The Magickal Egg ~ How to Use Egg Magic into Your Ritual Practice

When I visited my Grandparents as a child, I remember being drawn to a wooden cabinet with glass windows in the corner of their living room. Kept safely inside were all of my Babushka Hedwig’s valuables; hand carved wooden plates, large painted spoons, and braids of dried palm fronds from church visitations. 

And eggs. 

Brilliantly painted eggs with intricate designs perched on brass stands. 

I was mesmerized by them. Who could put such tiny drawings on eggs in repeating patterns with such precision?

I fell in love with them. 

I cherished them. 

In my innocence I asked my Grandmother if I could have them when she died. Her hazel eyes transformed into the shape of crescent moons that expressed her happiness and she  smiled as she murmured something under her breath in Polish. 

The art of pysanky, or egg “writing” is a tradition from the lands now known as the Ukraine (as well as other Slavic areas). This ancient practice involves using a tool (kistka) made from copper and a wooden stick to heat beeswax with a candle flame. When the wax is melted, fine lines are then drawn on the surface of the egg in patterns and motifs that date back thousands of years. The egg is then bathed in dyes to create striking colors that tell the stories of families, history, and hope. 

Why did our ancestors choose the egg as the canvas for such elaborate designs? Is it any coincidence that spring, holy week, and eggs all converged in one giant metaphor for fertility and rebirth? 

Of course not. 

The egg has been revered for thousands of years as a symbol for the potential of  life. Egyptian creation stories positioned the egg as the origin of the cosmos. With no beginning and no end, the shape of the egg represents the unyielding continuation of consciousness beyond form. 

Our ancestors were keenly aware of life’s fragility and the delicate veil between  the living and the dead.

The shell of the egg embodies this veil while within its confines, it holds the mystery of the universe. The yolk represents the sun, while the albumin represents the moon.  As we embrace the myriad of metaphors, meanings, and symbolism associated with the egg, how can we incorporate this powerful item into our ritual arts? 

Pysanky

You do not have to be an artist to learn the art of pysanky. Here is a great Beginner Pysanky Video to get you started. You can buy quality supplies at Pysanky USA. Try your hand at designs that speak to you or create your own. This ritual writing is deeply relaxing and nourishing (like a mandala coloring book). During the forty days of lent, many Christain Slavs will write one egg a day until Easter and then place the eggs around their home and land as an invocation for fertility and abundance while also feeding local nature spirits. 

Egg Clearing

Eggs have been used cross culturally for cleansing and clearing negative energy, spells, curses, and energetic trauma. For a general clearing take a fresh chicken egg and drag it from the top of your (or someone else’s) head all the way down to your feet. Work counterclockwise from the front of the body to the side, to the back, and finish with the other side. The egg absorbs the energy that needs to be cleared and may then be buried in the earth, placed in a river, or in cases of very heavy energy may be thrown at a rock outside. 

Gifts for the Dead

In ancient times, both Greeks and Romans would leave eggs at the gravesites of loved ones as an offering to honor them in the afterlife. At a time of rebirth and rejuvenation, why would we honor the dead? By consistently paying homage to our ancestors, no matter the time of year, we more fully embrace our own mortality and tend to those who gave us life. Take eggs to your loved ones' graves, or place them on your ancestor altar as a way of including them during this precious time of year. 

Egg Shell Magic

Egg shell powder is a powerful tool to use in your ritual practice. Use the powder to cast circles, place protective lines at doorways or on driveways, add to a bath for purification, or sprinkle it around your  garden as a blessing. You may also use it like chalk to draw sacred symbols or sigils wherever you feel drawn. Consider grinding specific herbs into the powder to add additional medicinal/spiritual properties.  

To make the powder, place empty egg shells into a pot of boiling water for ten minutes. Drain the shells and leave them out overnight. Heat an oven to 200 degrees (F) and place the shells on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or tin foil. Bake for 10 minutes and when cool, use a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder (for a finer texture) to crush the shells into a powder. Store in a special jar or container. 

That day in my Granparent’s home was the beginning of my love affair with egg ritual.

