Category: Book of Spells

Lammas Ritual

Lammas Ritual
Scott Cunningham

Place upon the altar sheaves of wheat, barley or oats, fruit and Breads, perhaps a loaf fashioned in the figure of the Sun or a man To represent the God. Corn dollies, symbolic of the goddess, can be
Present there as well.

Arrange the altar, light the candles and censer, and cast the Circle Of Stones.

Recite the Blessing Chant.

Invoke the Goddess and God.

Stand before the altar, holding aloft the sheaves of grain, saying These or similar words:

Now is the time of the First Harvest,
When bounties of nature give of themselves
So that we may survive.
O God of the ripening fields, Lord of the Grain,
Grant me the understanding of sacrifice as you
Prepare to deliver yourself under the sickle of the
Goddess and journey to the lands of eternal summer.
O Goddess of the Dark Moon,
Teach me the secrets of rebirth
As the Sun loses its strength and the nights grow cold.
Rub the heads of the wheat with your fingers so that the grains fall
Onto the altar. Lift a piece of fruit and bit, savouring it flavour,

And say:

I partake of the first harvest, mixing its energies
With mine that I may continue my quest for the starry
Wisdom of perfection.
O Lady of the Moon and Lord of the Sun,
Gracious ones before Whom the stars halt their courses,
I offer my thanks for the continuing fertility of the Earth.
May the nodding grain loose its seeds to be buried in
The Mothers breast, ensuring rebirth in the warmth
Of the coming Spring.
Consume the rest of the fruit.

Works of magic, if necessary, may follow.

Celebrate the Simple Feast.

The circle is released.

It is appropriate to plant the seeds from the fruit consumed in Ritual. If they sprout, grow the plant with love and as a symbol of Your connection with the Goddess and God.

 

Witches’ Ladder for Comfort & Blessing

WITCHES LADDER FOR COMFORT AND BLESSING

If you want to do a spell to comfort [a sick friend], try making a witch’s ladder.

Take a long blue cord or ribbon, and collect 7 symbols to hang from it — things like Grey feathers for protection during sleep, sprigs of healing herbs, garlic for healing and protection, small talismans, conjure bags, charms you get the idea. The important thing is that the symbols should represent comfort, protection, and healing. Tie them to the cord and charge it with comforting power.

Your Magickal Spell for July 19th – Protective Turquoise Spell for All Pets

 

A Traditional Protective Turquoise Spell for All Pets, from horses to hamsters.

If you choose only one protection crystal, make it turquoise. Down the ages and in different lands, turquoise has been tied to animals’ collars to prevent them from straying or being stolen. It is also traditionally plaited into a horse’s bridle or mane to guard it against stumbling. You can keep a small turquoise attached to a small animal or bird cage.

Items You Will Need:

A small turquoise of any quality

Timing:

Ongoing

The Spell:

Empower the turquoise by leaving it outdoors for 24 hours at any time from the Full Moon to the end of the moon cycle to absorb protective sun-moon- and starlight.

Attach the turquoise to the animal’s collar, cage or hutch.

Wash and re-empower the turquoise crystal monthly.

Empowering the Square

Empowering the Square

Use smudge and proceed clockwise round the square from the top north-west corner (as you face north)  until you end at the same place. If possible empower at sunset, and as close to the three days after the full moon as you can.

Make a swirl at each corner with the smudge and ask for blessings and protection from the benign  lesser earth spirits who will, if you are fortunate, take up position there (especially if you have taller rocks on which for them to make a  home).

Greet each of the loftier mid-point guardians, however you picture them, by raising your smudge to  the sky and then downwards to the earth. Greet each of the guardians on the first occasion with a small rounded black stone offering (you can use jet or  tourmaline if you want to use a crystal but not the fiery obsidian).

Unlike archangels, a land wight may not reveal his specific name so greet him as “sacred or  noble land wight of the northern land” and so on round the four directions.

