Ritual Tools Dedication Rite
Day: November 15, 2011
Ritual Tools
Ritual Tools
Attuning to Power Objects
Attuning to Power Objects
Power Objects & Ritual Tools
Power Objects & Ritual Tools
Power Objects
Power Objects
Using Your Fire Dish
Using Your Fire Dish
A fire dish is ideal for any seasonal or personal rite of passage for which traditionally a bonfire was lit. Sometimes you can have a bonfire or remove turf and make a fire pit with bricks, but this is not always possible, especially near sacred ground.
A fire dish is wonderful for unifying those sharing a rite, whether a coven, friends or family.
When you are not travelling, keep your fire dish to the south of the outdoor altar as a powerful representation of the fire element and to attract fire spirits and faeries. You can cover it when not in use or during inclement weather.
Sprinkle incense or herbs directly on to the burning wood to make personal empowerments and to raise or release power during a spell.
Burn wishes scratched on the inside of bark with a small knife or burn dead leaves and twigs to represent banishing what is redundant in your life.
Use your fire dish as a focus for chanting and dancing and as an added bonus for supplying light and warmth during a ritual.
Make sure the fire dish is not too full to avoid the danger of tipping over or getting too hot. Keep water nearby to extinguish an over-zealous fire.
Some woods like juniper and cedar spit; ash and pine are excellent as is oak although some people will not burn the latter. Sandalwood smells fabulous if you can get it; you can sometimes buy small sandalwood logs in bags from a hardware store. You can mix the woods.
Practice before your first ritual with your fire dish so you know how to light a good but not ferocious fire. When everyone had an open fire in the living room, this was daily practice. Nowadays, unless you were a Scout or Girl Guide or belong to a coven, you may not have been taught the art. Follow the instructions on a pack of firelighters or ask an older relative for a lesson.
Choosing Your Fire Dish
Choosing Your Fire Dish
I have seen beautiful copper fire dishes on metal legs for sale in garden centers which are not expensive and need no adaptation.
Alternatively, you can use any large fireproof metal dish either with metal legs or raised off the ground on heat-resistant bricks to avoid scorching. This can be very large cast iron wok or the bottom half of a domed iron barbecue, again the kind with legs.
A chimenea is also a good alternative and these are widely obtainable, as is the less exotic incinerator base.
A Witch’s Fire Dish
A Witch’s Fire Dish
Primary Element: Fire
Another favorite tool for outdoor magick is a fire dish. Though you can burn a small fire in a cauldron, having a fire in a special bowl or dish is one of the most magickal experiences, particularly under star- or moonlight. You can carry it with you in the back of the car for rituals on beaches. Some stone circles, such as the Rollright stones in Oxfordshire, have a fire dish in situ to borrow for ceremonies under supervision of the warden.
Ideally, you would use the cauldron for water and the dish for fire: a perfect elemental balance.
Using Your Cauldron
Using Your Cauldron
In the center of a ritual area (with or without an altar) the cauldron can be used to receive offerings such as flowers, fruits, crystals, etc., in a seasonal celebration or abundance ritual.
Half-fill your cauldron with water on the full moon so that you and anyone present can look into the silvery water and scry (look for images). You can interpret these images as you would dreams to answer questions or to receive wisdom from the moon mother and your wise inner self.
Scry also in bright sunlight or by candlelight by dropping a handful of dried, chopped cooking herbs on to the water to give you moving images to answer questions.
If your cauldron is cast iron and not a replica, you can put a heatproof fire basket or metal liner inside and light a small fire. Alternatively, fill the cauldron with sand and embed a candle in the center. In this you can burn wishes, or scatter herbs of incenses.
Burn incenses in the cauldron either as charcoal or as sticks or cones embedded in sand.
Dance and chant around the cauldron.
Fill the cauldron with water, then cast petals or herbs on to the surface as you circle the cauldron to symbolize healing energies flowing. Alternatively, as a banishing ritual you could ritually tip away the water, for example, dead leaves you threw into the water symbolizing what is unwanted. Best of all, tip it back into the earth or water source.
Fill the cauldron with earth and during a ceremony, plant herbs and flowers and bury coins or crystals. This indicates prosperity, love or healing growing as the plants grow. You can transplant the whole lot after the ceremony or use an old or spare cauldron for this ceremony so that the rite can be ongoing (maybe from spring equinox to autumn equinox).
Choosing Your Cauldron
Choosing Your Cauldron
A cast-iron cauldron is by far the best if you intend to use it for any fire work. These are for sale in some garden centers as well as New Age stores. You can sometimes discover an authentic cauldron in an antique shop or in street or flea markets, especially in the countryside. It may be an original iron cooking pot. You can clean it up with a gentle wire brushing and a little grate polish. Alternatively, adapt a round coal scuttle.
