Tag: Magic

Beginner Witchcraft – What to read:

Beginner Witchcraft – What to read:

But reading is less important than observing. You will be tempted to try to become a witch by reading, because those of us w/ big brains and big educations always operate that way. Try to keep a balance between hours spent reading, and hours spent walking in the woods.

Other references:
–Joseph Campbell’s PBS series on mythology is now available on video. He’s a good storyteller and has a wonderful philosophy of how to incorporate myth into your life.

Objects/tools/toys:
Anything can be a tool for working magic and gaining understanding (a leaf, a stone, a pen, a plastic dinosaur)–it’s all in what you invest it with –be slow to acquire toys (blades, wands, etc.)–it’s better if they find you, then your finding them –more important than a lot of gidgets, is setting aside a special place in your home as an altar. Start with candles and incense, and invent simple rituals: lighting a candle while you read, burning incense while you meditate. –because it’s nonverbal in form, the Tarot is actually a better source for learning about the Craft, than any book. Seek out one of the less Christianized decks–I personally like the Barbara Walker and the Motherpeace.

Sacred space:
The first formal “magic” you should learn, is how to set aside sacred space. Pick a place in your home or your yard where you will practice this, and practice often, even if at first it makes you feel self-conscious.

I realize that a lot of this sounds terribly vague. I used to get frustrated when I read books about the Craft, and they didn’t have, like, RECIPES to perform. The hard part of it is, that you learn more from the Goddess, than you do from any human being. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do some simple spells, right from the very beginning: both Adler’s and Starhawk’s books have some straightforward descriptions of working magic.

Don’t get hung up on issues of reality, or the unknown, or the verifiable, or whatever. Just DO. It’s far more important to TRY things, than it is to READ about them.

Beginner Witchcraft

Beginner Witchcraft

Beginner Witchcraft – Western vs. Eastern Mystery Traditions
One of the first things you need to conceptualize, if you’re interested in witchcraft, is that it’s a WESTERN mystery tradition. The important dichotomy here is outer-vs.-inner. In the Eastern traditions, the adept commonly seeks some sort of mystical union with the great Oneness, which implies a withdrawal from the common, everyday life of human beings, and a focus on one’s internal processes. In the Western traditions, the adept is very much a part of the activities and community of humankind. A witch does indeed have a special awareness of their inner world and their connection with the all-permeating Oneness (Goddess), but a witch is also a member of society–a farmer, a healer, a parent, a warrior, a writer, a scientist, an artist, a computer programmer, etc. In becoming a witch, you don’t dissociate your spiritual life from the rest of your life–rather, you apply the principles of the Craft in everything you do. You seek to take what you have learned on an inner level and MANIFEST that awareness on an outer level. This is not to be confused with the Christian dichotomy of works vs. faith. Witches don’t have to BELIEVE in anything–they are much too concrete, too practical for such notions. The rituals of the Craft all get down to the same thing: sanctifying the everyday activities of your life. When a witch makes love, writes a program, cooks a meal, rides a bike, these are all the rituals of the Goddess.

Calling The Dragon

Calling The Dragon

This ritual is for exactly what it states calling the Dragon or Dragons to
project their presence with such clarity that there is no question of knowing
that they are here. A greater reason for calling a Dragon into stronger presence is the stronger the auric vibrations of such a creature within the circle the stronger the ritual and power sent into your motivation for the ritual. When you use the Dragon call and feel the presence of one or more Dragons it is important that they are treated with respect. Take time to get acquainted with them before asking their help. Remember most Dragons are beneficial and helpful, but all Draconic temperaments are extremely sensitive so treat them with the greatest respect.

Ritual of Calling

Notes: Perform during bright noon or the waxing Moon for increasing magick, with the Full Moon being strongest; during evening hours or the waning Moon for decreasing magick, with the New Moon being the strongest. Use this ritual in conjunction with any spellworking. This ceremony is primarily used to summon the Dragon for a manifestation whether it be the rare physical type or, more likely the sharpening of the inner sight.

Supplies: Pentacle disk; Dragon pentacle; water chalice with a little fresh
water in it; dish of salt; wine chalice; black (left) and white (right) altar
candles; sword; wand; incense burner; appropriate incense; dragon’s blood and mugwort; dragon mirror; gong or bell; staff; paper and pen to write down any messages.

Use the Basic Dragon Ritual up to the insertion point of necessary chants for
specific Spellworkings. Hold the sword in power hand and staff in the other
while standing facing the altar and tap the staff three times on the floor while holding the sword pointed at the Dragon Pentacle. Chant in tones that vibrate body:

Come Draconis! By Your All-consuming Breath, I summon you. (tap staff three times)By Your Piercing Gaze, I Summon You (tap staff three times)By Your Mighty Strength, I Summon You (tap staff three times)By Your Wisdom Ancient and Cunning, I Summon You (tap staff three times)By Your Magick Deep and Old, I Summon You (tap staff three times)Come, Draconis, To My Call!

Once done summoning the Dragons it will be possible to feel power being sent from all directions by the half-seen Dragons. Listen for any messages the dragons may have. The Dragons’ presence can be felt by a sudden temperature change, prickly feeling between the shoulder blades, unusual currents of air, and other phenomena. If the Dragons are pleased with the Magician they often sound a deep vibrating rumble, almost like a Giant Cat’s Purr.

