MUSIC TO CAST LOVE SPELLS BY VOL.2

Music To Cast Love Spells By

A sensual and seductive playlist curated for The Hoodwitch by Alia Mohamed to get you in the mood for casting love spells, or to simply indulge yourself in a romantic evening of self-care rituals. Whatever your plans are this Valentine's Day, these tracks are sure to get you in the mood for some love and enchantment!  

TRACKLIST:

Nancy Holloway - Sand and Rain
Norman Connors - Butterfly Dreams
Patrice Rushen - Where There Is Love
Minnie Riperton - Every Time He Comes Around
Flowers - For Real
Intimate Strangers - Love Sounds
Dorothy Ashby - Alone Together
Gene Rains And His Group - Tangi Tahiti
Julie London with The Spencer-Hagen Orchestra - Dark
Sonny Lester - Jasmine
Dom Boga - Mattino de Fuoco
Googoosh - Gahi Khandeh Gahi Geryeh
Bhairvi - The Panthers
The Roger Webb Sound - Moon Bird
Bobby Bland - I'll Take Care of You
Vagif Mustafa Zadeh - Gelmedi
Sun Ra - Love Is For Always
Piero Umiliani - Approdo Lunare
Mica Levi - Love

The Power Of The Witch

Photo by @lovejonesphoto_ + @thespiritdoll

I am my sisters keeper. 
The witch, bruja, healer, mother, sister, daughter, lover, artist, creative, bitch, wild woman,visionary, goddess. Transcendent of time and space. Reclaiming power, and ancestral blood lines of magick from the heavens and the Earth. I come from dirt and blood, jewels and bones. moon and sun. I am my grandmothers secrets, hopes, and dreams. I adorn myself in light and shadows. But do not mistake my flesh nor my worldly appearance for vanity, for everything I do is deliberate, I walk in gratitude for the ones who’ve come before me. My vessel is ancient, this skin remembers being birthed through the cosmos and rising out of the depths of the sea. Do not mistake her softness, vulnerability, sensitivity, compassion, love, resilience or silence for weakness. I am birthed of fire and lava of death and decay. A huntress a warrior, not worrier. I am my sisters keeper,

-B. Luna

Do you remember who you are? Have you lost your way? Do you remember your power? Should I remind you? Do you remember that you ARE the only magick you need? 
Don’t allow anyone else to define YOU or your magick and how YOU choose to present it in this world. YOUR magick it is what the f*ck you say it is. Not everyone is going to believe like you, practice like you, and that’s why it’s a personal JOURNEY. Personal. Meaning no one else is living it but you. 

We each embody unique skills with abilities to hurt or heal. Choose healing, lay down the heavy burdens, breathe. Love and be loved. Be the bruja, witch, healer, magician, Oracle, priest/priestess or mentor that you want to see in this world. Less hate, more understanding. 
Everybody got some magick in ‘em use your energy, time, and power wisely. 

WITCH TIPS + HOROSCOPES 10/18-24/2017

photography by Scarlett Hoof Graafland

Written By Jessica Lanyadoo

WITCH TIPS

This week, the big news is the New Moon in Libra on the 19th. This is an excellent time to reset, refresh, and realign yourself.

New Moons mark the start of a new cycle for your potential and personal development, while Libra is the sign of partnership, diplomacy, and the drive for fairness. To be honest, the world isn’t fair, and that’s nothing new. We are seeing more world events as they happen in real time than ever before, and we’re inundated with more messages from advertisements than ever before. We live in a “like” culture, and this is Libra’s Kryptonite. Don’t lose track of yourself, dear heart. Whether someone likes you or hates you is their cross to bear, not yours, unless you take it on. You don’t need to get validation or permission to be yourself. There’s a shifting of the tides happening within each and every one of us, and the more authentic and present you are for it, the more graceful this shift will be.

From the 18th-20th, the bright-light Sun will sit opposite revolutionary Uranus. This transit will be exact with the New Moon, radicalizing your whole emo experience. This is an excellent time to throw off limitations, access more options, and try new approaches. You don’t need to be perfect or even feel confident; you only need to try. Don’t lose energy obsessing on an unknowable future or on picking apart your allies and enemies – it won’t heal your pain or generate more justice, it will only dilute your energy.

Get right with yourself this week. Cultivate ownership of all your parts, and leave space for growth, no matter how deep your learning curve is. Allow for the diversity of the human experience. A person doesn’t need to agree with you on all things in order to be ‘on your side.’ This is a time that you can achieve greater freedom, so use your energy wisely, my love.

