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Kitchen Witchery

KITCHEN WITCHERY

Today’s act of magic was some old-fashioned kitchen witchery. For some reason, I like hand-washing dishes while it is raining. Today I had that opportunity, and I opened the kitchen window and door as I worked. The rain and breeze brought waves of aroma from the roses out the window and aromas of oregano and sage from the herb garden out the back door combined with the comforting sound of the rain. I thanked the windows for doing their job. For being a portal to let in or keep out nature as we desire. For their protection and for being a bringer of light and vision.

I extended my gratitude to the rain and thanked it for its service. Rain gives us the water we wash with and so much more. With my hands in the water, this allowed me to connect to the element of water. Emotions are connected to water and what came was happy emotions and memories. As I washed the dishes, I reflected on memories of how each dish, fork, and other kitchen item had served in creating those memories. All the friends and family that had eaten from them, the amazing food they helped create. I let my gratitude and happy memory flow into each item as I thanked it. I even thanked the sink filter for keeping my plumbing clear of debris.

As I handled each item, I could feel how happy they were to be of service and to be shown love and gratitude, it filled me in return. I then let all of that flow back to the rain and let it all connect energetically.

As I cleaned the stove, I could feel the happy memories and good food and the hard work it has given in service to this home. I could feel how happy it was to be cleaned and given shiny new rings for the burners. It made me smile and I thanked the old crusty ones for their service too as I considered their hard work and memories. They were grateful to be done with their work and put to rest, they had given their all and more.

The floor was no different as I swept and mopped. I could feel it talking to me about its service. It showed me how it takes all our dirt and cast-offs and how it has held steady for every step each person who has been here had taken. I smiled again as I thanked it for holding up our home and how it keeps our home together for us. It too responded in kind for being recognized, cared for, and loved in return. Even every bit of dust dirt, or pet hair on the floor holds energy and memory, and I thanked it for being there too.

When I was done, I looked around and smiled, filled with all the good feelings emanating from the kitchen, the heart of the home was now recharged and so was I. As I looked out the door to the garden and took in the smell of the herbs the rain came to a stop, its job of magic done for the day, and I thanked it for its service and a job well done.

This act of magic is all about animism and energy. The magical idea that all things have a spirit, and energy and recognizing and honoring that. It is also an act of mindfulness, being fully mindful of each moment and being truly present with each thing you are encountering in the moment, and allowing yourself to have a fully engaged energy exchange with it. Some call this simple acts of magic and yet as you can see even simple acts of magic can have big results! Simple acts of love to small things can go a long way, and that is magical indeed.

Many Blessings to all!

 

 

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The Comfort Zone and Magic

The Comfort Zone and Magic

By Cat Gina Cole 5/25/23

Most of us have heard or been told not to do anything outside our comfort zone as though that threshold is a huge stop sign. While valid in many social circumstances and even in some magical ones, it can actually prevent you from gaining knowledge and experience. Witchcraft and Magic are transgressive by nature and should take us beyond our comfort zone.

This brings up questions like what is our comfort zone, what is its function, why should we move past it, and how do we move past it?

Our comfort zone is something that was socially conditioned into us for general safety, or something we created based on our experiences to keep us safe for many valid reasons. We put it up and leave it in place and never question it again and it becomes a taboo to ever cross, even for ourselves. If we ignore our comfort zone and make no changes, it will restrict further growth and can in some cases cause us and others harm. As we grow physically and mentally, we must also give ourselves permission to change the hard and fast “rules” and adjust those that no longer work for us.

For example, an individual who has been abused or traumatized in any way might continue seeing themselves as a victim/survivor and keep themselves away from social interaction. This is a valid reaction as one heals, but if you stay there, you never heal completely. Instead, it becomes how you identify and becomes all you are. When that happens all decisions and actions are based on past experiences only.