Dragon Rituals

Dragon Rituals

 
 
After one or two visits to a dragon place, you can try a ritual. I rarely invite dragons into my indoor altar as they are so potent and the energies diffuse and so are best encountered in their natural environment. You can, however, cast a dragon ritual in your garden Equally, when working with dragon magick, I don’t cast a formal circle because dragon energies need lots of space to avoid spiritual overheating.
 
Dragon rituals should be carried out no more frequently than bi-monthly though there is nothing to stop you visiting a dragon place and absorbing the power weekly. I have a local dragon cave. When the tide is very low I sometimes sit here and work. Inside the cave is too small an area for spellcasting as the dragon energies need to be free.
 
Create chants or drum to tune in with the dragon energies. You can chant spontaneously during a ritual or write one that you use to call your dragon or to connect with a particular dragon site that you visit regularly.
 
If you wish, you can use a crystalline dragon’s egg in dragon spells as a focus for power, courage or abundance, and afterwards keep it on your garden altar or in the heart of your home. Light a red candle next to it once a week to keep the dragon power flowing.
 
A dragon’s egg is a white, opaque, very solid kind of rock crystal that resembles an egg. Alternatively, you can use two matching halves of a stone egg with tiny crystal embedded inside like a geode. Any agate egg or oval white stone can be substituted.
 
If you are lighting incense in the dragon place, use dragon’s blood. Use tarragon, the dragon’s herb of courage and power, to sprinkle as the earth element. This is also a good offering to leave for your dragon in her place. If there is a suitable spot near the rocks, you can plant a tiny tarragon seedling and add a new one whenever you visit.
 
Empower a dragon charm, ring or pendant by setting it in the centre of a spell. Re-empower it by wearing or carrying it when you visit your dragon place.
 
Face south for dragon spells and rituals. East will then be on your left instead of right hand though the actual direction does not change.
 
After a dragon spell or ritual, leave an offering of thanks. Dragons love gold, perhaps in the forms of a small earring or a small carnelian or bright red flowers.

Why Bother Cultivating the Cooperation and Companionship of Dragons?

Why Bother Cultivating the Cooperation and Companionship of Dragons?

Why bother cultivating the cooperation and companionship of dragons? Because their wisdom and elemental-type energies are unequaled, boundless. They have access, by means of their extremely long lives and unique thought-processes, to forgotten information and knowledge, especially in the field of magick. Dragon power also helps the magician to make personal, inner changes that may be necessary. Helping to remove past negative programming or self-destructive habits is well within the abilities of dragons; of course, the human involved must desire those changes. Dragon magick, like all magick, does not produce miraculous results without work. Dragons can create opportunities, provide encouragement and guidance, even back the magician into a figurative corner so that she/he must face problems and make decisions. But they will never, never do for you what you can and should do for yourself. Once befriended, dragons make excellent protectors, powerful fellow-magicians.

A true, knowledge-seeking magician weighs all possibilities for use in her/his magick, keeping what feels right to her/him and discarding the rest. Dragon magick is not for all. Dragon magick is only for the self-disciplined seeker who realizes the potential dangers, yet dares to communicate with and befriend this vast astral power of the ages. It is for the magician who is serious about changing her/his life and the living space around her/him. It is an asset for those who can give trust (not blindly, but with common sense), love and a desire for true friendship.

If you use dragon magick for unjustified purposes, or try to manipulate and control dragons, you can expect a terrific negative backlash. In the matters of self-protection or bringing justice down upon dangerous members of society. I have absolutely no second thoughts about employing dragons. As to manipulation and control, one simply does not do that with friends and co-magicians. Common sense tells you that such behavior will terminate the friendship and cause other magicians to cease their cooperation, perhaps even to work against you. If you prove a danger to dragons, they are likely to enspell you to such a point that your magick does not work.

“Dancing with Dragons”

D. J. Conway

The Charm of Making

The Charm of Making

 
The Charm of Making could just as well be called the Charm of Manifestation into the Physical. It is rather like the finishing touches to spellworking. The concentration used solidifies your intentions into embryonic form in the spiritual realm where all creation begins. Without this solidification and seed-planting in the spiritual, nothing can manifest in the physical.
 
Notes: Perform during bright noon or the waxing Moon for increasing magick with the Full Moon being strongest; during evening hours or the waning Moon for decreasing magick, with the New Moon being strongest. Use in conjunction with any ritual. This ceremony is primarily to use dragon power and magick for bringing your desires into being.

Supplies: It is better to have a pentacle disk; dragon pentacles; water chalice with a little fresh water in it; dish of salt; wine chalice; black (left) and white (right) altar candles; sword; wand; incense burner; appropriate incense (such as prosperity or binding); dragon’s blood powder and mastic; dragon mirror; gong or bell; staff; any candles for spells, talisman bags, etc. It is useful for concentration to plan what exactly you want to use before beginning this ritual.

Use the Basic Dragon Ritual up to the point where you insert the necessary chants for specific spellworkings.

