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Friday

Your Wicca Daily Devotions

When you follow a Magick path, your success in that path depends on your ability to focus charged energies, and send them out into the universe to get whatever you desire.

If you ignore your connection to Magick energy, it will weaken ?as will your power. They are especially important for beginner wiccans.

揇aily devotions?are things you do on a daily basis to strengthen the ability to control your inner Magick energy. A devotional routine helps to raise the energy daily, at various times.

Think of daily devotionals as short rituals of energy. They strengthen your connection, and also bring positive energies into your life.

Above all else you want to pick a routine that is right for you ?and follow it every single day!

You can do all of your chosen devotionals at one time, or you can spread them out through the day. Find something that works within your schedule, and follow it.

Your devotionals can be anything that brings positive emotion into your heart. It can be something as simple as making diary entries into your Book of Shadows every night before bed. In your Book of Shadows, keep track of where negative patterns are in your life, and work to build on the positive ones in your mind ?and in the Book of Shadows.

Another devotional 搈ini?ritual you can follow is to spend at least a few minutes breathing, meditating, and visualizing positive things to create positive energy in your life. You can even use the meditation exercise that I gave you previously in this book.

Here are a list of some devotionals that you can do every day. There is not a need to do all of them, but pick ones that you feel most comfortable with:

Morning wake-up devotional
Connecting to the Lord and Lady
Connecting to the Divine, Infinite Energy
Greeting Devotionals to the Spirits or Elements around you
Connecting to Nature and the Earth Mother
Journaling
Food Blessing Devotional
Breathing
Meditation
Visualization Exercises
Playing with Energy

Remember, none of the devotionals you do should tire you out. And you should never be in a situation where you 揹read?doing them. You should look forward to them ?so make sure you select ones that work best for you.

Most of the devotionals above are self-explanatory, and you can 揷reate?these devotionals any way that you wish. There are no 揾ard and fast rules?when doing your daily devotionals. (I demonstrate some of them in the Witchcraft Academy In-A-Box)

For now, I will walk you through the simple but powerful 揚laying with Energy?daily devotional.

Sit in a comfortable position, and begin the basics of the meditation exercise from earlier in this book. Once you have dropped into the stage of slowing your breathing, open your eyes.

Take your hands, palms facing, and briskly rub them together. While you are doing this, start calling the energy from around you into your body. Hold your hands out in front of you, palms facing each other, about twelve to eighteen inches from your face. This works best of you have a solid, dark background in the direction you are facing.

Focus first on your hands, and sending the energy in your body out the palms. When you feel the flow is good and strong, shift your focus to just past your hands, at a point on the background beyond them. Can you see the ethereal, nebulous energy between the palms?
It may take some time for you to see it, but keep working at it, you will. Once you can see the energy there, concentrate on making it brighter and darker, increasing the flows and lessening the flows. Keep playing with the energy on a regular basis, until you get comfortable with how to manipulate it to do what you want it to do.

Once you have reached that point, start playing further with the energy. Form it into a ball, move your hands closer and further apart, seeing the ball change in size and intensity.
As you get the hang of each one (over days, not minutes!), try different shapes and sizes. Play with the energy and get comfortable with its existence. This is the same energy you use in order to cast magick. Seeing it in solid form, even if there is still an ethereal quality to it, helps to strengthen your belief, and raise your levels of energy even higher.

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Your First Magick Divination

I am going to show you a simple way of Divination called Scrying. The first thing you need to do is get some sort of reflective object... like a mirror or a crystal ball, etc. This will actually allow you to catch a glimpse of things to come if you follow your current path.

Now, turn out the lights, and get some of your favorite incense going. The only light that should be in the room is a dim light, such as a candle set behind you. Cover the table you are going to use with a black cloth or piece of fabric. Now place the object you chose to use for Scrying on top of the table.

Start by warming up and getting into your meditative space, setting the tone for what you will be doing. When you are ready, open your eyes and look into the surface of your scrying instrument. Your focus should shift past the surface to a point somewhere approximately five or six inches beyond the surface. This may or may not work for you, but it is the best way to shift your focus for scrying. Have you ever looked at those pictures that are completely comprised of colored dots and/or splotches and had to 搇ook past?the surface to see the three-dimensional image in the picture? It is the same principle used here for scrying.

