Turkey - Symbolic Meanings

Here is a basic listing of what Turkeys mean in a "magical" sense.

• Pride
• Abundance
• Generosity
• Awareness
• Virility
• Fertility
• Sacrifice

Turkeys have been a symbol of thanksgiving and abundance long before the Pilgrim’s ”first meal” in 1621 with the Native Americans.

Native American Indians view the turkey as a both a symbol of abundance and fertility. The turkey was the guest of honor (sacrificial, that is) in various fertility and gratitude ceremonies. The Creek tribes still practice the turkey dance during its annual fire festivals. The feathers of turkeys are also used in rituals.

The turkey was thought to be sacred to ancient Mexican cultures. The Aztecs, Mayans and Toltecs viewed the turkey as a “jeweled bird” and also referred to it as the “Great Xolotl.” Male turkeys were honored for it’s beauty and essence of cocky pride.

Turkeys (like the peacock) give clear signs of agitation prior to poor weather conditions This is often seen by primitive cultures as a symbol of foretelling.

Turkeys are at their peak of power in the autumn months. As fall season animals, turkeys are also symbolic of:

• harvest
• new beginnings
• cycles
• preparation

The turkey is also a symbol for male virility and pride. This isn’t surprising when we observe male turkeys in the wild. They are quite noble looking as the strut & fan their impressive plumage for all to see.

When the turkey visits us it is a sign that we must be mindful of the blessings bestowed upon us each day. Further, it is a message to express our strength and brilliance - it’s time to show our own plumage and reveal true selves.

Nine Tips For Successful Magic!

1. Turn off the phone, radio, email, or anything else that will disturb you during the process. However, soothing music may be played as you prepare and perform magic. The key here is that you want no interruptions.

2. Keep the tools you use for magic away from other people, as tools absorb the energy of their user.

3. Consult a calendar to time your magic with the ebb and flow of the lunar cycle.

4. Magic has a very hard time working correctly during a Mercury Retrograde and should be avoided during this time. Mercury goes backwards (retrograde) four times a year and usually lasts about three weeks. Since Mercury is the planet of communications, you want it to be moving direct for positive results.

5. What you send out comes back to you three times over, so if you are using magic to hurt or make someone else feel uncomfortable, you do so at your own risk.

6. Keep your magic to yourself. When you tell others of your plans, you invite their energy to mingle in with yours. This can weaken your energy, thereby weakening the energy of your magic.

7. Think positively about the changes you desire, but don't dwell on them. By detaching yourself you let the universe help as well. Detaching doesn't decrease the power of your want, but it does give the universe permission to step in and take over.

8. Remember that impatience leads to doubt and doubt invites negativity. Neither nature nor the universe can be rushed. Magic works in Divine time, not human time.

9. Remember above all that faith in yourself, faith in magic and positive thoughts are all powerful vibratory forces that bring results.

source: Gypsy Girl Press

Granny's Shooshi Dinner

Ingredients:

• 3 Lbs rabbit meat, cut into pieces
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 3 stems thyme
• 2 whole cloves
• 3 onions, minced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• A few black peppercorns, crushed
• Salt
• Water and red wine
• 1 and half cups diced carrots
• 12 small white onions
• 12 small mushrooms
• 18 small potatoes
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

Instructions:
Put rabbit, bay leaves, thyme, cloves, minced onion, oil, peppercorns, and salt into a large pot. Pour in sufficient water and wine to cover the ingredients in the pan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer gently for 2 hours. Add carrots, white onions, mushrooms, and potatoes and cook, covered, until vegetables are tender, approx 25-30 minutes. Mix the butter with the flour and stir into the stew until the mixture has thickened. Simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley just before serving.

From: Journey Folki

Pecked Bittikanni (Roast Partridge)

Ingredients:

• 2 oven-ready partridges
• 2 slices fat bacon
• Butter, melted for basting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425F, Tie a slice of bacon across the breast of each bird with cotton string. Place in a roasting pan and cook for 20-30 minutes. Baste well with butter during the cooking. When the birds are cooked to your liking remove the bacon and serve them with gravy.

