Sunday, December 12, 2010

"Can I get you a cup of Chicory?"

Dear Lexa,

I have three books of magickal ingredients, spells, and rituals. I have owned your book of Magickal Ingredients since it hit the bookshelves. And I have these two questions regarding it.

1) In your book Chicory (bark and leaves) are viewed and used in a positive way. And in all the others it has very negative properties explained about this ingredient. I have stayed away from it for this reason for years. I was wondering if it can be used for both (good and bad) or if it needs to be used with caution in order for this ingredient to be positive?

2) Rooibos. I was wondering if this tea is useful for any specific purpose? (In spells, rituals, baths, etc.) Since it wasn't listed in your book and I have yet to find any other magickal information about it's properties. I felt compelled to ask you about it.

I wanted to thank you in advance for your answers and for your time. And I wanted to express my gratitude for your book as it has been invaluable to me!

Very truly yours,
Leigh

Greetings Leigh

In my opinion, Chicory is an invigorating and most helpful plant. It's use has been recorded since ancient times for variety of positive purposes and enjoyment. It is possible that some may consider it negative because of it's bitterness? Also it was (maybe still is) used to kill intestinal parasites and is also deadly to the silk worm. Perhaps this is connected with it being negative? Certainly, if one were in the silk trade business - you would not want chicory anywhere near your crop.
Rooibos has healing properties and I would also suggest the use of it in magick spells for successful returns on financial investments.

I hope you find this helpful.
blessed be
Lexa Roséan

Thursday, August 05, 2010

question!

Hi Lexa!
I keep forgetting to ask this question and I thought I'd send it to your email specified on your blog... there's a ritual I've been doing for the past year to get rid of negative energy and bring in positive energy. I've been careful to do it not too close or far from either the full or new moon, and made sure to not do it during the moon void of course. I've also tried to pay attention to the significance of the day I chose, and also the time. Whew, lots of stuff to think about! But then there is one more thing. I'm wondering if it must be done under the moon itself...so do I have to also pay attention to the rising and setting times of the moon? Or is it just as good to do it when it isn't visible? Anything else I'm missing? I mean, I've definitely felt the great effects of this ritual, it's one of my favorites if only as a reminder to be positive because after all, I did that ritual. But I was just curious for a while if I should also take into account the rising and setting. I was trying to anyway because it's more enjoyable to see the moon when doing something that involves her, but with all of the other considerations plus work time, etc, it can become quite difficult to schedule!

Thanks Witch Doctor!
g

Greetings g

this is a wonderful question and I love the thought and attention you pay to your rituals. With lunar rites, the rule is to use a waning moon (full to new moon period) when working to banish negative energy and to use a waxing moon (new to full moon period) when trying to invoke positive energy.

Lunar rituals are definitely more powerful when performed under the light of the moon (or at moonrise not moonset). Often it is not possible to perform the rite under the light of the moon. (and there could be multiple reasons for this such as: your schedule, a cloudy night, new or dark moon rites, location limitations...) The rule of thumb is that once you perform the ritual (even if not under the light of the moon), you must track the moon and connect with it's energies until the end of the cycle in which you performed the ritual. For example, if you did a ritual to get rid of negative energy during a waning moon, you should look for the light of the moon at least 3 nights after the rite. Watch it's light diminish and as it does, so will your problem diminish. If you perform a ritual to bring positive energy on a new moon or growing moon, track the moon and watch it grow. Try to connect with the full moon of that ritual cycle so you can visualize your positive situation coming to fruition.

In the case of your ritual, there is a dual purpose and so it is more complex. In my opinion, you should do the ritual on the first day or evening (or at moonrise) of the new moon because the moon is still dark and therefore a perfect time to get rid of negative energy. Then on the second day of the new moon (or 3rd day), look for the first sliver of light in the sky and visualize your positive energy growing. In fact, you could even track the moon all the way to full and connect with the abundance of positive energy and light that you want to invoke into your life.

I find that the Hebrew lunar calendar is the most comprehensive, accurate, and spiritual to work with. The Rosh Chodesh (New moon) is a sacred time and will always be marked for two days on the calendar. (You can even download it on your iCal) The first day being the dark period or beginning of light not yet visible to the eye and the second day revealing the first visible sliver of light. The witches usually say to begin positive rituals 24 hrs after the new moon and that is because they are only counting the first day as the new moon day. In my experience, the first new moon day represents the conception. The second day is the birth of the light. Anyone wanting to give birth to a healthy baby, concept, project, relationship, business venture, etc would certainly want to make sure there was nothing negative present in the conception and in this way safeguarding the actual birth.

A word about the days of the weeks...Monday is sacred to the moon (Lunes) but if you follow the new moon calendar, your ritual will fall on different days of the week. I think this is a good idea because each day of the week coincides with a different part of the life. By performing your ritual on different weekdays from month to month, you can remove negative energy and bring positive energy to different areas of your life. Let the new moon inform you which day of the week is best on any given month.

The new moon days for this month are August 10 and August 11 2010. The first new moon day falls on a Tuesday. Tuesday is Mars and deals with our aggression and our sexual energy. It also relates to our health. Work on removing any negative energies in those areas of your life. The second new moon day falls on a Wednesday. Wednesday is Mercurial and governs our creativity, our art, our neighborhood, our siblings and social lives. Focus on bringing positive energy into those areas of your life for August.

