Dreamwork 101 // What is Dreamwork and How to Get Started in 5 Steps

Dreamwork is the practice of tending to our relationship with our dreams. We’re dreaming every night, but many of us barely remember our dreams, or if we do, don’t spend much time thinking about them or working with them.

(How often have you dismissed a dream as, “oh, it was just a dream?”)

But dreams can have a lot to teach us and offer us when we enter into a deeper relationship with them. The dreamworld is rich with feelings, desires, needs, and possibilities. Our understanding of what the dreamworld evokes and presents can support our physical lives and our connections to ourselves. 

In this blog post, I’ll share a bit about how to start a dreamwork practice of your own.

Dreamwork Lineage

First, I’d like to share my dreamwork lineage. What I know about dreamwork comes from the work of these folks in particular, as well as my own intuition and my ancestors:

• Blanca Villalobos

• Toko-Pa

• Robert Moss

• Tara Burke

• Sanyu Estelle

These are wonderful people to go deeper into dreamwork with if you feel so called.

1. Support Dream Recall + Sleep 

The simplest of ways to begin supporting your dreaming is by supporting sleep and dream recall. It’s difficult to consciously work with our dreams if we’re not sleeping well or can’t remember our dreams when we wake up. Everyone is different, but here are some things you might like to explore to support your sleep:

• Set screen time boundaries for a certain amount of time before bed 

• Drink a tea to support your sleep, like chamomile (always do your own research and check with a professional before ingesting herbs) 

• Create your own sleep ritual that helps you shift into rest mode 

• Meditate and/or do a gentle, restorative yoga practice

• Take a few minutes to journal brain-dump style to help clear your mind. 

To support your dream recall, there are a few things I find helpful:

• Set an intention to dream and to remember your dream(s) before you go to sleep (you can write this down, say it out loud, or just tell it to yourself silently)

• Take a few minutes in bed in the morning before you get out of bed (or look at your phone) to give yourself space to remember your dream.

• Create a dream altar and meditate at it before bed to welcome your dreams to come 

• Pay attention to the dreams you do receive by tending them (more on that below!)

2. Start a Dream Journal 

This is probably the number one tip anyone you ask about dreamwork will give you, and with good reason! A dream journal creates a container for tending your dreams, helps solidify your intention to connect with your dreams, and helps you understand your dreams.

I recommend choosing a dedicated journal for your dreamwork and placing it on your dream altar when you’re not using it if you have one. As soon as you wake up (definitely before you look at any devices), put pen to paper and record your dream. Try recording your dreams in the present tense to honor its aliveness (for example, instead of "I was walking by a river,” try “I’m walking by a river). 

If it feels available to you, you might like to marinate in the dream in bed for a few minutes before actually getting up and reaching for your journal to record.

3. Explore Dream Feelings & Textures

After you record your dream, there are many ways to work with it more deeply and explore the messages it might have for you. 

I like to explore the dream textures: what are the textures, sights, smells, tastes, sounds of the dream? What do those senses mean for you and evoke for you? How do they make you feel? How does the dream, in general, make you feel?

4. Understand Dream Associations

As you work with the dream you’ve recorded, notice what stands out to you. Maybe your red dress feels particularly alive, or the hawk sparks something for you, or you feel curious about a figure in your dream. 

Whatever you feel curious about, do a bit of freewriting about it. List out: what does this thing make you think of? How does it make you feel? 

For example, some associations that come up with hawks for me:

• Hawk feather

• Maggie Smith’s poetry book Good Bones

• Mothers

• Protecting your children 

• Imagination

• Play 

Notice how I’m not so focused on the hawk itself, but I follow the threads of what each thing is associated with! Now I have something interesting to work with and can ask myself questions like, "what’s my relationship with play right now?" 

Some of the associations you make might really surprise you and can offer deeper insight into your dream. 

5. Assign Dream Correspondences 

As you continue to work with your dreams, you start to develop some personal symbols and correspondences. 

Like you saw above in my example with the hawk, I could make a section in my journal where I note that hawk led me to mothers and children and play. When I see a hawk again in my dream, I have that reference and can ask myself if/how it applies to this dream. 

Over time, you can deepen your understanding of your own personal dream symbols and correspondences. I love this practice so much because, to me, it’s not about what a certain symbol means but about what it means to you, how it feels in your body, how it resonates with your ancestry. That’s what feels potent and powerful!

