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THE MAGICKAL HOUSEHOLD

ALL OF US FEEL MORE PEACE AND COMFORT IN OUR OWN HOMES, IT IS OUR SACRED SPACE, OUR OWN TEMPLE SO TO SPEAK. SO WHY NOT ENSURE ITS PURITY AND PROTECTIVE NURTURING?

BELOW ARE SEVERAL HOUSE BLESSINGS, SIMPLE YET EFFECTIVE.

HOUSEHOLD OMENS AND PORTENTS

Let your furniture predict your future? the idea may sound strange, but they do reflect the sacredness of all existance from early times.
For instance, if you are rocking in your rocking chair and it starts to move along the floor, company will show on your porch before nightime. A chair that rocks by itself signifies the imminent arrival of bad news.

If you knock your chair over when rising from a table, it is a sign that you lied while seating there. Turning a chair on one leg so that it pivots around usually presages a household fight.

Any large piece of wooden furniture that starts to dry out and crack is signaling a change in the weather.

If you are dreaming away one night and suddenly feel that the worlds falling, perhaps on of the slats on your bed has fallen out. If so, don't worry, this is a sign that riches will soon be coming your way. Climbing out of bed over the footboard when rising in the morning portends a fortunate day.

if you are plagued by constant nightmares, rise in the morning after experiencing one, and describe the entire dream- to the Sun. You shouldn't be bothered again.
If you want to remember your dreams. don't look out the window first thing in the morning. To do so is to forget your dreams.

If you have company that stays too long, place a broom upside down behind the door. If they still have not left, stick a fork into the bristles of the inverted broom. If this has not worked, some guests are dense..go into a room ajoining the one the guests are in, place the broom so that its handle points toward the offending visitors, and say the following rhyme:

Get thee hence beyond my door
For I am weary to the core

Other methods can be throwing a pinch of salt on their shoes, (if they have removed them), or putting a pinch of pepper beneath his or her chair.

ANCIENT HERBAL SPELLS
*Place thorny rose branches on the front doorstep to keep evil from your abode.
*Consuming a bit of wild thyme before retiring wil grant the diner a sleep free of nightmares.
*Keep money with cedar chips in a small box to attract yet more money.
**To discover the future, take two acorns. Name one "yes", and the other "no". Place them in a basin of water and ask your question. The acorn that floats towards you answers your question.
*Gather the first anemone flower to bloom in Spring and carry with you as a charm against sickness.
*To keep evil spirits from the house, hang dried seaweed in the kitchen.

Next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be....Here are some facts from the 1500s.

Most people got married in June (JUNE BRIDE) because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers (BRIDAL BOUQUET) to hide the body odor. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children-- last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it--hence the saying, don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Houses had thatched roofs--thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats, and other small animals, mice, rats, and bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof--hence the saying it's raining cats and dogs. There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt,hence the saying dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A pieceof wood was placed in the entry way--hence, a thresh hold.

They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while--hence the rhyme, peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold,peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could bring home the bacon. They would cutoff a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale Payson bread, which was so old and hard that they could use them for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, moldy trenchers, one would get trench mouth. Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top,or "upper crust."
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up-hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night, the graveyard shift, to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.

A HOUSE BLESSING
AT DAWN, RISE AND LIGHT SOME INCENSE. WALK SLOWLY THROUGH THE QUIET HOUSE AND SAY THE FOLLOWING WORDS WHILE VISUALIZING THEIR MEANING AND INTENT:

HOUSE OF STONE;
METAL,
WOOD AND EARTH;
SILENT ONE,
PROTECTIVE ONE,
YOU OF THE FOUR WINDS;
HOUSE OF HEALTH,
WEALTH,
JOY AND PEACE;
GUARDIAN,
SUSTAINER,
YOU OF THE EARTH;
HOUSE OF STONE,
METAL,
WOOD AND EARTH;
SECURE ONE,
PEACEFUL ONE,
YOU OF THE CHARM;
GUARDED AND PROTECTED YOU BE,
CLEANSED AND PURE YOU BE,
PEACEFUL AND LOVING YOU BE.
IT IS FINISHED IN BEAUTY.
IT IS FINISHED IN BEAUTY.
IT IS FINISHED IN BEAUTY.