Try to keep your mind blank, open to whatever may be shown to you, unless you are scrying for the answer to a specific question. Your eyes will want to blink. That is all right, let them blink and regain your shift in focus. When you are first beginning, try to keep your scrying time to no more than ten or twenty minutes. If you are not successful, put it away and try again another time.

Images may come to you in any number of forms. Some may be full images, even moving pictures as though you are watching a movie. That is not common, however, especially when you are first beginning. At first you may only get a 揷loud?or 搈ist? This may eventually part to allow images to come through, or it may just move in one direction or another in answer to yes or no questions.

If you do see images, they may be simple symbols left open for interpretation. These symbols usually mean something to you, and are not necessarily the symbols you may find written in a book. For instance, a dog may generally symbolize loyalty or protection, but if you were traumatized at some point in your life by a dog attack, it could mean something entirely different to you.

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Youth Ministry Goals

1. Do whatever it takes to get teens to heaven. Paul wrote that he became all things to all people so that some might be saved (II Corinthians 9:19-23). How well does this relate to your ministry? What could you be doing that might reach more teens in your schools and community?

Ministry has its own set of pressures. We have to worry about what the leaders, parents, and members will think about a program or event. By doing whatever it takes to get teens to heaven, you will endure your share of criticism about your approaches, but keep the goal in focus. Keep everyone involved aware that you are not using a certain technique just to be different, but to bring teens to Jesus.

2. Help teens develop a personal relationship with God. While second-hand faith is better than no faith, there抯 no doubt that first-hand faith wins the prize. Help teens develop a faith that says, 揑 believe in God, not because my parents say so, or because my youth minister or preacher says so, but because I have experienced and know God in my life.?

3. Involve teens in daily Bible study and prayer. Instead of simply asking your group to read the Bible and pray daily, provide the opportunity and tools to make it possible. Develop a daily Bible reading schedule for your teens. Supply information on Bibles designed for youth so they can get a grip on the Word in a way relevant to them.

Form prayer groups of three that meet at school, or that call each other daily for prayer requests. Challenge your group to pray before getting out of bed and before going to sleep. Have teens set their watch alarms for a certain time each day to signal prayer time. Create as many tools as needed to get them into the Bible and prayer on a daily basis.

4. Build a Christ-like attitude and spirit into the youth group. 揧our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus,?Philippians 2:5. This means more than just asking, 揥hat would Jesus do??It calls for a clear-cut lifestyle of surrender. What is the attitude of Jesus?

?Attitude of a Servant (v. 7)

?Attitude of Humility (v. 8)

?Attitude of Obedience (v. 8)

If every teen becomes a servant, how many things will get done? If every teen becomes humble, how much arguing will take place? If every teen becomes obedient to God, how much better could the youth conventions be? Of course, developing a Christ-like attitude in your group begins by displaying a Christ-like attitude in your life.

5. Develop quality leadership among the group. Jesus called His followers with, 揊ollow me.?By the end of His ministry He had trained them to lead. Paul even said, 揑mitate me as I imitate Christ?(I Corinthians 11:1). Give your teens the responsibility and let them lead. Dust them off when they fall down and encourage them to keep going.

Here are a few ways you can let teens lead: Devotionals, teaching class, heading up a service project, forming prayer groups, etc.

6. Parental support and participation. Believe it or not, There are some in your congregation who see youth ministry as a divider of parents and their children. Prevent this by creating a high level of parental involvement.

Have your parents teach for a quarter, host devotionals in their homes, chaperone trips, etc. Check out Group Publishing抯 130 Ways to Involve Parents in Your Ministry for more great ideas.

7. Develop evangelistic teens. Redirect the vision of your group by training them to see each classmate, each neighbor, each family member, each clerk, each waiter, just fill in the blank, each ____________ as an opportunity to share the Lord.

Jesus left the message in our mouths and lives. Help your group become evangelistic by creating an atmosphere that makes guests want to return. Go out to the school campus and meet kids on their turf. Be available, open and loving.