I write pysanky as a way to connect to my heritage, honor my ancestors, and to remind myself of the sacred cycles of life, death, and rebirth. I give my pysanky as gifts, offer them to my ancestor shrines and altars, and make powder out of  broken shells for ritual use. I have used egg clearings in my private practice and to clear my children. The sacred nature of the egg is infinite, timeless, and full of hope. 

Personal note: Please consider making a donation to Pysanky for Peace. This project aims to help the ongoing humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, and to share this important cultural tradition of the Ukrainian People.

Jen Hudziec is an Ancestral Lineage Healing Practitioner, Death Doula, Ritualist and Teacher. A first generation American, her ancestral roots are Eastern European (Polish, Russian, Czech, Ukrainian), Germanic, and Scandinavian. She stewards traditional Abanaki lands in NH where she practices Celtic and Slavic Earth honoring traditions. She is also a student of the West African Dagara tradition. She may be found at jenhudziec.com

Photos via Unsplash

Natural Musings ~ Elemental Guidance in 2023

“She was the heir of ash and fire,

and she would bow to no one.”  - Sarah J. Maas

2022 was the year of the firebird, the famed phoenix who looks out from its meticulously constructed nest upon the wide expanse that surrounds it. Living close to the sun and embodying the solar energy of transformation, this winged symbol for our inner fire accompanied us throughout the past year. We may have found ourselves comfortable at one point, but the elemental surge of fire that fanned the flames of change in our lives began to grow stronger and gain strength as our visions, dreams, and intuitions were no longer to be denied. Personal pockets of resistance were targeted by the spirit world as opportunities for purification; the resulting cleanse may not have been pretty and yet absolutely necessary. In 2022 an amplification of ancestral energy pushed us forward despite our best efforts to stay safe. A sense of being torn, confused, or ungrounded may have dominated our lives as one choice became glaringly clear: move  through the flames or be consumed. 

“Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when

The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,

Her ashes new create another heir

As great in admiration as herself;

So shall she leave her blessedness to one,

When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,

Who from the sacred ashes of her honor

Shall star-like rise as great in fame as she was,

And so stand fix'd …”

(William Shakespeare & John Fletcher from Henry VIII) 

As we emerge from the fires of transformation and into 2023, the elemental year of nature, we are given a breath of fresh air, a break from the flames, and a time to engage in the mysterious potential that awaits us as “maiden phoenixes.”  We now understand that the fire in our lives was choreographed to initiate us into new dynamics of a fresh elemental cycle that will expedite our growth. In the nature year we become the muse of all things magical as we embrace new endeavors that will elevate us.  We realize that coming out of a fire year, we are capable of ANYTHING because planted within us are seeds that required the fiery flame to regenerate. 

the call of the creatrix

In 2023, nature asks us to embody the energy of rejuventation and reinvention as we channel the archetype of the creatrix and creator. The visions of the previous fire year are now within our grasp if our choices and decision making paradigms are oriented towards practically anchoring our dreams into this reality. We will be required to “take the high road” and not  allow ourselves to get distracted or compressed with extraneous drama or self sabotage. A nature year can be fraught with wily, trickster energy that will try to push us off course if we are not vigilant. Phases of negative self talk and apathy can work their way into our lives if we fall out of alignment with the essence of nature. Therefore, we will need to direct our energy with laser sharp focus if we are to stay in the stream of manifestation.

2023 will implore us to put aside the masks we hold up that shield our authenticity from the world. If we engage the element of nature as our mentor this year we will embody pure, unadulterated expression. 

Nature does not conceal itself.

 Nature is unapologetically resilient.

Nature takes up the space it needs to assume its rightful place within a community ecosystem.

