7 Ways to Celebrate Litha, The Summer Solstice

The longest day of the year is here! This event goes by a few different names, such as the Summer Solstice, Litha, and Midsommar. It takes place every year on June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere and December 21 in the Southern Hemisphere.

The sun is at its full strength and potency at this time, which makes it a powerful time to bring projects to fruition and worship the blessings, healing, nurturing, and strength the sun brings us.

The sun is a powerful star that has a dramatic impact on our planet. It provides light, life, and nourishment to every living thing. It can change our mood, it helps our food grow, and it creates beauty year round. When the sun is hidden by clouds we miss it, and our mood can be severely affected.

Here are some ways you can celebrate the Summer Solstice this year.

1. Make a Gratitude List

Write down all of the things you’re grateful for in your life right now. You can start small, and even include certain people, pets, situations, or experience you’ve learned from. The idea is to celebrate the fullness of life, the things that make life worth living.

The Summer Solstice relates to The Sun card in tarot, which is all about basking the sun’s glory, noticing the good going on in your life, and opening up to success, recognition, and happiness. This can be difficult for some if they’re focusing too much on what isn’t going right. Just for now, focus on what is going right. Thank the Universe or your higher power for these things, and spend a moment looking at the list. Notice how you feel, and focus on the elements that make you feel warm inside. Spend a little time in that feeling.

Gratitude is powerful and can raise your vibration. This is something you can come back to any time of the year, and the Summer Solstice is a great time to practice.

2. Use Herbs or Essential Oils

According to The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin, the herbs relating to Litha are:

Alexanders, Angelica, Apples, Ash, Bay, Calendula, Chamomile, Celandine, Daisy, Dill, Dog Rose, Elder, Elecampane, Fennel, Fern, Feverfew, Fir, Frankincense, Heather, Honeysuckle, Lavender, Marjoram, Mint, Mistletoe, Oak, St. John’s Wort, Strawberry, Sunflower, Sweet Cicely, Violet, Yarrow

You can use these to create a sugar scrub, add them to epsom salts for a bath, use them in spell work, or use them in food (see below). You can also use whatever is in season around you, whether that’s food or flowers.

3. Have a Dinner Party

Everyone loves food, and the Summer Solstice is a great time to get together and celebrate the Earth’s bounty. While the harvest festivals are still to come later in the year, this is a perfect time to enjoy fresh fruit and the seasonal, local food around you.

You can throw a potluck and ask people to bring their favorite dish, or make foods that you enjoy. If you want to stick with the theme of the Summer Solstice, you can make dishes that resemble the sun. This includes round foods, yellow dishes, or adding peppers, which are often meant to represent the heat of the sun. For more food ideas, check out the Kajora Lovely Summer Solstice Pinterest board.

4. Charge Your Crystals in the Sun

Since the sun is at its highest and strongest point, this is a powerful time to charge your crystals with the sun’s energy. You can set an intention when you set them outside, such as giving them the healing and nurturing aspects of the sun, or anything else that you want your crystals to contain. If you can, leave them outside around noon, when the sun is at its highest point.

5. Do Protection Work

This is a great time to do work to create protection for yourself and your loved ones. The sun’s strength will begin waning after this point, but you can harness its energy and potency to create protection through the months to come.

This can be done with spell work, charging your protective crystals, making a protection crystal grid, or even creating protection salt to place in front of the doorways and windows of your home.

6. Connect With Nature

Spending time in your favorite natural setting can always have its own grounding and recharging abilities, but it can be particularly potent at this time. Since the Summer Solstice is taking place during a waning moon this year, you can set intentions for what you want to release and for the sun’s energy to help you heal. You can also spend some time sitting in the direct sunlight (even if it’s just a couple minutes) and imagine the sun’s warmth wrapping around you like a nurturing, healing blanket that will provide you with anything you need, and that you can take with you when you leave.

7. Have a Bonfire

Bonfires have been staples of pagan traditions, and can be used to ask for cleansing or protection. You can gather together with friends or family as a simple get together, or use the fire’s energy for magic and spells. If you feel guided to, you can stare into the fire for a bit to meditate and connect to the Summer Solstice’s fire energy.

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How to Make Your Own Protection Salt

Feeling safe and secure at home is important to our mental and physical well being, and one way to help is to use protection salt.

Salt has been used for protection for a very long time, and it’s believed to absorb negative energy. By combining it with protective herbs or essential oils, it can be used to ward off any energy you don’t want coming into your home. This can be any type of energy—living people, spirits, or other energies.

According to The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin, these herbs and essential oils are best for protection:

Acacia - Acorn - African Violet - Agrimony - Alfalfa - Aloe Vera - Alyssum - Amaranth - Angelica - Anise - Arbutus - Arnica - Ash - Aspen - Balm of Gilead - Bamboo - Basil - Bay - Bergamot - Betony - Bilberry - Birch - Black Pepper - Bladderwrack - Bloodroot - Bryony - Buckthorn - Buckwheat - Bugleweed - Burdock - Calamus - Calendula - Caraway - Carnation - Cedarwood - Greater Celandine - German & Roman Chamomile - Chrysanthemum - Cinnamon - Cinquefoil - Coconut - Black & Blue Cohosh - Coriander - Cyclamen - Dill - Echinacea - Elecampane - Eucalyptus - Fennel - Feverfew - Male Fern - Foxglove - Frankincense - Fumitory - Gardenia - Garlic - Geranium - Heather- Heliotrope - Holly - Hollyhock - House Sleek - Hyacinth - Hyssop - Iris - Juniper - Larkspur - Lemon - Lilac - Lime - American & True Mandrake - Marjoram - Marshmallow - Mimosa - Mistletoe - Mugwort - Mulberry - Mullein - Stinging Nettle - Oregano - Pennyroyal - Peony - Periwinkle - Greater Plantain - Pokeweed - Primrose - Purslane - Rice - Rosemary - Rowan - Sage - Saint John’s Wort - Sandalwood - Spearmint - Skullcap - Thyme - Toadflax - Tomato - Vervain - Vetiver - Yarrow

To make the protection salt, combine about as much kosher salt as you think you’ll need—this will depend on how many doors you have, and whether or not you want to put salt on or in front of your windows. Then add in the herbs or essential oils you want to use.

While some herbs are easy to find, such as Rosemary and Dill, don’t feel like you have to go out of your way to find an obscure herb. It’s all about your intention, so even if you only had rose petals to work with, you could hold them in your hand and charge them with the intention of giving you loving protection and keeping out those who do not approach your home with love in their hearts.

If you don’t have any herbs but do have pepper, you can combine just salt and a lot of black pepper or cayenne pepper. If there are other herbs not listed above that you also want to use, feel free to add them to your salt. It’s important to do what feels right to you!

Once you’ve combined all the ingredients you want to use, you can set the intention while you stir them together or stir them and then place your hands over the salt and charge it with your intention. You can begin by calling in your spirit team: your spirit guides, ancestors, angels, gods and goddesses, and anyone else that comes in for your highest good. If you work with certain protective spirits or deities (such as fairies), call them in at this time.

You can say this out loud or in your mind, but make it clear who you do not want coming into your home. If it’s a specific person that means to do you harm, you can say their full name. If it’s more general, here’s my usual go to statement:

Please shield and protect my home and all of the living beings within it so that those who enter our home only come for our highest good and greatest benefit.