 
Hold the sword in your power hand, the staff in the other. Stand facing the altar and hold the sword pointed at the dragon pentacle. Chant five, seven or nine time in tones that vibrate through your body:
 
“BY GLOW OF SUN THE POWER’S BEGUN.
BY MOONBEAM’S LIGHT THE SPELL IS RIGHT,
TO CREATE DESIRE BY EARTH AND FIRE,
WATER, AIR, MAKE MAGICK FAIR.
POWERFUL CHARM OF MAKING, CREATIVE MAGICK UNDERTAKING.
BE FORMED!
 
While chanting this concentrate deeply upon drawing on the dragon power. You will feel power sent to you from all sides. Listen to any messages that the dragons give you.

Place the candle, talisman bag and contents or whatever you are spelling, between the mirror and the dragon pentacle. Make certain that the dragon pentacle is reflected in the mirror along with the objects. If using a candle, light it and let it burn out completely in that position. If using a talisman bag or poppet, leave it on the altar overnight.

Continue the rest of the ritual.

Dragon Power In Magick

Dragon Power In Magick

Working with dragons in magick is different in many ways from other magickal procedures, but not so different that you can disregard certain rules. You need to know how to practice visualization and self-discipline, ethics, absolute truthfulness with yourself, consistency of practice, and meditation. And there must be an exchange of energies while working, an absolute when working with dragons. All of these are important components of any magickal system.

Visualization begins with unlearning many so-called value systems shoved on us by other people, the most common of which is that use of the imagination and daydreaming are not productive and good. The imagination and daydreaming are a negative practice if they occupy most of your life and time; if you daydream about what you want to happen instead of planning and taking action, then you are avoiding responsibility. However, for any type of magick to become truly effective, you must learn how to vividly picture in your mind the event or result that you wish to happen. Once you firmly have the event or result in your mind, you perform your ritual and then release the mental energy for manifestation.

Self-discipline and ethics go together. A magician should not, for his/her own good, dabble in controlling other people or indulge in questionable personal behavior. Jealousy, envy, lust, greed, and anger should not control what a magician does during his/her rituals. In fact, these undesirable emotions should not control any part of a magician’s life. These intense emotions tend to cloud judgment, either bringing an emotional backlash on the magician or causing deliberate harm to others, which in itself brings an eventual backlash on the magician. Either way, it is not worth the misery.

A magician must sincerely desire what she/he is asking for in ritual. If it is half-hearted wish with little emotional intensity behind it, the dragons, or any other entities for that matter, will simply not be interested in helping. And do not think you can put one over on spiritual or astral plane entities because they can see straight through to the truth. The truth is never hidden from these creatures.

One of the worst things a magician can do is take something away from another person by means of magick. This includes health, property, life or freedom. Very often I find that beginning magicians want to control another’s decisions and life on the subject of love. Too often I heard that “I know so-and-so is the true love of my life, but they show no interest. How can I use magick to make them love me?” Forget it! The price is very high for doing this kind of manipulative magick! If they were meant to love you, they would already show interest. Obviously, they are not the love of your life except in your own mind. Any magician considering such a dark use of magick had better take a long, truthful look at their ulterior motives. If someone you were definitely not interested in started taking away your personal freedom to choose, how would you feel?

The second part of the use of magick is that the magician must release the emotions and desire after the ritual is finished. To constantly think about what you want accomplished after the ritual is ended binds the energies to you and they cannot manifest. To constantly talk about your desires, or to talk about the rituals you are performing to get them, will surely keep them from manifestation. To want something so much you can taste it and yet not care if you get it is a very difficult mood to cultivate. I have never known any magician who reached perfection in this area, but getting as close to it as possible is what is important.

There must be an exchange of energies between the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual planes for any spellworking to result in manifestation. Playing at ritual magick, particularly dragon magick, will not get you anywhere. Without mental concentration, physical working, emotional involvement, and intensity of purpose, in other words energies, dragons will not be interested in adding their vast energies to yours. No entity or companion, whether of this plane or another is gong to do all the work for nothing and let you sit on your hands. Dragons are attracted by the energies you raise during ritual, a kind of astral pay-off since they feed on this energy.

Belief in powers beyond yourself is important in any kind of magick. There is an old saying: “If you believe you can, or you believe you can’t, you’re right.” We may not understand how these powers and energies work: we may not be able to describe them to anyone else; we will not be able to prove “scientifically” what they are. But we maigicians know they exist. A magician believe in them because she/he sees the results of their use.

Every magician who wishes to be effective in ritual and manifestation, who desires to grow and expand in knowledge, sooner or later comes to the conclusion that magick is a very serious practice. They learn to set aside time for study and self-improvement through meditation. They practice what are commonly called the psychic arts: tarot, runes, the pendulum, crystal reading, dream analysis, and so on. They cultivate the senses, especially observation, which includes what is in both the physical and astral realm. They learn to read their own intuitive feelings and the vibrations of others.

“Dancing with Dragons”

D. J. Conway

Dragon Magick

Dragon Magick

 
 
Western and Eastern European and Scandinavian dragons are the true fire dragons. They are primarily guardians of gold, described as the life blood of the earth, and live in caves. The Oriental dragons are mainly air and water dragons, associated with life-giving rain, with winds and storms and with gems and pearls, through there are the fiery kinds as well, as seen in processions.
 