Dreams Aren’t Your Personal Vending Machine 

It feels important to state that working with dreams isn’t just asking a question and receiving an answer. Generally, it’s not a simple or linear way of working. There isn’t one true or hidden meaning that we need to uncover. 

In my eyes, dreams and the dreamworld are alive. So it truly is a practice of engaging in relationship with, of exploring. You might like to ask yourself, "how can I be in equal exchange with my dreams?" How can I honor the dream world and not just extract from it?

Dreams have such potential to expand us out of binary thinking and into visionary possibilities, especially if we acknowledge that power and allow them to take us there!

Going Deeper with Your Dreams 

Another way to explore dream tending and go a bit deeper is by asking for a dream. I share how to do this in the dreamwork ritual I shared for Pisces season, which you can find here.

Feel free to contact us and share: how is your dream practice going? How is your relationship with your dreams evolving? 

3 Daily Actions to Improve Your Intuition

You’ve probably heard the phrase that “intuition is a muscle.” If this phrase is new to you, guess what? Your intuition is a muscle that can be strengthened and honed! Some come into this world with extremely active intuitive gifts, just like some people come into this world with a knack for certain instruments or sports. But for most people, intuition is something that takes some practice.

So, if your intuition is a muscle, you might be wondering, “What should I be doing to take my intuition to the metaphorical gym?” As a naturally intuitive person, I’ve spent years working with and refining my intuition and psychic abilities (think of psychic abilities as a super fine-tuned intuition.) There are a few things that I’ve found are key in keeping my intuitive abilities strong and progressing my intuitive abilities into the psychic realm.  

Before we jump in, I’d like to point out that we all experience intuitive and psychic information differently. If you’re not familiar with all of the “clairs,” I’m going to break them down for you here quickly. If you’d like to dive deeper into learning about the clairs, check out this past post here. 

• Clairvoyant: Sees visions, spirits, auras, and energy in the mind's eye or physically. Even though being clairvoyant is the most commonly referenced clair, it is by no means the most common!

• Clairsentient: A common trait of empaths. Clairsentients can tap into people's energy fields, places, and things and sense information about them. 

• Clairaudient: May hear specific sounds for different kinds of energy or hear messages from spirit either aloud or within the mind. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Claircognizant: Intuition on hyperdrive! The claircognizant knows things without provocation. Claircognizant information may appear in dreams or as a sudden gut instinct. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Clairtangent: Another word used to explain this is psychometry, or the ability to know things by holding an object. However, clairtangency is not limited to holding inanimate objects and may receive information by placing their hands on people or animals.⠀⠀⠀⠀

Understanding the different ways intuitive information may come through will make understanding your intuition much easier. 

Here are 3 Daily Activities to Strengthen Your Intuition. I suggest practicing these in this order, every day for at least a week, to see results. 

1. Meditate Every Day For 10-20 Minutes

Regular meditation will get you in the habit of quieting your mind and tuning in to your intuition. Before you run off and say you don’t have time or can’t meditate, I want you to know that this doesn’t have to be 30-60 minutes of quiet meditation. My daily meditation practice usually ranges from 10-20 minutes, with rare longer meditations for special occasions. 

Even if you need to start at five minutes a day, you will notice a difference in your ability to tune into your intuition. Our modern world comes with many distractions, so it’s important to get in the habit of quieting your mind regularly. Learn more about creating a daily meditation practice in another post I shared here. 

If sitting in meditation doesn’t work for you, I invite you to try different forms of mindfulness, like walking meditation, breathwork, or even becoming more aware of the present moment while doing daily chores and tasks.

Check out guided meditations and journeys here. 

2. Select One Intuitive Tool to Work With Daily

Select one intuitive tool to work with daily. Yes, the same one. Working with the same tool consistently will take out some of the variables for strengthening your intuition and better learning how it presents. Spending daily time with a single intuitive tool will also help you gain confidence with that specific tool. This step is ideal to do right after your daily meditation. Try to work with your intuitive tool for 10-20 minutes.

Once you select your tool, you’ll want to develop a system to use daily that doesn’t take very long (unless you have the time, in which case, take as much time as you’d like!) I’ve found that it’s easier to stick with new practices if I make them short and easy to work into my routine. For example, if you’re working with tarot or oracle cards, ask for daily guidance and pull 1-3 cards. Alternatively, if you want to try a daily scrying practice, I suggest setting a timer for an amount of time you can commit to the practice daily.