I add the phrase living beings so my pets are also covered. You can add anything else you feel guided to, and if certain words or phrases suddenly come to mind and feel right to you, include those as well. There’s no one right way to do this, and the idea is simply to create a protective space for your home and only bring in those who want what’s best for you.

Then spread the salt in front of every doorway to your home. If you have a walkway leading up to your front door, you can spread the salt at different points along the walkway as well. If you have a large house, make sure you get any side doors, including the garage door. You can repeat your intention as you’re laying down the salt as well, but only if it feels right to you.

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June Tarot Readings

Happy June! Here are the tarot readings for each sign for this month. If you’d like to book a personal tarot reading or reiki healing, email kajoralovely@gmail.com.

Click here to find out what’s in store for you in July!

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

New Moon in Taurus: Manifesting Love & Money

New Moons are a time for new beginnings and setting manifestations for what you want moving forward in your life.

This New Moon is in Taurus, which rules over things related to love, money, stability, and abundance. The sign of Taurus is ruled by the planet Venus, which influences everything around love. Taurus is a sign that can be stubborn at times, but overall it likes to feel good, enjoy life, have lots of pleasurable moments, dwell in a well-decorated home, and eat good food.

So what does all of this mean for you? The New Moon in Taurus is an excellent time to work on manifesting the things in your life that make you feel good, such as love, and it can also help you build financial stability and wealth. As an Earth sign, Taurus is also practical, and you can harness this energy into creating practical steps to move your ideas forward.

Abundance & Love Visualization

One of the best ways to start is with a visualization. Imagine the life that you want. Imagine yourself waking up and imagining a day doing exactly what you want. This can relate to both love and money.

Where do you live? Are you waking up next to someone? Do you know this person? If it’s an ideal partner, how do you feel with them around you? How do you say good morning to each other?

How do you get ready for your day? What kind of work are you doing? How many hours are you working? What kind of lifestyle do you have? Who do you see throughout the day? Are you meeting friends in the evening or having a meal with your family?

These are just some suggestions, but let your mind lead you through the mediation. Take note of what you see and how you feel. That’s the goal—to move into the way you feel during the meditation.

New Moon Manifestations

Next, write down what you saw and how you felt. You can also write down what you want to manifest in your life related to love, work, and money. If there are things that did not come up in your visualization that you want, write those down as well.

A common guideline for writing these manifestations is to write down what you want as if you already have it. For example, start with “I am so happy now that…” and then write down what you want in detail.

If you don’t have time for a visualization, that’s alright. You can always write down what you want in terms of love, financial wealth, and home life.

If you have a manifestation practice, use the list as you typically do. Personally, I burn my manifestations with the intention of sending the energy up into The Universe, but do what you feel guided to. Some will keep manifestations under their pillow for a full moon phase, place them on their altar or a certain place in their home, others will put it under a dressed candle, and others will bury it in the ground. Do what feels right for you.

Set Some Goals

To help bring your manifestations into being, think about some realistic goals you can set for yourself.

How can you realistically take a few steps closer to what you want? Is it taking a class, applying for a new position, or asking for a raise? Is there a person you want to ask out on a date?

Do you want to feel some more confidence within yourself before you emerge into the dating world? What’s one step you can take to feel more confident with yourself?

Are there any changes you want to make in your current relationship? What’s one small change you could make?

If it seems like your goal is a large issue you’re not sure how to tackle, break it into bite size pieces. Write down the multiple steps it would take to accomplish your goal. Then write down how you could achieve each of those steps. Start with the easiest one and work your way up from there. You may not have all the answers right away, but even shifting your energy around this goal will help make it seem easier to accomplish.

Tarot Reading or Reiki Healing

If you need some support, guidance, clarity, or healing, you can always book a tarot card reading or reiki healing session.

Tarot readings can help provide clarity on various topics, and around a New Moon they can help you determine where to direct your energy.

In reiki healing sessions, I use energy to help move energy out that needs to be released, provide balance where it is needed, heal energetic wounds, and bring in loving energy to the places that need it most.

All of these sessions can be done either in person or from a distance. Distance tarot readings can be done over the phone, through Skype, or sent in an email, and distance reiki sessions can be conducted at a time when you’re ready to rest or even while you’re sleeping.

If you’re not sure what to ask in a tarot reading, here are some options you can book:

• What’s Blocking Love? Tarot Reading

• Abundance Tarot Reading

• Need Some Good News Tarot Reading

To book a tarot reading or reiki healing, email Kajora Lovely at kajoralovely@gmail.com

Using Herbs in a Scrub or Bath

If you like to use herbs to make your own body sugar scrub or Epsom salt bath, there are a fair amount of choices. You can check out my recipes for a Lavender & Lemon Sugar Scrub or the Love Sugar Scrub with Rose & Cardamom.

If you’d like to make your own homemade concoction, here’s some information I gathered from The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin.

Taurus

Apple, Cardamom, Daisy, Honeysuckle, Lilac, Lovage, Magnolia, Moss, Mugwort, Oakmoss, Orchid, Patchouli, Periwinkle, Plumeria, Rose, Thyme, Tonka, Vanilla, Violet, Ylang-Ylang

New Moon

Aloe, Birch, Blackberry, Camphor, Clover, Daisy, Gorse, Ground Ivy, Jasmine, Lily, Mulberry, Ox-Eye Daisy, White Rose, Wormwood

For a sugar scrub, I use a base of 2 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil, and you can add whatever herbs you like, stir to fully combine, and store in a plastic container.

To make a salt bath, use 2 cups of Epsom salts (unless you’re diabetic, then use Himalayan salt) and combine any herbs you like.

For both, I recommend grinding the herbs to about as small as you can so they don’t clog your drain.

Of course, you can use these herbs however you like. For example, you could make a face mask with mashed apple, dried roses, and cinnamon, or burn honeysuckle incense while writing down your manifestations. It’s your practice—it’s entirely your choice!

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Abundance Tarot Reading

Are there any mindsets blocking your relationship with financial abundance and money? Sometimes we have issues from our past, mindsets about money, stereotypes we’re not aware of, or other influences that can block our abundance.

If you’d like to bring more money into your life, The Abundance Tarot Reading is meant to help you begin to work on your own relationship with finances and abundance by looking at blockages.

This tarot reading answers the following questions for you:

1. Current relationship with abundance

2. Something blocking abundance

3. Something that can change your perspective about abundance

4. The outcome

This reading can be done over the phone, via Skype, or sent in an email so you can refer to it afterward. It is $90 and can be prepaid to Kajora-Lovely on Venmo. To book, email kajoralovely@gmail.com.

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What's Blocking Love? Tarot Reading

Do you want to know why there are blockages in your love life? So often in readings people ask when they're going to meet someone new, and often the answer is about working on themselves. This tarot reading helps give you some insight!

This tarot reading answers the following questions for you:

What’s blocking love?

What’s something you need to change?

How can this help you moving forward?

This reading can be done over the phone or sent to you in an email. It’s $70, which can be prepaid to @Kajora-Lovely on Venmo. Email kajoralovely@gmail.com to book!

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May Tarot Readings

Happy May my fellow lovelies! You can check out the tarot reading for your sign for the month of May below. If you’re interested in booking a personal tarot card reading or reiki healing, you can always email kajoralovely@gmail.com to make an appointment.

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

Hope you all have a wonderful month ahead! If you’re interested in booking a personal reading, email kajoralovely@gmail.com to make an appointment.