Dragon magick uses the spiritual power associated with fire-breathing dragons to protect your own particular treasures. These treasures might be tangible ones like your home or your family. Less tangibly, treasure to you might represent speaking the truth or receiving honesty from others, the power to develop your career or heaing powers, or the ability to love or gain knowledge. Dragon magick is also good way of manifesting prosperity in your life, not for its own sake but in order to have the resources to do all the things you want to – and so that you don’t need to worry and can bring happiness to others.
 
For despite their bad press in Christian times as symbols of the earth mother, dragons are essentially wise and noble. Of course, physical dragons don’t exist. By means of visualization however, you can build up a connection the huge energy field of the dragon that exist spiritually, the same way the love and altruism are real.
 
Fire dragons are variously described as possessing all or some of the following: eagles’ feet, bat-like wings, the front legs of a lion, a reptile or dinosaur’s head with a huge mouth and teeth from which smoke and fire pours, huge scales, the horns of an antelope, a soft underbelly and a spade-like snake or lizard-like tail that may being close to the head.
 
Smaller fire drakes, found in the myths of France and Germany, don’t have wings, but are red and have fiery breath. They live in caves with their great hoards, the riches of the earth.
 
According to Bulgarian dragon lore, the male dragon is the fiery one and is a benign protector of humans and the crops, in contrast to his watery and less well-disposed sister. In this tradition, dragons have three heads and wings.
 
The ruler of the fire dragons is called Fafnir, whose name comes from the Norse and German culture. He was once a dwarf but was transformed into a dragon because of his love of the treasures he created and the metals he forged. He was killed by Sigrid Volsungr or Siegfried who burned himself, licked his fingers and so absorbed the dragon’s power to commune with the birds.
 
This isn’t a straightforward legend and has a lot to do with the overcoming of the earlier earth goddess power as typified by the dragons. Therefore, Fafnir shouldn’t be thought of as a greedy dwarf who became a dragon to be slain, as in the patriarchal, monk-recorded legends. Rather, Fafnir is lord of the dragons, who guards from the greedy and insensitive the power of the hidden treasures, whether these be of the goddess or your own potential. So if you do include Fafnir in your dragon chants recall his wonderful craftsmanship and how he conserves the minerals of the earth – not a bad lesson for modern times.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage One

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage One

 

Stage 1: Formally defining the purpose of the spell.

Take your symbol that should be made of natural material, natural fabric, crystal, beeswax, dough, clay, flowers, herbs, twigs or metals.

Set the symbol in a dish or flat plate in the center of the altar (you can use a pentacle dish is you wish).

Raising the symbol dish in the center of the altar as you face north, name the purpose of the spell and the time scale, for example, “by the time the leaves are on the trees,” “by the next full moon or “within seven days.”

At the same time, define the person for whom you are casting the spell – this could be yourself.

If you wish, you can now, while you are speaking, pass the symbol on its dish slowly in turn over all four elemental substances, beginning in the north or east.

You may now speaking slowly and confidently, ask for any god or goddess or maybe an angelic power that could be helpful.

Put the symbol back in the center. Touch the symbol with your wand or with a crystal point or the outstretching tip of your index finger to make the connection between the symbol and the energies to be raised. Say:

Be filled with powers and blessings that _________(name) may be/ have/ do__________.

In a ritual you would announce the purpose of the gathering and draw everyone together in a initial chant or action during this first stage.

A HEALING MYTH

A HEALING MYTH

By “Nihasa”

This story can have a powerful healing effect when read out loud (or recorded
and then played) to someone suffering from a phobia or other effect of childhood
trauma. While names, settings, and style can be varied to suit individual
tastes, the sequence which the apprentice describes, the sequence the princess
goes through, and the vagueness of the “bad thing” descriptions should remain
unchanged and no element of the story should be left out.

|—————————————————————|

Once, in another time and another place, a kingdom of magic and beauty knew a
time of peace. No armies threatened its boarders, no bandits plundered its trade
routes, no plagues sickened its people. Yet even in such peaceful times, bad
things could happen: accidents, misunderstandings, even good people doing bad
things.

The third daughter of the king was a bright and cheerful sort. She wasn’t the
strongest or the prettiest of the royal princesses, but she did have the nicest
wings of anyone her age. She loved to fly around the countryside and explore the
groves and meadows she found…they were always full of surprises.

One day she found a particularly pretty grove, with a pond glistening in a
little clearing in the middle. As she went in for a closer look, she saw images
start to form. She saw her own reflection, and as she lightly touched the ground
she saw that her reflection was watching reflections of her own…dim watery
reflections from her past.

“So you can see the pictures.” The voice from among the trees made her jump.
“Don’t worry,” continued the young man as he stepped out from among the trees,
“nobody else can see the same images, Princess. It’s part of the magic.”

“How…?” she asked, looking him up and down. He was a young man, no older
than the princess herself, dressed in the rough tunic of a wizard’s apprentice.
“Who are you? How did you know who I am, what I saw?”

“I am apprenticed to the Court Wizard. Everybody knows who you are, Princess…
and besides, I have seen you at the palace when I have been there with my
master.” He paused, glancing at the ground and lowering his voice. “As to the
images…well, at one time I had need of their magic.”

