Acbal's Moon: The 12 Days of yule: The Noble Virtue of Truth

4th Day of Yule

Remembering the Noble Virtue of Truth

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.

~Aldous Huxley

After consieration about what can I write here, I remembered an old story I once wrote, about what the secret of life is. Little truths we come to discover at one point in our lives... I share this story with you, in hopes that it makes you think about your own lives, and that perhaps you can add to the list more little truths about what the secret of life might be.

The story was originally written in Spanish (my native tongue), and it is based on Faith Hill's song, "The Secret of Life".

The Secret of Life

My dearest friends, family, and all those other people who have decided to give me a little piece of your time in these, the last moments of mine. First of all, let me thank you for coming to my funeral. Yes, I know that the news shocked and took many of you by surprise, I mean, me being as healthy as I was and all that, but I was feeling sort of down in the dumps for a while and since no one told me it was a "not dying" day, I decided to kick the bucket before it was too late and they added one more candle to my already crowded birthday cake (last time I counted there were 87 candles and I told myself, "Dear God! Has it really been that long?"). Now, most of you may ask yourselves what this person is doing here - this complete stranger, reading my last words to all of you. Well, I wanted someone who could read my final comments and words to all of you without breaking down and crying, someone who was cheap, and someone who was easy on the eye for all you ladies outthere... and cousin Thomas (who are you kidding man? I mean, honestly!).

So, before we begin, allow me to tell you something: stop crying! Really, I mean, crying won't convince me to come back and it won't buy my ticket back to the living. The only thing you will achieve with all that crying is a terrible headache tomorrow, red eyes and puffy face that you will pin later on to one yourstrully. So please, clear your tears. And to the people in the back who have no idea who I am nor why in the world are you here, I give you my full permission to leave. I know most of you are youngsters who are obligated by your parents to come to crazy old aunty Rainy's funeral, but trust me that I would much rather you go outside, enjoy your life and stop living someone else's. Life does not last forever, kids, and I am a clear example of that. So, please, go out, live a little, and someone please close the casquet; if they wanted to see me they should have come to visit when I was alive and kicking. Now what's the point? I'm dead! The good and bad cualities of people are said when people can actually hear them and thank you for saying them, not when you're already on the other side and quite frankly could care a rat's ass about you. And since we're being honest here, why do you people insist on bringing flowers? If you knew me, you knew the hell these pesky little creations of the lord brought to my sinuses, why bring them to me to my last resting place? Take them back to the flower store or place them in a nearby grave for all I care. Now that I have said my peace, I can confess the most important things a person should know to be happy. I can tell you the secret of life.

The secret of life is getting up early on a wintery morning, realize you don't have to go anywhere and go back to sleep in your warm and soft bed; it's staying up late without worrying if you have to get up early the next morning. It's going to the beach and realize how small we really are in this world as you stand in front of the raging sea.

The secret of life is to find love and care for it with all your heart, even if you heart gets broken later on; it's never to give up in the search for that perfect romance, even to the last second of your breath.

The secret of life is to buy a new dress that you once saw at the store and then when you come back it's on sale so you have enough left over for the shoes that go with it. It's to smell flowers without worrying about your sinuses blowing up. It's cuddling next to a cat. It's to work in a job you love doing and you get paid for it. It's having kids running through the grass and listening to their laughter as they play a new exciting game and remembering when you used to play the same thing when you where young.

The secret of life is spending time with the family and listening to the stories told on a Christmas morning over a good cup of coffee and tamales burning on the stove. Is never having to worry about what you eat or eating without obssessing yourselves about looking fat. It's enjoying a good football game and cheering for the team no one thought would win. It's listening to a good jazz band -- live. It's doing that thing that everyone told you you couldn't do. It's helping someone in need and knowing that the wheels of karma go around and someday you might be the one in need of assistance. It's walking under the rain on a hot summer night. It's tasting a good martini. It's traveling to a place you always wanted to go. It's blowing up the candles on your 77th birthday. It's driving a sports car as you're leaving the car agency, with hat 80's song you love cranked all the way up on the stereo.

The secret of life is that there is no secret. You have to live for the moment andhope that all your best efforts were enough to let everyone know how much you cared, how proud you were of them, and that every single detail tells your story -- a story of a full, wonderful life that you wouldn't trade for all the gold in the world nor for one more second of life when it comes to the end of the road. I had a wonderful life, filled with ups and downs, tears and laughter, good friends and fearsome enemies -- full of everything and nothing at all. I wish you all, trully, that as you leave this place, you step into a good life. Your own.