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Love Sugar Scrub for Beltane

Beltane takes place on May 1, and this pagan holiday celebrates everything having to do with love, fertility, romance, and sex. You can learn more about Beltane here. I love this holiday because it’s better than Valentine’s Day.

It takes place during Taurus season, which is ruled by Venus, the planet of love. During this time of year we all want to feel good and enjoy the sensual aspects of life, and Beltane celebrates spring and the return of summer, times when we get to enjoy life more than in the winter months.

To help you bring a taste of Beltane into your life and home, I’m sharing this recipe for a Love Sugar Scrub I created a few months ago that feels like spring. Red flowers are typically used to celebrate this pagan holiday, and I incorporated dried red roses. Cardamom is one of my favorite ingredients in both food and beauty, and the combination with olive oil, coconut oil, and lemon juice smells divine.

All of these ingredients are also good for your skin! Here’s some information I gathered from The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin.

Lemon promotes new cell generation, softens the skin, and helps to diminish wrinkles. Magically, it’s cleansing and works for both love and protection.

Rose is astringent, toning, anti-inflammatory, regenerative, promotes new cell growth, is good to use on aging, dry, and sensitive skin, and it helps smooth the skin. Magically, it’s used for love, luck, passion, sexuality, sensuality, seduction, rebirth, and resurrection.

Cardamom’s magical uses include love, passion, and lust while Coconut is used for luck, purification, and protection. Olive Oil is soothing and healing, and magically it’s used for new beginnings and peace.

Love Sugar Scrub

2 cups sugar

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1 tbsp dried rose petals, ground

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tbsp lemon juice

Combine all dry ingredients first: sugar, dried rose petals, and ground cardamom. Stir until all ingredients are thoroughly combined; smell to see if you would like to add more roses or cardamom. Combine all wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine, making sure the oils haven’t clumped up the sugar.

If you want to, add more oil or more herbs to get the scent you like. Store in an airtight container and use on your body as needed, about once or twice a week.

You can add the use of this sugar scrub to your self care routine or just use it when you’re getting ready for the day ahead. It lasts a few weeks, and the olive oil may pool a little at the bottom, so make sure you mix the ingredients from time to time.

Enjoy!

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Blessed Beltane, witches!

In a nutshell, Beltane takes place on May 1st and celebrates the lusciousness of spring, particularly passion, sensuality, fertility, sex, abundance, fire, love, romance, and (I would say) the general pleasures of life. To learn more about this pagan holiday, check out my blog post All About Beltane.

Is it any surprise this holiday takes place during Taurus season? I think not. Taurus is ruled by Venus, the planet of love, and likes to feel good and be surrounded by beautiful things. As an Earth element, there’s a desire to connect with plants, nature, and our base desires.

You might be feeling this influences in your life right now. Spring fever means love is in the air, and Taurus season may make you feel a certain kind of way—like it’s time to bring a new life into the world, whether it’s an actual human child or some type of project.

Beltane Tarot Reading

For this tarot reading, I’m changing up the format a little bit.

Send me (Kajora Lovely) three questions you have about love, romance, fertility, creative projects, sex (or anything else that’s on your mind) and I’ll answer them in a tarot card reading! This reading is $70, and can be prepaid through Venmo to Kajora-Lovely.

If you need some help coming up with questions, feel free to reach out! We can have a little consultation first. Coming up with questions for a tarot reading can feel intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be, and I can help you hone your thoughts to get the answers you want.

To book a tarot reading or to learn more, email at kajoralovely@gmail.com.

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All About Beltane

Beltane takes place every year around May 1 in the Northern Hemisphere and November 1 in the Southern Hemisphere. It marks the midpoint between the Vernal Equinox celebration of Ostara (the official beginning of spring) and the Summer Solstice celebration of Litha (the longest day and shortest night of the year).

You might also be familiar with Beltane’s other name—May Day. If you are, then you’re likely familiar with the idea of celebrating spring, dancing and wrapping ribbons around the May Pole.

Beltane was celebrated by pagans in the British Isles, and marked the midpoint of spring when life was emerging, days were getting longer and warmer, and the time for growing and cultivating crops would soon come. Livestock were taken out to pasture during this time.

This holiday has evolved and changed over time, especially with the emergence of Wicca and Neo-paganism. Finding a celebration near you can be tricky, but there are ways to celebrate this event or incorporate it into your everyday life.

Celebration of Spring

Beltane is unique because it’s a celebration of spring officially arriving and noting that the days are about to get warmer and longer. Crops are growing, animals are grazing in their pastures, and life is emerging after the doldrums of winter.

Every holiday is both literal and symbolic: what parts of you have fully emerged? Are you feeling rejuvenated, knowing that summer will be approaching soon? Do you feel a newfound excitement in your life?

Fertility

Beltane is about sensuality, sex, and fertility. If you’ve heard about the holiday of May Day, you’re most likely familiar with the May Pole. The maypole is a phallic representation of the masculine while the ribbons wrapped around it represent the feminine.

Some traditions mention people running around the woods at Beltane and the Summer Solstice, possibly naked, possibly to go have sex in the woods.

However you want to celebrate this aspect of Beltane is up to you. You can incorporate some of the foods and herbs mentioned below beforehand, either feeding them to yourself or your partner(s).

This event is not about shame or guilt, but it’s not exactly hedonistic either. I view it as a purely sensual event, which can be enjoyed solo or with others. But it’s about enjoying nature, the bounty of life, warmth, heat, and love.

The fertility aspect can relate to multiple things, such as conceiving a child or nurturing creative ideas. Both stem from the sacral chakra, which is right below the belly button, and is the birthplace of the spark that leads to creation. This can be a project, a new business, or artistic endeavor—it can be anything you want it to be. You can use the energy of Beltane to help bring fertile ideas to the fore and ask for them to be made real in your life.

Protection

Since animals were taken out to pasture during this time, and people would spend more time outdoors, one common theme of Beltane is protecting people and animals. In some traditions, a large bonfire would be made and people would walk their animals around the smoke to invoke protection. People would jump over the fire for various reasons; to get protection for themselves, couples would jump for luck or in help conceiving a child, and single women would jump to grant them luck in love.

During this time it’s believed that the veil between the living and the dead is thin, so it’s a good time to communicate with spirits. This includes nature spirits, such as fairies, which are a mixed bag when it comes to good or ill intentions.

If you’re interested in working with fairies, I recommend either inviting in ones that mean to help only for your highest good, or for a specific purpose. For example, you can ask for your protection fairies to look after you and your family, or for nature spirits to tend to the plants in your yard or in your home.

Essential Oils

Birch & Dill

Herbs

Apple - Belladonna - Birch - Celandine - Cinquefoil - Clover - Cuckoo Pint - Daisy - Dandelion - Dill - Dog Rose - Elder - Fir - Hawthorn - Honeysuckle - Horse Chestnut - Lily of the Valley - Mallow - Oak - Primrose - Rose - Sorrel - Sweet Cicely - Willow - Woodruff

Colors

Green, which symbolizes fertility, growth, wealth, money, love, creativity, attraction, compassion, heart chakra, vegetation deities, and the Earth element.

Red, which symbolizes passion, life, vitality, sex drive, the root chakra, warrior and mother deities, and the Fire element.

You can also use any colors that seem to be calling you. If they’re completely different, look up the meaning behind that color—there’s most likely a message for you in there. For example, I associate Beltane with the color pink, which relates to love, romance, and beauty.