If we look to nature for council we can mirror this wisdom in our lives and the forces that support our identity will align accordingly. 

reaching upwards

Within our global community, 2023 asks us to raise each other up, center the voices of the most vulnerable, and to tend to the animal and plant kingdoms in new relational ways. We are called upon  to extend ourselves beyond our individuality to hold a community based consciousness. Shrinking into victim mentality (the shadow side of nature) allows opportunistic weeds to take root, hijack our nourishment, and prevents us from blooming. We must keep our vision directed upwards for this is the motion of nature. We need to stand tall like trees stretching ourselves to new heights by extending towards the moon, the stars, and the cosmos. In this year of rewilding may we hold nature as our advisor, guide, and elder. May we welcome expansion on all planes of consciousness and continue to elevate ourselves to bring fruition to our dreams. 

Rooted I stand 

Tall I expand 

Reaching out to meet myself 

I am alive 

I will strive 

To expand beyond my own limitations 

And live my dreams 

---

Jen Hudziec is Ritualist, Ancestral Lineage Repair Practitioner, Death Doula, Fire Walk Facilitator, and Dagara Diviner.  As an animist she has spent decades integrating Earth honoring practices with her former Catholic upbringing while reviving the traditions of her Slavic ancestors. She is a student of the Dagara tradition and credits her mentors Malidoma Some and Ann Sousa for passing on the elemental wisdom of the Dagara. Jen offers online private sessions, public rituals, education, and group circles. She can be reached at Jenhudziec.com

Photo credit: Benny Rotlevy

My Journey with the Ancestors- The Invitation

Who Are our Ancestors?

The first time I heard the word ‘ancestor’ I was baffled. If I had a dictionary on hand, I would have immediately looked up the definition of the word. Finding myself dictionary-less, I relied on the expressions and body language of the people around me for a sign as how to give off the perception that I knew what ‘ancestors’ were. It was a spiritual “fake it til you make it” moment. When I finally could sneak a google search, the reality hit me: oh, they meant dead people. Not just any dead people though, my dead people.

I felt time slow to a grinding halt as all my synapses began to contort around the concept of the thousands and thousands of people who had made my life possible. 

In that same moment, the reality of how utterly disconnected I was from a massive part of who I am came flooding in. All my life I just thought of me, my immediate family, and my Grandparents. The tiny little autonomous bubble of pervasive individuality I had been living in had just been popped. I was still warming to the concept of ancestors when I found myself at a three day ceremony dedicated to none other than, you guessed it, the ancestors. 

Let’s pause here for a moment and consider how things like this happen. How did I end up in a place where I would spend 3 days honoring my ancestors at the same time the reality of them was settling in? How do things like that happen for any of us?

There are so many explanations for synchronicity, but one I find particularly fascinating is something called sympathetic resonance.

Wikipedia defines it as “a harmonic phenomenon wherein a formerly passive string or vibratory body responds to external vibrations to which it has a harmonic likeness.” In this instance I like to consider myself as the “formerly passive vibratory body” (it's not a super flattering description, but I am okay with that). The key word here is formerly, because I responded to the external vibration of my people, my ancestors. Their likeness to me (because I am them and they are me) is what brought us together in a very conscious way. And my awareness of them was about to get even more real. 

Releasing Ancestral Grief

When the ancestral ceremony commenced, I approached the unknown with curiosity and openness. As night fell and our group sat together in a circle, a question was posed to us; were any of us willing to release inter-generational ancestral grief through a ceremonial head shaving? I peered at the circle to see the reflection of my facial expression pasted on those around me; wide eyes with mouths dropped open. What happened next, I will never forget. A feeling deep inside my body began to take root. It was as if electrical impulses were making my internal organs quiver.  As the feeling grew in intensity, I tried my hardest to deny I was having a response, but it was indisputable. Overwhelm engulfed me as I felt my head begin to shake back and forth with the thought; “Oh no….ohhh no.” Then the realization came over me that if I denied THIS, this intuition, this invitation, that I would be denying something primal and necessary. Thoughts flooded my mind as I imagined my family freaking out, my clientele thinking I was insane, and the public sneaking curious looks at me.

Slightly dissociated from my body, I heard my voice utter “YES.”

When we broke for a break, I found it hard to speak. I could not latch onto clear reasoning or understanding. In passing, a friend mentioned her fear of being perceived as a Neo Nazi if she had a shaved head. I felt the blood leave my face and tears well up. My Grandparents has been detained in Nazi detention camps for four years during WW2. That is when the knowing came; my hair was a minuscule offering that I could make to honor the suffering my Grandparents and so many others had endured.

