Candles and their esoteric use

Candles are lit all around our home to create ambiance.
But is their purpose really just looking pretty and illuminating our home when thunder cuts our electricity?

Since when are they used?
The word candle comes from the Latin word candla or candre which means "to shine".

Nobody knows for sure when they appeared but in around 200 BC they were used in China made from whale fat.

What are they used for?
Besides giving light and ambiance candles have been used to:

• Count time
• Show respect to the deceased
• Meditation

Usually related to therapies like relaxation, aromatherapy and cromotherapy candles are an important part of holistic healing.

Candle Magic
Candles have power associated.
They represent the element fire; they represent light and energy.

They are used to gather and direct energy which is used for many ends.

In rituals and magic they are used to give more power (energy). Each color emits vibrations and each vibration can help us in our daily lives. That's why in temples there are usually candles.

Lighting a pink or red candle asking it to purify redirects the energy of the candle to the intent of purifying one's love or friendships.

Candle colors for magic (some uses):
White - Purifying
Black - Cleaning negative energy
Blue - Healing
Orange - Success
Red - Love
Green - Helps with personal goals
Silver - Intuition
Purple - Spiritual power

Candles and spirits
 Spirits are believed to be drawn to light (specially lost spirits). Many people believe lighting candles without specifying a purpose attracts them.

For more information please check:
Candle - Wiki
Candle Magic - How to

Do you like candles? ^^

The Aura - Our Energy in One Word

Although the title of this post makes it look simple, our energy is quite a complex thing.
Science believes we are energy (heat is energy for example). But esoterism and some religions go far ahead on that: we have a soul which is pure energy.

Today I am here to talk about that energy, or some of it: the external part, The Aura.

Kirlian Photography of Hands (A picture of the aura)

Aura is a subtle radiation, often luminous that surrounds people, animals, plants and, sometimes, objects that took energy (a kid's favorite teddy bear can take some energy creating an aura of its own). It can surround our body like clothes or it can be a ball around us.

Since aura is energy, nowadays, technological instruments like laptops have an aura.
Viewing the aura is usually connected with the third eye chakra and, in parapsychology, to ESP (Extrasensory Perception).

What is it for?
In spirituality and similar subjects, the aura protects the body and soul of a person or living being. It's also used by some to diagnose health problems and karma related issues.

By reading the aura and its color and intensity, some people can find problems and treat them.
For example, dark blue aura above the head might mean depression and sadness.

It's energy that flows and is in constant mutation.

How to see it?
Some people are born with this ability, others can try to work it as if it was a muscle that needs training.
There are many techniques which I will work on later in this blog.

What influences the aura?
The aura is like an energetic archive of our human experience. That's why we can find out things about past lives through our aura.

• Sadness
• Health problems
• Karma issues
• External energies
• Learning

These are some of the things that can change our aura.

External energies might be the main one, if we don't protect ourselves. Other's auras can connect to ours and trade energies. Sometimes it's good for us because we can receive positive energy from others but usually it's bad because people take away our positive energy and give us their negative one.

All these influence the color and intensity of our aura which influences how we feel.

How to clean and take care of our aura

Cleaning our energy/aura is a simple exercise that can improve our life and make us feel better.

Some techniques for this are:

1. Salt and herbs bath: the salt cleans and purifies our energy while the herbs recharge them avoiding a vulnerable period after the salt bath.
2. Visualization and meditation: Visualizing a white pure fire going in spiral from above our head to  under our feet, burning all the negativity and stains from our aura and leaving it bright and clean with a warm cozy feeling.

To avoid the need of cleaning our energy everyday, we can imagine a white light coming from within us and setting itself around us, protecting us from the negative energies and welcoming the positive ones.

The use of charms and crystals is also very popular.

Medical aura
There is a medical symptom in which the patient suffers a perceptual disturbance in the form of a luminous field around someone. It is often related to migraines.
It is easy to differentiate the medical aura from the aura of this post: the medical aura usually is caused by health problems while the aura spoken above has no health issues related to it.

