The Inner Temple of Witchcraft by Christopher Penczak

This is the first in a series of book by Christopher Penczak that I am reading. I've been a Pagan for a very long time now, but I always enjoy reading and maybe learning something I didn't before. Everyone has their own style of teaching, and this is no exception. I'm only 1/2 through the book, but I am enjoying it so far!! I wanted to share with everyone a piece I read last night that I think, no matter what path you follow, will do anyone nothing but good!!! 




AFFIRMATIONS 

Affirmations are beneficial statements we make to ourselves, out loud or silently, to reprogram our deep levels of consciousness. 

Daily affirmations are a great way to instantly reprogram the subconscious and gain greater access to our personal power. They can be done in meditation, to deeply implant them in your consciousness. They can also be done in a regular beta state with great effect. Here are some sample affirmations..... 


To build self-esteem and a sense of connection to your own spirit: 


   I love myself. I love all others. I am infinitely loved.
   I forgive myself. I forgive all others. 
   I am walking in the love of the Goddess, God, and Great Spirit.
   Everything I do is for the good of all involved, harming none.
  I am open to my highest guidance 

For prosperity: 

   I am successful and talented.
   I am prosperous.
  I have all the money and resources I need. 
  I am always in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. 
  I am joyful in all that I do. 

To open and awaken psychic abilities: 

   All of my senses are growing stronger every day.
   I am safely opening and increasing all my psychic abilities.
   I am seeing, hearing, knowing, and traveling psychically. 
  I am psychic.

To create personal health: 

   I am completely healthy on all levels.
   I am in balance and harmony.
   I release all that does not serve my highest good.
   I am safely opening my healing abilities.




 


For obvious reasons, I've not posted all the information given in the book. If you want to know more, please look into this book!!

Cleansing a space

A friend of mine on another website will be moving. She is having current problems in the place she is in now, so I've been giving her tips on how to clear out any negative energy. This is part of an email I sent her this morning for cleansing the new place. You can also do this in your current place, even if you are not moving.  


The place you are moving to, have people lived there before and is will it be empty when you move in? If people have lived there before, you need to remove their negative energy.

First thing to do is open all the windows and doors. This includes to bathrooms and closets. Go to each room, walking clockwise with a bell. Ring the bell. It stirs up the negative energy and gets in moving. Make sure to get the corners and closets and even inside cabinets. Once you do all this, you can move on to the next steps!! But if you can't or don't have time, don't worry about it. You can do the rest also. But if you can, then do it. If you can't, definitely do the salt piece I talk about below.  


Get some sage and smudge the place. If you can't get sage, then sandalwood works fine too. Light either a stick or cone of it in each room or carry a lighted stick to each room. If you light a stick in each room, as you do, image the negative energy being drawn to the tiny fire of the incense and being burned away. If possible, have the windows open so the smoke can go out of it. If not, it's okay. Just image the energy being burnt up and disappearing as the smoke does. If you light a stick and go to each room, do the same thing. But instead, you are walking to each room. Once you've imagined the negative energy being burned away, imagine in it's place positive energy. Picture a large white light covering the entire room to protect it. You don't have to spend a great amount of time in each room while you are doing this. 5 minutes tops is enough. I would recommend doing this once a month to keep the place clean of negative energies. More if you feel you need it. 

If possible, another thing to do is using salt. Put a small amount, 1 or 2 pinches, in the corner of each room. If you can, it would be best to leave it overnight. It will absorb the negative energies. The next day, vacuum or sweep it up and throw it outside or flush it. If you throw it outside, make sure it in an area where you won't walk for a couple of days and make sure it's out back. If you can't leave it over night,  you can place a small dish in the window of each room with 1 or 2 pinches of salt over night. Dispose of it the same way the next day. If for some odd reason you don't have salt, but you do have vinegar, just replace the salt with it. With this, instead of putting in each corner, just put a tablespoon or 2 in a bowl in each window over night. You would dispose of it the same way as you would the salt.

Need help sleeping? Get a glass of water and an egg!!!

Meditation before bedtime. Are you totally alone at bedtime? If not, make sure you are. This would include any animals! You know that state you go into when you day dream? Get to that for 5-10 minutes. The way I do it is sit in the bed and focus on something across from me. I close my eyes to the point of blurring everything up and just relax. Try to clear your mind of anything and everything. It's going to be hard at first. But put an image in your mind to concentrate on. It can be an image of a leaf or a bird or whatever you want and like. When you find yourself veering off into thoughts or picturing other things, go back to your chosen image. As I said above, try to do this for 5-10 minutes, longer if it you need it. All this is doing is helping to relax your mind.
To help get rid of negativity while you are sleeping...this is something I do and it does help. Get a glass...make sure it's one you won't use anymore in daily life. Before going to bed at night, fill it with water and put it somewhere near your head. The water will absorb any negativity while you sleep. (You can do the same thing with the egg. I'll explain that one later) When you wake up in the morning, take the glass in your less dominant hand (left if you are right handed, etc) and pour the water in the toilet. Wash the glass 3 times with water and pour it each time in the toilet. All you have to do is swirl the water around in the glass. Once you've done this, flush the toilet. This will flush the negativity away! Repeat this every night and morning for as long as you need to. For me, it took about 2 weeks and I realized I was sleeping much better!
As far as the egg goes...get an egg and place it near your head (if you do the glass of water, you can place it next to it) Leave the egg there for 7 days. If it breaks before that 7 days, it is said that the egg as absorbed a LOT of negativity! Just toss it (described below) and get another one. If it lasts the full 7 days, on the 7th day, take the egg to the bathroom. Toss is hard enough into the toilet so that it breaks and flush it!! If it doesn't break the first time, try it again until it does break! You might notice that the egg is larger than it was when you first got it out. This is a sign of the negativity it's absorbed.

Herb pillows to help you sleep.

The pillows...better known as herb pillows!! They are made small enough to go under your bed pillow. They really aren't pillows. You can make it as plain or fancy as you want it to be. And as small or larger. Just remember, the bigger it is, the more herbs you'll need. Some herbs to use are chamomile, valerian, skullcap, and lavender. I've also heard that catnip can be used, but I haven't tried it. You can use a mixture of the dried herbs and oils. Or you can mix the oils to get the scent strength you want, soak it in the fabric and let it dry. Just remember to keep it slightly scented. You don't want to keep yourself away because it's so strong smelling!! Some people even use eye masks this way. Instead of putting it under your pillow, you cover your eyes with it to help keep the light out.
If you want you can use just one of the herbs above. Lavender seems to be pretty popular. You can use fresh or dried lavender. And you can keep the scent active with lavender oil. If you don't have an herb shop in your area, maybe you have a Hobby Lobby? In the candles and soap section, they sell both the lavender oil and herbs. If you have to get it online, I recommend these sellers on Ebay. I use them all the time and their products are great! sun_pure_botanicals sells awesome oils at cheap prices. athenas_garden sells great herbs at great prices.