Here’s a list of common tools. I’ve also linked them to previous blog posts if you’d like to learn more about them.

• Oracle cards (get a free printable mini oracle card deck) 

• Tarot cards

• Pendulum

• Scrying

• Tea leaf reading

• Runes (get a set of free printable rune tiles)

If there’s a different intuitive tool within your practice that isn’t listed here, that’s great too. Pick something that works for you and that you’ll be able to commit to using daily. 

3. Connect with Intuition in Your Body

Last, and in my opinion, most important, tune into your physical body often while doing your intuitive practice. This is where the real muscle toning comes in to build your intuition. Learning how to connect your intuition into your body is important for a couple of reasons. First, you must have the ability to root into the physical body to expand into the spirit realm. Second, intuition will always show up in the physical body somehow, subtly as it may be. Learning how to sense how and where your intuition presents in your physical body is where the fine-tuning comes in.

Your intuition may show up as a sensation in the gut (there’s a reason for the term “gut feeling”), a sense of lightness in your heart, a flash of insight in your mind, a ringing in your ear, or something else. Your daily work will be to look for patterns in how your intuition speaks to you. How you recognize your intuition in your body will likely be unique and may vary for “yes” and “no” answers and the kind of intuitive work you’re doing. 

To work this into your daily intuitive practice, check-in with your body often as you meditate and work with your intuitive tool of choice. Ask your body to show you where and how your intuitive voice speaks to you. The more you practice this, the more confident and familiar you’ll become with recognizing your intuition. 

You can benefit from these intuition-building tools for as little as twenty minutes a day. I think you’ll see benefits in as little as a week, but of course, like all muscles, the longer you practice, the stronger it will get! Learn more about getting grounded and working with intuition through the third eye chakra in my book, Understanding Chakras.

Dreamwork Ritual for Pisces Season + Card Spread

Pisces, our mutable water sign and last sign of the zodiac, evokes the artist, the mystic, the dreamer, in all of us with its connection to music, poetry, spirituality, and the dream world.

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing a card spread and a ritual for Pisces season. To learn more about Pisces energy and your personal birth chart’s connection to Pisces, check out our Understanding the Energy of Pisces Season blog post here.

Card Spread for Pisces Season

This card spread can be done using an oracle deck or a tarot deck.

I invite you to create a ritual space for you and your deck to communicate by taking a moment to ground and center yourself; lighting some incense, herbs, or candles that help you drop into your heart space; and opening to allow messages to come through. 

Truly, it doesn’t matter what you do, just that whatever you do helps you feel more grounded, centered, and open. When you feel centered and ready, shuffle your deck and draw a card for each of the following questions:

• What is Pisces energy here to teach me?

• Supportive energies to draw on to support my learning and growth 

• How can I embody the artist, the mystic, the dreamer this season? 

• What dream(s) to tend to at this time.

• How to tend to those dreams 

After you pull your cards, take some time to journal and/or meditate with them to really connect with the full meaning they have to offer you.

Dreamwork Ritual for Pisces Season

As someone who loves dreamwork already, Pisces season is basically a dream come true! This ritual is intended to support you in receiving a message through your dreams, and so is best done right before sleep. You’ll need:

• A dream tea (many herbs support sleep and dreaming. Personally, I like a simple combination of mugwort, chamomile, and lavender tea before bed. But as always, with herbs, make sure you research or check with a professional about what’s right for your body. Mugwort should not be consumed by pregnant or lactating people.)

• A journal and something to write with 

• If you'd like to add some supportive crystals aquamarine and amethyst are great options.

1. To start, brew your dream tea and take it to your altar (or bed, if you don’t have an altar or that just feels better for you). As you sip your tea, start feeling into what you need clarity on (you could sense into this, meditate on this, journal about this, or do anything else that helps you clarify what you want to know). This is the question you’re going to take into your dream space.

2. When you have that question, you’d like to receive clarity through your dream tonight, spend some time meditating with your question and take deep breaths. Feel the question in your body. Feel your desire for clarity. Let your body soften and your crown open. When you finish your tea, set your journal beside your bed and go to sleep.