Curious facts: The halo from religious figures means the holiness of that person, because the aura is represented (halo) on the head (crown and third eye chakras).
The Kirlian Photography (aka electrography) is a set of techniques used to capture electric coronal discharges. It is referred to as Aura Photography, because it is believed to take pictures of the aura.

Can you see the aura?

For more information please check:
Aura (Parapsychology) - Wiki
Aura (Symptom) - Wiki
Aura - Terra-Esoterico (Portuguese)
Kirlian Photography

For more information about the aura or suggestions please feel free to comment!

Blessed be ^^

Puppy Mills - Cruelty not even Sauron would think of

Hello.
Today I come here to talk about something that isn't really about esoterism. It's a very serious and revolting practice of animal cruelty: Puppy Farms or Puppy Mills.

All around the world (even in Portugal) these "cruelty farms" work for the good of profit and ignore the well-being of dogs and cats (and other animals).

Puppy Mills are places where dogs are bred non-stop.

Female dogs are kept malnourished in cages for the sole purpose of giving birth to puppies that will then be sold to pet shops.
These female dogs aren't allowed to get outside the cages unless when it's time to breed with male dogs; they are kept in a tiny space which is their bed, bathroom and hopefully dinning room while pregnant or with their puppies. Medical care is barely given to them.
The puppies live isolated from other dogs or humans, confined to that little space with their mom and brothers or sisters.

Lets just take a second to imagine how much these poor moms and puppies suffer.

It disgusts me to see humans can do this to their best friends.

What can we do about it?
Its not easy to abolish something like this once and for all but it's already a help if you:

• DON'T support these "cruelty farms" 
• DON'T buy pets from pet shops without knowing where they come from
• DO alert the police or others 
• DO spread the word if you find one (there is facebook, internet sites and even shops where you can hang a note informing about a puppy mill you found out about)

Unfortunately doing the same or worse to the owners of these awful things is a crime... for now.

How to recognize one of these Puppy Mills?

Here are some ways to find a puppy mill:

1. If you go to a pet shop, visit the back of the shop AND the breeder A breeder that loves his dogs and is proud of them will not say no to a visit!
2. Check if your new dog is alright and not underage, if he is sick or to young he might come from a Puppy Mill
3. Meet the mom and dad of your new dog A good breeder will have both mom and dad healthy and well treated so that the puppies are healthy too.

If you ever suspect of animal cruelty please contact the police or some animal organization.

Animals have feelings and needs just like us, they deserve better and it is everyone's responsibility to protect them and help.

If you have a chance to change someone's life, even an animal's, do it! Animals will be thankful for sure.

Contacts in case you suspect animal cruelty:

SOS Animal (Portugal): 760 501 095 or sosanimal@sosanimal.com or go to SOS Animal Facebook Page

The Police or any other competent force you remember  

   

For more information please check:

Wiki - Puppy Mills

PETA - Puppy Mills

11 Facts about Puppy Mills

Arca de Noé - Fabricas de sofrimento (Portuguese)

Lets work together for our best friends!

Blessed be

Runes - Wisdom in letters

Hi there!
Everyone has probably heard of the runes. But what exactly are they?

In old norse, "rune" means mystery, thus it being related to magic.
Runes are letters from the runic alphabet. Each has a meaning AND a letter associated.
The oldest known of the Norse runes (my personal favorites) are the Elder Futhark. But there are lots more: the Younger Futhark, the Anglo-Saxon Futhark, etc.

According to the myth, Father Odin gained the runic knowledge and power by hanging himself upside down on a tree (Yggdrasill, the Tree that holds the nine worlds) for 9 days, which gave him  the mental powers to learn and use the runes.

The Elder Futhark runes:

These are the elder runes.

Today I'm going to talk about two that are special for me:

Berkano or Bjarkan: 

• means birch, birch Goddess, birch twig
• esoteric meaning is rebirth, creativity; works of concealment and protection; contain and hold other powers together; strengthening of the powers and second vision; clairvoyance; Goddess; bringing ideas to fruition 
• rules over life (birth, adolescence, adulthood and death)

Elhaz or Yr:

• means elk, swan, protection
• the esoteric meaning is protection, protective force; communication with inhuman beings and other worlds; strengthening of magical power; luck
• connection between men and Gods

What can they be used for?

