Energy is not good or bad, it’s not black or white, right or wrong, it just is.  Like a gun, it can be used to feed your family or cause pain.  When someone is freely sending energy your way, is it powered by intent?  Sure.  Does that make the energy “bad”, No, it's just a rider for the intent.

Magic is perspective.  To me, energy that is sent is just free power.  Once the energy passes through my protection shields it’s stripped down to its basics, collected and then I can use it however I wish.  If someone sends love and light or hate and harm, my shields strip it down to the basics. 

I’ve been doing this for so long, it’s ingrained.  I’m not wasting the energy by returning it to send.  They gave it freely to me, it’s mine now to do with as I wish, and I don’t have the time or energy to worry about hateful little humans.  I use free energy to power my shields, to lift myself up or bring me gains. 

This is a basic shield battery jar totem.  I will create the totem tomorrow on the new moon as my side ritual and post images later this week.

The items I used are as follows – as with all my work, everything is replaceable with what you feel is appropriate in it’s place.  Look at my Spell craft 101 post in my Grimoire for tips on how to find your own spell parts.

Small jar with cork
Black Obsidian – protection stone
Red Yarn – granny magic from my family.  Demon’s and evil are attracted to the red thread, come to touch it and get trapped in the jar.  I added it to make sure I was pulling in all negative energy into the battery.
Rose pedal from Mom’s rose bush – There is no protection like family protection.  Find something you associate with your ancestor’s or home.
Bay Leaf – From my bay tree.  Often thought of as a protection tree. 
Basil Seeds – Basil is a great happy joyous little plant I use for cleansing among other things.  The seeds are there to represent Earth, the element I associate with grounding and shields.  They are there as a representation to show the growth of the shield from the energy received.
Crystal chip – Power booster for the battery
Tinfoil – reflective side in.  To contain and reflect all the energy inward till it’s scrubbed and re-birthed as a shield.  
Sand from my working bowl - the large metal bowl you see in many of my rituals
Used end from purple candle - I often use these 20 minute burning purple candles for focus or meditation.  They represent a focal point for my power when it has no intent.  

Updated - Mission accomplished on new moon.  Items added to the jar, notes are made for the book.  I write the spells in ink with a glass pen (my liquid wand) to infuse my will and focus my mind on the intent.  When I update or recharge things, I will get the spell out of my book, and then re-write it again on a new page.  Sometimes I bury the ink copy, sometimes I bury it.  Sometimes it goes into my charging jar.   

​I was a long-time corporate sort of person, and a witch from birth one; of the biggest problems I've always had is balancing my logistical, mathematical, accounting side with my creative, pay attention to the universe because it's going to lead you someplace great, and try to relax side.  If life is always about learning this is one of the main things that I am still working on.
 
I often use whiteboards to work out my thought processes. At the present moment I only have two, one is for small drawings of how I want my life to look.  Everything from next week to 10 years from now. The other board is my, get it done, make the lists, make sure you're not missing anything, remember when you paid that bill and put it in the books, etc board.  
 
White boards are a great asset to witches. We spend a lot of time trying to stay in the present to allow our focus and our will to flow naturally.  White boards are temporary, just like the moment we are living in.  Whether you're a verbal person or a list person or a calendar person, a white board lets you do your own thing. Every two to three weeks for the “work” board, I take a photo of my whiteboard and email it to myself for my records.
 
I light my desktop candle if it wasn't already going from this morning's coffee routine.
 
Once my corporate brain has been assured that my paper trail is secure, I let the witch do her thing. For this I use moon water. I dampen a cloth and slowly wipe away the last 14 to 28 days of strain, stress, mundane things that are now in the past and don't need to be thought of right now. Knowing that the information is stored and available when I need to make those records or be that adult but for right now, I'm cleansing my board and erasing the past so that only the future is involved.  Being in the moment and setting my intents for prosperity and low stress growth.
 
I slowly repeat -
 
I wipe away last month's strain and prepare my mind for future gains.
With this water charged by the moon I refresh my life and welcome my boon.
Clean and bright we start fresh today, doing the plans and start making the way.
 

Beauty is where you find it.  I find it mostly in nature.  Over the last few weeks, I have been enjoying the Appalachian Mountains.  After a little yoga session, I was laying under the trees listening to the moisture let loose from the leaves as the blew in the wind.  Rain when there is none.  Air, water and earth.  I believe I will be doing something to share this with others who seek just to be with nature.  Perhaps in October when the leaves are changing, and the weather is glorious for grand fires and night sky watching. 

I’m putting in four tent locations around my massive fire pit, Witchy Nature Camp?  The pit will be ringed with black granite for looking up at the dark skies.  Lots of arts and crafts to choose from, clay to puzzles to painting.  Collecting a special rock from the river.  No schedules, no plans, just nature and shelves of crafts to choose from while you unwind.  By yourself or with a friend, earplugs and only your own thoughts for a week or two or community area’s where polite open discussion of our connection with the universe can be chatted about.    
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We often find out path when we give our brains a chance to breath…..  The path was laid down, but as most things are in my life, I didn't understand it till I stopped and relaxed for a minute.