A Witch’s Cauldron
A Witch’s Cauldron
Primary element: Water
The three-legged iron cauldron really comes into its own as an outdoor natural magickal tool. If you have a small one, it can also fit in your altar room to the northwest of the altar as it is a tool of earth and water (and also of fire, if a candle is set in it).
The cauldron is a symbol of Cerridwen, the Celtic mother Goddess, whose cauldron brought rebirth and transformation. It was originally a household cooking pot hung over black ranges and open fires in many lands and so is a reassuring and stable tool.
Special Kitty of the Day for November 15th
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Name: | Lily |
Age: | Five weeks old |
Gender: | Female |
Kind: | Tuxedo |
Home: | Washington Court House, Ohio, USA |
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This is our new family addition Lily! We got her at just four weeks old when she needed a home, and she is already taken over the home! She is as cute and cuddly as can be! She of course stole our hearts right away! Did you see the almost-heart-shaped mark around her little pink nose?
She’s very curious interested in everything! She is very sweet! Our dogs are shy but gentle around her. They want more attention now that we got Lily, so they don’t feel left out. But everyone so far gets along fine! Welcome Home Lily! We Love you! ![]() |
Dog-Gone Doggie of the Day for November 15th
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Name: | Chocolat |
Age: | Two years old |
Gender: | Female | Breed: | Chocolate Labrador Retriever |
Home: | Auckland, New Zealand | ||
We adopted Chocolat in April 2010, sometime before her first birthday. We had decided it was about time to welcome a new dog into the family, so we went down to the SPCA. She was my first choice of course, just the way she looked at me I knew there was something special about her. The volunteers at the SPCA had said she had been found as a stray. They found her wandering the streets in Auckland alone and she had looked starved. She had a bump above her eye and an injured paw (which they helped), so they assumed her previous owners had been abusing her. She was extremely shy and cautious about everybody, but she eventually overcame it once she realized we weren’t going to hurt her. They told me that she was looking for a new home, so of course I said yes and she came home with me. I’m not sure of her exact birthday, but the vet estimated she was about Eleven months old when I got her, going on a year. So I assumed her birthday to be in May, and made it May 19. She is not as cautious around people anymore, but she puts her head down whenever you put your hand or something near her face sometimes.
Chocolat is now two years old and living in the suburbs of Auckland with me. She is a very fun-loving girl who loves playing in the waves, fetching, carrying her rugby balls around with her, trying to carry logs, giving kisses, long walks on the shore and long rambles with her favorite humans! She has many dog and human friends that she loves seeing whenever she goes on walks. She sniffs everything, all the plants, flowers and even the sand, though it gets all over her nose. She gets very excited when I walk towards where we keep her treats because she always thinks she will get one! Though sometimes she shakes me down with the sweet puppy-dog face. Also when I’m baking something I always have an audience staring at me saying, “Please feed me.” She really loves her food. Her favorite homemade treats are Peanut Butter Biscuits. She is also very smart and knows over 30 commands! She knows all the basics and some more advance ones. Her best trick is “Balance” where she balances treats and cookies on her nose or head until I tell her she can eat them. During walks at the park or on the beach, I can always let her off-leash. She is trained to not run away and I taught her to always go back home, since she knows the way there by heart. Chocolat is my proof that rescues can be the sweetest. Rescuing is a very selfless and noble deed to help those animals that desperately need a loving home, and a new start at life. When animals have been thrown out on the street and abandoned, they always want a loving family to give them a new start and a new, permanent place to call home. So me and Chocolat would like to tell anybody considering welcoming a new family member, whether it be a Cat, Dog or any animal; Please consider adopting before going out and buying from a breeder. If you do rescue, it can be one of the best choices you’ll ever make. |
Your Daily Number for November 15th: 2
You’re fine tuned and sensitive today, reading other people easily and clearly. You may play the part of the peacemaker today, and others may perceive you as being a bit self-righteous. Try not to annoy others with the force of your convictions.
About the Number 2



Feng Shui Tip of the Day for November 15th
Today’s ‘I Love to Write Day’ is one after my own heart, and I’m sure that after you see the excellent results achieved from using today’s advice, you’ll love to write, too! All you need to do is take pen in hand (this cure must be done by your own hand with a red ink pen) and write a letter. But not just any letter. You’re going to address this letter to your Higher Power, your teachers, masters, gurus, angels and saints. In short, you’ll address this letter to all of the blessed beings you might normally petition in prayer. Then you will ask, in high detail, for whatever it is that you want. Spell it out, literally and figuratively. Once done, put that piece away in a sacred space for at least the next 49 days, but not before re-reading the contents and telling each of those words you just wrote how much you love them. Pour pink light from your heart onto that paper and thank each word for making your dreams come true. In whatever form or fashion it takes for you, express a profound sense of gratitude for this easy opportunity to have a wish come to pass. Gratitude, and then acting ‘as if’ are critical components to having your concerns addressed. But once you write this letter, those concerns will indeed be addressed and the return to the sender will be more than worth the effort!
By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com
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