Found at: Journey Folki

Lamb Stew - Gypsy Style

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lamb
• 5 potatoes
• 3/4 pound of fresh string beans
• garlic
• olive oil or lard
• onion
• fresh parsley
• cayenne and crushed pepper, garlic powder
• HOT small peppers
• red and yellow bell peppers (optional)
• tomato paste and fresh tomato

Chop one onion into small pieces. Cut the lamb into little pieces. Stir fry with oil until brown. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes with lid on. Add diced onion and parsley. Cover and simmer for another ten minutes.

Add cut and peeled potatoes and the string beans (just cut the very ends off). Add water as needed, not to let it dry out. Simmer another 15-20 minutes. Add tomato paste for red sauce with one can of water. As needed, stir in garlic powder, salt, cayenne, crushed pepper, small hot peppers and garlic.

Throw in red and green peppers while stirring (optional: add yellow, red, and green bell peppers for color).
Add rice on the side. Serve with fresh french bread.

Found at: Journey Folki

Shax shukló

Boil together a small chicken, and some pieces of pork and/or chicken. Add a half cup of rice, paprika, salt and pepper to taste, and a half cup of vinegar. Remove all the meat when it's cooked, and add cut cabbage to the broth that's left from the chicken. Blend together pork fat, flour, and combine all ingredients (including meat) and cook for 15 more minutes.

From: The Patrin Web Journal

Pirógo le Strugurlása

Boil flat noodles in a pot of water sweetened with honey and colored with saffron. In another bowl mix currants, raisins and cream cheese. In a flat dish make a layer of noodles (cooked until soft, and drained), spread thickly with the cheese and raisin mixture, then more noodles, more mixture, finishing with a layer of noodles. You can arrange the top layer in some kind of design. Then dot with butter and place in a hot oven for 10 minutes.

Found at: The Patrin Web Journal

Ukrainian Borscht

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 1 cup white kidney beans
• 4 medium beets, peeled and shredded
• 6 cups water
• 4 large carrots, shredded
• 3 cups water
• 3 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 cups water
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder (or 1 stock cube)
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dry potato flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill weed
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

Instructions:

In a pot, add 6 cups of the water and pinto beans and simmer for about 1 hour or until beans start to split. Make sure the beans are covered with water at all times during simmering. Save water along with the beans to add to borscht later.

Peel and shred red beets, then place in a large cooking pot and add 6 cups of the water. Boil beets until just tender, but do not overcook. Save water along with beets to combine later with the remaining ingredients. Peel and shred carrots, then place in separate pot along with 3 cups of the water. Boil until tender, but do not overcook. Save water along with carrots to add later to borscht.

In a separate pot, add potatoes and 2 cups of the water and cook until tender. Mash potatoes in their own liquid and set aside to add to borscht later.

In a separate pot, add chopped celery, chopped onions, diced green and red peppers, chopped garlic, 4 cups water and chicken soup base and simmer until vegetables are just tender. When tender, transfer to the cooking pot with beets.

Add cooked beans, carrots and mashed potatoes to cooking pot. Now add vegetable broth, mix well and bring to boil. Add instant potato flakes, black pepper, soy sauce, dill weed, sugar, vinegar and cook for another 5 minutes. If borscht appears too thick, add additional water and cook for 2 minutes longer. Adjust seasonings to taste. If desired, garnish each serving with a dollop of sour cream.

Found at: Journey Folki

Ballivas Gooee - Bacon Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Flour
• 6 oz Fat Bacon, chopped
• 6 oz Shredded Beef or Vegetarian Suet
• 2 Large Onions, chopped
• Sage Leaves
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add suet and mix lightly. Mix with sufficient water to make a soft, but firm, dough. Turn out on to a lightly floured work surface. Knead gently until smooth. Roll out the dough to a ¼ inch thickness. Mix the bacon, onions, sage and season to taste. Roll up the pastry to enclose the bacon mixture. Damp the edges and roll up lightly. Seal the edges. Wrap the pudding in a scalded well-floured cloth and tie the ends. Place into a large saucepan of boiling water, topping up as required. Simmer for 2 to 2½ hours.

From: Journey Folki

Sweet Dove Powder

Doves are among the creatures most beloved by spirits of primal female power, and many magic spells have references to doves.

