Patchouli: A Potent Magickal Botanical

Patchouli (Pogosteon patchouli, Pogostemon cablin)

Patchouli is, at least in my opinion, one of the most valuable and versatile herbs to have in your magickal cabinet; both in herb and oil form. It’s peculiar in that most people have a very definite feeling about the herb; one way or the other. Many people have very strong feelings about the scent of patchouli and to be sure it does have a very strong and particular scent. Few are ambivalent about it; most either love it or hate it. The bad thing is that those who love it generally assume that everyone loves it as much as they do. I’m sure many of you know exactly what I mean; that guy who douses himself with an incredible amount of the strongest patchouli oil he can find knowing to his core that it drives women crazy. Funny thing is they don’t seem to get that it’s not the kind of crazy they’re looking for. Don’t get me wrong, I love patchouli for a variety of reasons and a variety of uses but I am the first to say that more often than not people who wear it as a personal scent tend to wear WAY to much of it.

In the 1960’s and 70’s patchouli was a favorite scent among the “generation of love” earning it a deserved reputation as a hippie scent. Used to cover the aroma of unwashed bodies and marijuana it is perhaps through this overuse in these times that some people became so passionate about their love or hate for the scent. Even today it still has the reputation as being an effective disguiser of the scent of marijuana. Just a few years ago I was driving through Utah on my way to a trade show in Colorado when we got pulled over by the highway patrol. Our van was full of product samples for the show and you could smell the patchouli. That smell had the direct result of having the whole car searched as the barely pubescent officer explained to me that patchouli was used to cover up the smell of marijuana so he suspected that we were transporting the illegal herb.

                                                          

Unless you live in a tropical rainforest or jungle you won’t really be able to cultivate the plant. Of course a good quality greenhouse would do the job but due to the ease of acquiring both the herb and the oil growing it to use as an ingredient isn’t really practical although if you live in South Florida you might be able to give it a go. About ten years ago I actually acquired a seeding of my own. I still lived in Los Angeles and I was hoping to be able to grow it just for my own personal satisfaction. I nursed it and loved it and it did very well until one night the whole of the plant was ravaged by horde of un-merciless slugs. All that was left after their onslaught was but the twig of the main stem covered in unmistakable slug slime.

Traditional lore as well as my own personal experience has it that patchouli is good for love, lust and prosperity. It’s an herb of attraction to be sure and one that is often used in conjunction with other herbs or oils. Both the herb and the oil have a wonderfully rich and earthy scent that blends well with many other botanicals. It’s also effective in fertility workings and can be used as a substitute when a spell calls for graveyard dirt. Another use is in jinx or spell breaking formulas. The Elemental association is Earth but there do seem to be those who associate it with Fire. From my own extensive personal experience I will tell you that it is definitely an Earth herb; I don’t understand how anyone can smell its aroma or hold the herb in your hand and say that it’s not an Earth herb. It’s feminine and associated with the planet Saturn.

If you like to mix your own oils don’t be afraid to try some patchouli oil in your blends even if you think you hate it. When the earthy and sometimes even sharp scent blends with other oils it adds a wonderfully deep and almost musky quality to the blend not to mention it’s very potent energetically. Patchouli is one of those wonderful oils that work not only energetically but also emotionally making it all the more valuable. It’s also used in holistic aromatherapy for skin care, nerve stimulation and endocrine issues among other things. It’s also an effective insect repellant and has been used for centuries for that purpose.

Once upon a time the oil was quite inexpensive but the last ten years or so the price has fluctuated quite a bit. The essential oil price can vary depending on the country of origin as well as the age. Patchouli is one of those oils that actually improve with age. That being said, even expensive patchouli isn’t that expensive when you compare it to the price of some other essential oils. Sadly it’s also often mislabeled in that it’s sometimes labeled as natural when in fact it’s not or it’s highly diluted. Many companies mix patchouli oil with either other natural oils or even synthetic ones to lower the price and soften the sharpness of a young oil. There are also lots of synthetic patchouli oils out there too and to the unfamiliar nose it may be hard to tell. Your best shot at getting true, undiluted essential oil is to buy it from someone you trust.

The herb on the other hand is relatively inexpensive and is a wonderful addition to incense and charm bag herb blends. I’ve even used it in magickal potpourri. Using the herb in a bath infusion is a great rejuvenator and can help clear confusion while easing a troubled mind. The Chinese use patchouli herb in a number of their over the counter patent remedies including one that I am never without that is wonderful for all sorts of digestive system issues.