8. Establish positive relationships with other youth groups in the area. If we are not careful ministry can become a competition where the leader with the most teens wins. Because of that, we may be afraid to do things with other groups for fear that our teens might spot something 揷ooler?than what we provide. Don抰 forget #4 and build a Christ-like attitude by doing things with other groups like retreats or prayer nights. One of the easiest ways to establish positive relationships is by participating together in community events such as the March for Jesus, or collecting food and toys for needy families during the holidays.

9. Include teens as part of the congregation. Have you ever felt the perception that there is the church, and then there is the youth group? Integrate the group into the congregation by getting the teens involved in praying, scripture reading, or whatever format your church follows. Most churches let teens participate on youth days. But encourage your leadership to include teens on a regular basis, not just special days.

10. Equip teens to go into all the world and teach the Gospel. While every teen has the responsibility to evangelize around them, a few feel the call to literally go into all the world. Prepare them for that future by encouraging and praying for him or her. Help sponsor teens on a yearly mission trip to gain experience. Provide contacts through special mission organizations to get teens involved. Who knows how many will come to know the Lord as a result of your ministry.

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Thursday

Your Core Belief

We sometimes accept a core believe as the truth without questioning it. As core beliefs accumulate over the years they eventually make up a system that functions in much the same way as a computer's operating system. Running in the background at such a discreet level, we are usually not even aware it is there.

Our core belief has been developed since we were a child. This is due to the result of a great many factors, including but not limited to, the way we were influenced by our parents, siblings and other significant people in our lives. By the time we reach adulthood we have some pretty fixed opinions of ourselves and the world around us. And once installed, these beliefs are rarely updated unless the whole system crashes!

If our core beliefs are for the most part positive and empowering it is reflected in our attitudes, behavior and performance. Of course the reverse is also true. If we run predominantly negative beliefs our attitudes and behaviors are severely compromised, crippling our potential for success and happiness.

The question is that can we change our core belief? If there is a repeating problem in some area of your life, it is usually a good indication that you are entertaining a false or limiting belief. Before a belief system can be changed or improved, however, it is important to first understand a little about how a belief system works.

Belief systems are nothing more than repetitive thoughts that have come to be so automatic; you don't even notice them anymore. The subconscious mind tends to use a fixed, automatic pattern put in place at a very early age. Once in place, our belief system will unconsciously attract the people and circumstances that validate it. As negative beliefs accumulate over the years and become part of the system, it gets easier to collect 'evidence' that appears to support those beliefs and harder to see any evidence to the contrary!

Before trying to change an unwanted belief it is helpful to acknowledge the positive intention behind it when it was first installed. After all, most negative beliefs were originally installed to protect us and were relevant to what was going on at the time.

The problem arises when we hold onto these beliefs even though they may not hold true for the same situations today. If you are serious about updating your belief system, avoid getting sidetracked by the temptation to blame someone else for inserting false beliefs into your system. It's not important where the beliefs come from, what is important is that we get rid of or transform these beliefs into something useful today.

You should therefore build a belief system that will send out the right vibrations which will attract the people and circumstances necessary to create the experiences we desire.

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Worship When You抮e Down

Sometimes we feel as if we have no energy to worship God. We are bombarded with work, families, sickness, stress, bills, etc卐very single day. When do we have time to read the Bible let alone worship God?

Some people have no will power, some have no desire to worship God, and others want to卋ut don抰 feel like they can. They are thinking to themselves, 揥hat抯 the use? Nothing is going to change.?They are sad about an event that has taken place or they simply have no room in their hearts to forgive someone.

Guess what? Even when you don抰 think you have it in you to give your heart to God in worship, this is when you need to do it the most. When you are weak, He is strong. God gives you the strength when you need it the most.

When you don抰 feel good in physical health or in spiritual health and you praise Him and worship Him厃ou will find yourself in His glorious presence. And then you don抰 want to to stop praising and worshiping Him卛t is like a drug. Then卆fterwards, you don抰 feel the same as you did before you went into worship. Your whole outlook on life changes in that moment.

Now, you may have to do this several times a day卋ut you can worship Him in the car, in the shower, wherever. And worshiping God does not necessarily mean singing to Him. You can pray, read His Word, meditate on His Word, etc?

As the Nike commercial says, 揓ust do it!?

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