Happy Birthday, Nephthys!

It’s very fitting that on this fifth and final of the ancient Egyptian Epagomenal Days (according to my reckoning of the Cairo Calendar), this liminal time between the year that is ending and the one that is beginning, that we celebrate the birth of the Great Goddess Nebet-Het (Nephthys), Wife of Set, Sister to Auset and Ausar, Mother of Anpu (Anubis). She is “the Lady of the House,” i.e., the embalming tent, the mourning kite and funerary goddess, the One Who Welcomes Those Who Enter Amenti.

I truly do believe in my heart that She Wyrdly marked me, to borrow the words of Edgar Allan Poe, “from childhood’s hour.” The parade of funerals in my own blood family starting from my early childhood (and shocking deaths too, I might add, such as my being the first person to surprisingly discover my maternal grandfather’s body after he had hung himself; I was 8 years old at the time) were, in hindsight, an Ordeal Path that ultimately baptized me into Her service. Her eerily-lit Underworld pathways are not for everyone but I look back on none of those profound episodes of loss with self-pity. Nephthys is absolutely my heart’s delight, and the Chief Power to Whom I dedicated myself for lifelong service when I became ordained as a Priestess in the Fellowship of Isis nine years ago. She is also the Patroness of my Death Midwife work.

Happy Belated World Tarot Day!

Preparations for today’s Super Full Moon Eclipse in Sagittarius got in the way of my celebrating this yesterday, but happy belated World Tarot Day and may all your divinatory readings bring you joyous journeys of self-discovery! I decided, after emerging from my overnight ritual/puja/vigil whose focus was spiritual protection during the eclipse, to do a Tarot reading: 6 cards to detail what the next 6 months have in store for me, post-eclipse. Here are my results.

Sudden Transformation and the Loud and Steady Beats of the Drums of War: The Astrology of the May 26 Full Moon Eclipse in Sagittarius

In evolutionary astrology, when we talk about lunar or solar eclipses, we’re referring to two things: the astronomical event itself (e.g., its specific date and exact time, placement in the heavens with aspects formed to the planets in transit in our solar system) and the energies surrounding the Zodiacal signs associated with the eclipse and how those energies can build up for weeks in advance of the actual event itself and tellingly play themselves out in one’s life for several months afterwards.

The May 26 Super “Flower” Full Moon Eclipse in Sagittarius is intensely Mutable—we have no less than 8 planets occupying Mutable Signs (Sagittarius, Gemini, and Pisces)—and disturbingly dark given its prominent association with the Fixed Star of Antares, the violently throbbing, warmongering “heart” of the constellation of Scorpio.

My Newest Gemstone Beaded Necklaces Available on JackalMoonDesigns Etsy Shop!

My day job and my caregiving responsibilities have definitely been eating up my “spare” time as of late, but, thankfully, I was able to set aside a full workday (8+ hours) yesterday for the express purpose of creating new beaded gemstone ritual jewelry pieces to sell on my Etsy site, Jackal Moon Designs!

My Experiences at Paganicon 2019–Part 2: The Rituals

Whereas Part 1 in this two-part assessment of my recent Paganicon 2019 experiences detailed the workshops I attended, the objective of Part 2 is to survey the rituals I actively participated in during the three days of the festival gathering: Friday, March 22 through Sunday, March 24, 2019.

Selqet: Ancient Egypt’s Scorpion Goddess

Editorial Note: This is the transcript of the presentation I gave on Saturday at the 25th Annual Fellowship of Isis in Chicago Goddess Convention. I added photos from my PowerPoint presentation and my references list.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this historic 25^th anniversary Goddess Festival commemorated by the Chicago FOI Community! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Anna Applegate, I’m an ordained Priestess, and as a Polytheist primarily dedicated to the Kemetic or Egyptian Pantheon of Gods in my personal spiritual practice, I am very excited to be talking to you about the mysterious and powerful Scorpion Goddess, Selqet. I love Her very much. She features prominently in my ancestor devotionals and in the Spirit Work that I do, and I am deeply honored to ritually invoke Her in our Main Liturgy this evening, “The Mystical Awakening of Scorpio and Kundalini.”  

Exorcism Incense Recipe

I’m sharing my most potent incense recipe for use in rituals meant to banish unwanted spirits from places or people. Using a mortar and pestle, finely grind into a powder the following:

• 1 part frankincense granules
• 1 part benzoin resin (solid)
• 1 part dragon’s blood resin (solid)
• 1 large dried bay leaf
• 3 small pieces of dried Solomon’s Seal root
• 3 small pinches of dried rosemary
• 3 small pinches of dried angelica root
• 3 small pinches of white sage leaves
• 3 small pinches of dried rue
• 3 small pinches of dried rowan bark
• 3 small pinches of dried St. John’s Wort
• 3 small pinches of dried Dittany of Crete

Lastly, add 7 drops of lavender essential oil. Stir the mixture well and store it in a small jar with an air-tight seal.

This mixture has a dual purpose of banishing hostile spiritual entities and marshaling the aid of your helping spirits.

The Pleasures of Painting During Piscean Transits

Virgo me has been really loving the spate of benevolent planetary aspects involving Venus, Mercury, and Neptune in Pisces and the trine to Jupiter in Scorpio. (For an in-depth look at the month’s transits (applicable for all signs), read my post I published on Saturday.) Yesterday’s exact conjunction between Venus and Mercury in Pisces kicked off a frenzied spate of artistic creativity: I did three paintings from start to finish in less than 24 hours, a new record for me! Huzzah!

Devotional Ritual to Sekhmet with Spellwork to Reverse the Evil Eye

This past Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of leading a workshop on ancient Egyptian magic at World Tree Healing bookstore and metaphysical resource center here in Chicago. Called “Hands-On Heka,” the workshop I devised featured an overview on the three types of magic, as I classify them, that we know that ancient Egyptians of all social strata practiced: funerary magic, ritual magic, and everyday (sometimes referred to as “crisis-mode”) magic. From this latter category, I devised a devotional ritual to the great goddess Sekhmet, Lady of Power, which featured a historically verified spell meant to reverse the Evil Eye. The spell involved the creation of a papyrus talisman, which we did together as a group based on a hieroglyphic prayer I created to evoke Sekhmet’s aid for spiritual protection. However, there was follow-up work for the ritual participants/workshop attendees to do once they returned to their homes: once activated, the papyrus talisman had to be “put to work” in what is arguably history’s oldest form of the Witch Bottle.

Ognjena Marija: “Fiery Mary,” Serbian Folk Religion, and the Powers Prevailing Over the Destructive Heat of Summer

Few times of the year are busier for me in terms of religious activity than the period leading from the end of July to the beginning of August.