Runes are powerful.
They are most used as a divination method, their placement has meanings to our life

They can be used during rituals, spells and even during your daily life as charms. As an alphabet you can write down messages and send them to the universe during a ritual. Or you can carve them in a candle to improve the candle's power during candle magic.
There is even a specific kind of magic called Rune Magic.
I usually have Yr and Bjarkan written on my arm for protection and help.
And they help me.

What would you use them for?

For more information please check:
Wiki - Runes
Omniglot - Runic alphabets

For more information about the other runes or suggestions about other things feel free to comment!

Blessed be ^^
Special thanks to Andre Matias and my sister

Crystal Healing

Hello!
Everyone has probably seen crystals and stones in stores. They are pretty and "would probably look good on the living room", right?

Yes but that's not the only thing they do. Actually that's the least important thing they do.
Crystals heal. They can be used in Reiki and other things like magic.

How?
Like almost everything they have energy. And this energy can be filtered by the crystal's properties and used for different things like helping us heal, cleaning our energy, giving us inspiration, helping us with insomnia, etc.

Which crystals are used for what?
It's a hard question because most of them can be used for many and diverse things.
But here are some examples:

• Amber is used to clean negativity and help the natural healing process. 

  

  Amber and Clear Crystal Pendulum

• Amethyst is good to protect, heal and improve spiritual powers
• Hematite protects against negative energy, closes your energy field in order to protect you and is excellent to calm down
• Lapis lazuli is great to protect, improve integrity and attract abundance
• Quartz rose is the stone of love connected to Venus it attracts love and self-esteem.
• Tigereye helps us be optimistic and have personal power; it is good for insight

This is a very small list of crystals/stones and their uses.

But they only work properly if you treat them right...

How to work with crystals

Having energy, crystals and stones have "feelings" too and they need to be taken care of.

Most of them need to be cleaned, energized and programmed.

There are many ways of doing this:

Cleaning: 

• Placing the crystal on a glass bowl full of water with a little sea salt
• Placing the crystal under rain or flowing water
• Cleaning the crystal with your energy (imagine white pure energy coming out of your hand into the crystal)
• Placing the crystal under the sun for 24 hours

Energizing:

• Burying the crystal in soil or a garden for a day
• Placing the crystal under the sun light for 6 hours or under the moonlight for a whole night
• Leaving the crystal outside during a thunderstorm
• Imagining any color energy coming out of your hand into the crystal

Programming:

I only know a way of doing this: lay down (or sit if you prefer), take some deep breaths with the crystal in your hands, feel it pulsing with energy and place it/hold it in front of your eye chakra (between your eyebrows). Then it's time to talk to it, tell it what you want and imagine the results in-visioning the exchange of energy between your chakra and the crystal or stone. Do this until  you feel the crystal is programmed.

After this they are ready to help you 100%.

Place them around your house or take them with you everywhere. You can use them as necklaces, bracelets or rings, or even just put them inside a cloth bag and carry them with you.

For more information please check:

The Magic of Crystals and Gemstones

Facebook - Pedras Energeticas (Portugues)

Keep loving your crystals and stones!

Blessed be ^^

Reiki - Usando a Energia Universal

Olá!
Hoje eu estou aqui para falar sobre algo que tem sido muito útil no meu dia-a-dia: Reiki.

Para aqueles que não sabem, Reiki é uma terapia que funciona com o Ki (energia).

Reiki significa Universal (Rei = universe) Energia (ki), quando usamos Reiki estamos a ser um canal para a energia universal fluir.
Esta técnica Japonesa para curar criada ou redescobrida por Mikao Usui ajuda a equilibrar o corpo em todos os níveis: psicológico, emocional, físico e espiritual.
Através de cura pela imposição das mãos o terapeuta torna-se um canal e usa a energia para curar. A quantidade de energia depende nas necessidades de cada pessoa. Apesar de durante uma sessão as mãos serem colocadas em cima de pontos de energia (chakras) para a energia chegar a sitios especificos, o sítio que mais precisa de energia é sempre detetado pela energia em si.