You can if you wish refer to the northern direction guardian as Tiwaz the Viking spirit warrior who  represents the Pole Star, the east as Odin the Viking father god, the south as Thor the mighty thunder and blacksmith god and the west as Ingvi or Ingwaz,  the ancient fertility god who, according to the old sagas or legends went anticlockwise, against the sun, that is westwards.

You can empower a temporary or large visualized square by standing in the center and pointing your  smudge in the same order as you walked; north-west corner, north center, north-east corners, etc. and repeating the words as you turn the smudge clockwise  and anticlockwise.

If you are making a protective square of light around yourself in a dangerous place, picture staves  of light rising vertically at all eight points.

Magick squares don’t need to be uncast as their energies will flow back and forth from the  soil.

Re-empower a permanent magick square monthly at sunset, on any day during the three days after the  full moon.

Casting A Magickal Square

Casting A Magickal Square

The square is a very powerful symbol of protection. Even if your work within a circle you can still  designate as outer square as an additional protective enclosure. If you can’t have a permanent altar outdoors, your magick square can designate the  smaller space where you regularly set up your magickal tools.

It is also very protective of the home, even more so than a circle, and is an easier shape to cast  in many gardens than the circle. I draw one around my caravan with small stone makers if the site is very quiet or if I have to leave the caravan unoccupied  for a while.

It is effective also for keeping children or animals temporarily off lawns or flower beds you are  trying to grow.

You can visualize a protective square of any size, from a small one around a precious artifact to  one around a sacred site where you have organized a seasonal ritual.

They are very protective around natural circles such as groves where you would not draw a  circle.

Indeed, you can create a temporary square if you are working in a public spot and don’t want  your magick area invaded by dogs and curious coach parties. In modern times where working in isolated places may be less safe, you can visualize one around  the beach or forest while you are working or around yourself (as well as your protective circle) on a deserted station platform or taxi  tank.

Stand in the center of your designated square, which may also be the center of your projected magick  circle.

Hold out your arm as far as you can with your palm upright and outwards and say:

“Enough and no more, I draw my square of protection. Preserve this space as  sacred.”

Picture a line of light forming the top horizontal (west to east). Keep turning, making next the  vertical north-south line along the right east side as you face north. Speak and visualize till you have all four lines in place and can see a shimmering  outline to your square of light.

You can also walk your square from the furthest away top left-hand corner, moving clockwise and  ending at the nearest, bottom left corner. Use your wand in front of you and put a small dark stone at each corner and one halfway along each line. You can  align with a compass or estimate north in the middle of the top line furthest from you as you face north.

You can assign your midpoints, the main directions, to archangels or to the lofty Landvaetir, the  tall brown guardians who in Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany and eastern part of the UK are cognized as protecting land and all who live on it. You  can further protect the corners with the traditional taller dark stones if you are setting up a permanent magickal square.

Bless your square as you would a circle the first time you create it.

The Magick Square

The Magick Square

Squares have a strong folk magick traditions; a magickal square would be marked in a field with  hoes, takes or other agricultural implements. In times of persecution squares could be consecrated as a magickal space, but were much easier to disguise a  magickal workings than circles. Some were undoubtedly use to mark as sacred as magickal workings than circles. Some were undoubtedly used to mark as sacred  land where a former sacred Roman temple stood, just as a circle of stones or tree stumps beneath a church or cathedral might mark a former sacred Druidic  grove.

In Scandinavia, the magickal square formed the outline for a grid of nine squares, three by three.  These were made by the seior, the witch seers of the Norse world who channeled wisdom from the spirit world, specifically from Helheim where the crone  goddess Hel cared for the deceased. The seior sat on raised thrones within the grids and traveled astrally to Helheim to talk to the ancestors and receive  advice for the living. Only later did the goddess Hel become demonized and in recent years there has been a revival of seior craft.

