidentally all parts of the Elder were at one time used in medicine and remedies, so that the Elder was known as the Poor Man's Medicine Chest.

In Autumn the branches of the Elder droop under the weight of the purple fruit it bears. They are rather bitter to eat, but they make a rich and heady, deep coloured wine. The birds love those fruit and eat as many as they can manage. So at this time Holda certainly is being very literally 'fruitful'.

Remember also that of all the trees, Elder, the tree of Mother Holda, is the only one where we still remember the ritual rhyme we must speak before we gather any of her wood:

Lady Holda, give me some of thy wood

And I will give thee some of mine, when it grows again in the forest.

Sometimes the rhyme is addressed to Lady Elen, which is yet another name for the lady of the Crossroads. Everything goes around in circles, like the cycle of the year.

Like the trees which 'die' in the winter, losing their leaves and their beauty, revealing their skeletal limbs to the chill winter winds, then are reborn in the spring, with new leaves and flowers, so we are also promised that we will live again, one way or another.

Vrou Elde, Mother Holle, Lady Elen, Holda promises us that we will live again in the forest.

She is the life giver - what can be more fruitful than that?

Hello, Raven...?

The hazards and delights of answering the phone:

Hello, Raven... ?
Is that the Post Office?

Hello, Raven... ?
Can I speak to whoever deals with (insert any of the following):
your fleet requirements,
your company health insurance,
your internet package,
your power supply,
your deisel requirements
etc., etc.,

Hello Raven...?
Do you sell joss sticks?

Hello Raven... ?
Can I speak to Mark?
There is no one of that name here.
There must be, he gave me this number!
01482 632512?
Oh, sorry, I've got a digit wrong

Hello Raven ... ?
I'm ringing to check if you have the correct thickness of loft insulation

Hello Raven... ?
This is the last time we shall contact you about your PPI compensation claim
(That is a promise which gets your hopes up - but I've had the same call at least half a dozen times in the last three days.'

Hello Raven ... ?
I know exactly what you mean!
Pardon?
Oh sorry, I was talking to my mate

Hello Raven ...?
Can I ask you about a spell working?
Go ahead :)

Hello Raven ...?
Do you hate cleaning your cooker?

Hello Raven ... ?
I'm ringing about your facia boards

Hello Raven... ?
Can I speak to Maria
Sorry we don't have a Maria here
Is that the town council?

And finally the ones we look forward to:
Hello Raven ...?
Hi, Can I place an order please?...