3. In the morning, record your dream in your journal (or a voice memo on your phone if you’re not into writing) right away. It’s okay if you don’t know what it means (in dreamwork, I often find there are no clear-cut yes/no answers, rather things to explore, energies to connect with, and more questions to ask).

4. Record the objective facts of your dream (what happened, who was there, what you saw, etc.) as well as how the dream made you feel, what stood out to you, and what feels particularly alive or significant in the dream. Do you have any gut feelings about what this dream means for you? Write them down.

5. After you record, spend some time meditating and journaling with whatever sparks curiosity, feels intriguing about the dream, or feels particularly alive or significant in the dream. Notice how it makes you feel, what it makes you think of, what it brings up for you.

It’s okay if you are left with more questions - this is about engaging with your dreams and coming into a relationship with them, not thinking of them like a vending machine for wisdom. The more you consciously dream, the more you’ll start to understand the language of your dreams! 

You can repeat this ritual as often as you’d like - I think three nights in a row is really helpful, with the same question - to get more clarity. 

(And if you want more rituals to support your sleep and sweet dreams this season, check out our blog post 7 Rituals to Help You Sleep Like a Goddess here.)

Happy Pisces season, dreamers! I hope this card spread and ritual support - share your spreads on Instagram and tag us @cassieuhl so we can see them! 

The Importance of Pleasure + 3 Pleasure Rituals

We are spiritual beings, but here as humans, we have bodies. Our bodies experience a wide range of sensations and emotions — fear, anxiety, shame, joy, love, pleasure, and many more.

Pleasure is one of the things that feels so specific to having a body - something that’s available to us through the tactile, through sensation, through what we can see and feel and touch.

One of my favorite quotes about pleasure comes from the classic The Ethical Slut: “pleasure is a worthwhile goal in and of itself.”

Many of us have learned in our society that prioritizing pleasure is selfish, unnecessary, and even wrong. But pleasure is our birthright, and as the quote above shares — it is worth pursuing. We all deserve to experience pleasure. 

In this blog, I’m sharing three rituals to help you tap into pleasure. Scroll down to read them!

Before we jump into the rituals, here's a list of ritual items that correspond to pleasure. Any of these items can be used to help you set the intention to invite in more pleasure. They are in no way necessary, but if you have them on hand, feel free to add them to any of the following rituals.

Pleasure Correspondences:

Crystals- rose quartz, garnet, carnelian, ruby

Element- Water

Colors- pink, red, orange

Tarot cards- The Empress, Queen of Cups, The Sun

Plants and scents- Rose, sandalwood, ylang ylang, patchouli, cinnamon

Shell- CowryEnergy points- Sacral

1. Presence Ritual

To me, one of the key ingredients to pleasure is presence. Many of us aren’t present throughout our days for many deeply valid reasons, from trauma to busyness, but when we aren’t present with our lives, I believe we miss out on a lot of the pleasure available to us in the moment.

For this presence ritual, all you’ll need to do is bring presence to something you’re doing in your day. Here are some examples of things you could try doing more mindfully to experience the pleasure within them:

• Taking a walk

• Eating a snack or a meal 

• Gardening

• Watching the sunset

• Having a conversation with someone you love 

• Listening to a song you love 

• Listening to a poem over audio 

• Moving your body in some way (yoga, dancing, running, etc.)

• Having sex (solo or with others) 

Whatever you choose, try to ground yourself beforehand with a few breaths, a hand on your body, petting your animal companion, or doing something else that feels grounding for you. 

Throughout the experience, try to keep your breath deep and truly notice your embodied experience. When you feel yourself drifting back into your mind (I can almost guarantee this will happen, and that’s okay!), try to just notice that, release the thoughts, and return to your breath. Just keep showing up with your breath and your presence, and see how it helps you attune to the pleasure that’s available to you at this moment. 

2. Exploring the Senses Pleasure Ritual

This ritual is inspired by a group experience I took part in at Spirit Weavers a few years ago called Pleasure Stacking.

For this ritual, you’ll want to gather items that can stimulate the senses (sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch). Get creative and use what you have around you! What items in your space open up possibilities for you, feel delicious, or spark curiosity? 