ARIES

March 21-April 19

The Libra New Moon in your relationship house comes with a punch. The tension between your desire to be intimate and your drive to do things your way is real. You can do whatever you want, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll like what happens if you do. Sit with your impulses long enough to understand what you really need. Relationships without compromise are kind of a fantasy; be willing to bend so that things don’t break this week, Aries.

­TAURUS

April 20-May 20

When people tell you to ‘just be yourself’ or ‘trust your instincts,’ it’s hard to know which self you’re supposed to trust and which instincts you’re meant to honor? It’s time to slow down and get grounded, Taurus. If you’ve lost track of what’s motivating you, this week may bring you some drama to unravel. Handle what you’ve got instead of taking on something new. Pace yourself so that you can act on self-knowledge instead of pressure. You’ve got this, Taurus.

GEMINI

May 21-June 21

Relationships aren’t meant to be easy all the time any more than they’re meant to always be hard. You’re on call to show up for the complications of compromise, Twin Star. In order to make healthy concessions, you need to first know yourself though. Whether you’re negotiating your needs and responsibilities with your boss, your bae, or your relationship to social media, know your values and make sure your actions reflect them this week.

CANCER

June 22-July 22

Not knowing what comes next can be exhilarating or exhausting. Decide today that you’re willing to make the most of what you have in the here and now, Moonchild. There’s so much intense uncertainty in the world and so much that’s out of your control. Don’t lose your energy obsessing on what you can’t know. Focus on what’s currently happening, and make the best choices you can. You don’t have to be perfect, you only need be whole.

LEO

July 23-Aug. 22

You would have so many fewer problems if you would just be a bit more direct, Leo. You can worry over the right way to package what you think and feel, or you can just be honest. You don’t get to both control or manage how other people feel about you and also be authentic at the same time. If you choose to be true, the people and situations that remain in your life will be good for you. If you speak out of both sides of your mouth, you’ll get a false sense of peace, this week.

VIRGO

Aug. 23-Sept. 22

Other people’s opinions are important, but when you don’t know what you think, too many ideas can serve to make you feel confused and unsure of how to make sense of it all. Take time to sit with your ambiguities and disappointments this week. I’m not encouraging you to wallow but to instead stay present with your feels and show yourself the kindness of honoring them. Doing this will help clarify what you truly need so that you don’t go putting band aids on bullet wounds, Virgo.

LIBRA

Sept. 23-Oct. 22

There’s only one New Moon in your sign per year, and it’s happening on the 19th of this week. This marks a powerful turning point for you, Libra, and it’s on you how it’ll go. If you’ve been dragging your feet on making changes, this is the time to spring to action. You can expect your relationships to challenge you to step up. Don’t hide from your life, my love; as the saying goes, they call it the present because it’s a gift. Make the most of yours.

SCORPIO

Oct. 23-Nov. 21

Jupiter in your sign can be an exciting time in which you feel your luck shift, and a sense of optimism may overtake you. More likely, though, it will simply expand whatever you’re feeling. If you’ve been struggling mentally, it’s time for something to bend or break, my love. Invest in your wellness by taking creative actions, spending time with people who want the best for you, and letting yourself have your feels. Healing comes from getting real, so try to show all the way up, Scorpio.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 22-Dec. 21

Explore what you’ve got without adding anything new to your plate this week, ‘Tarius. You have so many resources and so much potential; don’t squander it all by allowing yourself to get caught up in distractions. Check your dreams for inspiration and direction. If what you think is important isn’t informed by your deepest feels, life tends to be hollow. Take a chance on what you most deeply desire instead of settling for what it seems easiest to get this week.

CAPRICORN

Dec. 22-Jan. 19

Not getting results right away is frustrating, but it’s not a sign, Cappy. This week you’re likely to be dealing with a mixed bag. You’ve grown and changed and in some ways are doing better than ever. In other ways, you may find yourself regressing into anxiety and impatience. Make space for your feelings without overindulging them to a point of self-sabotage. Sometimes, you’ve just got to gently pick yourself up and do the work, my love.

AQUARIUS

Jan. 20-Feb. 18

How is it that you’re both ready to take the bull by the horns and totally confused about what to do next? This week, what you decided not long ago is likely to be challenged by either new information or old insecurities. If there’s no rush on decisions, grant yourself the space to figure out what you really feel before you strike forward. If you have something pressing to deal with, try not to do it from a place of fear. You don’t need change as much as you need improvements, my love.

PISCES

Feb. 19-March 20

Your mind may be racing, and distractions may come at you from left field; don’t let that deter you! All you have to do is follow through, Pisces. You’ve done so much hard work to get to this point, and now it’s on you to carry on in spite of the chaos of the moment. Even if your feels flare or relationships throw curve balls at you, you’ve got a plan to carry out. Stay centered in your ambitions and take them on little by little every day, until you get where you intend to be.

