The Witch I Am


Author: Eilan

Witchcraft, the Arte, the Craft, Magick, the Old Religion – what could these names possibly mean to an 18-year-old male living in an age of global warming, rapid deforestation, tyrannical war and occupation, fundamentalist literature and humanist rationalism? They are the faces of a largely spiritual movement, grounded in the sacred powers of Nature, from which the Old Gods themselves draw their strength and mystery.

My name is Gede Parma. I am an 18-year-old male Witch currently residing in Queensland, Australia. I am an initiate and co-founder of the dynamic Pagan wellspring that is the Coven of the WildWood, and I am priest and vessel to my Gods of Blood and of Breath.

My Pagan peers know me as Dobhair (pronounced ‘door’ with a soft accent in the middle), which is the name my ancestors revealed to me during last year’s solar eclipse as I dedicated myself to the Dagda and Morgaine le Fay. In this time of the Greening much will be seen to come to pass and the world will change in a way that none of us could ever have conceived.

I stand as the Rod of Power, as the Menhir, the Tree of Life, to whom my veneration is given in circles with my coven. As I focus inward so does my breath circulate into the outer realms, my consciousness expanding and taking into itself the divinity that is immanent within all of Life. I remember the animating force behind all that is and dance the spiral path of change and transformation into the very heart of the primal womb whose centre is the point of origin.

From the beginning I was Air, from whose new dawn’s breath ‘I’dea was formed. I was then fuelled by the heat of Fire, and light and warmth gave way to the oceanic-matrix that is the Water and blood-ways became rivers and streams in the body of the Goddess.

By Spirit and the Great Mystery I was given form and beauty and Earth’s presence and foundation continued the cycle, and when my thread is cut by the tides of Fate I will fall to the winds once more to decay with the autumn foliage under the slanted glare of a fading king whose sun sets in the realms of Death.

I am resurrected and born again by Love and by Light, and the Two Pillars join the heavens to the broad earth, from whom once more I will spring up as Kore, the sprout. From Death comes Life, and in Life there is Love, and the Mystery knows them all.

These are the mysteries that have been written of and told to others whose minds and hearts are listening, however their far-reaching and infinite truths are not simply grasped by an eloquent intellect or by the ascetics of a world-rejecting discipline.

Witchcraft to a teen in the 21st century has not lost its Great Mystery. We are still as the priests and priestesses of old who stole away to secret orders nestled in ‘tween places. We are still as the seers and shamans whose journeys remain intrinsically-patterned into our wild and unkempt spirits. We are Witches and by solitude or tribe we still raise the Power to celebrate the ecstasies of Life. I have never forgotten this charge and I have made it my oath to the Old Ones to continue to impart this knowledge and wisdom on those who have ears to listen.

There is immense power in the old mythos. They speak of Gods and Goddesses who inspire and protect their own, of ancient magicks whose powers awaken in the hearts of those who embrace the old ways. There is descent into the netherworld, and resurrection in the light of day. There are ancestors who kindle the hearth-fires and who gather us in to be warmed when way-ward our feet have taken us.

There are oceans and seas that speak of death and devotion. There are groves and mounds and stone-circles who whisper of ancient rites and who glisten and vibrate with the dragon-lines that sing through the land. There are wheels that spin and turn, and bring awareness to the cycles of Nature, to the implicit realities and cause us to revel in the wonder that is the blue sky and the green tree.

These things, these memories are not cast out or forgotten by the Witches of today, they are embraced and renewed by those of us who seek to rejoin and reconnect with the Wyrd, whose keepers, though at times stern, remind us to dance and to make Magick in their honor.

When the Pagan community regards its youths and also their influx into the tribes, they often forget that once upon time that was them. There are many who revile and resent the young folk who seek out the ancient wisdom and who practice the rites of the Craft. They seem to think that in doing so we desecrate their sacred power, or playfully twist and manipulate to achieve our own selfish and incorrigible ends.

Anyone who truly kneels at the Altar or draws the Circle of Power knows to what effect their pure Will can achieve. Those who are simply involved for the ‘glamour’ and the ‘prestige’ soon draw back when they discover what perfect love and perfect trust truly means.

So those of us who still remain after the year and a day and whose understanding has strengthened and whose energy has intensified should be known to all others who walk the spiral-ways as honest and humble devotees.

I will never forget the moment when I became a respected member of my community and was taken by my word for my word. It was as if all my potential became actualized and I could evolve and transform into a new identity, into a new persona. But personas are masks and identities fade, and through this time I began to feel again the pulse in the deepest part of me.

The façade had broken.

I didn’t need their recognition, their support, though it helped immensely in times of grief. What I needed was my connection, to awaken the divinity that is indwelling. It didn’t take long before one Goddess chose to love me and to pour into me what was already at my core. She is beauty; she is truth. She is power and she is that quintessential feeling that resonates through all my fragments, and whose veil covers not to hide, but to symbolize the other reality, that is always waiting, on the other side.

My life is enriched through my Craft. I am joined with all of Nature. I breathe on the mountain and I lose all ego-attachment, and it strikes me that all I am doing is breathing and existing, just as all other beings that dance through the cycles are.

My Gods speak to me through my descent and through my spirit. Their names are not written as a list of spiritual acquisitions, but as powers and forces that have revealed themselves to me, and have chosen to become my allies.

To be a Witch is not to forsake the divine bounty that is made apparent when we learn to trust, but to identify and understand the patterns of power that weave through the fibres of Life and manifest as expressions of innate and intimate truths. We celebrate this continuum of divine-play and revel in becoming a part of it.

I am a Witch, not because I was genetically made to be so (though that adds to it), and not because of some deep-set desire to conquer the plain drudgery and live out a fantasy of power and privilege.

I am a Witch because in my heart lives Magick and to deny its passage, its flow, would be to deny the very essence of my purpose here on Earth, and of my many lives before my present that have been sacrificed to continue the charge I was given.

As I dance the Wheel and as I draw the Circle I remember that I am different. It is not merely a contrast I draw between my nature and those of others, or an indulgent delusion I use to place myself higher than the rest. I am different in that the unfeeling, ego-ridden, politically-driven paradigm that our societies are built on rejects or else wholly negates who I am and what I do.

There is no room in this world, they say, for enchantment and Magick. There is no place for story-telling or dancing. Everything I am and everything I stand for is declared non-existent or irrational at best and Witchcraft is made out to be nothing more than a childish game.

Witches were once respected and revered for their skill, insight and power. In a sense this manifests today as the curious intrigue one feels toward the ‘supernatural’. Witches today are feared, maligned or ridiculed.

We are feared by the ignorant, maligned by the ‘pious’, and ridiculed by the so-called rationalists. However there are those among the liberally-minded communities who celebrate us as true visionaries in our right and who are inclined to study our spirituality in a bid to reclaim the lost wisdom.

There are few words that I can conjure that truly define my being. One of these is ‘Witch’. I embrace it wholly, in every way, for in doing so I reclaim the power that was once considered a gift. It is never a curse to realize truth and never a burden to uphold and live by it.

My Magick is a gift that I will pass on to the next generation of Witches, however at this point in time I work to encourage and inspire this generation. In my coven we circle every week and in between the esbats and sabbats we devote our circles to specific topics so that we may expand our knowledge and add to our magickal arsenal.

In the past we have discussed sacred tools, the Elementals, visualization, meditation and divination. Generally I take on the guise of the teacher as it suits me and I have a considerable amount of knowledge and practical experience in these areas.

The Witches of my coven are strong and steadfast spiritual beings, however we are all still human and prone to making mistakes. This is the reality of the Witch, especially as teenagers. We may be able to cast spells, transcend our egos, invoke ancient Gods and project our astral selves, but this does not exempt us from the everyday trials that bombard humanity.