Food

You can incorporate these however you like, and incorporate any foods that are in season where you live.

Cabbage - Rhubarb - Broad Beans - Early Lettuce - Spring Onions - Radishes - New Potatoes - Herbs - Hawthorn - Violet - Primrose - Cowslip - Dandelion - Dill - Sorrel - Chickweed - Nettle - Honey - Red & Pink Wine - Honey Cakes

For more ideas, check out my Beltane board on Pinterest. You’ll also find tarot reading ideas, spells, recipes, traditions, and information about the holiday.

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How the Full Moon in Libra Can Help You in Love

The Pink Full Moon in Libra takes place this Friday, and it will be a powerful time for making changes in our personal lives when it comes to love.

The name Pink Full Moon comes from Native American tradition and relates to the color of blooming flowers that can be seen this time of year. The astrological sign of Libra rules over love, relationships, and harmony.

The combination of these energies makes this a great time to release anything in your life that no longer serves you, practice some self care mixed with self love, and use this shift to implement new changes in your life.

The Full Moon in Libra

In the early hours of Friday morning, April 19th, there will be a Full Pink Moon in Libra. The following day, Saturday April 20th, Taurus season begins.

Both Libra and Taurus are ruled by Venus, the planet of love. These combined elements make it a powerful time to become clear about what you want when it comes to relationships in your life. Full Moons are a culmination of energy, which makes them a potent time to release what hasn’t served you in the past so you can move forward unhindered.

This Moon phase coincides with the New Moon in Libra on September 28th, and the changes you make during this Full Moon could come full circle by that time.

So what kinds of changes can you make?

The phrase for Libra is “I Balance,” and it also rules over relationships, harmony, cooperation, and peace. This provides an opportunity to bring balance to every type of relationship in your life—romantic, platonic, business, and your relationship with yourself.

There are three things you can do during this Full Moon in Libra: release what is no longer serving you, take a self love bath, and use this energy to make changes in the month to come. If you have any Full Moon rituals in your practice, you can incorporate these in if you like.

The Full Moon takes place in the early hours of Friday morning, so you can actually do these activities on either Thursday or Friday night—it just depends what’s more convenient for you.

I’m also offering a Full Moon in Libra Tarot Reading (see below) if you need help in any of these areas.

Full Moon Release

Full Moons are a powerful time to release anything you no longer want in your life, and with this one in particular, you can release everything from partnerships you don’t want to take forward with you into the future.

To help you release anything you don’t want anymore, make a list. You can start this list now and add to it as different things come up over the next couple days.

The sign of Libra is the element of Air, which rules over our thoughts. Under this influence we can stew and be self-critical, especially if we feel we’re not feeling confident in terms of love.

Instead, I encourage you to utilize Libra’s  influence to your advantage in making the changes you want. If you think about what you do and don’t like in the relationships you currently have in your life and those in the past, write down the elements you could do without!

For example: patterns from your family members you don’t want to repeat, betrayals from friends or loved ones you want to leave behind, any resentment you may have to an ex or someone who mistreated you, or feelings of doubt, jealousy, anger, codependency, that you’ve had in your relationships.

Write down everything and anything you want to release. Your statements can be broad, such as “I release any all blockages in my life when it comes to love.” Or you can write that you’re releasing a specific person and all of your connections to them.

Here are some ideas of things to release:

Fear - Negative body image - Jealousy - Resentment - Anger - Anxiety - Worry - Self-Criticism - Insecurity - Feeling Unworthy of Love - Feeling out of Balance - Self-Doubt - Old Relationships - Old Relationship Patterns - Unhealthy Family Patterns - Loneliness - Abuse - Lack of Feeling Empowered

If anything else comes to mind as something you want to let go of, by all means, write it down so you can let it go.

Once you’ve completed your list, burn it in a safe place. This could be in a fireplace, over a fire pit, or in a flameproof bowl. Once it’s completely burned and the ashes have cooled, you can flush the ashes down the toilet or dump in the trash and take out the trash. (If you do the latter, be sure the ashes have completely cooled!)

Afterward, you can cleanse your space if you like, such as burning palo santo, sprinkling Florida Water, or spraying Holy Water. Ask the divine spirits you work with (such as your higher power, angels, or deities) to give you loving, healing energy to fill the spaces within you where you released.

Self Love Bath

After letting go of what you don’t want to take forward with you, give yourself some much needed self love. I’m saying much needed because the vast majority of us are not very kind to ourselves.

But never forget: the relationship you have with yourself is the longest relationship you will have in your life. Therefore, it’s the most important.

Check out my full list of love-related plants and essential oils in the blog post All Things Love, but here are a few to get you started:

Essential Oils

Chamomile - Cinnamon - Clove - Jasmine - Juniper - Lavender - Lemon - Sweet Orange - Patchouli - Ylang-Ylang

Plants

Almond - Basil - Calendula - Cardamom - Comfrey - Copal - Coriander - Dragon’s Blood - Frangipani - Geranium - Hibiscus - Honeysuckle - Jasmine - Lemon Verbena - Magnolia - Marjoram - Marshmallow - Rose - Rosemary - Violet

Whatever herbs you choose, I recommend grinding them (I use a mortar and pestle or a small coffee grinder) and chop them. The idea is to get these to be as small as possible so they don’t clog up the drain in your bathtub.
Combine the plants of your choice with about 2 cups of either Epsom Salt or Himalayan Salt (especially if you have diabetes), either in a jar or a bowl. If you’re using essential oils, you can add them either to the salts and stir, or pour in the salt and then drop the oils into the bathwater.

When you’re drawing the bath, you can place crystals such as Rose Quartz or Clear Quartz in the tub to charge the water. Once you’re ready, take out the crystals and stir in the bath salts until they’re dissolved.

If you want to get witchy with it, place your hands over the water, and set an intention. You can ask the spirits you work with (such as your spirit guides, ancestors, deities, and higher power) for help when it comes to self love. You can be specific or vague, focusing on something in particular you want to change or asking for general overall help in the self love department. Do what feels comfortable for you!

When you’re in the water, stay for at least 15 minutes. You can meditate, relax, or do some self love exercises. For example, you can place your hands over your heart and say affirmations like “I acknowledge my flaws, I acknowledge my strengths, and I accept them equally. I love myself wholly and completely.” If anything else comes to mind and feels right, say it either out loud or in your mind.  

Some traditions do not believe in actually washing yourself in a spiritual bath, however I live in Southern California, which only recently came out of a drought, so I’m big on conserving water. Washing yourself is a form of self care and cleansing, so you can also imagine scrubbing away emotional grime, negative thoughts, whatever you feel could be attached to you that you don’t want to carry on your body anymore.

If there are other routines you enjoy when taking a bath, feel free to add those in. Light candles. Play music that helps you relax. This bath is all about you, so do what you can to make it a treat for yourself.

Going Forward

On Saturday April 20th, Taurus season begins. The sign of Taurus is an Earth element, and rules over wealth, stability, persistence, and determination. The phrase for Taurus is “I Have.”

Now that you’ve released energies that no longer served you and you have a renewed connection with yourself from the self love bath, what do you have that you didn’t have before?

How do you feel different? How do you feel the same? You can reflect, write, or meditate on these questions. If you and a friend do some of these activities at the same time, get together and discuss what you’re feeling.

Both Libra and Taurus are ruled by Venus, the planet of love. The changes you make during this Full Moon can be carried out and executed during Taurus season. Taurus enjoys feeling good, both at home and in the body, and looking good. You may want to treat yourself in little ways during this astrological season.