The water witches of the West Midlands also used a magickal square, or mill as they called it, for  magick. They were people who came from the Netherlands to live and work on the Midland canals in the 1800s. They practiced an ancient form of folk magick  that did not die out till the mid-1900s and there are still a few practitioners remaining. Rituals were practices by these canal people on a square of land  adjacent to the canal bank within a triple magickal square. Each square was joined by four lines and constructed from wood and was known as the Mil. Only  women entered the sacred area under the leadership of a senior female water witch, through the chief male, known as the master, standing at the edge,  summoned a spirit entity to assist in the ritual.

In modern Iceland, the Landvaetir or Land guardians often have particularly sacred square fields  that cannot be built on, where offerings are left in order to bring protection to the homes and farms around.

Today’s Magickal Spell for July 16 – A Tree Spell for Strengthening Your Own Identity

 

A Tree Spell for Strengthening Your Own Identity

If you are under a lot of pressure to conform to others’ wishes and you know this will compromise your happiness and perhaps integrity, try this spell. It absorbs the strength of a mighty tree, such as an oak or ash, to help you to resist and maintain your independence.

You Will Need:

A long cord or rope that will loop around the tree; a sturdy old tree

Best Time To Cast:

Mid-morning

The Spell:

Tie one end of the rope or cord loosely around the trunk of the tree and then hold the other end taut, as far away as possible  from the trunk.

Slowly wind the rope deosil (clockwise) around the tree until you are touching the loop on the trunk, as you do so saying repeatedly:

Empowering tree,

Empower me,

Knot binding,

Knot finding,

Knot winding,

Preserve, I ask,

My identity.

Touch the connection of the rope to the tree and say softly:

I would be free,

Empowered by thee,

So may it be!

Now reverse the movements, unwinding the rope from around the trunk as fast as possible. This time chant:

Empowering me,

Releasing me,

Knot unbinding,

Knot not finding,

Knot unwinding.

Returned is

My identity.

With a final tug, pull the rope free, as you do so shouting:

Knot untie,

Power fly,

Fly free.

Forever be!

Spell Caster’s Affirmation

Spell Caster’s Affirmation

There is one Presence and Power in the Universe
That manifests to me as Goddess and as God
It guides the stars and the planets
It guides me and moves through my life
For I am a perfect incarnation of God /dess
And a perfect priest/ess of God/dess
I am a complete manifestation of this power
I release all imbalanced energy and it’s effects
I harness harmonious energy
And shape it for the good of all
In accordance with free will
With ease and with joy
With love and kindness
So mote it be

Before You Start A Spell….Start Your Energy Engine!

Before You Start A Spell….Start Your Energy Engine!

You need to be able to concentrate to will the manifestation of spells.

Exercises for concentration

1) Light a candle on the table before you. Look (not stare) at the flame for a
few minutes. Close your eyes and hold the image in you mind for as long as you
can before you conscious mind intrudes.
2) Do the flame exercise once again and once you have the flame in your mind
change the size shape and color of the flame. Summon associated images and
follow them through.
3) Take a picture, place it at eye level, and follow the directions for 1. 4) Do 3 again, but when you have the picture in your mind, make it move, change
it and follow any related imagery through.

Notes on Meditation – meditation centers and grounds you.
Meditation can teach you many things about yourself, your abilities, and the
world around you.

Soft wordless music can help in meditation.
The fewer distractions the better.
Be in a comfortable position, but not one you will fall asleep in.
Do not try to meditate when sleepy, you´ll just fall asleep.
Close your eyes and encircle yourself with protective light, normally white.

Use a staircase, a bridge, a cave, any crossing over symbol you wish, to start
your trip into a different consciousness.

Talk to those you meet if you wish.
Try any thing that feels right to you.
If at any time you become uncomfortable with what is happening reaffirm the
protective light and leave.

You can search out and meet your anima/animus this way if you wish.
You can even meet a guide.