As Witches, however, we make use of our knowledge of the subtle energies within and without and choose to take charge of our destinies accordingly. Perhaps it is this aspect of the Craft, more so than anything else, that truly frightens those who are not privy to the inner mysteries.

I am a Witch, pure and simple. You could tie to me to a stake, throw driftwood at my feet, drench me in gas and light a fire and I would not deny it.

I am a child of Nature, a Pagan and a priest. I dance the spiral-way and as I descend into the holy labyrinth I sing the old songs and chants to the Gods of leaf and bud, hoof and horn. I release tire and stress, exertion and envy to the four winds and I become the glowing scepter, the sword, and the spear. The serpentine force is aroused and it journeys upward along the spine to the crown that is the triangle of manifestation.

There I meet the Great Mystery and kneel to her charge as I feel the edge of her sword cut cleanly along my soul to my beating heart aflame with Magick.

Go in the way of the sacred, Blessed Be~

Dragons and Apples Spell (Seed Moon)

Dragons and Apples Spells

(Seed Moon)

Dragons always indicate magick is afoot. Draco the dragon is a circumpolar constellation that wraps itself around the northern hemisphere. Draco’s face and head look different depending upon the time of year. It is an ancient constellation that once had more stars and is associated with Ladon from Greek Mythology, the monstrous dragon with a hundred heads. Ladon guarded the Golden Apples of Hesperides in the Goddess Hera’s garden. Hercules in his eleventh task slew Ladon and stole the apples. Hera was heartbroken over the loss of Ladon and put the dragon in the skies, coiled around the North Pole. The purpose of this spell is to call upon the stellar dragon energy to bring more sweet love into your life.

You will need a white candle, a dragon figurine or a picture of a dragon, your athame, and an apple.

At midnight, draw a magick circle and call in the elements. Also invite the helpful dragon powers into your circle. Set up your altar in the north sector of your circle. Light the candle, dedicating it to your lover or would be beloved. Place the dragon figurine or picture by the candle so that it is illuminated by the candlelight. Focus your awareness on the dragon in front of you, and say:

Magick dragon of midnight light
Bring more sweet love into my life.
As I will, so shall it be!

Use Your athame to cute the apple in half from side to side instead of from end to end. This reveals the star or five-pointed pentacle in the apple core. Before eating each half of the apple, repeat:

Magick apple of midnight light
Bring more sweet love into my life.
As I will, so shall it be!

When you are done, allow the candle to safely burn down. Thank the dragon powers, bid farewell to the elements, and pull up the circle. Put the dragon figurine on your altar or somewhere close to your bed to draw more sweet love into your life.

A Meditation on Magick

A Meditation on Magick

by Bestia Mortale

 

I’d like to examine three levels of magick, the world, the will and the spirit, from a particular perspective I shall describe.

Like most things, magick looks different from different sides. The word “magick” normally conjures up spells, unseen forces, strange worlds and mysterious beings. This is the “supernatural” point of view. This is the vantage from which we see sorcerers pursuing arcane knowledge to gain amazing power.

Take the skeptical version of this point of view, and magick signifies self-delusion, wish-fulfillment fantasy, unconscious deception and intentional fraud.

But then stroll around to another viewpoint, where you assume knowledge rather than ignorance. Assume for a moment that you can understand everything (not that anyone can). From this perspective, much of what we think of as magick vanishes, becoming just another technology, just another way to get what you want.

When you want something, you use your understanding of the world combined with your intelligence to identify a course of action that might achieve it. Then you use your will and determination to follow that course of action. As you go, you use intermediate results to modify your course of action. Are you a sorcerer or an engineer?

Both historians of science and historians of magick are well aware that until relatively recently, the two were more or less indistinguishable. In the last several centuries, the techniques of modern science and engineering have emerged as by far the most powerful and effective means of doing magick in the world. The spells of physics almost always work reliably, and when they don’t, physicists are delighted – there are always reputations to be made in perfecting them.

The magick of getting what we want in the world is fascinating and impressive but not necessarily deeply moving. Take doing the dishes, for example. Some people still eat with their hands from food that lies in their laps. Others have pursued centuries of dogged experimentation to produce specialized eating surfaces and utensils. Some people clean such surfaces and utensils in streambeds, while others have devoted amazing ingenuity to channeling and heating water and devising special chemicals that make cleaning these surfaces and utensils easier. Some people wash their own dishes, while others have devised complex social transactions that result in “servants” of various sorts doing the cleanup. There are even electric dishwashing machines, and if that’s not supernatural, nothing is.

At the same time, who cares? We eat. If we do it right, we are nourished, we don’t get sick, and we don’t have to devote too much of our energy to doing it. Fine china, beautiful silverware, exotic spices, gourmet recipes, all these are lovely if they don’t cost us too much.

From a perspective of understanding, the magick of getting what we want tends to merge disappointingly into what we like to call “technology,” our ancillary crafts, and its appeal seems less bright, if no less useful, from this point of view.

There is also magick of the will – the art of being able to decide cleanly. Each of us is full of ambivalence. We want a thousand contradictory things, consciously, semi-consciously, entirely unconsciously. Magick of the will aligns and balances all those conflicting desires so that you can choose consistently and effectively to achieve a given end.

Will is an elusive magick that varies radically from person to person. Like music, painting or writing, it can be taught, but like any art, it is based on talent and taste. It is practiced by every successful person in the world, although few would regard it as magick. The ability to choose consistently and well, at least within a narrow focus, is essential to success in almost every undertaking.

There are easy ways to achieve will. Some of the peskiest and most disruptive of our desires are ethical and emotional. Simply by suppressing these, you can become much more effectively decisive. Fortunately, few people want to pay that price. Indeed, it may be that no one has the resources to pay that price, except by foolish borrowing.

Will is like health. Many of us are blessed with it initially, but to keep it takes luck, attention and good habits. Many of the disciplines of what we narrowly refer to these days as “magick” can be helpful, but plenty of people who have never used the word are masters of will magick.

Finally, there is magick of the spirit, the magick of listening to the quiet voices. This is a magick that is easy to lose in modern life. Plenty of atheist engineers and salesmen may be better sorcerers or better at will magick than you or I, but few of them have found a way to meet their spiritual needs.

Following Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, many of us have come to see the roots of our spiritual yearnings sinking deep into our unconscious minds, down among primal cultural artifacts and almost universal archetypes. Whether they re-emerge on the other side of the unconscious into an astral reality is a philosophical question, not a practical one. After all, satisfying the deep yearnings of your unconscious mind is important whether or not you want to believe that the spiritual world is “real.” Lots of people know that it is, and lots of other people know it isn’t, but I don’t like the question.

I’m very clear that something really happens when I give myself over to magick of the spirit. It happens often, particularly if I make the effort to let it. It happens in loving sex just about every time. It happens at the oddest moments. It happens in meditation, speaking with a goddess or a god. But particularly, it happens when I connect to the spirits of place, of the earth.

Sitting on the ragged stones at the edge of the sea watching patterns in the water, crouched with my back to a rock high in the mountains, listening to the songs of the wind, standing among the old trees in a forest glade feeling rain on my face, I find myself lost in wonder. Minutes pass when I am far, far away. I come back changed. My yearning is answered and affirmed. These are moments of pure magick for me. I don’t know what happens, but I know it’s important. It doesn’t have to do with getting some specific thing I want or honing my will; it has to do with receiving some kind of deep sustenance.

This magick of spirit goes well beyond our wisdom.

