Editor's Note Merry Meet! This is a special edition of the Silver Chalice Wiccan 'Zine. I wanted to share this visualisation on releasing with you, as it's so relevant to the energies of this month, and ensure you are aware of the lunar eclipse coming up this month. My health is slowly getting better, but the amount of work I can do it still limited, unfortunately. Thankfully, I've found a part-time assistant to take on the role for student support for the A Year and A Day: 53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan course and she's also been making some shareable images for social media (have you seen them? Check out Facebook & Twitter). If you've been thinking about registering for A Year and A Day: 53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan, now is the best time to do so! The course starts with a welcome lesson & intro to your Book of Shadows and gets you prepared to do your Dedication in time with Imbolc/Brigid's Day (Feb 2nd). If you join now, you still have time to get the pre-Dedication lessons done and you'll be receiving the lessons about the Sabbats in alignment with the calendar dates for the 2019 Sabbats. That said, you can sign up anytime, but the Sabbat lessons you receive will not be at the same time as the occurrence of the Sabbats. Also, we're looking at revising, and reviving, this 'Zine--making sure the content and length is what you want to read--so if you have feedback (about what sections you like to read, if you prefer monthly or quarterly emails, length of email, etc.) please email admin@thewiccaschool.com. Last but not least, I've updated the Privacy Policy for wicca-spirituality.com as per the new GDPR requirements that came about in 2018. These regulations highlight that your information is kept strictly confidential, and that you can opt out of receiving these emails at any time through the 'unsubscribe' link at the bottom of this e-mail. There's lots to read in this issue of the 'zine, so that's it from me for now. Wising you the brightest blessings for a wonderful 2019, Table of Contents Energy Fields & Astrology -- January Forecast & Lunar Eclipse Wicca Students Speak Out New Practice - Releasing Visualisation Sabbats & Esbats & Other Wiccan Rituals - Moon Bathing Quotes - on Change & Releasing Energy Fields & Astrology: January Forecast & Lunar Eclipse The Solar Eclipse in Capricorn on January 5th was an energy of major new beginning in your life that could have substance and long-term potential. 2019 is when many eclipses will begin to occur in Capricorn; these eclipses ask us to release ourselves from the structures, habits, and patterns that keep our systems clogged. Whatever fears have held us captive, stifled our growth, or limited our ability to heal must be made conscious so that they can be dismantled or released. Unless we want to be energetic hoarders, we are well-served to address, process, and work towards healing the shadow material that these eclipses reveal. Sort through your papers, files, old photos, stuff your kids made, things people have given you, clothing equipment, electronics etc. If they do not have an active place in your life today, release them. Also look at unfinished projects that may have seemed like a good idea at one time but ask yourself if you are really going to ever get back and finish them. The attachment to all of these physical things is usually of the ego as they represent something connected to our identity; a success, relationship, time in our life, experience or event, recognition, education etc. If a relationship does not feel right or good, it probably isn't and it is time to change the relationship. Sometimes, relationships need to simply change and not be banned forever. This is a great opportunity to clean up old relationships, even if just from your end. This is an excellent month to learn how to differentiate between what is yours and what is not, and to set good boundaries. Focus on your own personal clean up and resist the temptation to clean up for others. There is a new energy coming in. This is a higher vibration that can truly change everything if we make room for it. Capricorn is a cardinal, earth sign that manifests, builds structures, and accomplishes through discipline, hard-work, and boundary setting. It's also a sign that restricts, denies, and withholds. Because eclipses are pattern-setting times, times where we learn lessons specific to the astrology that they highlight, this year's eclipses will teach us much about our personal integrity, maturity, and self-mastery. If we aren't responsible for the energy we bring into each situation, we'll never be the boss of our own lives. With Saturn present and ruling these eclipses, self-mastery is the end goal. With Pluto in the mix, these changes require that we deal with power and the abuses of it. Pluto takes its time but makes sure that the changes it creates are long-lasting in their impact. Occurring at the south node, these eclipses encourage us to release what is in the way of our spiritual growth. Leading us to a greater understanding of the limits of worldly power, south node eclipses point to what needs to be purged if we are ever to overcome the inhibiting impacts