“When I entered the Wizard’s service, I had a great and secret fear.
Something… bad…happened to me when I was younger. It hurt to even think
about, and after time I didn’t think about it much. But ever since that time, I
had lived with the fear. When my master learned of this, he taught me the magic
of this pool and its stream.”

“The pool reflects images from your mind…scenes from your past, dreams of the
future, even fantasies of the present. The stream flows like time itself,
upstream into the past, and downstream into the future. If I followed the ritual
he described, these magics could wash clean the fear.”

She made a face. “I suppose this ritual involves deep magics usable only by
Wizards?”

“Not really. All the magic is in the waters, and anyone can use the ritual. Even
a lowly apprentice.” He grinned. “It’s pretty simple. After he told me about it,
he brought me here and then stood back by the trees. He said that he would
answer any questions I had but otherwise I was on my own.”

“I stood where I could see my reflection in the pool, and then thought about my
fear. As I thought, my reflection watched a reflection of my thoughts…like a
stage where dimly lit actors played out the scene against a colorless backdrop.
I looked up and saw that I was still here, in the glade.

I looked back at the water, holding on to a small part of the special feeling of
fear it had given me. As I turned and looked back upstream, I saw more
images…each earlier than the last. I relaxed and let the feeling guide me back
to the earliest image. When I had that, I turned back to the pool and found my
reflection watching the same colorless players in their dim reflection of the
memory. As my reflection watched, the image went from a time shortly before the
bad thing happened, through the whole thing, and on to a time when it was all
over. When it passed the ending that way, it stopped… like a drawing. Then the
drawing faded away, and I was just looking at my reflection. The Wizard had told
me that if I stepped into that last part of the image, it would run very quickly
backwards, with full color and sound and me living backwards through it
all…all the way through to the part before the beginning. It sounded very
strange. As I looked at my reflection again, it was watching the image go
forward again in its dim, colorless way. When it reached the drawing at the end,
I stepped into the image and was plunged into a world going backwards! It went
clear through to before the beginning in less than a second, then stopped.
Startled, I let the water carry me downstream, through all that had happened
since, with the fear gone and the memory unable to hurt me. When I reached the
here-and-now, I got out and just stood there, knowing that the fear would
trouble me no more. ” He stopped, and suddenly seemed to remember where he was,
and who he was talking to. “That was over a year ago, and the fear is still
gone. The Wizard says it is gone for good.”

She thought for a moment. “So all there is to this ritual is think of the
problem until your reflection sees it, follow a part of the feeling upstream to
my earliest memory of it, wait for my reflection to see it all the way through,
step into the ending, and live it backwards quickly? What kind of magic is
that?”

He thought for a minute, shrugged, and said “Effective? If you wish, I will
withdraw to the trees while you try it.”

“What makes you think that I NEED it?”

“Because the images only come to those who do. ” His voice faded to an embarr-
assed silence as he realized what he had said. “I’ll go now.”

“Yes, do.” She said absently, already thinking. Then: “But not too far, in case
I need you.” She was remembering an incident a few days back which had set off
her special fear, and just as the apprentice had described, her reflection in
the pool was watching a dim and watery scene of the memory. Startled, she looked
up again. Yes, she was in the clearing, with the trees all around and the
apprentice all but lost among the closer ones. She could still feel a part of
that fear, so she kept that feeling while she looked back up stream at all the
images from the past that the feeling had touched…until she found the earliest
of them all. She brought that memory back to the pool and released it as her
reflection started to watch it unfold in its dim and watery way. Her reflection
seemed to have a life of its own as it watched the pale scene start before
anything happened, run through the bad parts, and then pause at a time when it
was all over. She watched her reflection shift as she prepared for what she
would do. Her reflection settled as it watched the scene unfold again. The dim
scene passed through the beginning, through the bad time and on past again. When
it stopped, she jumped in to it. Suddenly, she was there again: back where and
when it had happened. Everything was moving backwards, and in a flash she had
lived backwards through it and past the beginning. Shocked, she let the water
carry her down stream, forward through all the rest of her yesterdays without
the bad times for company. When she got to today, she stood up. There she
was…standing, dripping in a stream in the clearing. She looked around for the
apprentice, half expecting him to be laughing at the soggy mess she must be. He
was there, by the trees…not laughing, just smiling in an understanding way.

In the years that followed, they became friends. Although they went their
separate ways…he, as wizard to one of the King’s high lords and she as wife to
a neighboring prince… they valued that friendship to the end of their days.
And from that time on, neither was ever again troubled by their great fears.

The best time to carry out spells and rituals

The best time to carry out spells and rituals

  

If a need is urgent then you can work at anytime and picture the full moon or rising dawn whose energies you need, even at a different time of the month or at darkest midnight.

Sometimes the nature of the ritual will dictate the timing. For example, a new beginning spell can be launched on any new date; the first day of the month, the first day of the year, any Sunday the first day of the week, the first hour after dawn or at the crescent moon when it first appears in the sky. Best of all is the first hour after dawn on a Sunday, which is ruled by the Sun, and so offers a double dose of power for that new beginning.

Casting a Spell or Setting Up A Ritual

Casting a Spell or Setting Up A Ritual

 

In the same way that every party has the same underlying structure, whether it is a party for child’s birthday, having a few friends round for drinks or a formal dance event to raise fund for the local community, your spell casting will follow the same basic format, whether you are casting a short impromptu spell or setting up a more open-ended ritual.