There will be a New Moon in Taurus on Saturday May 4th, and at this time you can determine what you want to manifest in your life. Similar to releases, you can start this list now and add to it over time.

Once you’ve released the things that held you back and have gotten used to that new energy, it’s easier to figure out where you want to go moving forward.

Tarot Reading

If you’re struggling in any or all of these areas, you can also book the Full Moon in Libra Tarot Reading with Kajora Lovely!

This tarot card reading answers the following questions for you:

• Where are you experiencing blockages when it comes to love?

• What needs to be released?

• How can you love yourself more?

• How can you make positive changes to bring more love into your life?

This reading is $45, and can be prepaid to Kajora-Lovely on Venmo. The reading can be done in person, over the phone, through Skype, or sent in detail in an email. To book your reading, email kajoralovely@gmail.com.

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Need Some Good News Tarot Reading

Do you need to hear some good news right now? Between tax season, Mercury retrograde, and everything else that’s been going on, you’re probably ready to hear some good news right now.

I’m currently offering a Need Some Good News Tarot Reading to help you get just that. In each tarot card reading, I call in the angels & divine spirits working with you to find answers that can help you the most.

This tarot reading provides answers to the following:

Where you can make a change in your life for the better

Something good coming your way

This reading is $40 and can be done in-person, over the phone, through Skype, or sent in detail in an email. It can be prepaid in advance to @Kajora-Lovely on Venmo. To book your reading, simply email kajoralovely@gmail.com.

Need Some Good News Tarot Reading with The Wild Unknown Tarot Deck

Lavender and Lemon Body Sugar Scrub

It’s officially spring! This time of year my two favorite scents and flavors are lavender and lemon.

While I could bake and eat lavender and lemon cookies all day long, I also like looking for other ways to incorporate them into my life. One way to do that is with a lavender and lemon sugar scrub.

I like sugar scrubs because they’re a self-care treat you can enjoy every few days—or as often as you like. Sugar scrubs are a way to exfoliate, cleanse, and hydrate your skin. I like to use them because I feel refreshed afterward and I can smell it after I’ve gotten out of the shower.

When you’re making a sugar scrub, it’s important to be respectful of your skin—make sure you’re using ingredients that agree with your body. While exfoliating can smooth your skin and feel transformative, it’s also important not to irritate your skin.

Before we get into the recipe, let’s talk about some of the ingredients we’re using. Some of the information for this comes from my main go-to resource, The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin. The other information about oils I have learned from herbalists.

Lemon

When it comes to your body, lemon can help to soften the skin, work on diminishing wrinkles, help fade age spots, and helps to generate new cells. Once you’ve used it on your skin, make sure you rinse it off entirely.

Magically, it helps with cleansing, purification, healing, love, and protection. Lemon is ruled by the Moon and the element of Water. This means it can feel feminine, relate to intuition, and possibly feel cooling or soothing.

A little lemon juice can go a long way in a sugar scrub, so if you’re not crazy about it, use a little bit at first.

Lavender

For your body, lavender helps to tighten the skin, it includes collagen, so it can help with wrinkles and aging skin.

Magically, Lavender relates to attraction, love, joy, sleep, psychic awareness, prosperity, purification, healing, cleansing, meditation, peace, and harmony. It is ruled by the planet Mercury, which also rules communication, and its element is Air. This means it has more of masculine and yang energy.

It also relates to the deities Cernunnos, Circe, Hekate, Medea, Saturn, and serpent goddesses. If you work with any of these deities, you can incorporate lavender on this sugar scrub in your work with them, especially if you want to do some work for purification or love.

Oil

A note about oils: because we’re comprised of animal cells, we don’t always have an easy time absorbing plant-based cellular structures. This means that most plant-based oils are not easily absorbed into the skin, with the exception of jojoba oil. We actually have an easier time absorbing animal-based oils, but those don’t have a great shelf life outside of a refrigerator. That doesn’t mean other oils such as olive or coconut don’t work at all, but they may not give you a deep hydration; instead they remain on the surface of your skin.

Personally, I like using coconut oil in part because of the way it smells. Since it solidifies below a certain temperature, it mixes well as a sugar scrub and has a good shelf life.

Moon Phase

If you work with the phases of the moon, you could make and use this sugar scrub during the waning moon phase. That’s the phase in between the waxing moon and new moon, when the moon is losing its intensity. Magically speaking, this is a great time to release, cleanse, and purify.

Using a Sugar Scrub with Intention

Since this sugar scrub helps with cleansing, purification, healing, love, peace, protection, meditation, and harmony, you can use those intentions when you’re using it on your body. For example, you could imagine that in addition to dead skin and dirt, the sugar scrub is helping you get rid of other people’s feelings, judgement, and energy while you’re washing your body.

The power of intention and visualization can be pretty potent, especially when you’re taking a bath or are in the shower. Our minds don’t have much to focus on, and in those moments we can actually get some of our best ideas. But if you want to help cleanse or rinse off things you don’t want to be carrying around, you can repeat affirmations or imagine releasing other people’s energy back to them.

You can also imagine bringing peace, love, and harmony into your life. You can use affirmations about those topics as well. It’s all up to you!

Lemon & Lavender Sugar Scrub Recipe

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

Zest of one lemon

Juice of half a lemon

1/4 cup dried lavender, ground and chopped

Combine the sugar and melted coconut oil and stir until the ingredients are thoroughly intertwined. To melt the coconut oil, I typically heat the 1/2 cup in a microwave-proof bowl in the microwave for about a minute, but you can also melt it over a stove top. If the temperature in your home is already over 78°, you probably don’t need to melt it at all.

Zest the lemon first. If you want less lemon, zest less than you think you want, combine it with the other ingredients, smell, and determine if you want to add more. Depending on the size and juiciness of your lemon, squeeze in the juice from about half a lemon and stir to combine. You can also determine later if you want to add more.

Grind the lavender either in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, then chop to make the pieces as small and powdery as possible. This is so that the lavender disperses through the sugar scrub and doesn’t clog up your shower drain.

Once all the ingredients are thoroughly combined, smell and do a patch test (see below). This is your recipe, so you can also customize and add more lavender or lemon if you like.

I recommend storing this in a plastic storage container. That will help improve the sugar scrub’s shelf life and you won’t have to worry about glass breaking in the shower. Use as often as you like; I use it about every 3-4 days. If you shave parts of your skin, I recommend using this a day or two after shaving.

A few notes:

Feel free to change or sub out these ingredients if you know you’ll have a reaction to them. If you’re making this for someone else, it helps to know if they have any allergies or if they could have an adverse reaction to any of these ingredients.

Once you’ve made a batch, do a patch test. Use a small portion on your skin (I use the inside of my arm) to test out the scrub by scrubbing it on your skin and rinsing it off. Wait about 5-10 minutes and see if there is a reaction. If you do react, it could take longer.

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New Moon in Aries Tarot Reading

There’s a New Moon in Aries on April 5th, signifying the Moon’s growing strength as it moves into its waxing phase.

This is a significant moon phase because New Moons signify a new beginning. They’re a time to manifest what we want to build, develop, and grow in our lives. As the moon’s strength grows, we can implement the things we want in our lives.