In my recovery from being an abused/traumatized person, staying in my comfort zone was only one PART of the healing process, not the end place, and not my whole identity forever. The comfort zone from trauma is not meant to be a comfort zone forever. We are not meant to live in fear. Danger is real, fear is a mechanism to teach us and to be learned from. Fear provides us the opportunity to grow beyond fear’s limitations. And fear shows us our current limits and asks us if want to stay there or go beyond it. This fact about fear has a lot to do with the phrase, “There is no light without the dark”

Staying in a fixed comfort zone promotes the mindset that anything we need or want in our lives must come from outside ourselves. Holding this belief means we believe we have no personal power; no control or choice and it keeps us perpetually at the mercy of others and helpless.

Nothing could be further from the truth. All of us have personal power and choice, all of us have the right and power to claim ourselves, and to create our own lives. We do not “have to” wait on others. To do so only leads to a repetitive cycle of disappointment. This is because no one can satisfy your needs and desires like you can.

Everyone needs a little help now and then, sometimes you are not sure what you are looking for, but others might. These people should only be guides to help you find your personal empowerment, not people who keep you dependent or helpless, so watch for that when you seek the like-minded, friends, teachers, and counselors. And when you find one, examine your comfort zone, and ask yourself, are they one the healthy side, challenging you to grow or are they on the side of it that says, they are not healthy for me?

Now that we know much more about the Comfort Zone, what it really is and what it does let’s apply all that to Witchcraft and Magic. If for example you are looking for a magical social group and only stay in your comfort zone, you may never find one. Especially if you approach a group and you allow your comfort zone to make the decision. This can result in you not joining in and having a good experience. Instead, you will feel like a spectator and not connect with anyone. Like all things Magical and Witchcraft this will take repeated effort to accomplish for some. If you feel like a spectator rather than a participant, you are also blocking the energy flow. This is true if it is a social group, a group ritual or even a solitary magical working. This then prevents any working or group from being that much more effective and powerful. Letting go of our comfort zone for the moment is the only way to feel fully engaged and share the energy flow of the experience.

Particularly in Magic and Witchcraft, the comfort zone will lie to you and tell you, you cannot do magical practices until you are taught. This is because in your comfort zone as it currently is, has you believing you have no personal power or ability; you have only doubt. Which is a lie, you do have personal power and all of you have magic within you.

But you will not find it until you push past your comfort zone and step out to the other side and into the magical energy all around you. Once this is done, and you continue to play around with Magic and Witchcraft for a while, it will lead you to ask more questions, read more books, meet more people, and this will begin your path.

Even those who have been practicing for some time can still struggle with their comfort zone. Feeling Magical energy can be quite intense and “uncomfortable” and sometimes scary. Some might even believe that a simple mirror spell or freezer spell is black magic or worry about harm none, or a person’s free will. Only to a point are these things valid.

They are designed to keep the beginner cautious, which is ok in the beginning, but staying with this thinking prevents you from exploring the full depths of Witchcraft and Magic.

There is such a thing as Magical Defense, and Magical Defense is not black magic. Magical Defense is protection from an action you know someone else took first. Now if out of the blue you decide for no real reason to harm someone or put a curse on them just for sport or fun, or just to see if you can, that is what most call black magic.

Any spell or working can be used either for good or harm. There is no list of this one is good this one is harmful; it is all in why and how it is being used. Thinking of black magic in this way is typically out of someone’s comfort zone and is an example of someone who has not gone beyond their zone to discover this is true for themselves, they just stopped at the perceived boundary.

I think of the comfort zone as a signal that I have been triggered about something in my past. When I feel it, I remember I am not in the past. I am in the now, and I am doing a working that needs my focus and full power and energy.  This allows me to push it aside until I am finished, I will come back to it later and address whatever it was separately.

It would not do while leading a ritual or spell to break down in the middle of it and give in to the emotional self. As in the example above, it only robs the working of all power and effectiveness. Stepping past the comfort zone in Witchcraft and Magic allows you to step into the full power and energy of the working making your magic much more effective. So, the next time your comfort zone bumps against you, tell it “Not now, I am busy growing, learning, being magical, manipulating energy and gaining personal power.”             Many Blessings to All!

 

 

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Buckland Museum of Witchcraft

My journey in witchcraft since I came out of the broom closet has been pretty incredible. I began as a simple country witch and now I know people I would never have imagined I would come to meet. I think the pinnacle of any witches public career is to be recognized by the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft.