Working With Magick Lamps

Working With Magick Lamps

The type of lamp used to make these magick lamps is the hurricane or kerosene lamp. Like the gris-gris bags, the magick lamps are made for many purposes. The basic fuel used in making these lamps is a blend of castor, oil, olive oil and kerosene. Here you will use two-thirds kerosene to one-third oil mixture. To this basic fuel mixture is added other ingredients which are analogous to the work being done. Here you will add diverse ingredients such as magnets, essential oils, herbs, pepper, red wine, etc.

When properly made, the lamps have excellent results. The results obtained from working with lamps is best when prayers are said as you fill the lamp with more fuel each day at the same time. Once the lamp is lit, it cannot be extinguished until satisfaction is obtained. If you don’t need to fill the hurricane lamp as you say your prayer, then the lamp is moved in a circular motion, clockwise, as you repeat your desire. The prayer which has always been given to use with the lamp has always been directed to a particular Saint (Catholic influence).

Instead of directing prayers to Saints, Pagans can invoke their Gods and Goddesses.

Magic 365: Six Simple Ways To Practice Magic Every Day

Magic 365: Six Simple Ways To Practice Magic Every Day

Author: Violet Seas

Practicing the Craft takes exactly that: practice. It is much like writing, I’ve found, in that if you don’t make a plan to somehow, in some way, fit it into your busy schedule every day of the week, it lies fallow. This seems likes a lot, as if somehow in our crazy times, in which we make time for foolish things like Facebook or Angry Birds, or the dreaded Farmville, finding time to practice this wonderful religion of ours is simply out of the question. But it’s not impossible, in fact, it’s simple and easy, and there’s one for every type of magick you can think of.

Wash It Off
Ritual baths are a wonderful way to cleanse your aura and focus your thoughts before ritual, but honestly, who has the time? Instead of a lengthy soak, try starting (or ending) your day with a cleansing shower. Visualize all your negativity washing down the drain with the dirt and grime. For added emphasize, you can purchase a special body wash for this purpose. I love to use a blend of eucalyptus and spearmint that works as a stress reliever after a very long day. As you towel off, you can go through your blessings of the God and Goddess, which is a great practice for self-love, as well as daily magick.

Stone Empowerment
One of the easiest ways I’ve found to bring in magick is simple stone magick. I have a plethora of tumbled stones chosen and empowered with intent. When you wake up in the morning, make it part of your routine. Get up, get dressed, and get empowered. You can choose to carry one in your pocket or bra, put a few in a pouch, or you can make your own stone jewelry and wear your charms wherever you go. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as wire wrapping stones into pendants, or simply gluing stones to staple pieces. A wealth of base bracelets, rings, and even earring findings can be found at your local craft store, just waiting to be spelled. Quartz or selenite is a great place to start, for simple cleansing, empowerment, and protection. Try fluorite for knowledge retention, bloodstone for strength, tiger’s eye for courage, or howlite for a soothing calm.

Herbal Accessories
If you’re more inclined to herbal magick, you can wear an oil made of your favorite herbs, or simply put your favorite blend in a locket or secret-ring. With a $3 investment in a tea-ball you could brew a concoction to get your morning starting off with an extra boost, or calm a stressful day. For more permanent charms, you could sew a small pouch of herbs into a favorite scarf or knit hat for an herbal remedy you can wear every day when you need the comfort. A little lavender in a cage ring can help calm your mind in a stressful situation, and a little sage close by is great for clearing mental clutter.

Daily Divining
Doing a tarot card or rune a day is the best way to familiarize yourself with the energies of your desk, and simply to memorize their meanings! They are important tools of magick, and if you wish to utilize them, they require lots and lots of practice, just like any other instrument you utilize in your life. Did you learn bake a cake perfectly the first time? Then what makes you think a tarot deck will work without fail on your initial reading? Practice, practice, ladies and gents! You can do a simple spread for a quick interpretation, or something more complex, such as the Sword or the Mandela format. Pendulums are great as well. You could do these techniques as you settle down to bed to see what’s in store for you tomorrow.

Beauty Blessings
A bottle of witch hazel (found next to the rubbing alcohol in the medical section) , rose petals, a rose quartz, and one simple incantation (Imperfections go away; beauty of Venus come forth today!) makes an inexpensive, yet powerful, beautification potion. Your spell will be ready in one week, simply shake daily and chant the aforementioned incantation, which again, takes only moments. Simply dab it over a cotton ball and use as you would any facial cleanser or toner. It takes just a few seconds, and can easily be incorporated into your daily beauty ritual for clearer skin and a smoother complexion.

Brighten Up
Lighting a candle takes just a few seconds, and the scent, the sight, can ease our pains and alight the senses. It is said that having a white candle lit often can activate the spirit of your house, bringing about a greater sense of peace and comfort. You don’t need that gigantic candle that costs more than a silk shirt either. I use a simple pentagram soapstone candle holder from a thrift store and a white tea light a day, which can be purchased in bags of 150 for a few dollars at your local Wal-Mart. Not so tricky now, is it? And you can use candle magick for all sorts of things every single day, whether it’s a great big candle you snuff out daily, or tiny handmade kosher candles that you can find in the aisle of your local grocery store. You can make it part of your morning as a simple affirmation for something you’re looking to change in your life. Whether it’s a reminder for strength, self-love, or acceptance, you’re limited only by your imagination.

Magick is everywhere. We know this. It is a force in all we encounter and everything we do… every breeze, every flower, every book, and every breath. There’s no need to feel as if it is some far away, impossible to obtain, thing. It is as in your grasp as the computer mouse beneath your hand and the keyboard beneath your fingertips. Magick awaits. Take hold of it, command it, and use it wisely.


Footnotes:
Everyday Witchcraft by Dorothy Morrison

To Be or Not to be Skyclad

To Be or Not to be Skyclad

Author: Lady Abigail

As a High Priestess of a Coven, I am often asked by initiates if the Coven works “skyclad.” When a coven works skyclad, they will or should be upfront about it when you first approach them for membership. Any group that springs this on you after you have joined is unethical and not a group you want to be involved with.

To work skyclad means to work only clad or dressed within the sky and nature; nude, within all the powers that be; to work magick and ritual unencumbered by mortal threads.

It sounds wonderful, don’t you think? Just you and a few very close friends, all standing around in nature. One with the God/dess, not to mention a few thousand mosquitoes and other biting things.

Please don’t misunderstand; I love nature in all of her boundless beauty. But being dressed or undressed to work ritual or magick in circle seems more of a stress than release to most.

I am not saying that one tradition is any better than another because they leave their clothes on or drop the cloak. Don’t assume because I choose not to work skyclad that I have never have. Although I have found over the years that, many times, the idea of working skyclad gets lost and somehow misused by some less than honorable people who will take advantage of any opportunity to abuse.

The human body is a magickal and beautiful part of magick. Nudity without shame is also a statement of freedom from prejudice, inhibition, coercion, and so on. However, some people are not comfortable with the idea of nudity, and that should be equally acceptable.

Working skyclad is traditional for some groups. Many Gardnerian covens still perform their rites skyclad.

The idea has been stated that it was a common practice for the Old World Witches to do ritual and magick skyclad. I disagree. I don’t believe that Native American Shaman or Celtic Witches would have stood in the shivering cold while trying to perform magick as their fingers (not to mention other parts) became frost bitten from the ice and snow. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

The reasons given for working skyclad are many and varied. Most are also sincere in design.

According to some, clothing blocks the energy. This is a personal issue. For myself, the icicles hanging off my butt cheeks block way more energy than that cotton tunic.