At Raven’s Flight we sell the cut & dried herb in both ½ oz and 4 oz sizes. We sell the pure, undiluted and unadulterated essential oil in 1 dram and 2 dram bottles. I also make a house blend of patchouli and honey amber that is very popular called Royal Patchouli that is available as an oil, stick and cone incense, soap, lotion, body wash, room & body spray and candles. All patchouli products are 20% off from Sunday, March 31, 2013 through Saturday, April 6^th, 2013. No promo or coupon code needed. So if you've never used it now's a good time to try some and if like me you use it a lot now's a good time to stock up!

Happy Crafting!

Raven Womack

Raven’s Flight

The Magickal Apothecary

www.ravensflight.net

Reversing, Uncrossing and Banishing Magick; The Subtle Differences

Okay, so after my last post on the Ethics of Reversing Magick I got a few emails from people asking me to clarify the differences between Reversing Magick and those oh so similar yet subtly different magickal intentions Uncrossing and Banishing. It could be argued that the similarities are far more in number than the actual differences. The truth is, at least in my opinion, that the differences and similarities, much like beauty is in the eye of the beholder so to speak.

Reversing magick is designed to return to the sender any negative or otherwise unwanted energy and/or magick; this would also include any unintentional negative energy coming your way. Reversing can also be used to reverse a situation although this is a less common but certainly valid use of this type of working.

Uncrossing can be defined as curse or hex breaking. While I would be the first one to admit that 90% of the people who think that they have been “crossed” or cursed are in fact mistaken but occasionally it does happen. Hexes or crossings do not have to be actual spells in the way that we think of them they can also be a simple focused attack of hate, jealousy or some other malicious intent by someone with enough power to make it stick.

Banishing is used to ….well to banish something. Often banishings are used for getting rid of a nasty habit, removing obstacles or to get rid of unwanted visitors, corporeal or non, to leave your home or person.

Now some of you may have already come to the realization that all three of these types of magick might in fact be interchangeable which of course they are. In any given situation it is obviously up to the practitioner to decide which type of working to use to accomplish their goal. As with most things magickal I don’t believe that there is one universally right and only true way. The definitions I’ve used here are fairly generic and there are of course plenty of other ways in which all of these types of magick can be used. One could certainly use uncrossing magick to get rid of a bad habit and one could also most certainly use banishing to get rid of negative energy and one could definitely use reversing to send some nasty creature back to wherever it came from or whoever sent it to you. Then again there’s the issue of luck; bad luck can be reversed, uncrossed or banished. So with so many options how do you choose the right one for you and your specific situation? That is a question I can’t answer for you. With time and experience we all learn what works best for us in any given situation. 

Happy Crafting!

Raven Womack

Raven's Flight The Magickal Apothecary

www.ravensflight.net

Pagan Book Reviews

Opinions are like........

In our current age of electronic publishing and communication the opportunity for people to publically review books as well all sorts of things has grown exponentially which like most things has its pros and its cons. I think that a lot of us seldom make large or even medium purchases without researching the available reviews. While it is seldom that one will find any item that has only good reviews any reasonably intelligent person can make a reasonably intelligent decision about a purchase by researching the available reviews. Of course it is up to the person who is reading the review to decipher how intelligent the reviewer might be or if the way in which any particular reviewer might be using or misusing the item in question might have colored their review. Obviously the more reviews an item has received the easier it is to figure that out. I have often read reviews on things like vacuum cleaners where the majority of reviews are glowing or at least positive but there is always a certain percentage that gives the item a general fail; allowing for the normal percentage of idiots in the world that is totally understandable. One can generally assume that whoever wrote the bad review probably didn’t read the instructions or they simply used it for a purpose it was not intended for. 

Book reviews on the other hand are a funny thing; you see it’s pretty impossible to separate personal tastes and experiences out of the equation and when it comes to Pagan books being reviewed it gets really tricky. The greater Pagan community is a relatively small and definitely incestuous group. Certainly our numbers continue to grow but when compared with say.....non-Pagans we are definitely in the minority. This fact creates a rather difficult situation in regards to book reviews and recommendations. If a reviewer dislikes the author it is fairly hard to be completely objective when reviewing their book and as often as not the reviewer may not even know the author but be working on second or third hand information. For instance if the author has in some way real or imagined dissed the reviewer’s HP/HPS then the author must be a jerk and therefor whatever they write is no good. However when reading the review you will generally have no way of knowing that the review was biased before the book was even read.

Another sad but true issue I have seen in regards to Pagan book reviews is the jealousy factor. It seems that many in the Pagan community have egos with a fragility matched only by the voracity of their opinions. I have seen books given terrible reviews by people who have not even read the book simply because they are jealous of the author’s success.