If you work from a basic magickal format, you can devise anything from a five-minute spell to call a friends’ missing cat home to a full-scale welcoming the spring for a hundred people on a local hillside.

What is more, once you have decided how the different components fir together you can change the order round to suit your needs. There is a huge variation in practice across the witchcraft community. Sometimes even experienced witches follow an order or way of doing things they were taught or read about that doesn’t fit with their own natural rhythm. Even if you are doing it right by the book, your magickal energies won’t be as powerful as if you were following the flow of the occasion. So, for more experienced practitioners, I am describing my practices for solo and group events so that you can re-examine your own structure–and then maybe decide it was right for you all along (Or that you are turning the whole ritual format on it head and creating an entirely new and exciting system).

For newcomers or established witch, coven member or solitary practitioner, once you have internalized a structure that suits you, you can create your own spells and rites, complex or simple, instinctively without needing to check that you are on track.

You will discover that some spells do not use the altar but are focused on the setting and everyday items. In these the structure is compressed but still effective. Don’t feel you have to go through all the stages of altar casting, for a simple spell. You can adapt the suggestions to either working alone or in a group.

Preparations To Do Spellcrafting

Preparations To Do Spellcrafting

(Natural Magick) 

You need to get yourself and the area or altar ready for the spell.

Clear the space you intend to use either psychically or physically. This could involve lighting cleansing incense like pine or lemongrass or having a quick smudge round the room or outdoor area where you will be working. For a more formal ceremony, sweep and asperge the area.

Use a compass to ascertain the four directions or calculate these from known places.

Set up any psychic protection that is required around the area you will be working in. You can concentrate this protection around the edges of what will be your magick circle, whether this is positioned in your mind or symbolized by the candles of the four main archangels or angels of nature. In these positions they could act as the guardians of the four quarters instead of the nature devas.

However, if you have more time available, you may prefer to set up a protective square to act as psychic boundary within which to cast your circle. You could also position your archangels at the edges of your garden or working area, or empower four large marker trees, bushes or stones. You should thank them and bid them farewell once the circle has been uncast.

If you are creating an external physical circle made, for example of branches, stones or shells this is a good time to set it up, with the help of anyone who is sharing the occasion. The standard diameter for this circle is 9 foot, although this can be altered if you are working in a confined space alone or if a number of people are attending and you want to move around.

Set up the basic altar and put everything in its place(for a more formal spell you can dedicate the altar now or at the beginning of the rite).

Basically, a bowl of salt goes in the north, incense goes in the east, a candle in the south and a water bowl in the west.

If you are making a sacred salt and water mix, you will be tipping the salt into the water so remember either to save a little in the bowl for the earth empowerment or have some spare salt in a second small dish at the side of the altar that you can use.

If you are incorporating a cakes and ale part into a longer ceremony or spell (a formal dedication of honey cakes and wine, beer or juice to give thanks to the earth mother and sky father for sustenance and all good things in our lives) set the cakes ready on a plate to the north of the altar. The drink will be put in a goblet or chalice (ceramic, glass or metal) to the west of the altar. Since this won’t be part of everyday spell casting.

As this is natural magick you should aim for organic products, barley wine or beer or organic juice and organic cakes with honey. You may well not have the time to make your own.

If you are having a garden ceremony, you can have a bath beforehand in water to which you have added rose or lavender oil, and put on something comfortable. If you are holding your ceremony on a windy beach, thick sweaters and jeans may be the order of the day. However, you can still cleanse yourself psychically. Anoint your hairline, center of your brow, throat and both wrists with one of your special waters to open your higher chakras or energy centers. Or use an essential oil in lotus, lavender or rose. Mix and match and cut out any stages that don’t fit a particular occasion. For example. You’ll only have the cakes and ale on special occasions and sometimes you’ll want just a simple circle cast while following only the basic spell casting steps.

The Preliminaries to Cast a Spell or Setting up a Ritual

The Preliminaries to Cast a Spell or Setting up a Ritual

  

As when organizing a party, it is important to spend a little time planning your spell casting. Think about the precise purpose of the spell, the best time, most appropriate setting and for whom the spell is being cast. For a ritual you need to consider the underlying as well as the obvious focus of the ritual Do you need to change the emphasis of a tried and tested format? Even a seasonal rite will have a theme, for example the May eve/Day celebrations have traditionally been associated with fertility. This fertility applies in whatever way it is needed, whether personally, ecologically or globally. Therefore you and the guests or participant should decide in advance precisely what you are working towards and carry out rituals to take advantage of the prevailing energies.

Location is important even for a quickie spell. You wouldn’t set a child’s birthday party in the same place you would your great-aunt’s golden wedding. With open air spells or rituals you need a wet weather or sheltered location plan just in case a force 8 gale blows up. Some spells can be planned in advance for a day out or weekend away, but others will be spontaneous, when you happen to come across a perfect location while on your way to somewhere else. There are also urgent occasions when you will have to imagine that crashing sea while stood by the local canal at lunchtime. The timing of a spell is also vital.

