Ida Botha (idabotha82) wrote in the_spellbook, @ 2008-01-22 20:32:00 |
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Current mood: | chipper |
Nature Magic - Understanding Cherry Magic
Nature Magic - Understanding Cherry Magic
The fruits and blossoms of the cherry tree are strongly associated with the beauty and vibrancy of life and with the magic of love.
The most famous celebration of the cherry is probably the japanese cherry blossom festival. This is the happiest of the flower festivals in Japan, welcoming the spring with the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossom. The blossom usually occurs at the end of March or early April and lasts for 3 days before it fades and falls.
Transient existence
The joyous appreciation of this festival has spread to many parts of the world, and people from other countries visit Japan at this time of year specifically to witness the blossoming of the Cherry trees. The brief beauty of this time reminds us of the transience of life and to live every moment to the full.
Cherries are famously associated with love and a lovely charm was to tie a cherry stone to a flowering branch with a strand of your hair. This was believed to bring new romance or to enhance the love already in your life.
The longevity of the cherry
According to an old belief, you can find out how long you're going to live with the aid of a cherry tree. This aspect of the cherry led to some peculiar customs in Europe. A common method through Europe was to shake the trunk of the cherry tree, and the number of cherries that fell out of the tree would be the number of years you would live. You can be sure that people would shake the tree very hard for their answer! The natural beauty of the blossoming cherry tree has influenced artists for centuries. Japanese samurai, for example, were often pictured under cherry blossoms. Bring the gentle and inspiring beauty of the cherry into your home by collecting blossoms for your altar.
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Passion Spell
You may find that your relationships sometimes go through patches where the passion seems to ebb low. This cherry candle spell is to encourage the passion to rise again and so renew the love between you and your partner.
On a night of the waxing Moon, a good time to encourage things to grow, have a luxurious bath. Scent the water with your favourite oils. After you have bathed, wrap yourself in a pink bath robe and light your red cherry candle. As you light your candle, recite this incantation:
" Candle burning with passionate flame,
may the thoughts of my lover do the same.
May our love life be fruitful as the cherry,
to keep our love strong, true and merry."
Spend a few moments gazing into the flame, visualizing yourself and your lover being passionate. Bind the spell and let the candle burn down.
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Folklore of Cherry
Cherries are associated with love and beauty according to the fruit's mythical auspices. They have also found their way into common phrases in english.
Venus is the planetary ruler of the cherry tree due to its goverrnance of all foods that are cool and moist in nature. The cherry's bright red colour also connects it to Venus.
In days of old, cherries were used by women as rouge and applied to redden their lips.
Certain english phrases are associated with cherries for example, 'a bite at the cherry' means to be presented with an oppurtunity and 'cherry pick' means to selectively choose from the oppurtunities available to you.
An old slavic recipe of cherry tea, honey, lemon juice and cherry brandy is believed to have remarkable curative powers when you have a cold or flu.
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A speeding up spell
It's frustrating when plans seem to take forever to come to fruition. This spell can help speed matters up, but you need to have collected your ingredients in advance! From the beginning of March to the end of April, when the Cherry trees are blossoming, collect some cherry blossom and dry it out well. Place some dried blossom with a piece of quartz and three cherry stones into a small red pouch, blessing the ingredients with the four elements as you do so. When theingredients are in the pouch say:
"Air, fire, water, earth,
make my plans come to birth."
Then wait for your plans to rapidly blossom!