Here are some things that I have used for this ritual to inspire you: 

• Crystals with different textures 

• Silky fabrics 

• Eye mask 

• A delicious tincture that tastes like cacao  

• Fruit  

• A CBD pre-roll  

• Velvety fabrics 

• Scented massage oil  

• Incense  

• Candles 

• A chain from a necklace  

• Sensual music  

1. Once you select the items you'll be working with for this ritual, set yourself up somewhere you feel comfortable - I like to lay down on a yoga mat on the floor.

2. Light your candles and incense if you’re using them, and start to breathe deeply and tune into the senses.

3. The intention of this ritual is to connect with pleasure through the senses and through the body. The only guideline is to use your tools intuitively and keep breathing!

4. Try to really stay present with sensation. You might start by rubbing oil on your body and massaging yourself, experimenting with different pressures. You might trace the chain from your necklace over your belly, taste your tincture or fruit, let your music wash over you and find organic movement, breathe in the scent of your incense, or wrap yourself in different fabrics.

5. As you work with this ritual, notice what happens in your body. Notice what feels delicious in your body, what just feels weird, what your body wants more of. Can you give yourself what you need?

6. As you keep tuning into the senses, allow any organic pleasure mantras to arise like “I deserve pleasure,” “My pleasure is sacred,” or “My pleasure matters.”

7. Notice, too, if shame arises or thoughts telling you that you don’t deserve pleasure, it’s not okay to feel good, etc. Allow these thoughts and feelings to be here - it’s okay! They’re important information. See if you can breathe into them, honor them, and return to your journey through the senses.

8. Take as much time as you need. Remember that experiencing pleasure is your birthright.

9. When you’re ready, close this ritual by placing your hands somewhere on your body and speaking some loving words to yourself, to your body, to whichever parts of you need it.

Ritual to Open to More Pleasure

This ritual is intended to support you in feeling in your body where you hold blocks to pleasure - and moving them out in a fun way. 

In my opinion, it’s not only our tears and pain that move energy and blockages. We can open to more pleasure, and we can move blocks out of our bodies in a fun and playful way as well. In this way, we become open to experiencing more pleasure and create a new pattern in the body. 

For this ritual, feel free to put on some music and create a sacred space, whatever that means to you - (maybe lighting candles or incense, or not - you are a sacred space so you don't have to do anything but you can if you'd like!).

You’ll want to be somewhere you can be comfortable, like in your bed or on a yoga mat.

1. Once you're set up and comfortable, start to feel in your body where you hold blocks to pleasure. I recommend starting by sitting in meditation and breathing deep, feeling these places that are present today (and if you can’t feel anything, that’s okay too).

2. When you feel ready, start to move those blocks in a fun and intuitive way. Just play - see if you can let the moving of these blocks itself be fun and pleasurable.

3. You can use laughter, orgasm, shaking, yelling, roaring, moaning, hissing, vibrating, circling, dancing, moving, or anything else you can feel into or think of to move these blocks out of your body.

4. Can you let it be pleasurable? Can you let it be fun even to heal and explore and transmute? Let your creativity and intuition take over when it comes to moving these crunchy, sticky places out of your body.

5. When you feel complete, take a moment to breathe and notice your new state. Can you feel where there is more space, more openness, in your body? How does your connection to yourself feel now? Breathe, notice, and perhaps take a few moments to explore these questions and process your experience in your journal.

Looking for more pleasure-based rituals? Check out this blog post for more rituals for Beltane!

Your spell's over, now what? 3 Ways to release or repurpose your ritual items

You waited for the perfect moon phase, gathered your supplies, and sent your magic out into the world. Now, you’re left with the remnants of your magical workings. What can be done with your leftover jars and bowls of notes, rocks, herbs, and candle wax?

Whether your magical workings have come to fruition or not, you have quite a few options when it comes to releasing or reusing your past spells. In this blog post, I’m going to share three different ways to honor and release your sacred spells and objects. 

It is the very act of your spell and ritual work that releases your desires out into the universe. The remnants left behind can serve as helpful reminders, but repurposing or releasing your spell will not break or reverse anything. There are certainly some practices that may require you to keep the components of your spell intact, however, if that’s the case, you’ll undoubtedly know. Trust your inner guidance system. 

As you read through these options, know that you can use one or all of these methods to repurpose or release your spell objects. Some objects may not work for certain methods outlined below, in that case, it’s okay to combine. You can also check out this quick video I created for our Instagram page. 