The long, blonde hair that my Grandmother would brush, braid, and twirl into ovals at the nap of my neck was a gift for these ancestors.

In the woods that evening, with song and prayer, a group of men and women took my hair. They gently cut every strand down to my scalp while a razor erased the rest. I sobbed as I felt the intention and care behind their craft, all the while knowing the atrocities that were enacted in the camps. The grief of generations streamed down my face and I felt oddly at ease. The quivering in my abdomen subsided as I sat on a tree stump, my bald head caressed like that of a newborn baby. My hair was my offering to them and the beginning of a lifelong journey with my people.

Our ancestors know how to get our attention in ways intrinsic to who we are.

Connecting with our ancestors does not have to be an intense experience like the one I had, but it was what I needed at that time. They know us and they know how to grab our attention. There are many ways that we can revive our relationships with them, and yet I have discovered over the years that there are techniques that will ensure ritual safety, healthy connection, and address intergenerational trauma in a gentle way. Since that time in the woods I have repaired my relationships with all of my lineages; despite the fear of what I might discover or my dislike for some of my deceased relatives, my connection to the thousands of vibrant beings within the energetic field of my DNA has been profound. With ancestral healing our sense of who we are deepens, incessant patterns that can hinder our evolution are addressed, cultural amends to heal systemic inequities can be made, and we find ourselves assuming our rightful place among a history of powerful people.

“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see you parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive at this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people. “

~ Thich Nhat Hahn

Jennifer Hudziec is a Certified Ancestral Repair Practitioner with the Ancestral Medicine Organization. She is a Ritualist, End of Life Doula, and Fire Walk Instructor. The ceremony she references is an Ancestralization ceremony brought to the West by Elder Malidoma Somé.

Jen offers private sessions & group work and may be reached at jenhudziec.com

Photo Credit: Om Prakash Sethia via Unsplash

Following Our Roots Home

WELL, how’d those first few weeks of 2020 go for ya?

Look, I am an eternal optimist (you can insert finger down your throat here if your a pessimist. Its all good, we can coexist). But, WHOA.

Sometimes the gifts in difficult situations are really hard to decipher. By the end of the first day of the new year, I had been prodded to unwrap my package of so-called “gifts.” So, I did what any self-deprecating optimist would do; I dove in. What I found was an invitation to come home.

Turning to the wisdom of the Dagara cosmology, this year of Earth calls us to find our way home.

Essentially, we are invited on a pilgrimage to come home to ourselves. When we accept the invitation of homecoming it is more than “an instance of returning home,” as defined by Oxford. We are guaranteed an unforgettable journey. And let me tell you, the journey home is not always accompanied by rainbows and unicorns.

Slowly, I began to understand that part of my homecoming was to dig deeply into my ancient roots.

I won’t digress here, but I love metaphor. For a second, if we pretend we are all trees (which many of us would prefer as opposed to being humans) then our roots would be the foundation which hold us up. Simple enough. As humans what holds us up? There are many things, but in this Earth year let’s consider just a few:

Our Connection To The Earth

Literally, the ground that holds us up. Are we in right relationship with the land we live on? Do we know who inhabited the geographical area we call home long before colonization took place? Do we maintain connections to the spirits of the land and nature? Do we source vitality from our connection to the great mother and if so, how do we reciprocate? All good questions to consider. When we consciously tend our connection to the land with Earth honoring actions, we establish a sense of place. With a sense of place intact, we become grounded and can move into a relationship of reciprocity with the planet and all its relations.

Our Ancestors

I used to have no clue as to what this word meant. I was not brought up in an environment of ancestor reverence, but thankfully I learned through my experience with a Dagara Elder. There are various types of ancestors according to Steven Farmer, but I am speaking here to our blood ancestors; the people we are genetically related to over millennia. If ever there were roots to a tree, then these be them. Unearthing the story of our people is the ultimate homecoming. If you cut off the roots to a tree, it will die. As humans, we often cut off our own roots because we either don’t like what we see and/or it is too emotionally difficult to manage the pain of the last few generations. I totally get this, BUT it is important to remember that our roots go wayyyy further than just our remembered people. Our lineages are ancient. And those folks have some pretty amazing wisdom to share with us.