I have heard that being nude in ritual deepens the trust between coven members. If I have trust issues with a Coven or its members, standing in front of them with all my wrinkles hanging out isn’t going to increase my trust. Being naked for some is an issue of shame or embarrassment. For whatever reason this may be, once shamed, they will never trust or be less for it.

It is believed that removing the robes will remove all indications of rank, and therefore places all members as equals. Again, a good concept. But the truth is that Joe Bob is still Joe Bob, with and without his clothes.

Being able to remove one’s clothes shows the level of commitment one has to the Craft and/or coven. My level of commitment comes from my heart and soul, not how or whether I am dressed.

Being dressed or skyclad should not affect how you work ritual or magick. There should be nothing sexual about performing rituals in the nude, but in this society, it is hard to keep the crazies out and keep the circle protected from them all.

Do not feel that you must go skyclad because that’s what real Witches do. Real Witches decide for themselves. Feeling uncomfortable during ritual will only detract from your purpose. So if you feel awkward being naked with others or even alone, then cover up.

As a child, I was allowed to watch and, in time, participate in rituals and circle with my Great Grandmother. She and the Sister (her coven) would gather and work great mystical rites of magick. They didn’t read books on what made them Witches, they just knew. They didn’t allow anyone to tell them how to do it, they just did. They didn’t worry about how it was, it just was. And not once did they work or perform any of their sacred magick skyclad. They knew magick is magick until you make it something less.

Some people have something special to wear whenever working ritual and magick. It should be something personal to you alone. It can be a medieval gown, a tunic or jeans and t-shirt. But only wear it for working and bless it to that end. Be comfortable in whatever you choose.

Some arguments for working skyclad can be found in the book Aradia, also called the Gospel of the Witches, by Charles G. Leland. In the Aradia, Witches in worship are specifically instructed to conduct their rites naked as a sign that ‘ye shall be truly free’. Because of this book, many have decided that all rites should be conducted skyclad. I enjoy Leland’s book, parts of which are extremely poetic. However, say it is the basics for a structure of a religion I disagree with.

Also put forth as evidence is artwork and early engraving by artists such Albrecht Durer. In 1497 his engraving portrayed four women undressing for a Witchcraft ritual. If this is the evidence, then no man shall be a Witch. Does no one think it odd that men, during a time when even men were somewhat oppressed, would tell stories or draw the Witches or women naked in their magickal workings?

Witchcraft, ritual and magick unite us on a higher level; One with the oldest Gods and Nature. The freedom and exhilaration of dancing under a Full Moon is one of the ways of drawing close to all those energies and powers. But that freedom should not come at the price of your personal power. You choose if your dance shall be in the sky or skyclad. Magick should always hold a bit of mystery.

If you are considering joining a coven and they perform their rituals skyclad, but you do not feel comfortable with it, find another coven. Do not expect any group to bend their rules for you, just as you should not bend your personal power or comfort to fit any coven or group.

Dance as if no one were watching,
Sing as if no one were listening,
And live every day as if it were your last.

Lady Abigail
High Priestess Ravensgrove Coven
Orlando, Fl
Copyright © 01012006

Amazing Grace

Witchy Comments

Amazing Grace
~pagan version~

(Author unknown)

Amazing Grace
How sweet the Earth,
That bore a Witch like me.
I once was burned,
Now I survive.
Was Hanged but now I sing.
‘Twas Grace, That Drew
Down the Moon,
and Grace that Raised
the Seas,
The Magick in,
The people’s Will
Will Set our Mother Free.
We Face The East,
and breathe the winds,
That move across the Earth,
From gentle breeze to hurricane,
our breath will bring forth change.
Turn Towards the South,
and Feel the Fire,
That burns in you and me,
The Spirit’s flame shall rise again,
and Burn Eternally.
We Greet the West
Our Souls awash,
In Tides of Primal Birth,
Our Pain and blood, Our Tears and love
Shall cleanse and heal the Earth.
Reach in to North,
and Know your roots,
Down Deep ancestral Caves.
We find the Wisdom of the Crone,
of Circles we are made.
Amazing Grace
How Sweet the Earth
That bore Witches like We.
We once were burned
Now we survive
were hanged and now we sing.
Goddess bless,
So mote it be
Our Magick Spirals on,
Merry meet and Merry Part
and Merry meet Again.

 
~Magickal Graphics~

Three Sisters Candle Magick (Seed Moon)

Three Sisters Candle Magick

(Seed Magick)

Use this candle spell to divine your future.

You will need a blue candle, a gold candle and a white candle. A branch of pyromancy, lychnomancy uses candle flames to divine the future. The three sisters in Greek mythology had an all-seeing eye that they continually passed between them. This spell combines these concepts to give you a way of divining what’s going on in your life.

At midnight, draw a magick circle and call in the Elements. Light the candles and arrange them in a triangle. Call in the three sisters into your circle by saying:

I summon the three sisters

With their all-seeing eye

Come flicker in the flame

Come show me my future tonight!

First you need to establish a rapport with the candle flames like you would three sisters. Observe the movement of each of the flames as to whether it wavers, spirals, or burns brighter or faster than the other two. Ask a few basic questions that you know the answers to, and see how the flames respond. See how the movement seems to run among the three of them as if they’re passing the all-seeing eye back and forth between them. After you have a rapport with the candle flames, then begin asking the questions you want to know about the future, and watch the flames of the three sisters do their magick. Write down your questions and answers in your journal.

When you are done, thank the three sisters, bid farewell to the Elements, and pull up the circle.

Faery Tale Magick (Seed Moon)

Faery Tale Magick

(Seed Magick)

Use this spell to encourage dreams of faery land.

You will need a white candle, a chamomile tea bag, a pinch of lavender, a teaspoon of honey, an a cup of hot water. Faeries appear after dark and they dance through the night, cloaked in the shimmering white light of the moon. The magick of faeries runs strong, providing an ideal time for making your life’s faery tale come true with the help of the faeries.

Begin by writing out your faery tale in your journal, starting with, “Once upon a time….” Write down the things that you feel would help your life turn out “happily ever after.” Light the white candle and dedicate it to magickal energy of the faeries by saying:

I light this candle to the fair people

Please come into my circle
Friendly and helpful fae
Bring your moonlight magick
Into my faery tale tonight.
 

Brew your dream tea by putting the chamomile tea bag and pinch of lavender flowers together in the cup of hot water and let them steep. Add a spoonful of honey for sweetness. As you sip the mixture, go over in your mind all of the aspects of your faery tale. Imagine taking the steps and doing the things you need to do to help make your life turn out happily. Give yourself the suggestion to dream tonight about your faery tale. After finishing your dream tea, lie down for bed and repeat the following suggestion while drifting to sleep:

Tonight, my dreams and faery tale are one and the same, and I will remember my dreams when I wake up.
 

First thing in the morning write down everything you recall from your dreams in your journal.

A Morning Blessing

Celtic & British Isles Graphics
Morning Blessing

Gracious Creator/rix, Who lives within Me,

Help me to understand Your ways.

Guide my feet as they trod Your Path

And keep me safely out of harm’s way.

Teach me to trust myself, my inner child,

and my instincts.

For I am a product of Your Creative Force;

Andy by my very existence

Form an important part of Your Universal Plan.

Make my life not a test,

But instead–a joy

And Speak to me through my intuitive nature

So that I cease to see my whims and fancies

As mere frivolity.

Let me view them, instead,

As what they are—

An important part of who I am

In Your World.

So Mote It Be.