I Love you.

Herb of the Month

Frankincense

(from Book of Shadows: Journey of a Solitary Witch Blog )

This is an aromatic resin from any of the four main species of deciduous trees in the Boswellia genus. They come in the form of small bushes and trees of moderate size with compound leaves and grow in a wide variety of environments, though the most aromatic varieties come from more arid regions. The flowers are yellowish-white with five petals. The resin comes from cuts in the tree which allow the sap to bubble out and harden . This is done when they are about 8 to 10 years of age. It has been a valuable trade item for thousands of years and used in rituals for just as long.

Latin Name:
Boswellia Carterii

Folk Names: Olibanum, Olibanus, Olibans

Element: Fire

Gender: Masculine

Planet: The Sun

Deities: Ra, Baal

Magical Uses:

Frankincense is often added to other magical mixtures in order to increase their potency due to the powerful vibrations of energy that are released from it when it is burned. These intense energies drive away negative energies and evil so it has been used throughout the ages for purification and exorcism. With this in mind we can see that it also an excellent choice for preventative measures such as that of protection. The strong vibrations produced by frankincense make it an excellent choice in meditation incenses and also in mixtures used to promote spiritual growth as well as to induce visions.

Medicinal Uses:

The resin has long been used in the Ayurvedic medicine of India and the bark has been used in Africa to treat fever, gastrointestinal distress and rheumatism. Studies are currently under way to test the resin, and its chemical derivatives, for treating chronic inflammatory diseases and one study claims the incense may work similarly to a psychoactive drug to reduce depression and anxiety, a correlation to its magical uses that cannot be easily ignored.

Folklore:

The resin was once burned as an offering to the sun god Ra in ancient Egypt on a daily basis at sunrise. As many people know, this was one of two magical resins presented to Jesus in the story of his birth by the Magi or “wise men”, who were traditionally wizards from the east. It has also been in use by the Catholic church as an incense, probably for this reason. It is also used in the Jewish tradition. Its appearance in these stories, and its current use by the church, is obviously influenced by its extensive use for thousands of years before they were written.

Spell - A - Week

Blowing Darts

(from Gypsy Magic Blog)

This is a spell to break and remove all the bad energy, negativity, bad luck, hexes, and etc. that others have put on you, or that you have inadvertently collected or allowed.

You will need:

1 white candle
1 smudge stick OR 1 generous handful of dried sage leaves (not the powder)
1 lemon (lemon essential oil - or pure lemon juice will also work)
1 paper plate
black marker or pen
13 straight pins
1 black cloth - the size of a large handkerchief
1 egg
1 potato

Making the spell:

Gather your supplies
Get centered
Draw an "eye of protection" on the paper plate with the black marker or pen.
Cut the lemon in half and rub it briskly over the candle until the candle is coated with the juice, wipe your hands on the black cloth.
Now, light the candle.
Next light the smudge stick, OR if you are using dried sage, place the leaves into a fireproof container and light them so that they begin to smolder and smoke.

Once you have some good smoke, take the potato and submerge it in the smoke using a circular, counterclockwise motion.
When the potato seems well fumigated, set it down on the paper plate and cover it with the black cloth.
Insert the 13 stick pins through the cloth into the potato.
Crack the egg over the cloth covered pinned potato and let the egg slide off of it and onto the plate.
Blow on each stick pin and into the potato. As you do this, recite the incantation, saying it louder each time, until you feel the negative energy has left you and transferred into the potato.

The Incantation:

Thirteen pins in the poppet,
Hex be broken. Now I stop it.
Curse be over. Curse be done.
I succeed. I have won.
Bad luck stays within the black.
I am not under attack.
Curse be buried and destroyed.
My life it is now filled with joy!

Dispersing the bad energy:

Unwrap the cloth, being careful to keep the pins intact. If a pin does not come out with the cloth, but stays embedded in the potato, you'll have to re-do the spell.

This is important. The potato and the black cloth with the pins in it must be disposed of separately, far from your home. The paper plate should be burned, along with whatever remains of the sage. It's also important to dispose of the lemon (if you used one) and the shell from the egg.

Ideally, the black cloth with the pins will be dropped at a crossroads NOT near your home; the paper plate and the sage burned - their ashes scattered to the four winds; and the potato tossed into a river or sent out with the tide.

Alternatively, the items could be buried near a crossroads (just be sure that the potato and the black cloth are buried separately and at a good distance from one another). Do not bury any of the items in your own back yard!