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A post shared by Cassie Uhl (@cassieuhl)

1. Burning Ceremony

Fire is a transformative tool, so this method goes beyond simply making space for new spells. If your spell has ended it may be time to let it transform in new ways. This method can also be helpful to aid you in detaching from the outcome of your spellwork. Fire is powerful!

A burning ceremony is a great option for spells that include paper, herbs, candle wax, and other burnable objects. Most candle wax is paraffin, which means it’s not ideal for burying in the ground, and reusing it can be time-consuming. If your spell has leftover wax, burning it is one of the easiest and safest ways to release it. 

For this method, you’ll need a large cauldron, fireproof dish, or outdoor fire. Depending on what the contents of your spell were, you’ll likely want to do this outside to prevent a huge plume of smoke from inhabiting your house. As you release your items into the fire, trust that the energy will continue to transform and benefit yourself and others. 

2. Release to the Earth

A gentler option is to release your items back into the Earth. For this method, it’s imperative that you only release items that are natural and biodegradable. For example, most candles are made from paraffin wax and are not suitable for this method. I also do not recommend burying glass jars or bottles. Herbs, plants, biodegradable papers, and crystals are ideal for this method. If your spell was contained in a jar or vessel of some kind, I recommend reusing it, see the next section for tips on this. 

Items that should not be given back to the Earth:

• Salt: salt can harm or even kill plants

• Candle wax: most candles are made with paraffin wax which is not biodegradable

• Anything that is not 100% biodegradable

You can bury your items in a meaningful location or in your backyard, the location itself doesn’t need to be special. If you live near a natural body of water, releasing them into the water is a great option as well. This method can be transformative like the fire but in a gentler way. I find this method is great for inspiring a sense of gratitude and giving thanks to Mother Earth.

3. Cleanse and reuse

For all the objects you want to reuse like meaningful crystals and items that don’t burn or biodegrade, you’ll want to energetically cleanse them. Because spell and ritual work evokes such strong emotions, it’s important to energetically cleanse items before reusing them for another purpose. Unless, of course, the energy you imbued your items with is something you want to keep around. However, if you performed a spell for letting go of a past relationship, and then want to use the same jar or tools for helping you gain a new career, it’ll be best to cleanse your items.

There are a variety of ways to cleanse physical objects. Here are a few simple techniques. 

• Place your items in salt overnight.

• Hold your items in cleansing smoke like rosemary, cedar, lavender, or some other herb in line with your spiritual heritage. 

• For rocks or other items that are waterproof, hold them in running water.

• Hold your items in your hands and call on any guides, spirits, or energies you work with to cleanse your items. 

No need to let your sacred space fill up with spellwork from the past! I hope you enjoyed these tips to keep your spell and ritual practice open and flowing.

Inspired Growth Candle Ritual for Imbolc

The Celtic Sabbat of Imbolc honors the midway point between the Winter Solstice and Spring. The Earth is starting to wake up, and even though it may be quite cold still, you can start to see glimmers of nature waking up. On a personal level, this is a season to allow inspiration to stir within you. Imbolc is a call to allow your inner transformations so you can grow into the highest and best version of yourself. Danu Forest says it best here.

"To call in inspiration is to begin to see our life infused with spirit, to discover a new or renewed vision for greater creativity on all levels. To call in healing is to resolve the things that hold us back or limit our potential. We all have parts of our lives and bodies that need healing, and to give this aspect of ourselves a boost at this time of the year sets us up for a more empowered and happier future." - Danu Forest from The Magical Year

The Goddess Brigid is closely associated with this sabbat. Brigid brings light, inspiration, and healing and aids in childbearing. It’s her whispers which begin to rouse both you and Mother Nature during this time of new beginnings. Brigid connects deeply with the fire element and is often referred to as the “Flame of Ireland.” For these reasons, candle work is especially fitting for Imbolc. Learn more about Brigid here and more about candle magick here.

For this Imbolc ritual, you’ll be calling on the Goddess Brigid to stir inspiration within you. The ideal time to practice this ritual is on the evening of February 1st or anytime on February 2nd. Brigid is associated with the color white, so a white candle will be best for this ritual. As with all ritual work, use what you have. Your intention is the most powerful part of any ritual or spell. If you don’t have one of these items, leave it out, it will still work. 