Then there are the reviews that are colored by the reviewer’s personal type of Paganism to such an extent that they can’t see the value of the book to someone whose practice might be different. For instance one who practices Druidism might slam a book because it is too Wiccan which only okay if they actually state that for a Druid the book has little to offer due to it being written from a Wiccan perspective but if they just proceed to slam a book without making that distinction then whoever reads the review might have no clue.

Of course this works the other way too; sometimes reviewers will write glowing reviews on a book based more on the incestuous nature of our community than on true critical opinion. I have yet to see a glowing review of a book that includes the disclaimer that the author is the reviewer’s best friend, lover, coven mate, HP/HPS or whatever but I guarantee that at least some small percentage of glowing reviews are written by people who have some sort of connection to the author. It’s not that I don’t think people who share some sort of relationship should never review each others work but I do think it only fair that they state somewhere in the review that such a connection exists. That way when we read the review we can take that fact into consideration. Too omit this information seems disingenuous to me. 

Just to be clear, over the years I have seen all of these examples and many others which in my opinion are rather unethical and do a great disservice not only to the authors of the books being reviewed but also to the potential readers who might be making their decision on whether or not to purchase and read a book based on such an unfairly biased review.

Anyway, the reason for this whole diatribe is that I will be posting book reviews from time to time. Every now and then perhaps simply because I’ve been around a while or perhaps because I’ve read a book or two someone asks me to review a book. Then again sometimes I find a book on my own that I seem to have a strong opinion about…one way or the other. Sometimes very good books don’t get read near enough either because no one reviews them, the authors or publishers can’t afford to publicize their books properly or, and this is the real shame, sometimes a book is so good that certain “elders” don’t want you to read them because then you might see behind the curtain so to speak. I hope to bring some of those good books to the attention a few more people and in the process perhaps clear up some misconceptions in regards to the origins of things. 

What I will tell you is that when I do review a book I will make the appropriate disclaimers right up front. If I know the author I will tell you and if I find that I can’t possibly be objective because of my relationship to the author then I simply won’t review the book; in other words if I love ’em or I hate ‘em too much to be honest I simply won’t comment. I will do my best to be honest, clear and fair when reviewing a book; I understand all too well what goes into the writing of a book. I also know how influential the books we read can be on our practice, philosophy and traditions. With all this in mind I hope that some of you will find some value to these reviews.

Blessings

Raven Womack

Raven’s Flight

The Magickal Apothecary

www.ravensflight.net

Something of Value

     

  The debate about whether or not it is right or ethical to charge for workshops, classes and public rituals is a perennial one for sure. Every so often someone loudly balks at having to pay for these services and then the debate is on.

  Very recently I witnessed such a debate on Facebook and while I didn’t weigh in at the time as it was apparent that others had in well in hand I thought I would weigh in with a different perspective than the one most commonly offered. The usual retort for those who complain about paying is explaining how Pagans stores need these funds to keep their doors open and how the teachers of these classes also need these funds for expenses and while these are true and valid reasons there is another that is equally if not more important and that is the simple notion of value. If you are lucky enough to have a store or a group in your area that does in fact offer these services for a fee then you will have to decide if they are offering something that you want and what it is worth to you.

  There seems to be this rather fantasy idea that once upon a time knowledge was freely given to all those who sought it. What is most true about that statement is that it is a fantasy. If the knowledge is something of value then it has always been the way that some exchange of value would be involved. If you wanted to learn a craft or an art then you would either have had to have been born into a lineage that taught it or you would have to apprentice with some elder in that craft. Depending on the time and the culture that apprenticeship would have to be paid for in some way. In some cultures an apprenticeship would require a payment to the teacher but rather or not there was an exchange of money or some other trade of goods the apprentice would be required to do a great deal of work to pay for the knowledge often to a degree bordering on slavery but in truth it was by the work that the knowledge was paid for. Even if you were born into a family trade or craft you would have been required to do much work for each little tidbit of knowledge. This served a two-fold purpose; on one hand the work that the apprentice would do, which as often as not would have had nothing to do with the actual craft being sought, would free up the elder or teacher to practice the higher aspects of the art or craft and it proved to the elder/teacher that the apprentice truly wanted to learn the craft. In other words if you wanted the knowledge you had to be willing to work for it.