Mas o que pode o Reiki fazer exatamente?
Hoje em dia o Reiki é usado como tratamento adicional ajudando tratamentos médicos, medicina tradicional, terapias tais como cromoterapia, etc. Muitos hospitais já estão contratando terapeutas de Reiki.
A razão disto é porque o Reiki tem uma alta taxa de sucesso na ajuda do processo de cura.
Pode ser usado para:
    -Relaxar e reduzir o stress;
    -Para aliviar os síntomas médicos e, por exemplo, síntomas de quimioterapia;
    -Ajudar as células a regenerarem por elas próprias;
    -Para ajudar a reduzir problemas como, por exemplo, depressões;
    -Para ajudar no melhoramento do sistema imunitário;
    -Elimina bloqueios;
    -Limpa a energia (chakras);
    -O Reiki até ajuda com problemas de sono;
    -etc.
Funciona com tudo que tenha uma alma/energia: humanos, animais, plantas, etc. Resumindo promove a auto-cura.

Mas como posso eu usar Reiki?
Bem podes pagar por uma sessão ou encontrar alguém que esteja iniciado em Reiki e que te faça uma de graça.
Ou podes-te iniciar.

Existem 3 nivéis de Reiki antes de te tornares um Mestre de Reiki:
Nível 1: És iniciado e começas a usar o Reiki para teinar e controlar a energia. Durante 21 dias após a iniciação tens de fazer reiki pelo menos uma vez por dia (saltar um dia não significa o fim do mundo). Aprendes o 1º símbolo Cho Ku Rei;
Nível 2: Aprendes a fazer Reiki à distância e mais dois símbolos (ainda não cheguei lá);
Nível 3: Tornas-te um Mestre de Reiki, aprendes a iniciar outra pessoa e aprendes mais dois símbolos.

Ser iniciado em Reiki leva tempo porque é um caminho de auto-desenvolvimento e crescimento espiritual.

Tem sempre muito cuidado com quem tu te queres iniciar porque essa pessoa será o teu Mestre de Reiki e irá te ajudar no processo de aprendizagem.

Irei pôr um Post no futuro sobre uma sessão ou auto-sessão.

Para mais informação sobre Reiki vejam:

Wiki - Reiki

Associação Portuguesa de Reiki

The International Center for Reiki Training  (Ingles)

Um obrigado muito especial e com amor para o meu Mestre de Reiki, André Matias

Espero que tenha sido util

Blessed be ^^

Meditation with Your Tarot Cards

Hello
Today I come here to talk about meditating with tarot cards.
It's not only a method to relax and, well, meditate but also to know your cards.

My Tarot Cards - Major Arcana

Most people seem to just read and read about the meanings of the cards and get frustrated when they don't memorize them.
I found the perfect solution: meditation!

How to meditate with your cards:
Personally I think meditation is one of those things that work the best when you do it the way you want.
But here is the way I do it:

1. Light a candle or incense of your choice and relax with the card or cards you want to use during this session
2. Take some deep breaths and feel the cards' energy before looking at them (I find it easier to gaze a few seconds and then closing my eyes)
3. While still looking at them or with your eyes closed let the image talk to you; imagine you get inside the card, check what's around you, smell the air and feel the enviornment as if you were really standing there
4. Let the person in the card ( for example if you're doing this with The Fool) talk to you; ask questions and hear the answers, get advice and hear life stories from the card
5. When you finish talking and exploring the card, see yourself get out of it and enjoy the state of mind

With cards or not it's meditation and it's good for you and your tarot experiences. It helps you understand the card and you might get your own meanings instead of reading, reading aaaaand reading a little more while trying to get all of the books' information stuck in your mind.

My personal experience:

Finding this technique was life saving.

I was getting trouble with tarot. I was frustrated because I love it and I couldn't manage to read them without a book by my side.

And then one day I found an article about Tarot Meditation, "Thank you, Gods!"

I've been doing it and it's wonderful. I have so much fun doing it and it has been very useful for the read itself because I don't need a book anymore, the cards speak to me and tell me what I need to know!

It's a way to bond with your Tarot Deck and a way to relax while getting some advice in the middle.

I recommend to everyone who likes tarot, noob or experienced, who does it as a hobby or a serious job.

Blessed be

^^