Prior to 2019 I “knew of” The Museum and never thought I would end up in attendance at their event at the last pantheacon in the company of Oberon Zell, but there I was.

In February of 2022, my book Psychic Skills for Magic and Witchcraft was released. I was honored to learn it was being sold at the Buckland Museum bookstore.

In August of 2022 Oberon Zel and I were presenting at the Eugene Pagan pride when Ceera Brandt approached us saying she had an entire collection of the Green Egg Magazine  (Created by Oberon Zell) and many other pagan periodicals that had been collected by her partner Laura Wood who had recently passed she wanted to donate to us.

There were many boxes and I really enjoyed going through them. I sent the whole collection to the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft, which resulted in my being interviewed by the Museum.

In the interview, I tell the whole story and all the details and even reveal future projects. If you would like to see the video click the link below. Many Blessings!

 

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How Cat became Cat!

So of late my name Cat Gina Cole has come up in conversation on social media, so I thought I would share with all of you the story of how that came to be.

When I was little my mom used to call me Kitten now and then, but only when we were alone or doing something special. the most memorable of the times she called me Kitten was on the days I said I wanted to run away. Usually, I was bored or having a bad day and I would kick up a fuss and say I was gonna run away. She would turn away from her sewing machine and say “Okay, I want to run away too can we go together?” I would agree and she would pack us a sack lunch and off we would go.

There was a small man-made lake behind our house and we would trek through the field to the lake, talking and playing along the way. On these days I was always Kitten to her. We would sit by the lake and have a grand time until I was once again bored and it was time to go home. These were the best of days.

Later when I was 21 or so, she agreed to go out to a bar with me, but she got to choose which one. On this occasion, we were at the Eagles club in Medford. She had friends there, and on this particular night, her friend and her son were sitting at a small round table with us having a good time.

Mom had agreed to dance with this rather large man who was there a couple of times. As she returned to the table after such a dance she commented on how rough and handsy he had been with her. As you might imagine this did not sit well with me and I told my mom I would take care of it.  She objected to no avail.

I invited the man to come to sit with us. Mom was uncomfortable, to say the least. He sat between mom and I, rocked back on two legs of his chair being all loud and bragging. I looked up at my miserable mom and smiled as I reached down, grabbed the leg of his chair flipping him to the floor. The table and drinks spilled everywhere as I stood and very loudly said, “Don’t you ever touch me like that again!” giving him a bit of a kick. Well, the bouncer had that guy out the door in nothing flat. Once our table and drinks were restored mom turned to me grinning ear to ear and said, “Kitten hell! You’re a full-blown Cat!

I was quite satisfied with myself feeling I had earned the name and it stuck, I have been Cat ever since. That is how my mom gave me the name of Cat.

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In-person Events!

Greetings one and all! I was so touched to see how many of you came to see me talk at the Eugene pagan Pride on August 7th! You inspired me to add a part two and three to my talk on Empathic skills. In part two I will discuss how to use Empathic Skills in Magic and Witchcraft which will be presented On August 27th, in Eugene at Old Nicks pub. Here is the link for details

https://www.facebook.com/groups/780960659925536/permalink/797551984933070/

And part three of Empathic Skills will be presented on September 24th also at Old Nicks pub in Eugene!

In between those two events, I will be presenting at the Sacramento Pagan Pride on Sept, 10th! Here is the link for that event    https://fb.me/e/22hXG0TEc I am so looking forward to being out on the circuit again and getting to see all your shining faces! Many Blessings to all!

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The Witch Compass by Ian Chambers

Review by Cat Gina Cole, Author of Psychic Skills for Magic and Witchcraft.

I had the distinct pleasure to review this book before its release in August 2022 and the pleasure is all mine!

The Witch Compass is an amazing and comprehensive book on Traditional Witchcraft written by Ian Chambers. In the last paragraph of the forward Ian Chambers says he is an old witch that works by sight and is in constant contact with spirit allies and gods. This statement shows me he is a serious practioner and it piqued my interest even more.