  While it may have been true that in ancient Pagan times that the community rituals did not require a fee in the same way as they do today you have to remember that the temples or the orders or the clergy of said community were supported by the community. Again the way in which this support would have been expressed would vary according to time and place and this has not changed for the most part. Tithes and donations are the mainstay that supports all of the religious organizations that exist even today. When I was a little girl I was always very excited about being the one who got to put the donation in the basket that passed down the long pews during Sunday mass. If a Baptist or Catholic or Jew or a Buddhist wants to have a church or a temple to go to they must pay for it; they must evaluate the value and pay accordingly and many pay tithes that are set percentages of their incomes.

  There are many old traditions often repeated in the Pagan world such as never haggling over the price of a magickal tool, or if someone gives you a knife as a present some token payment must be exchanged or the knife will severe the relationship. As a practitioner of wort cunning I know that when I harvest from the green realms I must pay in some way for what I take; even land spirits require some exchange of value and I can tell you first hand if what you offer is not enough then they will extract payment on their own terms. Many of us even make offerings of value to our Gods when we ask for their attention or help. If these traditions and practices are true then why should we as Pagans not understand the need for an exchange of value?

  In most cases when a store or group offers public rituals for a fee then they usually add the caveat that no one it turned away for lack of funds so if you feel that the ritual is something of value to you but you can’t afford the asked for donation then why not just contact the facilitators and ask them if there is something that you can do in lieu of monetary funds such as help set up or clean up after. If you don’t feel that the ritual is worth the fee or your work in lieu of the fee then don’t go and don’t complain. If there is a class or a workshop that you feel would be of value to you but you can’t afford the fee then contact the facilitators and see if you can work something out; perhaps a reduced fee and trade for some service that you can supply or goods that you can trade. Again if the knowledge being offered is of value to you then you should have no problem offering something of value in return.

  If the opportunity to celebrate and worship with like-minded people is of value to you or if the knowledge being offered at a class or workshop is of value to you then you will not balk at having to exchange something of value in return. What it all boils down to is this: it’s either something of value to you or it’s not and if it’s not perhaps you should look elsewhere. 

Blessings

Raven Womack

www.ravensflight.net

Pagan Community

Pagans, like all human beings long for community so why is it that it’s so
hard to create and maintain Pagan community? There is no easy answer to the
question and perhaps the answer is not the same in every situation but one
common problem is that community takes a lot of work. Now this isn’t a
problem if everybody in the community pitches in but more often than not
what happens is that a few people do most if not all of the work all of the
time. To be fair it may be that people don’t realize how much work is
involved; perhaps they think that events just appear. I don’t mean that as
callous as it sounds; what I mean is that I think sometimes that Pagans just
like all people sometimes just don’t think.

When you go to an event like Pagan Pride or a public ritual at the park it
is important to remember that these events don’t just spring up organically.
They often involve many hours of organization, skill and hard work to put on
and as often as not they require some output of money as well. Even events
like Pagan Coffee Nights require some footwork. Each circumstance naturally
has its own set of issues that must be dealt with and someone has to deal
with those issues. Those that volunteer their time, effort, skill and
sometimes money towards these events most often do it for the love of
community. That being said, if those volunteers don’t get some help they
will eventually loose their enthusiasm and energy. If no one else picks up
the ball they will eventually burn out. Organizer burn out is all too common
in the Pagan world.

I bring this up because of a conversation I had with an old friend at a
recent Pagan Pride Day event but it is a conversation I have had many times
over the last few years. This friend was telling me how he missed the store
and how he and a few others had tried repeatedly to create community events
in the area but that their efforts had resulted in what can best be
described as mixed results. One event would be great with 75-80 people
showing up and a good time being had by all. The next event would have 10
people showing up which in and of itself is not a bad thing but a lack
luster turn out would then lead to criticism of the organizers.

Within a very short time people were asking why this small group wasn’t
doing more to promote events and community but what the detractors weren’t
doing was volunteering to do any of the work. They received lots of great
suggestions and promises of help but those promises and suggestions were not
coupled with actual time and work. As is so often the case the small core
group of volunteers got disillusioned and as they had their own jobs and
lives to maintain they simply gave up after a while. It’s not that these
folks aren’t still willing to volunteer some of their time towards the goal
of community but they can’t do it all; they need the support and help of
that community that they are trying to nurture not the derision and
criticism by those people who aren’t helping.

Those of us who have been around for a while have seen this scenario play
out all too often. One group or coven works tirelessly for a number of
events or even years. They work, and organize and spend their own funds and
if they don't get the support and help that they need and deserve they
eventually loose heart so to speak.