To make Sweet Dove Powder grind togther the following:

• Bay Laurel leaves
• Carnation
• Cardamom
• Cloves
• Marjoram
• Myrrh
• Rose Petals

Sprinkle the powder throughout your home to help create joy.

To Protect Against Car Trouble

Using your finger, mark a pentagram over each tire. Then get into the automobile and visualize a blue pentagram hovering slightly above it, with the top point of the star in the center of the hood. Mentally "stretch" the pentagram until the points flow under the car to encase it and join together in the chassis center.

~D. Morrison "Everyday Magic"

Automobile Protection Charm

Ingredients:

• l tsp. comfrey
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch powered garlic
• hematite
• aquamarine
• 4 in. square white cloth
• red ribbon or yarn
• green ribbon or yarn
• purple ribbon or yarn

Mix together a teaspoon each of powdered comfrey and powdered cinnamon. Add the pinch of powdered garlic, then add the stones to the mixture. As you mix, chant:

Good luck to travel you shall be.
Keep my auto problem free.

Pour the mixture onto the cloth square and use the ribbons to tie it into a bag. Hang the charm from the rearview mirror. As you hand it, chant:

No sickness, troubles, or repairs.
This charm protects you from these cares.

If a man...

If a man be anointed with the juice of the herb Rue, the poison of wolf's bane, mushrooms, or todestooles, the biting of serpents, stinging of scorpions, spiders, bees, hornets and wasps will not hurt him.

~John Gerard, The Herball, 1597

The Snow Moon

November’s Full Moon beckons us to look deep within. With the Sun in Scorpio, the Snow Moon is a potent time to look beyond the obvious. This is an excellent time for dreamwork and lends its energies easily to meditation and divinatory efforts as well as projects that require endings. Use the Snow Moon's energy for setting magickal goals into motion, as well as planning for the reinvention of your life.Take advantage of this transitional period to set your goals for the future in motion.

Spell to manifest your goals:

• Cut 3 bud-covered tree branches and tie them together with a green ribbon.
• Carrying the bundle of branches and a silver coin (together they symbolize growth and success) stand outdoors after dark, beneath the Snow Moon.
• Looking up at the moon, speak aloud your most secret wish.
• With deep reverence, raise the bundle and the coin and speak the following chant:

All nature is still
But as the world retreats into darkness
My wish will be nurtured,
And eventually fulfilled.

Keep your coin and branches until the spell does its work.

~From: 2008 Witches’ Spell-A-Day Almanac

A Wishing Spell

You will need:

• A large bowl
• A wooden Spoon
• A sifter
• Paper
• Ink pen
• A candle in a color that feels appropriate to your wish
• An old plate
• As many of the following as possible: Cinnamon, basil, clover, ginger, marjoram, tea, catnip, jasmine, ginseng, lavender, pine, sage, cloves

First: place all the herbs in a bowl and crush them down with the spoon - you can use a mortar and pestle if you have them. Then once crushed and powdered strain them through the sifter to create a powder without any large pieces.

Now, prepare for the ritual with the Magic Formula (or in any way that puts you into a magical meditative state). When complete, sit down with the paper, the lit candle, plate, and herbal powder in front of you. Write the wish on the paper (keep a copy of it somewhere else as well - you need to have the words later!) and make sure they are heartfelt.

Fold the paper three times each way (across and down). Then take the paper and set it alight with your candle. Let it burn on the plate until it has turned to ashes. Once it has, mix it with the herbal powder to make a very specific wish powder.

This wish powder should be taken out on a windy day (you will know if the day is right) and scattered while chanting the words of your wish with feeling.

When your wish comes true, be sure to say "Thank You."

Psychic Power Oil

Step 1: Add five drops of frankincense, five drops of myrrh, three drops of petitgrain, and two drops of tuberose to a bottle containing an ounce of sweet almond oil.

Step 2: Add five drops of mugwort flower remedy and a tiny moonstone to the bottle.

Step 3: Massage a few drops into the soles of your feet. Rub one drop over the "third eye" area of your brow... and you'll wake up your inner psychic.

This works wonders, and you'll notice an immediate increase in your ability to see what's coming.

~Rose Ariadne