HOW TO PREPARE RITUAL PAPER
When I write intentions to be used in ritual or spellwork, I craft them on paper that has been especially designed to support the work. I hold the belief that the paper itself is the sacred container for these intents, and to honour these intentions, the very words’ environment should be held with respect, beauty, and reverence. While early Taoist (Daoist) sorceresses wrote their sigils (an inscribed symbol that contains meaning and power) on rice paper and through ritual, ingested the papers containing these sigils, I follow certain aspects of this ancient Chinese tradition of my ancestors of long, long ago.
HOW THIS WINTER SOLSTICE WILL AFFECT YOU NEXT YEAR
The most recent New Moon a few days ago on December 12. In Daoist and Chinese lunar traditions, this moon cycle is considered the Winter Moon or 11th Moon of the lunar year. The Winter Solstice or Dongzhi is celebrated as a festival of observing Yin at her greatest, and it is this honouring of her height that the Yang can re-emerge. In Daoist thought, this acknowledgement and sitting with Yin is vital for Spring, in order for the gifts of the subsequent year, to arrive and come to fruition. This year's return to and observance of the Great Yin is crucially important on two main levels.