Before you cast the spell you also need to decide how long you want the effects of the spell to last and how quickly you need results. Do you want an immediate infusion of power within the 24 hours following the spell? Will the effects take longer–before the next full moon, within three months? You should build this time frame into the spell and declare it in the purpose of the spell.

Should it be a single spell or one carried out, for example, every Friday for a month or on the three days before the fulll moon in order to build up the powers?

Then you need to decide on the symbol or symbols that will act as the focus for the spell energies (you can’t dance and chant round a would-be lover in the office).
Do you need to emphasize any one element in the spell? Is the spell mainly fire based for power or is there a fairly evenly spread elemental mix, for example to resolve a long-term justice or court matter.

You need to think about any special props, magickal tools or substances that are required. After all, you wouldn’t use the same chine or serve the same food at your teenager’s post-exam party as you would if the boss was coming to dinner. Do you want a full altar or will it be mainly a word- or personal-movement-based spell? If on a beach or in the woods, can you use what you find there as tools and symbols?

Finally, who are you inviting to your spell or rite? The friend who has lost the animal you are casting the spell for? Your sister to help you with a love spell? Are you organizing a welcome-into-the-world party for your family, to celebrate the birth of a baby to a family member who lives in another country? Are you entrusted with the organization of your magick group or coven’s autumn thanksgiving?

If you work alone, as many witches including myself do most of the time, you’re still not a magickal Billy or Betty No Mates. You won’t be short of spiritual company. You can welcome the guardians of the four quarters even in a relatively simple spell; invite the wise ancestors to celebrations such as Samhain or Hallowe’en or New Year.
As for the nature essences, whenever you work outdoors or even indoors in a circle of pot plants (my favorite setting on a really foul day) they will be curious. So invite them in and benefit from their energies.

The Power of Words in Spellcasting

The Power of Words in Spellcasting

We already know, words have the power to heal, to express love, to praise and to comfort and negatively to hurt or criticize.

In magick, words spoke deliberately and rhythmically are one of the most significant ways to build the energies in a spell.

In Ancient Egyptian magick, the basis for modern magick, one of the major creation myths tells how Ptah the creator God, thought the world in his mind and then created it by speaking magical words or hekau. The generative power he used was called Heka, which is also the name of the God of magick. This power is equivalent to the concentrated life force. In some versions of the myth it is Heka himself who speaks the words that give form to the thoughts of Ptah.

The Ancient Egyptians believed that this creation power animated every spell as it did at the first creation. So to the Ancient Egyptians ever act of magick was a recreation of that first act of world creation, using words to bring thoughts into actuality.

Developing Spellcasting

Developing Spellcasting

  

The timing of spells and rituals is crucial. You can draw on the prevailing energies of the moon, the sun and the seasons and also factors like weather to amplify the power of your spells. To flow with the energies of the natural world is like walking or cycling with the wind or swimming with the tide as opposed to against it.

Much of the information on the moon, sun, seasons, the sea tides and weather is contained within different books. However, successful timing are ultimately about trusting your innate instincts. A number of experienced practitioners can feel if the moon is right or sense a rising tide even before they reach the shore.

This is not so easy initially for city dwellers or for people who like me grew up in the center of towns. The more time we spend close to nature, the more this instinctive awareness returns, for we all carry it in our genes from our distant ancestors, though it may be deeply buried.

You can help to reinstate this awareness by rising and sleeping according to natural light patterns. This is easiest done on holidays or weekends especially on natural camping grounds where there is no electric light. Watching the moon in the sky without light pollution is a good way of connecting with natural rhythms and timing especially if you note down your feelings as the moon changes each night. You may find a particular moon day evokes the same emotions each month.

I still have a tendency to think I should switch on the heater on a grey day even if it is muggy but I am getting better at listening to my body and not my logical mind.

Again, successful circle casting is less a matter of accurate measurement and knowledge of correct procedure than a feeling the pulse of the land you are working with and allowing your instincts to help you create an empowered and protective area for magick.

Spellcasting In Natural Magick

Spellcasting In Natural Magick

 
Spellcasting involves following a format that provides the structure to channel, amplify and release energies to bring into actuality the fulfillment of a wish, a need or desire.
 
Spellcasting can bring results fast if you really are in a crisis situation, perhaps because you endow the spell with the urgency and emotion. Mel, a 25 year-old store manager living in a historic town in the south of England, desperately needed a home to rent and had been to every agency in two with no results. A couple of days before she was due to move our of her present flat. Mel did a simple spell to find her a comfortable, affordable home as soon as possible. She took the symbol she had empowered, in fact a written one, to work having slept with it under her pillow.
 
The next morning her mobile rang. It was a man to say he and his wife had a home to rent and she could go to see it that evening. When Mel got there the house was perfect and affordable but the couple had no idea where they got her number because she hadn’t given it out and they had not even got round to advertising the house, so it had not come through an agent. The couple said they would let her know, but just as Mel was driving off disappointed, the man ran after her and said the house was hers and she could move in the next day. The couple didn’t know anyone to whom Mel might have mentioned the house problem. Mel moved into the house soon afterwards and was very happy there.
 
The energies of someone wanting to rent out a property and Mel’s urgent need must have telepathically been drawn together.
 