Alpha State –

Close your eyes and center yourself.
On a screen of the inside of your forehead see a large red 7.
Then count down, seeing the numbers on the inside of your forehead,
orange 6,
yellow 5,
green 4,
blue 3,
indigo 2,
violet 1.

Feel each color´s vibration. Once you reach violet 1 then keeping the color violet in you mind count backwards from 10-1.

Then say to yourself “Now I am in Alpha state all I do will be for the good and
harm no one.” Do what you wish now, spellwork, concentration manifestations, etc.

To leave Alpha state first give yourself a total health clearance by removing
everything yucky from your system with your mind (passing a hand across your body and visualizing any stress or illness leaving you works well) then count from violet 1 to red 7.

Then count up from 1-10 keeping the red in your mind, take a few deep breaths and open your eyes.

To get into instant Alpha, when in Alpha decide upon a sign that you can use to go directly into Alpha with your eyes open (useful for use when driving).

To neutralize threats through use of Alpha State, go into Alpha visualize
threats and cross them out with white x´s.

 

Your Magickal Spell for July 16 – Spell to Send Love & Light Through Pendulum

Magickal Spell for Monday, July 16th

Spell to Send Love and Light Through a Pendulum

Even if you are not confident about sending healing, you can transmit love and light to a person who is ill or unhappy or whom you know is under intense pressure. The easiest and most powerful tool for this is a crystal pendulum. It will simplify and transmit your own positive feelings and wishes, even if you have never tried healing before.

What You Will Need:

A white or purple candle; a clear quartz or amethyst crystal pendulum (even a small one works).
When To Cast:

At last light.

The Spell:

  1. If possible facing the sunset, light the candle.
  2. Hold the pendulum in front of the candle so that the light shines on it.
  3. Spin the pendulum gently so that the candle light reflects through it. As you look at the spiraling light, project into the pendulum (as if you were looking through a window) an image of the person you are sending love and light to.
  4. Speak, either aloud or in your head, the words you would like the person to hear, and visualize him or her smiling in response and perhaps holding out a hand.
  5. Spin the pendulum even faster, so that the color blurs.
  6. When the pendulum reverses direction, blow out the candle, using your own words to send the love and light to the face in the crystal.

Casting Your Spells – Working by the Moon

Casting Your Spells

Working By The Moon

Moon time is the oldest measurement of time used by humans and it accords with our natural rhythms in the lives of men as well as women. In magick, we primarily look to the moon for timings.

The waxing or increasing moon from the crescent to the night before the full moon is potent for all forms of attracting magick, for the gradual increase of money, love, happiness or health and for fertility spells. These powers will grow daily as the physical moon size increases, to reach their height on the full moon.

The full moon represents a surge of power that can be plugged into for fertility, that consummation of love or commitment, a major money gain or for launching a creative venture. Also, because the full moon is unstable, this day and night is good for initiating change.

The waning moon helps us to let go of what we no longer need or wish for in our lives and banish pain, sorrow or a destructive influence; a perfect phase for starting diet spells. As the moon decreases in size so the pull that holds negative people or factors in your life likewise weakens.

Daily Feng Shui Tip for July 15 – ‘St. Swithin’s Day’

Today’s ‘St. Swithin’s Day’ is named after a British bishop who is associated with a famous rhyme that maintains that whatever the weather is like today, so it will be for the next forty days, especially if the forecast is for rain. A little ditty that tags along with this forecast goes like this: ‘St. Swithin’s Day if it does rain, Full forty days it will remain, St. Swithin’s Day, if it be fair, For forty days ’twill rain no more.’ Just in case this weather report holds true and it rains today, let’s use a different way to part the clouds. Eastern European customs says the smoke produced from burning the herb mugwort in your fireplace will disperse the storm as it enters the atmosphere. So if you find yourself in the midst of one summer storm after another, courtesy of a prediction made by a bishop who might have been all wet anyway, burn some mugwort in your fireplace. It’s time to bring some sun back to your beautiful summer days, no matter what St. Swithin says!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com