Then there is the community that builds around Pagan shops; this is often
the most successful form of community for a lot of reasons. Shops offer a
presence that is constant and tangible and shop owners have a vested in
interest in the community. Offering events helps to bring people into the
shop more often than might be normal which helps to keep the shop doors open
and believe me running a successful and profitable Pagan shop is no easy
task. Shops usually ask for a donation for certain events to help defray
costs but they usually also offer free events that are designed especially
for building community.

I think that another common problem is our varied ideas about what Pagan
community is. As with most things, ask 10 Pagans the same question and you
will get at least 11 different answers. All human beings are the center of
their own universe and for some they are also its brightest star. This
little bit of knowledge has helped me more than I can say over the years and
it holds true in this arena too. Every Pagan has their own ideas about what
Pagan community is and with those ideas their own expectations. Each
individual views everything from that center of their own universe and
reality looks a little different to us all. For some, Pagan community should
look just like them and practice just like they do and believe all the
things that they do; anything else will not meet their expectations. For
others the community is a diverse pool of awesomeness and everyone is
welcomes; well except for those guys, and those other guys over there, oh
and those guys from that other place because they are not really Pagan
anyway and did you see how that other group dresses…I mean really! Then
there are those who truly do enjoy the diversity of beliefs and traditions
that community can provide.

Sometimes when people attend public events especially at shops they feel
that the community is too cliquish. Something to remember is that what
appears cliquish to you might just be close friends or coven mates. I know
that a few people have told me that they felt that Raven’s Flight had this
problem. I would never have thought this to be so but then again like
everything else it's matter of perception. I certainly can’t deny that it
might have felt that way to some because I didn’t perceive things from the
center of their universe but I can tell you that it was never our intention.
Sometimes community events are cliquish or elitist because the people at the
center of the community are trying to shape the community in their image;
they expect it to revolve around them and their philosophy or tradition.

This was the case when I first opened Raven’s Flight. There was a core group
of what I refer to as “Old Guard” Wiccans that were actually instrumental in
getting the store off the ground. Within the first year of being open I came
to realize that our visions of Pagan community were vastly different. One of
my goals was to have a community center of sorts; a place where all sorts of
Pagans were welcome; a place where the diverse traditions, ideas and
philosophies that exist within the Pagan community could co-exist and
express that diversity through rituals, workshops and other events. It seems
that their vision was a little narrower. They thought that Raven’s Flight
would be a place where their type of Pagan reigned supreme and that
dissenting views, practices and ideas where discouraged, derided and
invalidated. They even sought to control the ritual actions of other groups
that facilitated rituals at Raven’s Flight. Actually it would be more
accurate to say that they sought to have me control the rituals that others
facilitated but to their specifications.

Well needless to say their participation with Raven’s Flight came to an end
rather quickly. I tried over the years to open the store to all sorts of
rituals from all sorts of traditions. I had very few rules as to what the
ritual entailed and would sometimes ask to see a copy of the ritual
beforehand but I was more concerned with things like participant privacy and
making sure that nothing illegal was going to take place. To be sure I didn’t
like all of the rituals or even workshops and sometimes I would decline
participating but I never expected groups to conform to my way of doing
things. The idea was to have a place where we could see and experience the
many different ways there are to be Pagan. I can not even count how many
different groups presented rituals and events at Raven’s Flight and how many
different traditions and types of Paganism those rituals expressed but I do
know that I myself learned so much from them. We also held at least two
charity events every year where we collected donated items and funds for
local charities. I learned that nothing brings Pagans together like helping
others; we do seem to be quite big hearted people for the most part. I think
that in many ways we were successful but we for sure weren’t perfect.

No matter what a community volunteer or shop owner does they will never be
able to please everyone but it’s important to remember that they are working
for the community and before you criticize and deride their efforts you
should view the world from their universe or to use a more common cliché;
walk a while in their shoes. Remember that they are not getting paid; they
are volunteering their time and effort to help nurture a community that you
too desire to be part of. Instead try volunteering to help out in whatever
way you can; help organize, set up or clean up. If you belong to a group see
if you can get them to lead a ritual.

That being said, sometimes communities are cliquish; sometimes they do
require too much conformity and if you feel this is the case, just move on.
Don’t let your longing for community compromise your own identity or
philosophy. In a grand vision Pagan community is all encompassing and this
is true in a sense; I always think of Pagan Pride Day events as supporting
this vision. On the other hand there are many sets and subsets of Pagan
community and they are not all going to be suited to everyone.

I know that this time on the soap box is rather long winded but I hope that
it gives you pause to think about what it is you want and what you are
willing to do for it.

Blessings
Raven Womack
Raven’s Flight The Magickal Apothecary
www.ravensflight.net
raven@ravensflight.net