Inspired Growth Candle Ritual for Imbolc

For this ritual, you’ll need:

• A white candle 

• Rosemary for cleansing (optional)

• Bay leaf for success (optional)

• A sharp tool to inscribe your candle with

• Anointing oil for your candle (whatever you have on hand works, such as almond oil or even olive oil. For an extra layer of energy, try rosemary oil, chamomile oil, or basil oil.)

• Safe space to burn your candle

• Dedicated time to connect with your candle

1. Prepare all of your items and take a moment to center yourself. 

2. Using your carving tool, write “inspire me” on your white candle. As you carve your candle, visualize yourself opening up to receiving insight and wisdom. 

3. Rub your anointing oil over your candle and continue to visualize yourself opening up to receive inspiration from spirit. 

4. Roll your candle in any herbs you’re using, or sprinkle them on top.  

5. Place your candle in a fire-safe dish or holder and light your candle. 

6. When you light your candle, call on the Goddess Brigid to join you, inspire you, and heal you. You might say something like, “Goddess Brigid, I welcome your light into this space. I am open to your inspiration and healing. So it is.”

7. Stay with your candle as it burns. Take 2-5 minutes to sit with your candle and softly gaze at the flame. 

8. As the candle continues to burn, you can continue to meditate and connect with Brigid, you can write down any ideas that come to your mind, or you can simply rest and enjoy the healing light of Brigid. 

9. When the candle is done burning, take a moment to thank Brigid for joining you and thank yourself for taking the time to connect with the season. 

Just like nature grows without force, so will you. Trust that the stirrings of inspiration that you received are exactly what you need to grow into the highest and best version of yourself. Imbolc blessings, dear one!

Learn more about Imbolc and how to connect with this season here. 

Card Spread & Sigil Ritual for Aquarius Season

Welcome to Aquarius season! Our fixed air sign, Aquarius energy is about authentic expression, bringing forth the new age and the next world, and upgrading the collective to its highest expression.

To learn more about Aquarius energy, you can check out this blog post. In this post, I’ll be sharing a card spread and a sigil ritual to help you tap into the healing invitations of the Aquarius season. 

Practice these Aquarius offerings together or separately, whatever feels best for you. Scroll down to explore both of them!

Card Spread for Aquarius Season

For this card spread, you’re welcome to use a tarot deck or an oracle deck. In the spread, we’ll explore the Aquarius themes of authenticity and belonging. 

I invite you to create a ritual space for you and your deck to communicate by taking a moment to ground and center yourself; lighting some incense, herbs, or candles that help you drop into your heart space; and opening to allow messages to come through. 

When you feel centered and ready, shuffle your deck and draw a card for each of the following points:

• Where do I have a block from authentic expression?

• How can I support my authentic expression in this area?

• What's keeping me from feeling a sense of belonging? 

• How can I create deeper belonging within myself?

• Who will I be in my most authentic expression?

Take some time to journal and/or meditation on your cards to connect with the full meaning they have to offer you.

Sigil Ritual for Aquarius Season

For this ritual, we’ll be creating a sigil to help you embody your truth. As an air sign, Aquarius evokes truth. You can see this in the King of Swords, our Aquarius card in the court cards of the tarot. It invites us to speak and embody our truth, to take up space with our voice and our message, and to not shrink - even when we’re afraid. When we embody our truth and share our voices, we create more authentic belonging. Associated with group energy and friendships, this is something Aquarius energy is deeply connected to. If sigils are new to you, think of them as a powerful symbol that is completely personal to you. What you’ll need: 

• paper

• pencil

• optional: crystals, herbs, or candles that support the element of air like yellow or blue candles, mint or citrus, and amethyst or kyanite. 

Ritual Steps: 

1. As with the card spread, open your ritual by taking some time to ground and center yourself. You might like to visualize yourself sending roots down into the core of the earth, take some deep breaths, place your hands on your body, or do something else that feels grounding to you. 

2. After you ground, you might like to cast a circle to protect your ritual space and invite any well ancestors, spirit guides, or other loving beings you have relationships with to join you in ritual.

3. When you’re ready, it’s time to create your sigil. Write down some phrases and affirmations on your paper that support you in speaking your truth. Just let them flow! Some phrases to get you started: I EMBODY MY TRUTH. or I AM TRUTH.

4. After you write them down, sit with the phrase (or phrases) you wrote. If you wrote multiple phrases, speak them out loud and see which one lands in your body. Choose one that feels alive and supportive.

