Ritual baths for self love.

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Happy Sunday my unique unicorns! This Sunday was a particularly beautiful one to me, the sun just seemed to shine in a way that made me feel so connected and in awe. It was completed with a sunset so lovely that, whilst I usually wait until after dark to commune with The Morrigan and give my thanks for the day and affirm my devotion, I had to give thanks and share my awe of the sunset with the spirits and my Matron and I know she appreciated my intent. When it came to bath time I decided that with this beauty in the air I had to cast a ritual bath.

Ritual baths are a wonderful way of casting a glamour spell and generally make everyone feel wonderful. I think that anyone who is a magick practitioner should be taking a ritual baths, just as a way of practising self care alongside their ritual practice. They really are wonderful. Everyone has to keep clean and take regular baths, so why not incorporate your magick practice with your hygiene routine and allow that time to become more spiritual and more contemplative? I really find that ritual baths just make me feel like I'm more grounded and more connected to my spirituality and generally puts me back into a good vibration.

My favourite type of ritual bath uses the following:

• A few drops of lavender essential oils.
• Dried lavender flowers.
• Dried Rose Petals
• Dried Jasmine Flowers.
• A cup of Epsom Salts
• A cup of milk.

I light a few candles around the edge of the bath and put on some relaxing music, or sometimes I like to listen to a podcast or audio book (the celticmythpodshow is my favourite at the moment!). I get in the bath, take a few moments to ground and centre myself or even do a 10 minute meditation session. I then say a few words, usually something that comes to me at the time, to infuse the bath with self-love, happiness, positivity etc. As I say the words I swirl my hands around the water and visualise the water beginning to glow with cleansing light and as I swirl my hands around I feel the light flowing through my body and filling it up with good energy. I will then sit in the bath for around 20 minutes while I listen to my music or my podcast or audio book before I wash. I don't let my top-half get wet, as I follow the Japanese Half-Bath idea of allowing my body to cleanse through sweating etc, until after I have soaked for 20-30 mins. After this I wash and then get out of the bath.

Post-bath care is also a good thing to remember to do. I think it's all part of allowing that energy to really get into your core. Afterwards I like to try and air-dry myself as much as possible, or at least just pat-dry my body so that the smell and goodness of the things that were used in the bath, like the oils etc, aren't just rubbed off my skin. After I have done so I use some body butter all over my body and imagine that I am rubbing the energies I have absorbed from the bath deeper into my soul as I moisturise. After moisturising I wait about 5 minutes before getting dressed so that the body butter is absorbed into my skin fully.

If you want to do a ritual bath of your own, I really suggest looking up herbs and flowers etc that are connected with love, positivity, happiness etc. I find that Camomile is another really great flower to use in a ritual bath centred around self-love and inner calm etc. One way of getting camomile into my bath is by using camomile tea-bags. I use two in a big bath and put them under the hot, running water and leave them to "brew" for around 5 minutes before I get into the bath, though I tend to leave them in the whole way through and take them out when I get out of the bath (before emptying it of course!).

I hope this has helped and that some of you go away and have a ritual bath this evening! Let me know if you have your own ritual baths and what you like to use in your baths. I'd really like to have other ideas ^_^

Much Love

Skye

x

Sigil Magick and Self Love Manifesto.

I have a couple of things to talk about in this post so bare with me as it may be long!

First up I want to talk about Sigil magick. I'm a complete n00b when it comes to sigils but I have been reading up a little on chaos magick recently and sigil magick is one of the most simplest forms of chaos magick so I had a go with them last night. I carved a sigil into the side of a candle and let it burn. My understanding is that as I continue to burn the candle each day the power of the sigil will get stronger and stronger until it is burnt out when it will begin to manifest. There are other ways to activate a sigil, one of the most popular being that you light a candle, one with a corresponding colour to your desire would be best but any will do then, write the sigil on a piece of paper pouring your intent and desire into the ink as you write it on the paper. Focus your mind on what the sigil means to you and then light the paper with the candle flame and put it into a fireproof dish and let it burn out. It would probably be a good idea to let the ashes blow away on the wind outside. I personally am going to bury what's left of the candle that I can't burn out when I'm done with it. Letting it go back to the earth helps it work with the energies of the earth to manifest.

The sigils I used were one to help me get over my anxiety and depression and another to help me stick to my diet and exercise regime. I will see how this progresses over the next few weeks.

Anyone else who is a big fan of The Four Queens will know that this month has been Self Love September and I've found it to be quite an eye opening experience and one that has really made me want to continue the positive changes I've made into the foreseeable future. Anyways, she made a blog post about her self love manifesto and invited us to write a manifesto of our own. So here goes mine:

I will allow myself to feel proud of my achievements.

I never let myself be proud of the things I've accomplished and always think I could have done better or that I've not finished everything I want to achieve therefore I can't be proud yet but I am going to feel proud of what I've achieved and not compare it to anything.

I will not compare myself to others.

I have a big problem with toxic comparison and I am forever feeling like I'm in competition with everyone but this will be no more. If I begin to compare I will remind myself that I am me and they are them and we are not in competition. They will never be me and I will never be them and that is all good.

I will not hurt myself to keep other people happy.

I care so much about other people and what they think and feel that I put myself out to make them happy but I will do this no longer. I will still care for others and make them happy but I won't do it at the expense of my own happiness.

I will take care of and respect my body.

I've been riddled with eating disorders and substance abuse since my early teens. My bulimia in particular destroyed not only my body but my mind and soul too. I am in recovery and I need to take care of my body, I need to respect it, feed it good nutritious food, water it as needed, give it fresh air and exercise and give it the care and respect it deserves. It's been through a lot, especially with what I put it through and my particularly difficult pregnancy and labour and it's still standing and that's pretty fucking awesome. My body is awesome!

Give myself time to relax and not feel guilty about it.

I'm a full-time primary carer to my son, I'm self employed and I'm taking a distance learning degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and so I am constantly on the go and rarely get time to myself. I've decided that I will make time to relax and not feel guilty about doing so!

Challenge negative self talk.

I am always talking negatively about myself and from now on I will challenge my negative self talk and ask myself why I'm thinking like this, what are my reasons? And turn the negativity back into rational thought and positive beliefs about myself. Along with this I will also challenge other people's negative self talk when I hear it. Anyone I hear talking themselves down will have my correcting wand coming over them to hopefully have them challenging their own negative talk in the future!

That is all I can think of right now but major points that need addressing in my life. They are all things that I need to think about in order to be able to promote self love in myself and in others.

Have you guys been following self love September? If so have you got a manifesto? Even if you haven't been following self love September I challenge you all to come up with one for yourself and stick to it. This time next year you can come back to it and see how well you stayed within your boundaries and how you have changed.

Much love

Skye

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