Magickal Graphics

Making Wands and Staffs

Making Wands and Staffs

Making your own wands and staffs, or any magickal tool for that matter, will give you a greater understanding of that tool while attuning yourself to your own natural powers and abilities. Naturally fallen branches and tree limbs should be used when creating your own magick wands and staffs whenever possible. Take a walk in the woods, especially after a storm, to look for fallen tree branches. The tree spirits, sometimes referred to as devas, may become resentful if you cut down a living branch. If you must cut down a branch from a living tree, first make sure the tree is on your own property or that you have the permission of the land owner. Then, visit the tree and meditate on how you are going to shape the limb into a wand or staff for use in your magick work. Then ask permission of the tree spirits and thank them for their gift.

A variety of decorations can be incorporated into your wands to imbue them with extra magickal energy. Copper wire is often wrapped around a wand, as this metal is an excellent conductor of energy. A variety of decorative items can be added to the copper wire before it is wrapped around the wand, such as beads, buttons, feathers and small gemstone beads. In addition silver wire can be used to represent goddess energy, while gold wire can be used to represent god energy.

A special stone or crystal can be added to one or both ends of the wand if desired. Embellishing the top of the wand with a crystal is thought to represent male and god energy. Embellishing the bottom of the wand by carving a hold or cutting a slit in it is thought to represent female and goddess energy.

Tools of Witchcraft

Tools of Witchcraft

Some tools like the boline, cauldron or mortar and pestle serve entirely functional uses, but in addition to practicality, witches’ tools are also magickal tools–tools that are perceived as radiating their own magick power. Different tools radiate different energies. Individual tools express specific spells and rituals, for instance candles radiate the power of fire.

Among the ways of determine what type of power a tool radiates is to consider what kind of materials are used in it creation. Thus a wooden magick wand places the power of trees into the hands of it wielder. Sometimes this is obvious, sometimes the radiant energy is more subtle. The concept of gazing into a crystal ball derived from gazing into the moon. A crystal ball essentially brings the moon inside and enable you to access lunar magick anytime not just during the Full Moon. The moon is identified with water and women. These associations have passed on to the crystal ball, which is perceived as radiating feminine, watery energy.

Female and male energies, yin and yang, are considered the most powerful radiant energies on Earth. Unifying these male and female forces provides the spark for creation, and what is a magick spell after all but an act of creation? Instead of a new baby, ideally new possibilities, solutions, hopes, and outcomes are born from each magick spell.

A high percentage of magickal tools radiate male or female powers. Many tools represent the unification of these forces. Earth’s most ancient religions venerated the sacred nature of the human genitalia, representing male and female generative power.

Sacred spiritual emblems evolved into tools of witchcraft. Many magickal tools now hide in the kitchen disguised as ordinary kitchen utensils including sieves, pots and cauldrons, cups and chalices, mortar and pestles, knives, dinner bells and most famously, the broom. To some extent this parallels the hidden history of women: once worshipped or at least respected as goddesses, priestesses, and community leaders, for centuries (and in some circles) women were perceived as the weaker, less intelligent, meek gender, fit for little other than preparing meals. Women’s old tools of power lurked in the kitchen with them. In recent years, however, witches and their tools have emerged from their broom closets to reveal their long suppressed powers.

In fact many tools serve dual uses: few ancient people had the variety or quantity of possessions that many take for granted today. The average kitchen witch of not that long ago made magick with whatever was at hand. She didn’t have a catalog of wares to choose from. Rare, precious items were treasured but, by definition, these were accessible to only a very few.

One cauldron served a family purposes: from creating nutritious soup of concocting healing brews to crafting magick potions. The mortar and pestle ground up herbs materials for whatever purpose was currently needed: healing, magick or cooking. In a holistic world, purposes may not have been considered distinct in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) where medicinals are sometimes given via food. Edible, medicinal ingredients are prescribed and may contain magickal protective elements as well.

Ask These Questions Before You Cast A Spell


Witchy Comments

~Magickal Graphics~ 

Ask these questions before you cast a spell

1) Have I done everything I can to resolve the situation without magic?

Try all the mundane methods of attaining your goals before resorting to spellcraft. If you want a job, send out your resume before you break out the green candles and patchouly. If you want to meet someone special, try reading the personals or signing up for an adult ed class before you reach for the aphrodisiacs. If you’re having conflict with someone at work, try talking to them about the problem before you go looking up binding spells. As one experienced witch put it to me, “this way, you can be sure that your intentions are pure.”

2) Will this spell harm another, or bend someone’s will to mine?

Please refer to the Wiccan Rede. Witches do not cast spells meant to harm someone else. Nor do they cast spells on other people without their permission, no matter how honorable their intentions. There’s a good reason for this: harmful and meddlesome spells have a nasty tendency to backfire on the people who cast them.

When you’re watching someone close to you suffering, it can be hard to consider the situation objectively. One reader asked me about spells to help alleviate anger. When I dug deeper, it turned out that spellcraft was entirely inappropriate. If possible, discuss the matter with another trusted pagan friend. If there’s no one around to consult with, try asking someone in the chat room or the Forum.

3) Am I prepared to accept the consequences of this spell, whatever they might be?

Think long and hard about this one. As I’ve said before, you may cast a spell with the best of intentions, but end up with unexpected consequences. Meditate a bit on it before you decide to cast the spell. Talk to other witches and see if there isn’t a better solution.

Either way, your spell has a better chance of success if you fully “own” it, and anything that results from it. The best way to avoid unforseen consequences is to follow the guidelines set out above — and, most importantly, to cast the spell with love in your heart. Making magick is a powerful and transformative experience. In the midst of the spell, you become the subject, and you become the result. Make sure that what you’re asking for is something you’d like to become.

Remember, the most powerful tool a witch has is their mind. As we can only perceive reality, we can bend it by changing states of consciousness. The universe is like a web, we can change the strands, and we can even break them with our magick. Be careful of what you do. Before every magickal working ask yourself:

‘Do I dare disturb the fragile energies of the universe?’

A spell cast on someone without their permission can be considered as manipulative magick. Even when the best of thoughts are at heart, you must tell them your intentions, or deal with the consequences. Sometimes it isn’t possbile to tell someone you want to cast a healing spell on them,so outweight the benefits to the negative consequences.

A spell which bends will or binds it to yours is completely WRONG. Do not perform them unless absolutely necessary, and by that I only mean bindings and transformations, and if you have no other alternatives, banishings. If you are under some sort of physcial attack, for example abuse, rape or harrassment, see the police immediately, do not attempt to bend their will through a spell.

A spell cast to harm someone is just as wrong as bending their will, if not more so. Do not cast a spell to cause ill to a convited murderer, a friend who has gosspped about you, no matter what the magnitude. If it is a felony or illegal under law, get the law enforcers involed. Remember you human rights, and theirs also.

A spell which is personal gain is OK *AS LONG AS* you do not demand too much. Be careful for what you ask for, you just might get it.

Necromancy for Today

Necromancy for Today
image
Author: Bluethorn

A truth of this divination can be found in many paths of the world, yet for myself I have discovered a way of bringing forth what lies in this realm from within. Although perhaps thought of when the implication of ‘within’ is stated as solely useable by the writer, in this case as in all cases of truth writing, this is not so and can be easily learned by anyone with patience and a true will for all things magick.

I state divination as magick because I feel that it is a power to be learned through true faith in its ideology, and because this power does not belong in the hands of the common mundane person.

Necromancy as a practice of spirit divination is something I will be explaining from my own personal account and of events that have taken place within one or more of my past incarnate lives.

As with all things magick in my life, I bring forth the spirit I seek from within myself, or I simply go to it, for I feel that although these methods perhaps do not follow what society tells us of necromancy, they are safe and practical.

First we must destroy within our minds this ridiculous idea that society has given us of what this divination is all about, there is no secret knowledge of an afterlife, no spirit knows more than you, no luck or special power can be called to serve you, and no spirit can be conjured up to do your bidding.