of greed. January 20th is a super moon, full moon and total lunar eclipse that starts on January 20th at 9:36pm EST, and ends January 21st at 2:48am EST. It will be visible across North and South America. timeanddate.com has more info about when/where it will be visible for various locations. Going out with a bang, this is the last of 5 eclipses in Leo that take place from February 2017 - January 2019. This eclipse helps us to finish up, understand, and integrate the major life-lessons we learned in the area of our chart that contains Leo. This eclipse helps us tap into, and explore, the potency of living out our potential when we allow our unique self-expression to surface and take flight. This lunar eclipse will help you connect to your heart and your deepest emotional needs when it comes to the love you give and the love you get. Are you being fed the way your heart craves? While this is likely to be a time of fulfillment, if there is an unmet emotional need in your life, then this might be a time you recognize it's time to let go. Another significant energy is Venus is in Sagittarius from January 7 - February 3, 2019. The happy and free energy of Sagittarius turns Venus up a few notches, encouraging us to live life to the fullest. This is a time to try new things, to socialize, and to look for love in different places. Sagittarius is the sign of the adventurer, so when Venus is traveling through this sign, we find ourselves drawn to exotic people, places, and experiences. Old routines and worn-out relationships are at risk of being traded in for something bigger, brighter, and better while Venus is in Sagittarius. Sources used for this article: Venus in Sagittarius & January Forecast this 2019 horoscope thepowerpath.com January forecast Wicca Students Speak Out: "A Year and A Day: 53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan has helped me to incorporate Wicca into my daily life, which has changed my life immensely. My relationships with people are better, my self-esteem is higher, and for the first time in a very long time, I'm excited for what's to come in life! Thank you Erin Dragonsong for your teachings, I appreciate you and all you do! Since taking this course I feel more centered and calm inside; I'm not quick to go to a negative place in my mind whenever something unexpected happens. It's helped me retrain my brain to focus on things that I wouldn't have thought about before. It's helped me in providing ways for me to control my emotions and also focus on the positives in life instead of dwelling on the negative. What I liked most was learning the "hands on" stuff! Just going through the motions of performing spells makes it more REAL, I feel empowered when doing these; coupled with absolute faith and filled with Divine energy we can change the world!" -C. Buendia, Ketchikan USA "Merry Meet! I received Lesson #00 today. My goodness, so much information! I had been starting to regret having spent so much money on the course, but have certainly had a change of heart. What is amazing to me is the amount of linked information in the lesson. I'm diverting into directions that are calling to me. Dream Work? Yes! Mandalas? Nah. Writing Magick Spells? Yes! And I'm not done link-clicking. - Thank you!!!" - D.F., USA "From taking the A Year & A Day course, I now have better understanding of human nature, spiritual growth, a connection to nature. The part I liked the most was the "down to earth" explanations, the challenges to do more and grow more. I feel more acceptance, to be able to cope with certain situations and or happenings and how I can respond, and it feels like I've received education on a level that explains how nature influences Every. Little. Thing." - Anita Rasner, Marion USA 2019 class starts this month. Click here to learn more about A Year & A Day: 53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan New Practice: Releasing Visualisation In Sacred Space call to mind a feeling you'd like to release. Remember how it feels: where in your body; notice your breaths' response. Does it have a certain look, sound, smell, taste, or sensation? You might remember a time when you felt that. This feeling is a fairly real thing. It is a vibration, and it consists of hormones and other bodily messengers. When you feel you've called it fully present, affirm your intention to let it go. Imagine it now lifting from your body, rising out of every cell it inhabits. It's like a pale shadow or cloud, lifting and gathering ~1 foot above your head. It will rise automatically: the only thing holding it in place is your choice or habit. When you sense that it is all there — or as much as you can release at this time — take your mental (or physical) athame and slice between your scalp and that cloud, separating it fully from you. As it rises up away from you, send this cloud to the Divine as a gift. The Divine loves every part of you, even the parts that we might call negative. Here is a prayer you can say: "O Divine One, Source of All. I give you this _________. I am grateful for its lessons and gifts, and am now choosing and ready for the Way of Beauty and Joy, Peace, and Love. Please take the _________, and transform it, that it may