The astrological sign of Aries is all about pursuing, implementing, and creating new things, so these two elements compounded together increase the potency of new beginnings. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, which fits in with this sign’s desire to do, to be, to create, to move things forward. In the human body it’s represented by the head, the thinking and planning that goes into conquering.

Aries is, after all, ruled by the planet Mars, and also relates to war. While this can mean outright conflict, it can also be translated as the things you want to pursue and conquer in life—the places you want to go, the things you want to do, the people you want to find yourself around.

If you need some help harnessing Aries energy and the theme of beginnings with the New Moon in Aries, I’m offering a tarot reading for $40.

The New Moon in Aries Tarot Reading answers the following questions:

What new worlds will you be conquering in the future?

What’s something you should pursue moving forward?

Something new coming into your life over the next six months

Tarot readings can be conducted in person, over the phone, through Skype, or sent in detail in an email. This reading is $70 and can be prepaid to @Kajora-Lovely on Venmo. To book your reading, email Kajora Lovely at kajoralovely@gmail.com.

To learn about more Kajora Lovely’s tarot readings, check out:

April Tarot Readings For Each Astrological Sign

All Things Love: Rituals, Oils & Crystals

The Hanged Man Tarot Reading

April Tarot Readings

Happy April! The videos for each sign’s general tarot reading are posted below, and you can also read about the general energy going on for this month when it comes to planetary movements and influences.

First, let’s take a look at some of the planetary events going on this month—and how these can affect you.

April 6: New Moon in Aries

We’re starting the month in Aries season, and on the New Moon in Aries, both the Sun and Moon will be in the sign of Aries. As the first sign of the zodiac, this warrior fire sign is all about ambition, pursuit, initiation, and action. The Moon will be completely dark on April 5, and on April 6 the first sliver of light can be seen, indicating that we are in a waxing moon phase. This is the best time to manifest what you want and either write down or tell the universe exactly what you want for yourself in the coming months or years. This is a great time to do this because…

April 10: Jupiter goes retrograde

Jupiter is a planet of expansion, and its energy can help things grow and develop. This planet will be retrograde until August 11th, and you may be feeling this especially if you are a Sagittarius or have Sagittarius in your chart, because it’s the ruling planet of that sign. However, don’t give up hope: this is still a good time for spiritual introspection and optimism, just be aware that you may want to overindulge during this period.

April 16: Mercury goes out of shadow

Yay!! This last Mercury Retrograde has been a doozy. Mercury rules communication, and if you’re a Gemini or Virgo, this is your ruling planet, so you might have been particularly affected over the last retrograde and shadow period. Fortunately, communication issues should be clearing up around this time, especially since…

April 17: Mercury goes into Aries

This period might be easier for those who like action and forward momentum. Previously, Mercury was in Pisces, which is intuitive, secretive, and emotional, among many other things. However, be cautious during this time before firing off an email or going off on someone. Aries is a fire sign, and likes action and rules over conflict and war, so you may want to think twice if you’re about to say some fightin’ words to someone you don’t actually want to argue with.

April 19: Full Moon in Libra

The Full Moon in April is also known as either the Pink Moon or Seed Moon. It’s called the Seed Moon because of the theme of planting seeds for the fruits you want to yield later in the year, and the Pink Moon because of pink flowers that were often seen blooming this time of year. This Full Moon could bring out some irrational and emotional feelings, and if something comes up that makes you feel defensive, this is a great time to do some work with yourself. Full Moons are a great time to release what you no longer want in your life, then ask the universe or your higher power to fill those now-empty places with healing and love. You can write down what you no longer want, set it on fire, and either throw away the ashes or flush them down the toilet. At Full Moons the energy in general can feel very potent, so if you’re feeling emotional or overwhelmed in general, don’t be afraid to opt out of plans and spend some time with yourself.

April 20: Taurus season begins

Taurus is an Earth sign ruled by the planet Venus, which means it likes love and feeling good. Taureans typically like to have beautiful things in their homes, like shiny objects, and like creating a space for themselves that feels comfortable and beautiful. While we each feel it differently, each astrological season can have its effect on us, so you may be inclined to enjoy the finer things in life, like good food, time with friends, or romantic time with yourself or a significant other.

Venus enters Aries

That romantic time may be a little affected by Venus moving into Aries. Venus is a feminine planet that likes love and romance, while Mars is a masculine planet that likes forward movement and doesn’t shy away from conflict. This influence can go a few different ways, especially with Taurus season starting. You could fight for someone you love, pursue a person you’re interested in, argue with your lover, or feel conflict around general issues of love. If you feel a certain way about relationships, love, and feelings during this time that you don’t like, it can help to acknowledge the planetary influence, note how you feel, then check in with yourself and discover what you truly want in the long run.

April 24: Pluto goes retrograde

Pluto is the ruling planet for Pisces and relates to the Underworld—transformations, shadow aspects, expansion, and the subconscious. It’s going retrograde until October 3rd, and this means it can be a good time to deal with the shadow aspects of ourselves. This can include things about ourselves or our past that we’re not proud of and things we wish we could change. Since this retrograde is so long, it will probably feel the most subtle, but there may be times when things from your past pop up—this can be a sign that it’s something for you to reflect on, release, and heal.

April 30: Saturn goes retrograde

Saturn rules the sign of Capricorn, and relates to rules, organization, boundaries, and relates to the father figure. It will be retrograde until September 18th, and during this time we might feel like our personal progress has slowed. During this time, we might feel restricted, analyze our relationships with father or male authority figures, question our sense of purpose or direction, and have issues when it comes to structure and boundaries in our lives. As with the other retrogrades, this gives us an opportunity to acknowledge old patterns relating to what’s coming up, and seeing what limiting thoughts or mindsets need to be released and healed in order for us to grow.

If you’re not familiar with planetary retrogrades, check out A Lesson From the Retrogrades

Now, here’s what’s in store for you:

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

Spring Tarot Reading for Ostara

Blessed Ostara! Each year, this holiday takes place on the Vernal Equinox (when the hours of day and night are at an even balance) and marks the official beginning of spring. You can learn more about Ostara by checking out my full blog post here.

Each season, and the changes that come with it, mark what’s going on inside of us. When the equinoxes arrive, it marks a change in the relationship of day and night, usually marking the dramatic increase of one over the other: at the Vernal Equinox the sun is gaining strength and the days will be soon be longer, at the Autumnal Equinox the sun is losing strength and the nights will soon be longer.

In the spring and summer months we, like the plants, are emerging, growing, and blooming, and pushing more of our energy into the external world. During the autumn and winter months, we’re more inclined to turn our focus inward, to stay inside at home more often, and be more selective about where we direct our energy. This can be felt in various ways depending on how much you feel the seasons in your part of the world.

Right now we are moving into the emergence of life—new beginnings, fresh energy, changes, and blossoming. Just like the flowers, we too can bloom.

I’m currently offering a Spring Tarot Reading that answers the following questions:

What in your life needs nourishing?

What in your life needs to be released?

Where are you ready to let yourself bloom?

This tarot reading is $70, and can be done in person, via email, over Skype, or over the phone, and can be prepaid to @Kajora-Lovely on Venmo. To book, email kajoralovely@gmail.com.

Blessed Ostara!

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Ostara: The Celebration of Spring

Ostara marks the pagan and pre-Christian celebration of spring. Each year it occurs during the Vernal Equinox, taking place from March 20-22 in the Northern Hemisphere and September 20-22 in the Southern Hemisphere.