All beings of this world and beyond are contained within the same set of rules which apply to us as living entities and are with us at all times as we are all one with the world.

True necromancy is a divination of empowering the spirit of others into ourselves, of traveling in astral form through space and time to visit the carnate life of the spirit we take within. Indeed this power can be used in the same fashion to take our own spirit to this level, and reawaken the dormant past of our own previous lives, if we may wish so.

In most cases we find that the only things we can learn from within this magick are of lessons of pain, suffering and death, for all spiritual beings, which have died, have felt all of these things and more.

A great reason through for learning of these things is to prevent them from becoming our fate; for all beings of this world endure the most tragic of lessons in one or more of their lives, but to die and learn that lesson can bring forth a salvation of reliving that lesson ever again, in any of our reincarnations.

In the end; when all lessons of pain and suffering have been learned we are free to live a good life, far from any of these horrific things; yet to learn them is to experience them completely as they were learned by the spirit we take into us, that alone can be far too much for an unprepared person to conceive.

As an initiator of necromancy the preceding path is given solely as a construct for us to build upon, thankfully there are vast more pleasurable and positive aspects of life to be learned than there are of darker things. At the time when we have learnt of all that death can teach us, the spirit world no longer holds the barring darkness of pain out for us, and we can now be taught the rest, if we may so wish it.

A problem I see with taking this beyond where we are is that if a lesson of peace or love for instance is learned then we will not spend a lifetime enjoying and learning of it, as many of the goodly lessons take entire lifetimes (sometimes more) to learn.

If one was to say ‘what occurs when all lessons have been learned?’ a simple answer is that they truthfully have not, for in the end, the final lesson is to dissipate and be reborn as a new spirit, and simply to begin learning once again from scratch.

At this time I suppose that all sounds quite theoretical, yet you will see and begin to understand the reasoning I have for writing all of this soon enough if you can continue to read on under your own free will to the following sections.

Beyond the Theoretical 1 –

History tells us of many people who have delved within the realm of Necromancy, written of conjuration and selfish gain from such a thing, yet just like all history it is written solely with lies and hardly ever sparks any remote truth. A truth is that these people spoken of in most cases were very close to death, they believed this to be an ending extreme of magick, all looked inward on them selves as if it would be a bad or evil thing to work this divination.

In a world of manifesting reality such a thing became so for them, and perhaps a spirit did manifest and carry them away, yet it was not due to the divinatory aspects of what they did, it was due to their fear which manifested for them.

No great demon or throng of demonic spirit will appear if you can understand the reality and truth of nature, that being that these things do not exist unless we give them power to do so.

A great magick user could create such a reality if bent on doing so a lot easier than a thousand weak folk believing in a Hell, for this reason it is safe to practice such a thing if taken from the self if we follow the truth of it.

Not to say that magick of within is weaker, simply that when we learn it properly there no longer exists anything to protect ourselves from, as it is entirely from us, and not ‘borrowed’ from elsewhere.

In its entirely, the self is never ending and borderless with no limitation or barring rules to hold us back, it is the elements united, the path of the Stars, the day and the night, and all things great or small of all realms, for within us is a mirroring of all the great patterns and strengths of the world.

Drawing of power from within yields us the same result as without (or from some object or tool), except that since it is from within we have absolute control and understanding of it, and so in actuality our results are far more potent and can be indefinitely more powerful if we wish them to be.

I believe that a wondrous aspect of self magick is that we require no preparation, circle, candle, wand, or anything of that sort for there is no conduit beyond us, and no fear of failure, resulting in absolute dominance of our minds and magick with no doubt available whatsoever.

What doubt could arrive if we remove all tools and variables that could hinder anything from occurring? Without a doubt or deterrence we are free to live however we may wish, if this path draws us into learning then Necromancy is a tool which we can utilize for such self education.

Although self education may seem pointless in a world where a piece of paper is more substantial than an intellectual mind, when we see the true knowledge and begin to learn of it, there is no longer a cause to worry about such papers, as you become empowered with what it takes to succeed on your own terms.

No one educated by society is ever remembered as unique or as an innovator, it is when they tear away from society and grasp reality that they become great and empowered with what it really takes to shine in this world. Perhaps it may sound illogical to state that self knowledge can be learnt through a method of empowering the self with the spirit of others, but in actuality this path is self knowledge because the spirit world around us is one with us, unlike what people write in books with the idea of making money.

Arguably as the idea of learning or writing text books to actually teach goes, from those who write such things it may seem that their intent is to teach and they are rewarded with money, yet the reality of it is that these people would not write them if no one would read their work. No publisher would pay anyone to write anything that no one would read or buy, and so textbooks for classroom education would not be written.

With this idea in mind we can now see that all modern written learning instruments of our society exist solely to make money, and therefore self education is far more pure and enlightening path to follow. Self-education is a path of learning what we must know for ourselves, as we only learn what we care about and what is meaningful to us, as opposed to a bunch of useless facts to ‘plump up’ a book for publication, solely to meet page quotas.

Learn of this magick for yourself and you will be rewarded with the confidence and power to change the entire world around you for the better, and the prosperity of your life will easily become evident.

Beyond the Theoretical 2 –

True Necromancy begins as any form of divination, with a unification of the source you are working with, to drive a shade of that medium upon yourself. Although when many think of Necromancy they automatically think of graveyards, cemeteries and crypts, yet in reality death is all around us, most evidential in the Fall when crops die and trees go to sleep.

In the Spring or Summer it is difficult to utilize a Necromantic approach as the world is being reborn and living, yet it is not impossible to attain a shroud of death upon yourself. Essentially death is the reformation of the body to the Earth construct to which it began, by the removal of the Water, Fire, and eventually Air from the body, leaving only the Earth to rest, or to begin again.

It is essential to note that places of earthly magnificence are empowered by the initiating construct and prime to necromantic endeavor, since they contain little to none of the empowering elements.

Perhaps interesting to note that most spiritual seekers in the world find their answers in places most devoid of light (Fire), motion (Water) and of a sort of dank or stagnant Air formation, for in these places there is no great spiritual presence over any other except for that of the Earth.

In Necromancy there are many approaches that work successfully and I will explain a few of them briefly, including a few negative or positive aspects of each.

1. To become as the dead and take upon yourself this shroud is to remove much of the elements from yourself as possible. By not eating we remove energy and become weak (no Fire), by not drinking we move the Water, eventually we will find shortness of breath and lose the Air as well. A bad part of this is that it may be difficult to recover if we have not worked with elemental empowerment in the past, and by becoming so close to the Earthly construct we could die.

2. We could remove the elements from our surroundings and create within our rooms an aura of stagnant death that could then open up a greater presence of spiritual awareness. Doing so may include things like closing the blinds to your room, not touching anything for a long time or visiting it at all, closing all air vents and removing the production of any circulation in the air, creating a sense of how it would be like to visit a crypt type environment. A drawback of this is that it might take weeks to prepare, and leave lasting effects within your home such as odors or terrible air conditions.

3. You could visit a crypt at a cemetery, or a place that has been undisturbed for many months or years to work your Necromantic practice. A major set back I see of this is that divination goes hand in hand with meditation or trance work of this level, and may render you motionless for hours straight. The deeper you go the easier it becomes to get engrossed in its power and lose connection with your physical self for great periods of time. When experienced with this work however it becomes easier to regain your stature and return to your physical manifestation if the needs arise, however to begin with this is highly difficult.

4. A practice, which I utilize, is the containment of an aura of Earth within me through the elemental world, in this we awaken our senses to feel and see the aura around us, and replace our current aura wit hone of the Earth. I have written much of this in other guides however and do not feel it to be a necessity to go far beyond the scope of this topic. If you wish to draw upon the power of the elemental auras then I would insist that you explore those sections on the rest of my website.