Of course, most spells aren’t as instant and may involve more earthly leg work. However, spells do get the energies moving and usually bring into your sphere through unexpected opportunities or seemingly chance meetings, what it is you need—at the time you need it. Under the rules of cosmic exchange you neeed to be willing to reciprocate by passing on information or surplus items when you hear though a friend of a friend of a need, even if this involves a lot of effort or you are busy at the time.
 
Rituals also follow similar stages beginning with a statement of the purpose, adding elemental powers and ending with the desired results. This would for example, be the rebirth of light as the December midwinter solstice, celebrating the return of the sun after the shortest day – and as importantly, acknowledging or bringing your own rebirth or renewal of hope.

Natural Magick In Your Life

Natural Magick In Your Life 

 
The natural world is a power house of magickal energy that can be used to amplify our personal psychic powers and daily lives even if we don’t have the time or inclination for a spell. We all possess these abilities but they can get blunted by modern life. Working with nature rapidly restores the instinctive connection with our own inner self and you find as a bonus that you are more intuitive and aware of our hidden factors in your everyday decision-making. At specific times we can tap into the ever-changing energies of the Sun, the Moon, the seas, lakes and rivers and the weather and into the magickal qualities manifest in different flowers, herbs trees and crystals. All these will help you tune into the best times and places, moon phases and days of the week to carry out your rituals–or to bring your daily life more into harmony.
 
There is nothing strange about our magickal powers; they are part of our right hemisphere brain functions which include imagination and creativity. Working with symbols and images, the ability that underpins much magick is also located in the right-hand side of the brain. With practice we can expand possibilities first in our minds and then during rituals to transform the stored energies and magickal meanings contained in even everyday symbols and images into magickal power. For example, if we were working with a wax butterfly we had made, it would represent a new beginning because that is the meaning given to butterflies throughout the ages. The 16th-century mystic Teresa of Avila described the spirit leaving the body after death as a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. You might not be aware consciously of such symbolism (though much of this symbol code is stored in our genes to be awakened in magick), but you would instinctively know that by choosing a butterfly as a symbol in your spell, it would be a joy-bringing focus. Magick is the sister of psychology and good magick operates on sound psychological principles.

How Is Natural Magick Different?

How Is Natural Magick Different

 
Sometimes you might put on a lovely dress and dance in a ballroom following taught steps so that you and partner move in harmony. On other occasions you might dance spontaneously, moving freely alone on a moonlit seashore or at a friend’s party to fast exciting music. Both are dancing, in the same way that formal magick and natural magick are both ways of performing magick. Neither is better, not are they mutually exclusive.
 
Formal magick uses traditional rituals and beautifully made tools to control magickal energy, while natural magick uses tools made from natural materials: wood, clay, herbs, beeswax or crystal. Usually they are very simple because they are secondary to the setting of the spell or ritual. For where possible natural magick is performed outdoors, winter or summer, rain or shine, whether in woodland, on the seashore or in your garden. You can, in really bad weather or if it would not be safe or feasible to cast spells outdoors, practice natural magick inside your home by bringing in flowers, herbs or berries and by linking your magick to what is happening outside the window.

Sometimes on a seasonal festival or personal rite like handfasting you may carry out quite an elaborate outdoor ritual and of course ritual magickal practitioners and covens do work outdoors where possible.

So natural magick involves a difference of emphasis and location, but adheres to all the traditional rules of magick follow.

What Is Natural Magick?

What Is Natural Magick?

 

Magick is a constantly flowing stream of energy. It is a concentrated and channelled form of the life force that flows through all animate life forms: People, animals, birds ,insects and plants of all kinds. The life force is also present in rocks and crystals in some cultures regarded as living energies, in rain, sunshine, the moon, winds, storms, the rainfalll and the rivers and seas. In Charge of the Goddess, written by the late Doreen Valiente who revised much of Gerald Gardner’s Book of Shadows, the high priestess speaks as the goddess:

I who am the beauty of the green earth, the white moon among the stars, and the mystery of the waters call unto thy soul, I am the soul of nature.

 

This is a good summary of the powers of all magick, but especially natural magick that lies at its heart.

We receive and give out the life force in its spontaneous form through our aura, our psychic energy field that extends about an outstretched arm span around us. It also passes to and from our bodies through our chakras or psychic energy centers.These energy centers filter the aura energy and receive power from the earth beneath and the sky above us, from what we eat and drink and breathe and from those with whom we interact.

When you stand in the shallows of the sea and feel the waves pushing your toes, that sensation is the life force and the force behind magick. If you stand on a windy hillside and are tugged by the wind, that also is the life energy and the power behind magick. When you bury your feet in earth or press your soles against grass barefoot you are taking in the pure power.

Magick involves channelling and directing the life force by tapping into those energies in ritual and in spells and using the directed and concentrated flow to transfer thoughts and wishes (if positive) into actuality. This occurs in the same way that a strong wind can buffet you off course or the tide can lift you unexpectedly off your feet. It can be exciting occasionally to surrender yourself to the unchannelled might or nature and see where it carries you.

In spells and ritual, however, you structure words, images and actions to collect the power, and channel it into a named purpose. You can then amplify and release the concentrated strength into the specific purpose or area of the spell or ritual. In the release your wishes and focused thougths make the transition through the psychic sound or light barrier so you have the impetus to make these desired possibilities come true.