Neo-pagan and Wiccan traditions believe this holiday is a celebration of Ostara, also known as Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of fertility. Not much is known about Eostre, and pagan tribes—particularly the Germanic, Celtic, and Norse—did not write down their language beyond the symbolic and spiritual use of runes. Therefore, most knowledge of pagan traditions has been passed down through the observations of Romans or Christian researchers. From what we do know, Eostre was worshipped by the pagan Germanic tribes, and since many traditions were shared among tribes and cultures, it’s possible the celebration of her day traveled elsewhere in Europe.

It is believed that Eostre was symbolized by the rabbit, hare, and eggs, all of which symbolize fertility and the renewal of life. At this time of year, day and night are at equal length, and the sun is gaining strength and potency.

The flowers poking through the snow at Imbolc are now blooming, or have been replaced with new blossoms. Chickens begin laying eggs again, and traditionally lambs are sheared during this time, which is why one traditional food is shearing or clipping cake, which was shared after a long day of sheep shearing.

At this time of year, the animals are laying eggs, mating, and giving birth to new generations. This begins the celebration that will occur on May 1, Beltane, which is a further celebration of spring, fertility, and sexuality.

Ostara Herbs

If you’d like to use herbs for magical purposes, these are the herbs associated with Ostara:

Acacia - Alder - Anemone - Apple - Ash - Benzoin - Birch - Bistort - Blackthorn - Bluebell - Calendula - Caraway - Greater & Lesser Celandine - Cleavers - Coltsfoot - Crocus - Daisy - Forget-Me-Not - Frankincense - Gorse - Ground Ivy - Lemon Verbena - Lemongrass - Mugwort - Myrrh - Nettle - Pine - Primrose - Sneezewort - Spearmint - Tansy - Violet

If you want to use Ostara herbs to make a sugar scrub, bath soak, or other beauty-related products, you can use:

Apple - Birch - Calendula - Myrrh - Stinging Nettle - Pine - Violet

To be sure, Stinging Nettle is not always the most fun plant to use on your body. I recommend washing it off as soon as you can, especially if you put in a bath soak. Otherwise, you could make a face mask out of pureed and strained apple with some violet flowers, or make a sugar scrub with coconut oil and calendula.

Colors

Pastels - Gold - Green - Indigo - Red - Pink - Yellow - Blue - Light Purple

Symbols

Eggs - Rabbits & Hares - Lamb

Foods for Ostara

The foods associated with Ostara are based on what’s in season, particularly when it comes to herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Fish was always an option for those who lived in coastal areas or near bodies of water, otherwise around this time people would either be cleaning out their pantries or cleaving new meat, knowing more would be to come.

Some of the common foods for Ostara are:

Fresh Herbs - Lemon - Eggs - Lamb - Honey Cakes - Figgy Pudding - Clipping Cake or Shearing Cake- Honey - Simnel Cake - Strawberries - Milk

You can find recipes for Ostara on my Ostara Pinterest board, or around the internet, or even use dishes you already like. I love getting creative with recipes for deviled eggs, but you can also opt for something simple like strawberries with honey and cream.

Traditions for Ostara

If you want to perform a ritual, Ostara is a great time to manifest new beginnings and new life. This can involve writing a detailed list of what you want to manifest in your life, and doing with that list what you feel guided to—burying it in the ground, setting it on fire to make your wishes known, releasing it into the ocean, sleeping with it under your pillow, carrying it around with you in a mojo bag.

You can also call in your spirit guides, deities, fairies, and any other spirits you work with, and ask them to help bring in new things to your life that are only for your highest good. You can also ask for specific things you want in the spring and summer seasons ahead. It’s up to you where you feel comfortable doing this—it could be outside, at home in front of your altar, or even in the privacy of a bathroom if you don’t want other people to hear it. In whatever way you can, I do recommend connecting with nature, even if it’s just holding an egg in your hands with an open window near you. Release your wishes and feelings into the wind, and imagine them getting carried forward by the spirits who work with you.

Because Ostara marks the beginning of spring, this can be a powerful time to work with nature. It can also be very grounding, which honestly, might provide some much-needed relief after Pisces season and going through Mercury retrograde. Connecting to the Earth, to nature, and to the elements of Earth and Wind can do wonders for the soul.

That being said, don’t be afraid to open your windows or step outside, even if just for a little bit. This is also a good time to do some spring cleaning.

Getting Ready for Warmer Months

This holiday marks the beginning of spring, but it’s important nonetheless because it means we’re emerging from the retreat of autumn and hibernation of winter. Spring is the time when we, just like plants and animals, emerge and begin to enjoy the warmer temperatures, longer days, shorter nights, and greater energy in the air.

Spring is the beginning of our emergence into the world, and summer is the culminating season of this energy. When autumn arrives, it marks our return to focus inward, which intensifies in the winter months. While we’re at the beginning of spring, before that desire to do more and be outdoors more often increases, this is a great time to do spring cleaning in every aspect of your life—physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. Release the old, close old chapters, dust off things you want to use, smudge or spray the areas that need it, and make space for new energy to come into your life.

May spring bring the new beginnings you’re hoping for you in your life.

Blessed Ostara!

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The Vernal Equinox & Finding a Balance

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Vernal Equinox: Finding A Balance

Around March 21st of each year, we experience the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the first day of spring, and it’s significant because it marks the end of one zodiac cycle and the beginning of another by finishing out Pisces season and starting Aries season.

The Equinoxes mark the time of year when the hours of sunlight and nighttime are equal. At this time of year, the days are getting longer and the sun is getting stronger. It’s no coincidence that the Vernal Equinox marks the pagan holiday of Ostara, the precursor to Easter, celebrating the return of new life, crops growing, flowers blooming, fertility, and the general excitement that comes with a new spring season and knowing the temperatures will be warming up again. It’s also the time of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

When we experience equal amounts of daylight and nighttime, there’s an opportunity for us to find a balance in our internal and external worlds.

Balance and the Tarot

In the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the two cards I associate with balance are Justice and Temperance.

Justice also represents the astrological sign of Libra, and with it symbolizes external balance. Lady Justice in the card can also represent a trial or legal process, but more often than not, in my readings it often comes up as a need for an external balance in life. This relates to how you interact with other people, your daily schedule, the foods you’re eating, the people you come into contact with, your home life, and so on.

The Temperance card represents the astrological sign of Sagittarius and the need for an internal emotional balance. This often refers to your day-to-day feelings, meshing two seemingly opposing concepts in such a way that it works for you, giving back to yourself as you need it, and finding the balance inside yourself that keeps you operating at a frequency where you feel comfortable.

Naturally, these are ongoing themes that pop up at different points in our lives. Sometimes these cards appear together, but it can vary. If someone has a stable home life, good job, and is more less happy with their social life, but has issues they’re not dealing with or is telling themselves something they know is not helpful, then there’s a need for an internal balance. If another person is checking in with themselves, taking care of their own emotional needs, yet hates their job or fights with someone they’re living with, there’s a need for an external balance.

However, what is true without is often true within. If there’s something off balance in your external life, chances are there’s something that needs attention internally.

Balancing Masculine & Feminine

The other spectrum of balance is between the aspects of divine feminine and divine masculine. Regardless of our gender affiliation, we all have some aspects of both within us, and in truth, we need both to keep an even keel within ourselves.

These aspects also relate to the concepts of Yin and Yang.

Yin energy refers to the feminine aspect, the Moon, Water, Earth, the color black, being receptive, emotional, passive, soft, unconventional, mystical, dreamy, intuitive, abstract, and receiving.