Beyond the Theoretical 3 –

The bonding of the self towards a necromantic approach can be seen in each of these, some can be combined with others, as can easily be seen by reading them over. Basically the idea is to become at a point where the spirit world of the dead (or construct of the Earth), can enter our bodies through an astral or elemental channel. If we succeed in the attainment of this connection we will become as the spirit is, free from the physical and elevated beyond the ethereal plane, in a form of trance we will have attained the connection we require.

After this connection has been established it will be quite easy to travel or call upon elements of the spirit world for we will be quite similar to how it manifests upon the astral plane we are now part of. Although theoretics yield us the fundamentals we require there is an aspect of divine magick, which we must utilize, for it is not simply enough to walk within a place of spiritual awareness and become part of it, and so I will write of the steps I take.

The following however is my personal account of such a thing and as a personal path of self empowerment, it works for me because I have brought it forth from within myself and so it may perhaps not work for many others, yet the fundamentals are there to learn of.

The Drawing of Power –

From within the Earth a power of the spirit lingers, drawn by the will to contend with the people of magick to unite its ways with those of the living. As one with us all it is in a sense already with us, yet to draw on its power for an awakening to its nature we must empower ourselves with its manifestation. In the ways to which we would draw the power of the element of Earth within us, we will follow the path to this end as well, for as it is a unification with the Earth in a basic sense anyway.

The drawing of Earth power comes up and into us from our base just as the Earth to plant life occurs, beginning at our feet it travels up to our base and spread through us from there. At the time the power reaches our mind, it also reaches our hands and fingers, and so the unity of the mind to a conduit of physical transference is now reached.

If this is done in a place of death as prepared above, the spirit of the Earth will come within, instead of the element of Earth, and thus empowering us with the spirit. Assurance that it is a spirit of the dead comes by chanting something along the lines of:

“Bring forth a spirit whose death I haven’t known,
Empower me with a life to which I have yet been shown”

Of course this is a simple chant, yet it works all well for me, run it through your mind and voice as you begin, until you can no longer think of these words, as they are part of you.

These are my words and yet they may work for everyone, I’m not entirely sure, they rhyme solely because I find them easier to remember the deeper into this work I get, and just as this is, all things of this world will blur and eventually disappear the deeper you get into your trance.

There is of course more preparation, which must come into play to ensure true results beyond simply selecting a place, and calling some words, for most people’s minds are far too skeptical for this to work without some kind of persuasion.

We will create that persuasion through further drawing the shroud of death around us, in the end though this ‘buffer of persuasion” will no longer be required as we will never doubt it again.

Persuading the Mind 1 –

To persuade anything in our society into the minds of the skeptical we must create a manifestation of its attributes in a physical manner so that an understanding can occur. Many years ago this was not so, as people believed in many more things than today, nevertheless thought we can create a shroud of persuasion which will alter our perceptions into seeing and believing a truth of magick. Altered perception comes when we have enveloped all five primary senses to states where they can see, hear, smell, touch and taste a thing; in this case the spiritual manifestation of death.

1. Sight is perhaps the easiest of senses to persuade and the most awakening for its power to convince us of a thing almost in its self draws what we need. I think it is humorous to note that society has blinded us so much to what reality actually is that all we have to do is remove that blindness and restore our natural sight, yet for now we will use what we already believe as truth to persuade our sense of sight.

To allow a room to go untouched for a long period of time usually draws a blanket of cover over the air to produce a sort of ‘fog’ by casting odd shadows and interrupting our sense of sight from crystal clarity is a good step in the proper direction. Such a thing produces a sense of reality, which our eyes cannot focus on, especially if we are tired or have overstrained our eyes, which is a thing we will work towards accomplishing.

Although many say that hallucination often yields things that are not true to be seen, for that is the definition of hallucination anyway, though if we attune ourselves to a state where such illusions would occur enough, they become reality.

Stating such a thing may be odd, yet once you experience it through your own eyes the shadow and lights will no longer play tricks on them and you will see past the foggy air and find your focus on the spirit world.

2. It may, to begin with, be difficult to hear what we must focus on to alter our perceptions of reality in a positive degree, yet if we learn to close off the worldly distractions of our hearing we will find a sense of peace. To open this sense in the proper degree we must concentrate on listening to the natural in the mundane world, for although it is difficult to understand, it does exist in such a way that if we listen, it will speak to us.

When we close our hearing to distraction we find that we can hear our heart beating and hear the air touching us, these things come naturally and are tools we can use to focus on. I believe that hearing and touch go hand in hand with one another, as most sound simply touches our inner ear to certain ways, and the product of such a thing is that we hear it.

If we concentrate in the proper ways we can elevate our sense of touch to magnify our hearing, in essence whatever we may touch, we will also hear. Beyond simply hearing what we touch, we can elevate the power of this unity to a state where we hear noth8ing with our ears, only with our touch, and through that we can further block the sound interference by going further and into a trance like state.

Within the deduction of touch and sound we find that the less we feel physically, the less we become within the physical world and the easier it becomes to leave our bodies towards the beyond. We are left now with how this is a persuasion, well to find the unity of touch and hearing is to bring forth what holds us back from our goal in two more of the five senses of persuasion, together with the reality we bring from our hallucinatory condition we will now be able to hear the spirit world calling to us, and since we can hear it, if we bring back our sense of touch in the same degree, we can touch or feel it as well.

3. I’ve always found a quite close relation between smell and taste, and so I will explain the persuasion of these together as well. In actuality I suppose that all five senses are closely related in many ways, yet to separate them as I have done here creates an easier sense of the persuasion we can use, opposed to trying them all at once. To persuade these two senses in the proper direction is as simple as entering a room of stagnant air with low circulation, it sort of catches us and lingers on our skin in a quite odd way.

Going beyond this if we go a day or two without washing our mouths then something eerie and stagnant is bound to elevate our senses automatically with no persuasion, if you so wish it. I’ve heard and read that the closer a person becomes to actual death, the better for this work, even to a point of wearing a dead person’s clothes, and laying down in their casket for a sleep (although even I wouldn’t go this far). I suppose a way of persuasion is what it takes in any degree, yet a stable mind, focused on the magick and path ahead is far more potent a path than many other dramatic forms of persuasion.

Persuading the Mind 2 –

Beyond these small amounts of tips and whatnot lies the actual atmosphere around you, if for instance you feel more empowered by this work on a night of great rain, thunder, and lightning; then use that night as well. All of these things however, center on the same ideas of awakening within yourself what society has taught for all of your days as being wrong and foolish to pursue.

The real problem I see with society is that it does not wish you to become your own person and actually succeed in the world if you are not of a certain minority group. Society cares nothing at all for the middleclass, white male who obeys ‘law’, pays his taxes, and who lives his life going to work or school everyday hoping to one day get a break.

Although these people are invisible to the society of today by not oppressing themselves like minority groups solely for attention in one way or another, they still exist, and in the end no matter what a person believes or doesn’t believe, the fact is that these humans are born and die; when they die they all lose their life empowering elements, and decompose in the same way back to the Earth.

The body does such a thing as this, and as far as all religions go, they do not touch on that aspect of the worldly truth, the spirit may go on; but seeing as the body is always to the Earth, there is always a way to bring back some part of it, as the connection will exist for all eternity.

