The Story behind Anant Chaturdashi

Ganesha Chaturthi also known as Ganeshotsav is a ten day festival which ends on Anant Chaturdashi (fourteenth day of the waxing moon period). The dates of the festival vary from year to year, in 2013 Ganesh Chaturthi will fall on 9th September and Anant Chaturdashi will fall on 18th September. The story behind this festival goes like this...

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been combined with another, and moved to my new website, The Pagan Calendar. It can be found in its entirety here: Festival of Anant Chaturdashi

Festival of Anant Chaturdasi

The festival of Anant Chaturdasi is a festival of purification. Because this festival falls on the fourteenth day of the waxing moon period, the dates of the festival vary from year to year. In 2013, the Anant Chaturdashi will fall on 18th September....

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, The Pagan Calendar, and can be found in its entirety here: Festival of Anant Chaturdashi

Friday The 13th Protection Spell

You'll need 1 small cup of your favorite beverage, 1 piece of your favorite fruit cut up into 7 slices, and 1 long red ribbon cut into 7 pieces. 1.  Create an offering table to call the attention of the Hathors. 2.  Spread out the cup filled with your beverage, the fruit slices, and the ribbons on the table.  One for each Hathor.  (The Hathors are ancient birthroom spirits, but they also provide protection on certain days... and can grant gifts and wishes as well) ... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Book of Shadows, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in its entirety here: Friday the 13th Protection Spell

Correspondences and Symbols for Mabon

Symbolism of Mabon:
Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance. Day and night are equal and the God prepares to leave His physical body and begin the great adventure into the unseen.

Symbols of Mabon:
Acorns; Apples; Autumn flowers; Corn; Cornucopia; Dried seeds; Gourds; Grains; Harvested crops; Horns of plenty; Leaves; Marigolds; Nuts; Oak sprigs; Pine and cypress cones; Pomegranates; Red poppies; Wine, Wreaths....

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Magickal Ingredients, and can be found in its entirety here: Correspondences for Mabon

Michaelmas Lore

• If you eat goose on Michaelmas Day, you will not be short of money all year round.
• A Michaelmas rot comes ne’er in the pot.
• If St Michael brings many acorns, Christmas will cover the fields with snow....

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been combined with another and moved to The Pagan Calendar, it can be found here: Michaelmas - The Christianized Mabon

Herbs for Luck

• ACORN is a symbol of great luck and fortune.
• ALLSPICE is burned as an incense to attract money or luck, and is also
  added to such mixtures.
• ALOE is hung over houses and doors in Africa to bring good luck.
• ANGELICA is considered lucky. Rub the root between your palms when you gamble or pick your lottery numbers....

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Magickal Ingredients, and can be found in its entirety here: Herbs for Luck

September Moon Names

What follows is a list (in alphabetical order) of the names given to the September moon. Also listed is the tradition and/or origin of that moon name:

Acorns Moon ~Wishram
Autumn Moon ~Passamaquoddy
Barley Moon ~Mediaeval English, Algonquin
Black Butterfly Moon ~Cherokee
Black Calf Moon ~Sioux
Blood Moon ~other
Calves Hair Growth Moon ~Dakota
Corn Moon, ~Algonquin, Pueblo...

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, The Pagan Calendar and can be found in its entirety here: September Moons

Festival of Ganesha

It is believed that Lord Ganesha bestows his presence on earth for all his devotees during this festival. It is the day Shiva declared his son Ganesha as superior to all the gods, barring Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva and Parvati. Ganesha is widely worshiped as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel. 

The festival, also known as Ganeshotsav ("festival of Ganesha") is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shuklachaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period). The date usually falls between 19 August and 20 September. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Anant Chaturdashi (fourteenth day of the waxing moon period)....

... I'm so sorry to do this, but this post has been moved to my new website, The Pagan Calendar, and can be found in its entirety here: Ganesha Chaturthi

Erect A Cairn Of Power

Cairns or piles of stones are collectors and reservoirs of power. Creating a Cairn of Power in a specific power spot, such as a crossroads, graveyard, or hilltop can give added depth to magick performed with, on, or near them. Here's how:

Select 10 or 20 sones of approximately the same size. Larger is better - just be sure that you can safely handle them. When collecting the stones, always ask permission, and take the stone only if permission is granted. Be respectful of the place, and be sure to leave appropriate offerings, and blessings.

Before building the Cairn...

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Book of Shadows, and can be found in its entirety here: Erect A Cairn of Power

The Bloodletting Begins

We are currently doing some internal housekeeping and rewriting here on Gypsy Magic. And here's why:

Google sent us a notification of copyright infringement issues pertaining to what I assume was a recipe (the notice was noticeably vague), and disabled the adsense on our UK blog.

Initially, I had decided to research, rethink, and redo the recipes. Then I did more research about copyright laws, reread the blogger terms of service, and realized that there was going to have to be a massive bloodletting to pacify the Gods of the Internet, Google in particular.

This was very discouraging to me, as I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 2075 posts to research, rethink, rewrite, review before I can feel comfortable that they are either in the public domain, fall within the parameters of "fair use", or are otherwise available for me to post here on Gypsy Magic.

Interestingly, and somewhat annoyingly, I simultaneously discovered that when a post is published here on this blog, it will almost immediately be published on a number of websites elsewhere. When I was taking the lazy way out, and pretty much copying out of books and wikipedia, I didn't care too much about all the blatant copying. Now, however, I am going to expect credit and a link back if someone copies what I write.

It's going to take a while to get things back to normal around here and I am really sorry for the inconvenience this may cause my readers. I apologize for links to a "page not found" instead of an informative post.