Our Identity

By this I am not referring to the social constructs that we often equate with our identity. What I am getting at here is the cultural heritage of our genetic make up. Our DNA holds vast stories upon which we are built. Checking into the epic tales of those amazing little double helix spirals can fill in the blanks of who we are and where we came from. With this knowledge and understanding we empower ourselves, not from an ego place, but from a place of activating a collective consciousness within ourselves. We all long to belong. When we unravel the mystery of who we came from, our sense of belonging matures and our identities expand into the macrocosm of human evolution. This understanding provides us a deep well to tap into when life requires courage and resilience.

Our roots give us resilience. Without roots to anchor us, it makes it more difficult for us to grow strong and withstand storms.

Here I offer a possible framework should you feel called to come home. Everyone’s process looks different, this is just one way to get started.

Ancestral Work

By using guided meditation, the drum journey, or whatever means you prefer to drop you down into an altered state of consciousness (substance free of course) you can access some pretty powerful ancient beings in your lines. Using your intuition to connect to your ancestral guides is very empowering. The beauty of this process is not getting trapped in the misgivings of generations that are most recently deceased. By calling on the older, wiser, and healthier ancient ones to help heal your lines you’re: 1. not going it alone and, 2. helping to elevate your lines in general so you and future generations can have a solid, healthier root system.

DNA Test

Ahhh, the ongoing saga of DNA tests. I cannot recommend one over another, because honestly, I just picked one and submitted it. I didn’t want to expend energy toiling over comparing products. I went with Ancestry (it’s half price every November) and got my results broken down into percentages of ethnicity with regional mapping. I personally appreciated that the results came with a brief historical overview of each particular region. These snippets of historical information and ethnography are what you can use to dive deeply into the identities of your people.

Curiosity and Tenacity

These are two of my most favorite companion words (like how peanut butter and fluff go together if you’re from New England). I highly recommend mustering up lots of curiosity and tapping into a great well of tenacity to do this next task: getting super detailed oriented with the snippets of generic history provided the DNA test. Write down every word you do not understand. This more than likely will apply to regions, time periods, and groups of ethnic peoples. By the time I had picked through one snippet of my heritage there were words, lines, arrows, and circles scribbled all over a pad of paper that made some sort of crazy sense. You too will be able to see aspects of your hobbies, interests, and vocation as reflections of your lineage. Further confirmation of your ancestral identity may arise from your body wisdom; chills, waves of heat, and sobbing are all indicators that your DNA is jumping for joy at your homecoming.

Paradoxically, as we unravel the tangled roots of our ancestry we concurrently weave together a stronger foundation to hold us up.

We spend so much of our lives looking forward wondering who we are, where we are going, and what we should do with our lives. In constantly looking forward, we often overlook the gifts from our ancient past. As interesting and amazing though they be, the revelations we receive along the way are not always fun. Our ancient past also includes travesties; our people have been both the oppressors and the oppressed. Acknowledging this part of our root system is difficult, but it is a part of us and is healthier to integrate than suppress.

The road to home takes us to a place where we stand in reciprocity with the land which holds us and our indigenous roots. Our homecoming is a journey to our elevated ancestors who are willing to offer guidance and inter-generational healing. It also takes us down a path to connect with the identity of our heritage and the story of our peoples. Our homecoming is not an instance. Rather, it is a lifelong process that, if undertaken, will strengthen the core of who we are so we can weather any storm.

Jennifer Hudziec is a Certified Ancestral Repair Practitioner with the Ancestral Medicine Organization. She is a Ritualist, Animist, and Fire Walk Instructor. Jen can be reached at jenhudziec.com

Credits

Ancestral Medicine: Daniel Foor PhD
Photography: Nick Fewings

2020 Enter the Year of Earth...

NEW YEAR 2020

ENTER THE YEAR OF THE EARTH ELEMENT

Enough story.