As he writes he demonstrates that the witch compass is a tool for positioning the witch within this world and is a means to travel many worlds much like a portal. The book begins by exploring the historical and cultural usage of the witch compass and introduces you to the 8 winds then gives step-by-step methods to use them via Traditional Witchcraft.

The Witches Compass even touches on the great debate of modern paganism. “Is Wicca and neo-paganism connected to ancient magic?” Ian Chambers gives a focused and historic discourse on magic and how Christianity colored witchcraft that answers that debate eloquently. I really enjoyed his clear history of Gardner and others as he establishes the founding of modern witchcraft. In which he points out the similarities and differences of the Solomaiac, Free Masons, Traditional Witchcraft, and Wiccan practices. That discourse includes an impressive list of resources and grimoires that is valuable information for any seeker. I applaud and admire the courage of the author for stating clearly and boldly his thoughts as he encourages us to decolonize our craft and describes the concept of the devil as being an advocate of the oppressed.

I find the step-by-step instructions for seekers to follow complete in a true transgressive style of witchcraft. I have seen many books on witchcraft but Ian Chambers has found the language that takes the reader to the depths needed for a serious connection to the compass and Traditional Witchcraft, his words just grab you and take you to that place.

The Witches Compass even explores man’s discovery of the cardinal directions and names of the winds. In this exploration, you will find a history of the magnetized compass and illustrations from the grimoires of Agrippa and others. In this section, he connects the witch compass to evoking the directions and casting a circle as they were done in the ancient mysteries.

I loved the section that tells of the arrival of the cunning folk in society, and how they created a compass. Their compass has an alphabet that correlates to numbers, the zodiac, and the cardinal directions. Yay cunning folk! This allowed them to traverse the compass in the most remarkable ways as they applied the ancient mythos.

Ian Chambers then leaves nothing out as he writes about the five senses, the pentacle, and the crossroads. He demonstrates how they are connected to the witch compass and current magical traditions. The section on knot work and working with the winds is very intriguing and has a step-by-step exercise to teach the reader how to do this type of work, which I cannot wait to practice!

As you read Ian Chambers’s work, you begin to understand what the witch compass is and its importance to Traditional Witchcraft. and, that this book, The Witch Compass contains real and serious magic. A trend that continues throughout the book. This is an exciting and skilled book and every word captured my attention. I find The Witch Compass to not only be a step-by-step guide to the witch compass and Traditional Witchcraft but also a grimoire of spells and rituals and a true resource for any seeker, this book does not disappoint!

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Climate Change and Weather Magic

It has been a while since I spoke about weather magic. In my previous posts on the subject, I discussed how I got so connected to the natural forces over the years. In my presentation for the LlewellynCon I spoke about how psychic skills enhanced magic and witchcraft, but it really was a lesson on weather magic. (The link is below.) Today I thought I would share more about what I personally have been doing to help our Mother Earth to heal and restore given the climate change issues we see daily.

I began my work in March after our February was a bit too warm for comfort. Fearing what that might mean for the fire season I sat for several days in a row in meditation and dream work communing with the Elements and Mother Earth. I came away from that work knowing the Elements and the Earth were out of balance in a way that scientists and meteorologists cannot know and the Earth was asking for help. Now I have done weather magic in many states over time and had developed something of a routine way of proceeding but my meditations and dream work in this matter showed me something more was needed.

So on March 15, 2022, The Ides of March, I began what would become my daily work for the next two months. I began in meditation connecting to the Elements. I then carried that connection outside with me and made a physical connection to the Earth by placing one hand on the ground.

This is when “the something more” happened. Because I am clairvoyant I began to see and hear all the green and living, not only paying attention but saying, “Hey us too! We are all water seekers.” I saw all the creepy crawlies, insects, and flying things and could see and hear all the plants join in a chorus of “We the water seekers are here.”It was almost overwhelming as it all flowed through me.

Because of my skill, I relaxed and breathed in their energy through my whole body to become a conduit for them. I let their energy join with the connection to the Elements I already had within me.