Becoming the Earth: Contemplation, Visioning & Aesthesis.

Artist Paige Bradley

Written By Alicia Bello

I wanted to write an erotic love article to you. I wanted to write love to you by saying: May all kinds of milks, honeys, fragrant oils and flowers fill your home, altar, and bath. Let there be Eros possession in which every word rolled off the tongue is a spiced nectar. Let there be every lush nude sensation. Let every body in whatever sensual embrace undulate, hum, shudder and drunk on rhythm and ecstasy … whether crying out or soft sigh of respiration, mouth the genuine expression of ecstatic release (and please do always). Hopefully that article will want to be written soon because, well… what a sensation. Instead this article transformed from body in relationship to body into body in relationship to earth… a different kind of body, of intimacy.. the same and different.. but kind of the same. I have found myself outside significantly more than being inside anywhere. My hands and feet have been constantly investigating and trampling through the tropical landscape of Florida and so the intimacy running through me has been the aesthesis of shoots of new green covered in dew, balmy air scented with salty wet earth, and bees pressed deep into the center of flowers… and all of this is happening in the wide open, no shame, Nature needing no permission to burst with her blatant sensuality.

Connecting to the earth is not a new concept for those who practice the craft (to each and every guardian of the directions, the elementals, Hail and Welcome). It is a foundation of study and also a potent remembering. Within every natural witch lies dark earth, fertile, lush with the protected seedcrets of ancient ways, alive with mystery and kept sacred and untainted from the “normalization” of the status quo. No matter how we practice, each and every expression of the work that we do is beautiful to behold in its own right. Our earnest devotion to our practice is the catalyst to what peels away the layers so we begin to see the world completely differently. The earth is living, breathing, pulsing and we perceive it perhaps as our ancestors have, not in the grandiose Hollywood kind of way, but magic in the very real sense that begins to show itself when we learn(remember) how to look (be in relationship to it).

The Anima Mundi, the spirit of the world at this point is no longer a concept but so much more. It is perceived in the body and felt in the depths of individual experience. We, in turn, interact with our planet instinctually, in which in any given moment we turn on and tune in, and allow the power to course through our very body vessel. We can play the subtle vibrations like an instrument that opens the gates to other perceptions and other realities. The relationship that we cultivate with the spirits of the land is so very vital and just like any important relationship we’ve got to keep in touch, forget the small talk so to speak, and nurture it. We know the state of earth right now and quite obviously to say that it’s not healthy is a gross understatement. Just being with the understanding is like a glacial shower and it’s a beginning. We start right here, right now, with what is right in front of us. Without projecting rage or blame on anything, or fear, for the current state of the earth but to just be in a state of heightened mindfulness about say, the decline of bees or the poisoning of water… The Mother is where she’s at just as we are. Just to be in a heightened kind of mindfulness before any practice in which we evoke the elements, and contemplate their actual current state is incredibly important because we have to start where we are at. That being said, magic works non-linearly. No matter how we are working we can heal through coming into contact with root essence of the elements. What I am offering, however is to maybe initiate any ritual with that kind of present acknowledgment and then move into connection with the spiritus, gennii loci, and/ or Anima Mundi.

Visioning

I practice this visualization outside with meditation and contemplation either at sunrise or sunset, but as I usually instruct: if it feels right to practice it in ritual then do it. If you feel inspired to practice on the spot totally do it….except if your driving…listen to your intuition.

Demeter, just one name for Earth Mother is birthing and dying and birthing for us constantly...

Photo: Alicia Bello 

Vision your body/full self becoming Demeter by dissolving into the earth completely and merging with her creative chaos and order. Lie down on the earth while practicing. If you can, be completely naked or partially naked. See the shape of your body turn into dirt. Watch all of what you were dissolve into the earth completely. You are gone, but now you are also the whole of the earth. You are reborn in spring. See your blooms opening and the bees drinking your nectar. Smell sweetness of the season on the wind. Go through all the seasons of the earth in this way over and over. See the earth, which is you, floating in space. Place the periphery of your attention on the rhythm of the breath of your body. See the earth in your visioning breathing, the rhythms are in synch. Draw the scope of your vision to the place within the earth that you inhabit. See you where you are envisioning yourself as the earth while you are also the earth. Draw this harmonic image into the vision of your heart and let the vision pulse with your breath as you bring your attention back to your physical body. Enjoy your breathing still seeing the earth pulsing with your breath as your beating heart. Start all over again. Do it as many times as you can.

• Take notes on how this practice affects you after two weeks and a month.

 As you move through your day, contemplate aesthesis as drawing in the essence of the world, the Anima Mundi with robust sensory perception. Drink in everything.