Its time to leave that vibe behind as we move into a new year.

Literally.

In the Dagara tradition from West Africa the elements of earth, nature, mineral, water and fire correspond to particular numbers (as translated by Elder Malidoma Some). If we resonate with ancient indigenous wisdom and the wicked smart quantum physicists who’ve proven that energy is vibration, then we can establish that elements are expressions of different frequencies of vibration. Great. Let’s move onto the fun part of leaving that vibe behind.

The vibration of 2019 was the element of mineral and that means that many of us may have spent hours up in our heads concocting volumes of stories that may have not been based in truth.

The year 2020 will be different!

Our ability to create story is a fabulous defense mechanism to keep us emotionally safe, however the more we give our fiction credence, the more dramatic our reality can become. Our ability to differentiate between our lovely, self-defeating stories, and our intuition lies within our body wisdom. Our body wisdom, those nuances of often fleeting cellular activation that we feel, is an amazing indicator of intuitive “hits.” Such nuances may present themselves as an internal quiver, a flash of cold or heat, and ache, or my favorite— chills— otherwise known as chicken skin.

Penning mental stories is not always unhealthy though. Using our mental faculties to tap into another mineral aspect- our ancient wisdom- may have had a place this past year in helping to define our goals, our dreams, and a particular path for ourselves moving forward. Writing stories of this nature can actually help to re-write the types that are not so helpful. These healthier stories would be found in the romance, fantasy or biographical sections of our grey matter bookstore.

Thank goodness this vibration is changing though. Living for too long within the same frequency can start to become exhausting, if not maddening. Perhaps this is why many of us, if not most, are so relieved by the time New Year’s rolls around. By the end of the year, we all need to shift into a different frequency. As the elemental years begin to eclipse one another, sometime between August and October, the melding of vibrations can create nothing short of a shit-show. We may feel pulled to and fro, frazzled, confused, up/down, and my most favorite description: intense.

Enter 2020. The year of earth! After a year of mineral, I sing the praises of the vibration of earth!

The year 2020 invites us to slowwwwww down and attune ourselves to a deep rhythm of self-nurturing. A welcome change from the analytical and potentially frantic nature of 2019, earth invites us into her warm embrace where we are encouraged to appreciate one another in the year 2020. The self-nurturing aspect of earth arrives with all the usual self-care tips and techniques, but with the addition with a special favorite for all of us: boundaries.

Oh boundaries. Yup, those things. Enter the vision of finding something yucky in your kitchen and picking it up with the very tips of your fingers while you rush towards the trash. This is how I often feel about the implementation of boundaries; it can be a yucky business. Our 2020 earth year asks us to evaluate our boundaries as an active containment system. Boundaries are meant to either contain the contents within them or act as a shield to keep foreign substances out. Either way you look at it, if we focus on our boundaries as a containment system, then what are we trying to contain? The answer: our personal power.

In the year 2020, we can use the frequency of the element of earth to harness and sustain our own personal power to propel us towards what we are feeling called to.

So, what does that look like? Saying ‘NO’ for one. Knowing what we do not want as much as what we do. Reflecting on the people and situations which leave us feeling drained or unfulfilled and, if possible, putting constraints on how we interact, where we interact, and how long we engage with those people or environments. Boundaries can be very tricky, but if we keep it simple and ask ourselves if our choices either augment or sustain our personal power, then we are usually on the right track.

This upcoming year is ripe for taking care in our homes and for paying special attention to our physical bodies. Unexpected moves may happen where we physically change locations or perhaps we make commitments to nurturing our bodies in ways we haven’t before. The delicious vibe of earth supports all of this as we shift from one mode to another in the new year 2020. And, occasionally, it may still be fun to curl up and revisit one of our self-created books from the fantasy section.

Jen Hudziec is an Ancestral Repair Practitoner with the Ancestral Medicine Organization. She is a Ritualist, Animist, and Fire Walk Instructor. She offers private sessions and online classes. She can be reached at jenhudziec.com