5. Re-write that phrase or phrases on a new page. In the next few steps, you’ll work towards simplifying and unifying this phrase into a single symbol. 

6. Re-write the phrase again, removing all of the repeating letters and vowels. 

7. Re-write this line, turning the remaining letters into simpler symbols or shapes, like this. 

8. Connect the lines together into a symbol in a way that feels intuitive and natural to you. This can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. As you create, breathe deeply and focus on your intention. 

Tip: If drawing isn’t natural for you, this might feel uncomfortable, and that’s okay! Focus on the intention of your statement rather than what the sigil looks like. Remember this is a symbol for you and you alone. 

Tip: Your sigil will look different than the one pictured.

9. When you’re ready, it’s time to activate your sigil. You can do this in many ways, but for this ritual, I recommend a brief meditation. 

10. Place your sigil to your heart, with your palms on top of it, and breathe deeply. Visualize light (any color that comes intuitively is great) flowing from your heart to the sigil, activating each piece of it. Spend some time here letting energy flow, and when you feel an energy shift you’ll know that your sigil has been activated. 

11. Close your ritual by placing your sigil on your altar, under your pillow, on your bedside, or somewhere else that you’ll see it regularly and be reminded of its power. 

Wishing you a nourishing Aquarius season, and please feel free to share your ritual experience with us on Instagram!

Understanding the Energy of Capricorn Season

Welcome to Capricorn season! Our cardinal Earth sign, this sign is here to help us climb the mountain towards our dreams.

Whether you have Capricorn placements in your birth chart or not, we’re all feeling into this energy during this season. In this blog, I’ll be sharing what Capricorn is all about, the planetary and tarot associations of Capricorn, and how to understand Capricorn in your chart. 

CAPRICORN ENERGY + RULING PLANET

Symbolized by the mountain goat, Capricorn energy is here to help us climb the mountain towards our dreams, visions, and whatever success means to us. It offers us ambition, direction, and structure. Within this structure, our emotions, our intuition, and our hearts have space to flow and move. In this way, Capricorn helps us move towards our purpose in this lifetime.

Ruled by Saturn, Capricorn can be stereotyped as only about structure and authority. But as an Earth sign that begins with the winter solstice, it also connects us to the magic of the Earth, of the physical, of the tangible.

The Saturn ruling of this archetype also connects it to the patriarchy and father energy. Soul-centered Capricorn asks us to find healthy expressions of the masculine and dissolve patriarchy as well as the patriarchy within. 

When Capricorn integrates with its polar sign Cancer, it holds the structure for Cancer’s water to flow, finding deep balance between receptivity and action, being and doing, feeling and acting. 

CAPRICORN IN THE TAROT

In the tarot, Capricorn is associated with the Devil, the World, and the Knight of Pentacles. Each of these cards speaks to a different aspect of Capricorn energy. 

The Devil card, ruled by Capricorn, speaks to the aspect of Capricorn that is about power. How do you connect to your power, and do you use it to create power with? Or are you using it to replicate harmful hierarchical systems and continue to reinforce power over?

The World card, ruled by Saturn, is the embodiment of reaching the pinnacle of the mountain. One cycle ends and so another cycle begins. How will you honor the completion of cycles? Will you immediately move on to the next thing, or will you create some space to process, celebrate, honor, and grieve?

The Knight of Pentacles, cardinal Earth in the court cards, is an action-oriented card. All of the knights move, and the Knight of Pentacles moves in a slow, embodied, purposeful way. Its actions are based on a foundation that is strong and sustainable. Embody Capricorn energy by taking slow, embodied, purposeful action towards your dreams.

UNDERSTANDING CAPRICORN IN YOUR CHART

To understand Capricorn in your chart, you’ll want to look at a couple of pieces:

• Any planets in Capricorn

• The house that Capricorn rules in your chart. Whatever house Capricorn rules indicates the area of life where you are meant to be visible and channel ambition.

• Your 10th house. The 10th house is traditionally ruled by Capricorn. The sign that rules your 10th house can add another layer indicating how Capricorn themes show up in your life.

Another way to understand Capricorn energy in your life could be to ask your oracle or tarot deck: how is Capricorn energy showing up in my life right now? 

Want to connect more deeply with Capricorn energy? You can also try working with earthy crystals aligned with this season like smoky quartz, garnet, obsidian, and shungite.