SET DOWN THE INCENSE, AND DRAW AS EXACT A LIKENESS OF YOUR HOUSE AS YOU CAN FROM YOUR IMAGINATION. DRAW IT FROM ALL ANGLES; FROM ABOVE, FROM THE FRONT, FROM BEHIND. IF YOU LIVE AN AN APARTMENT, DRAW THE BUILDING AS WELL.
WHEN FINISHED, GO OUTSIDE AND CHECK YOUR DRAWING.
WHEN FINISHED, TAKE A WHITE CANDLE AND A SHARP KNIFE. CUT SEVEN EVENLY SPACED NOTCHES IN THE CANDLE SO THAT YOU CREATE A KNOBBED CANDLE. NOW SET THE DRAWING DOWN ON A TABLE WHERE IT CAN REMAIN FOR SEVEN DAYS. SET THE CANDLE ON TOP OF IT AND LIGHT IT AS VISUALIZING YOUR HOME AS BLESSED, SAFE AND LOVING.
Let the candle burn down one notch the first day as you go about your early morning business, then pinch or snuff out the flame and leave it until the next day. the next morning, repeat the ritual-from lighting the incense and saying the blessing chant to burning one candle notch.
on the seventh day, after the candle has burned down all the way, fold the drawing into a tight package and secure it with a red or white cord. place it in a wooden box with salt and dried roses and tie the box firmly shut with another white cord. Finally, place the box in the home where it won't be seen or found.

These articles were gathered from The Magickal household by Scott Cunningham and David Harrington.

Who says that magick has to
be complex?

Here are fifty simple charms that utilize many different
common items, herbs, fruits and vegetables.

Lay thorny branches on your doorstep to keep evil from your dwelling.

Eat a pinch of thyme before bed, and you will have sweet dreams.

Place chips of cedar wood in a box with some coins to draw money to
you.

Carry an anemone flower with you to ward against illness.

Hang a bit of seaweed in the kitchen to ward evil spirits.

Keep a jar of alfalfa in your cupboards to ensure the prosperity of
your house.

Burn allspice as an incense to draw money or luck to you, as well as
speed healing.

Cut an apple in half, and give one half to your love to ensure a
prosperous relationship.

Carry an avocado pit with you to let your inner beauty shine
outwardly.

Avocado is an aphrodisiac.

Strawberries are an aphrodisiac.

Place a piece of cotton in your sugar bowl to draw good luck to your
house.

Celery is an aphrodisiac.

Place almonds in your pocket when you need to find something.

Scatter chili peppers around your house to break a curse.

Carrying a packet of strawberry leaves will help ease the pains of
pregnancy.

Scatter some sugar to purify a room.

Throw rice into the air to make rain.

Carry a potato in your pocket or purse all winter to ward against
colds.

Eat five almonds before consuming alcohol, to lighten the effects
of intoxication.

Place a pine branch above your bed to keep illness away.

Chew celery seeds to help you concentrate.

Carry of chunk of dry pineapple in a bag to draw luck to you.

Ask an orange a yes or no question before you eat it, then count the seeds: if the seeds are an even number, the answer is no. If an odd number, yes.

Eat olives to ensure fertility.

Toss oats out your back door to ensure that your garden or crop will
be bountiful.

Eat mustard seed to ensure fertility.

Place lilacs around your house to rid yourself of unwanted spirits.

Eat lettuce to drive lustful thoughts from your mind.

Rub a lettuce leaf over your forehead to help you sleep.

Add lemon juice to your bath water for purification.

Eat grapes to increase psychic powers.

Carry a blade of grass to increase your psychic powers.

Smell dill to get rid of hiccups.

If you place a dill sachet over your door, those who wish you ill
can not enter your home.

Place cotton on an aching tooth, and the pain will ease.

Burn cotton to cause rain.

Place pepper inside a piece of cotton and sew it shut to make a
charm to bring back a lost love.

Carry a small onion to protect against venomous animals.

Eat grapes to increase fertility.

Place a sliced onion in the room of an ill person do draw out the
sickness.

Place an onion underneath your pillow to have prophetic dreams.

Place morning glory seeds under your bed to cure nightmares.

Walk through the branches of a maple tree to ensure that you will
have a long life.

Mix salt and pepper together and scatter it around your house to
dispel evil.

Smell peppermint to help you sleep.

Hang a pea pod containing nine peas above the door to draw your
future mate to you.

Eat a peach to assist in making a tough decision.

Carry peach wood to lengthen your lifespan.

Carry a walnut to strengthen your heart muscle.

#8080FF

ALL INFORMATION WAS COLLECTED FROM A VERY TALENTED PERSON.

Fifty Simple Charms (submitted by  Hthousflor from Wiccan's United)