Much continued success with your moon rites and thank you for this wonderful question.

love & light
Lexa

Monday, May 17, 2010

Book Review published on Suite101.com
about "The Encyclopedia of Magickal Ingredients."

Here is the link to the article. Thanks to Linda Ashar for the great write up:-)





Sunday, January 17, 2010

George Vecsey (NY Times Sports on Sunday) speaks with Lexa on Breaking the Jet's Curse

N.F.L.


Sports of The Times

On Road to Super Bowl, Sprinkle Some Eye of Newt.

Published: January 16, 2010

Observe the angst of Jets fans. They are hopeful. They are fearful. More fearful than hopeful.

Wenjie Yang

A lifelong Jets fan, Mark Williamson, with a witch, Lexa Roséan, performed a ritual in Times Square on Dec. 3 to support his team. It has lost only once since.


Amidst all the quavering — waiting for mud to entrap the Jets in San Diego on Sunday — only one Jets fan has done anything concrete about the 40-year absence from the Super Bowl.

Mark Williamson staged an exorcism.

It is not clear exactly what he was exorcising, but some Jets fans have convinced themselves that the team is caught up in some curse, which sounds a little grandiose to me.

I think there are only so many curses to go around. I am perfectly willing to believe the Red Sox labored under a curse after letting Babe Ruth go to the Yankees for the 1920 season. It is quite likely that the Nets have been fated to lose in a ghastly swamp since ditching Julius Erving. The Cubs? That billy goat hex always sounded a little spurious to me.

But the Jets — excuse me if I offend anybody — just seem to be a generally mediocre team to which bad things happen from time to time. Then one January, there was Joe Namath.

Whatever it was, or is, that ails the Jets, Williamson was willing to do something about it. Williamson is a freelance video producer who happened to be born into a Jets family. As he said on Friday, if he had been born into a Giants family, he would have witnessed three — count ’em, three — Super Bowl championships in his 37 years.

Instead, at an early age, he witnessed the nimble Jets playing in Miami in 1982, when a sudden bog materialized in the Orange Bowl, and Richard Todd threw an interception to A.J. Duhe. To this day, if somebody in the Williamson family wants to feel particularly miserable, he or she just mutters A. J. Duhe.

This year, Williamson became an activist when the Jets hit a slump in midseason. He engaged the services of a witch named Lexa Roséan, who lives in Manhattan and says her coven of witches “did something” for the Mets in October 1986. Something to do with the withered ankles of Bill Buckner? She didn’t say.

Her father played some football back in Florida, Roséan claimed; therefore, she knows a bit about that sport. “Football is a much cleaner sport than baseball,” she said Friday. “Baseball has all kinds of weird superstitions.” Right. Just ask Moises Alou, still psychically standing down the left-field line in Wrigley Field, waiting to catch a long foul fly.

When Williamson had a consultation with Roséan, he said something about a vague Jets curse.

“Of course, that is open to interpretation,” Roséan said. “But the Jets were definitely blocked. As witches say, we had to uncross their path.”

She proposed that Williamson stage the ritual under a full harvest moon in early October — at a crossroads — so he chose the banks of the East River near his home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A brisk wind, however, blew out the candles. Can’t exorcise 40 years of no Super Bowl without candles.

This time, Williamson selected the crossroads of the world — Times Square in Manhattan. There are some of us who think Times Square needs its own exorcism of the chain stores and suburban-mall blandness, and a return of our traditional sleaze, but that is another story.

The ritual took place at about 6 p.m. Dec. 3, a day after the full cold moon, and hours before the Jets’ game against Buffalo in Toronto.

“We wanted to send the love,” Williamson said.

Roséan said the ritual was “pretty straightforward” to please the god Legba, or Elegua, as he is variably known. A petition. A chant. Candles. Three coins. And three mint candies, preferably red, but since this was for the Jets, Roséan proposed using green-and-white mints, the team colors.

Roséan was unable to attend the ritual because she had the flu. Who knew witches get the flu? Anyway, Williamson did what he was told, twirled around a bit, received hugs from passing brothers and sisters, dropped the coins, dropped the mints.

That night, the Jets beat the Bills, and they have since lost once and won four, two of them gifts from the gods — or rather from opposing coaches who did not field their best teams.

Wondering what the Jets’ trouble was over the last four decades, Williamson and Roséan hit on the absence of a strong male figure, ever since Namath’s knees gave out. Lately, they have decided that Rex Ryan, the beefy, wisecracking head coach, is the charismatic man the Jets have been lacking.

“There is one side effect,” Roséan said of the winning streak.

I never miss the opportunity to play straight man to a witch.

Yes, ma’am?

“I’ve fallen in love with the Jets,” she announced, having watched two recent victories. She plans to watch somewhere on Sunday but cautioned Jets fans not to leave it up to the candles and the coins and the mints.

“As a witch, I often counsel people, ‘You are the magic,’ ” she said, adding, “That last little ingredient.”

Williamson is preparing for Sunday, practicing the Jets’ chant: “J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets!”

It must be fun to be a fan. Or miserable. Or both.