On July 7, the Japanese observe Tanabata, a popular Japanese festival based upon a Chinese myth. This a festival that celebrates the annual reunion of Shokujo, the sky princess, and Kengya, a lowly cowherd. When Shokujo’s father discovered the love affair, he separated the two on either side of the great sky river, the Milky Way.

Once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month, a flock of sympathetic magpies form a living bridge over the Milky Way so the lovers can be reunited. Skogugo, the Weaver Star (Vega), joins the Cowherd Star (Altair) in the sky.

The Japanese honor the lovers by placing spools of colored thread on their altars. Japanese children write poems on long strips of paper and tie them to branches of trees. Also flowers, animals, and stars all made of paper are hung up as decorations.

To bring a lover into your life, place red jasper, a pearl, and rose quartz in a spell box. Under the light of this Moon, burn a red candle and write:

In the light of the Tanabata,
Lover, come to my bidding,
Come in the red light of flame,
Come in the flooded Moon of night,
Across the wide expanse of the Milky Way,
In the pull of tides,
By the light of Tanabata,
By the power of Weaver and Cowherd,
To my bidding come.

Roll the spell in a tiny scroll and tie with a colored threads. Before the next Full Moon, a new lover will enter your life.

By: Lily Gardner