I became the place the water seekers were able to connect to and speak with the Elements and make their requests. The images that flowed through my mind were amazing and it was in that manner I was “moved or instructed” on what to do next. With one hand on the ground and my head down and eyes closed, my other hand rose toward the sky as the words spontaneously spilled from my lips voicing the request of the Water Seekers.

Then as I stood up, I further drew all that combined energy through me. I channeled it and cast it toward the atmosphere, I could feel the power of it all vibrating me. All that energy made my impassioned plea grow louder and the energy continued to rise. Suddenly the mountains began to add their voices, saying “We hear you, we can help, we are water seekers too.” I began to tremble at the energy I was channeling and casting.

When I felt something of a peak or break, I then put a hand back on the Earth. Taking a breath for my own body and with one hand in the air, I projected this connection and invited Mother Earth herself to join us in this healing, in that moment I felt her sorrow and I cried with her.

When the stillness came, I knew the Elements were now listening. So quietly and near spent still channeling as a conduit, I asked the Elements to give we, the water seekers, and the green and living, balanced, and average seasons as they saw fit in their infinite wisdom, so that they the all-powerful may heal our Mother and all the green and living water seekers. That was day one, as was by far the most intense of them. Each day after did not require such intense work as the connection had been made and was easier to tap.

Each day until May 1st I lifted my voice to the Elements repeating my request using the energy and the voices of the water seekers, the green and living. Each day I also asked the mountains to lend their assistance in drawing the weather needed.

I paused my work on May 1st to give room for the elements to work in their own way and show me what their infit wisdom was. May and June 2022 were the first “normal” spring we have had here in five years, possibly more. Our rivers and lakes are full and the water seekers and the green and living are flourishing, for now. Since mid-May when the rains began I have given daily gratitude to the Elements for their infinite wisdom and nourishing ways.

In the past, I typically would ask for rain. It is the most obvious thing we need I thought. Often though I would see a backlash of sorts, where rain would come then the heat would scorch after. Then it hit me, we need the balance of all the elements. When also thinking of climate change it made even more sense.

So now when I do weather working I include the water seekers, the mountains, and the green and living. I ask not just for rain, but for the Elements to work equally well together in their infinite wisdom to provide “normal/average” seasons to be provided to the Earth to assist in healing her. Then I let go and let them work and express my gratitude to them for listening.

 

 

 

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A Call To Action, Witches Rise!

 

Witches, Mages, Magicians, Healers, Energy Workers, and Practitioners, we have an opportunity upon us. There is a planetary alignment that will last 10 days, beginning today. This particular alignment will not be seen again until 2040. I usually do not make a big deal over planetary alignments but I find this one a special opportunity for magic. Why is this one special to me? Because the planets it involves gives us an extra opportunity to help our current world situation, and the conjuncture reaches its peak on the Solctice lending more power to the working.

In this conjuncture, we have, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Venus, and Mars. As you look at the attributes as I know them, think of the issues that are current in our world today.

Jupiter-Luck, growth, optimism, Abundance, and understanding.

Mercury- Trade, wages, merchants, speed, communication, financial gain, and water.

Venus- love, relationships, balance, harmony, and positive feminine energy.

Mars- Desire, Action, Energy, Survival, Change, Transformation, and Positive male energy.

Saturn- maturity, Responsibility, Stewardship, Motivation, Work, and Rules over Authority.

I am sure you can see where we need amplification of all of them to come into balance in our current world situation. I think if we use this opportunity to tap the energetic and spiritual properties of each of these planets, we can give our world an extra boost of healing and balance. It is my hope many will join me in this work for the next ten days. Many Blessings to all!

 

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The House of Twigs -6

I am excited to tell you about my weekly column at The House of Twigs! (THoT)

I receive questions from all kinds of practitioners and seekers via an encrypted email that is private and secure through the THoT website, and I can tell you there is such a variety of topics you never know what you will discover, and it is completely free! So enjoy and don’t be shy about sending in your questions and we will see you all again next week!

https://thehouseoftwigs.com/cats-eye-q-a/?fbclid=IwAR0SJsxnMNvv5wy5uvW4Ok_B_DlhlZ8PFg8X6v49iMZxLhrMCjOCYlvcc0E