Yang energy refers to the masculine aspect, the Sun, Fire, Air, the color white, logic, faith, mathematical, traditional, hard, active, structural, analytical, and pursuing.

Personally, I believe that as we collectively explore the concept of gender, this can lead us to a better understanding of how we understand ourselves in an internal and external way. In my experience, people do not fit in completely with one aspect or another—they are often a combination of Yin and Yang.

Finding a balance around the Vernal Equinox can also mean looking at any of those aspects that seem to be nagging at you.

Reiki and Balance

Reiki is a Japanese healing originally inspired by The Buddha. The practitioner (such as myself) channels healing energy through their body to the person they’re working on.

In Reiki there is a way to balance each of the chakras or promote balance in any part of the body that needs it. Chakras are different energetic points throughout the body that relate to feelings of stability, creativity, empowerment, emotions, communication, insight, and the divine connection.

These aspects of the body often operate exactly as they should with the right amount of energy and momentum, or they can either be going too slow or too fast. For example, if your root chakra is weak, you might feel imbalanced, unsafe, and insecure in your daily life. If your throat chakra is going too fast, you might be sharing more than you want and feel like you’re experiencing word vomit. In these cases, bringing a balance can help because the intention is to bring the chakra to the appropriate energetic speed for you.

Finding a Balance Healing & Tarot Reading

The whole month of March offers a great time to do some work with yourself and see where you need or want to find a balance in your life. It’s a good time to sit with yourself in nature or do some journaling and self-reflection.

If you’re not sure where to start, I’m currently offering a tarot reading and Reiki healing. You can choose one or the other, or you’re welcome to do both. These can be done as distance sessions, with the reading and consultation done over the phone or via Skype, or in person in Long Beach, California.

Balance Reiki Healing

This Reiki healing focuses on bringing balance to the body. There is a symbol that brings balance wherever it is applied, and this can be done on all of your chakras and areas around the body that need it. During the session I will focus on what needs some balancing, and work on anything else that pops up during the session. There will be a consultation before and after. For distance sessions, these can be done while you’re meditating or relaxing at home. If your schedule doesn’t allow for it, it can also be done while you’re working or while you’re asleep. The session is 20 minutes and costs $50, and can be prepaid to @Kajora-Lovely on Venmo. If you’re interested, email me at kajoralovely@gmail.com, and we can work out the details for timing and work with your schedule.

Balance Tarot Reading

The Balance Tarot Reading can help you learn where to start in finding a balance for your life. It answers the following questions:

What area of your life needs to be balanced?

How can this balance benefit you?

What’s the first step you should take?

This tarot reading can be conducted in-person, over the phone, over Skype, or through email. It costs $70 and can be prepaid through Venmo to @Kajora-Lovely. To book, simply email kajoralovely@gmail.com.

Doing Both the Healing & Reading

If you would like to do both, they can both be done either in-person or distance. For distance readings and healings, these can be done over the phone, through Skype, or over email. I can email you the tarot reading, and we can email before and after the Reiki session—it’s up to you. If you would like to do both, it’s $120, which can be prepaid through Venmo to @Kajora-Lovely.

Additional Guidance

If you want to get some more information about what’s going on this month, check out my video below about the general energy for March and watch the tarot reading for your sign for the month of March.

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Let's Reveal Some Secrets

Happy New Moon in Pisces! How are you feeling this month? There’s a lot going on in the month of March, and we’re starting it in the middle of Pisces season. On Thursday, March 7th, we have a New Moon in Pisces as the first slivers of sunlight are being reflected off of the moon.

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac, and it contains aspects of every other sign within it. This can feel like a lot of energy, and sometimes that can be confusing. It’s also a water sign, meaning it connects to our emotions and can make us feel things we would rather not feel.

Pisces also rules over secrets. Think of what’s submerged in the depths of the ocean—crashed pirate ships, buried treasure, deep trenches, coral reefs, and sea creatures stories have been written about. Pisces season is a great time to tap into our subconscious, the thoughts, beliefs, patterns, and experiences we might prefer to ignore. This is not necessarily for the faint of heart—swimming into your own depths can take courage, strength, and stamina.

As the last season in this zodiac cycle, there’s an opportunity to wrap up and finish old patterns in our lives. We’re approaching the Vernal Equinox, which gives us an opportunity to find balance between the sun and moon, day and night, light and dark, within our own lives (more on that later).

New Moon in Pisces Tarot Reading

For this New Moon in Pisces Tarot Reading, let’s explore aspects of your subconscious or waking life. What’s something you want to know more about? Is there a situation in your life where you feel people are keeping secrets from you? What’s an aspect of yourself you’re thinking of exploring? Do you keep having a recurring dream that you’re trying to make sense of?

This reading is being offered around the time of the New Moon because this lunar aspect is an ideal time for new beginnings. It’s an opportunity to set your intentions for where you want to go in the future, and once you have more information at your disposal, it can clarify exactly where you want to direct your energy.

Also, Pisces season ends on March 20, leading us into Aries season and a new zodiac cycle. Aries energy is the warrior and leader; it knows where it wants to go and is happy to lead the charge to get there. As a fire sign it wants action, and it wants to use its masculine energy to light the way forward.

Once secrets are revealed, you have time to consider what that means for you, and what you want to change (if anything) moving forward.

The New Moon in Pisces Tarot Reading answers the following questions:

What needs to be revealed?

How does this information benefit you?

Knowing this information, what’s the next best step for you to take?

When booking this reading, you can specify if you want something revealed from your subconscious or from your everyday waking life. But you certainly don’t have to—in the individual reading we can see what comes up, which is often what your spirit guides want you to know in that moment. This reading is $70, and can be prepaid for distance sessions or paid upon completion for in-person sessions.

To book, email kajoralovely@gmail.com. If you are interested in a distance reading, you can prepay to @Kajora-Lovely on Venmo. In your email, you can include where the secrets are that you would like to be revealed. You can also not specify and simply request a reading—the choice is yours.

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March Tarot Readings

We’re about to head into the month of March, and it certainly seems we’re in for an interesting month.

The month starts in the astrological sign of Pisces—the last sign of the zodiac—and moves into Aries around March 21—the first sign of the zodiac. This means we’ll have both endings and beginnings this month, we as we cycle out the energy from the previous year and begin a new cycle. Knowing this, it probably comes as no surprise that March 21 is not only the Vernal Equinox, marking the first day of spring, but it’s also the celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

What does all of this mean for you? Check out my general video for the month of March before hearing about what’s in store for your sign. In this video, I discuss how these seasons could affect you, the upcoming Mercury Retrograde, moon cycles, and then I pull some tarot cards to see what major themes come up for everyone this month.

When the planets are moving in ways that influence us individually, it’s important to keep in mind that they also influence us collectively. The tips I mention below are good to keep in mind when you’re also dealing with other people this month. Check out the video below to see what I’m talking about!

March General Reading

Now that you’ve got a sense of what’s happening over all, here are the videos for each astrological sign. For some of you it’s certainly not going to be a dull month, and if you’re interested in booking a tarot card reading to clarify some things further or a healing session to help you release, heal, and recover from whatever’s going on, you can always email me at kajoralovely@gmail.com.

Here’s hoping you all have a wonderful month ahead!

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

If you’re interested in booking a personal tarot card reading or reiki healing, email kajoralovely@gmail.com.

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