heal us all. I thank you! Blessed Be. So mote it be!" Now imagine what the Divine will transform it into: what is the positive feeling that you would like to replace it? Call that feeling to you now. You may find that a new quality will make itself known; an insight that this quality is also important or necessary. That's excellent! You're getting closer to the true root of the issue. You may call it by name, three times, and with each repetition, feel it as it suffuses more and more of your body and mind. You may do this for as long as you need, to invoke this quality fully. Feel it, revel in this new vibration changing your energy field, your mind, your very atoms and cells. You may remember or imagine a time when you felt this quality. Remember/imagine all you can: where you are, who is there, what you are doing, what you are wearing, any scents you smell, the feel of the air: warm, cold, hot, dry, moist, breezy... What can you hear? Feel the ground underfoot, you clothes and shoes on our body. Make this as multi-dimensional as possible. Put yourself in that space, that energy. Stay in this sensation as long as you can. As you feel it, touch a part of your body that you can use as an anchor for this energy. Whenever you touch this spot again, that energy will be re-released, and flood your entire being. (You may charge up this anchor with as many invocations of this quality as you like or need.) Finish with this seal: tapping the fingertips of both hands together lightly and repeatedly (an energy seal), state this firmly and with authority: "I bind this vibration into my body and my mind, on every level of reality, for now and evermore. I give thanks for this, the ability to forge by Path. So mote it be! Blessed Be!" If you find yourself shifting back to the old emotion/vibration and the power spot isn't working anymore, it means you are still attached to the old vibration. Repeat this process, especially charging the power point more frequently. Also, exploration of the unwanted energy pattern may be necessary. If it's hanging on, it's likely there is still a message that it is trying to give you: Look for the lesson and gifts it has brought you, and celebrate them. How did this energy pattern help you or protect you when you were younger? Explore the roots of the feeling: where did it start? What was the situation around the first time? What is it asking you to open up to? What hidden or blocked power is it trying to call forth? For more information on Invoking Qualities, look at: this article Invoking Quan Yin and Tara To Increase Patience and Compassion the article Invoking Divine Qualities in a previous issue of the Silver Chalice 'Zine Sabbats, Esbats, & Other Wiccan Rituals: Moon Bathing Moonbathing is sitting in moonlight, letting your bare skin be nourished by the moon's light. It blesses the soul as sunbathing blesses the body. Even just one hand open in the moonlight, like a leaf draws the nourishment into the whole body. Moonbathing is best under a full or nearly full moon, and it's best to lie on your back, exposing as much of your body as you're comfortable with, but it works to just stand in the moonlight as well. Moonbathing is more subtle than sunbathing, but it's powerful in deeper ways (& starbathing is even subtler). Imagine moonlight washing and combing through your energy field as waves wash through and comb the seaweeds and stones at a shoreline. Imagine it filling and wetting the dry, parched areas of your soul, cleansing and purifiying your spirit. Relax and open yourself to the Goddess, let Her come inside you and bless you, make you clean and whole. Let Her bring you to life in those areas that have been deadened. Let Her fill you with her magickal mystical Light. You may feel cool tingling or vibration or even warmth like a caress. Taste fresh spring water flavoured with mint or rose petals or hint of rosemary scent. Faint roses or lilacs or jasmine. Sound of waves or bells tinkling or being brushed with feathers. What does this experience feel like to you? Connect with your third eye chakra and fill the creative well with inspiration and insight to draw on throughout the upcoming month. The energy of moonbathing lubricates the joints, organs, and brain. When you feel complete, conclude your moonbathing session by communicating your gratitude and thank the Goddess for Her energy and these gifts. May the coming moon cycle bring you many gifts and blessings. Quotes: on Change & Releasing "It is a bad plan that admits of no modification." - Publilius Syrus First Century BC "If you want to fly in the sky, you need to leave the earth. If you want to move forward, you need to let go the past that drags you down." - Amit Ray "In the process of letting go, you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself." - Deepak Chopra "If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behaviour." - Katherine Hepburn "There is another way of controlling our emotional states besides changing our attitudes, and that is through our gestures and facial expressions." - Dr. John Diamond "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." - Alexander Graham Bell "Your past does not equal your future." - Anthony Robbins