With this truth known, and the persuasion of magick achieved we are free to begin actual magick from the self, meaning that we are the guiding power of our magick, and the only tool we require is our own body. Within this work however there lies a certain fear perhaps of dying or being lost in the spirit world, we will create a buffer which ties our spirits to our bodies, and a warning system which will deny anything beyond what we want from happening, we can do this because we will be in total control of our fate. The buffer which will tie our spirit to our body comes by bringing with you objects which elevate your senses of taste, smell and hearing to levels which your body will sense as recognition and be glad to awaken to, of course these objects will lay around you yet the deeper you become immersed in this magick, the weaker your senses become to the physical world when traveling beyond ourselves.

By remembering and yearning for such tastes, smells, and sounds; our body will pull us back to our physical self. The denial of unwanted actions from occurring will come naturally to us when we have achieved a state where we leave our bodies, for in the same way this magick occurred we will go backwards from where we stand and the borders of where we go will always be evident, simply by stepping beyond our border permits us to step back in the same way.

A hardship of this is that it is addictive, and the further we go, the further we will want to go beyond that, and the longer it will take us to return; at some point if we are not smart enough to follow the correct path back, we may become lost; and our bodies may shut down after months or years if we take it to that degree.

Awakening the Spirit –

When we have succeeded at persuading our minds to believe what truth we seek, and have brought the shroud of death upon us we are ready for the next step. It is difficult to explain for certain of how this works as many times I’ve tried to teach of magick I’ve been met with blank, drooling faces, yet I will write of this and hope it is understood, by a logical person who thinks on their own I’m sure it will be no problem.

Drawing the spirit of others within is in essence a path we utilize to draw our own spirit to surface and be taught and empowered with the spirits around it. Though the previous writing of this guide tells of leaving the body, these things are as one; for to leave the body is to enter the spirit world, which is as well to be united and to learn from other spirits of the realm.

To draw upon the power to do so from ourselves we must first find the power in the physical world and become along the same wavelength as it; them we can draw it up from below us, in through our feet and into our minds.

An important thing to note before we begin is that we must bring some forms of healthy life with us to our magick, for upon the return from deaths surface, we must draw that power and life back into us or we will not succeed in returning.

To raise our arms above us as the mimicking perhaps of a great tree is the formation we will use to draw this power through us; just as the roots absorb the spirit of the Earth below, so shall we, yet in this case it will not be a nourishing spirit but one of decay and death for that is how the Earth spirit exists in our atmosphere and state of mind which we have created.

We will feel the spirit of death pulling our spirit from us the further it gets within, we will become weaker physically and be forced to either sit or lay down the further we go, if we do not sit or lay of our own will then we will be thrown to the floor.

The further still that we go, the further from our bodies will our spirit become, to a point of seeing it from just outside the body, to a ways away, and eventually we will no longer see or feel anything.

We will still be aware of our surroundings though as in the spirit world our senses work through our mind, and not our bodies; having no physical form permits no touch to be felt as would occur in the physical world, yet everything else will feel identical. The things will feel identical even to the point of walking upright on a solid ground (although this is simply how our minds perceive the spirit world).

The spirits we may come across in the spirit realm will be of a style towards which we would see ourselves, walking, interacting and speaking, just in the same fashion we would interact with one another. Having died perhaps in different ways, to speak with such spirits could create many quite unstable results.

Although it may seem as if we are merely speaking to them, the reality is that the spirit world manifests solely for us in our minds, and our perceptions have given us a resemblance of our physical world. In speaking or interacting to any point is to draw the spirit from our manifestation of the realm and into ourselves, upon doing so we find our experiences first hand of the lessons or knowledge that we seek.

In many ways we will not be aware of this interaction beyond speaking within the spirit world, yet upon our return to the physical we will be flooded with images, thoughts, feelings, and dreams of what the spirit we spoke with was teaching us. Within the spirit world we will have to face ourselves to separate from our spirit guide, to return to ourselves this can occur simply as saying “thank you” and walking away, when the release is accomplished and the spirit walks away in our manifest reality, it is leaving us in the physical world and our senses of elevation will be most evident to return to our bodies.

If this does not occur then simply waiting will tire our bodies eventually and pull us back with a guiding path to return with, if we disobey this path back and do not follow our senses of return then we may become lost, and join the realm with our own lessons to teach.

A Return –

Bringing forth the path of return from the spirit world is to essentially drive our spirit from the spirit realm back to our bodies. This can be tricky if not done properly for if we stay away too long in our awkward state, we may suffer brain or body damage and be forced to live with that unless we can heal ourselves.

A way to protect ourselves from having this occur is by keeping many living things of power close to us so when we leave our bodies, the living and positive energies will be available to heal us if we are gone and are unaware of what is occurring. Plants and caged animals serve this purpose well of staying near to us, as will certain large amounts of water in unmoving conditions, candles on surfaces where they will burn out before they set ablaze, and perhaps a window with sunlight or moonlight showing.

Things of living nature are essentially what we want for the spirit world is far from nature, and so nature will ease our return to our bodies as well as provide the nourishment we need to survive without our spirit. After the return to our bodies has taken place it is most essential to drink much water, to warm ourselves and to breathe fresh air, in essence to re-empower ourselves with the elements we have drawn out.

These techniques can of course be modified to suit anyone of any degree, and so just as this writing comes from myself, so will it from you if successfully achieved. If it has not worked then you are simply too attached to what society deems true, and when that falsehood leaves you, your results will be far more positive.

A Thinking Witch’s Approach to Silence (and Quantum Physics)

A Thinking Witch’s Approach to Silence (and Quantum Physics)

Author: Ehsha Apple

Most of us who teach, concentrate on the theological approaches to Paganism. This makes sense – it’s religion, right? But what if your worldview imagines “Science” as part-and-parcel with “Theology”? That’s where I found myself. And then I found that there were a good number of Pagans just like me. I teach a very impressive assortment of students who were not finding “purely religious approaches” to spirituality fulfilling. They needed something to tickle the academic part of their brains. For them, I formulated a series of courses that combine both science and theology. If you are like us, and you enjoy a dose of science in your religion, come along.

The very first lesson that I share with my students is the importance of silence. (1) Unfortunately, we still live in a place and a time where Paganism – or anything outside of the American Christocentric imperative – is not welcome. Primarily, this is because of misunderstanding, but such misunderstanding is often based in jingoistic bias. (I recommend my students watch the documentary, The Burning Times. While there is some conjecture about the numbers presented in this film, the overall point remains valid.) Of course, we don’t literally burn witches anymore but I have known plenty of people who have been burned by the judgment or ridicule of others. So, there is a very “real world” reason for Pagans to maintain silence and anonymity. This doesn’t mean that I support hypocrisy. I would never recommend that you “pretend” to be something that you are not, but I recommend that you think about all aspects of your secular life before making your spiritual life common knowledge.

Some of you are fortunate to live in open-minded arenas; some of you live in less amenable atmosphere. Some of you have broadminded families; some of your families will be angry, hurt, upset, or even fearful about your decision to study Pagan spiritualities. This isn’t their fault. More than likely, they will base their comments (if you decide to tell them) on their feelings of love for you and their misguided belief that you are “dabbling” in something dark, dangerous, or even demonic. (If you are just now deciding to tell your family or your work/social circle that you are Pagan, there is some really practical advice on Patti Wigington’s “About.com” pages.) Aside from avoiding judgment, there are other reasons to maintain silence. Maybe not about being Pagan, but about conducting a Pagan ritual. Many practitioners will tell you that they maintain silence to protect a coven secret or rite. This is all very appropriate and should be respected.

Before I begin talking about silence in earnest, I would like to explore a very important phrase: “To Know, To Dare, To Will, To Keep Silent.” As we all know, this phrase comes from The Four Powers of the Sphinx, written about most extensively by French occultist, Eliphas Lévi. And an introduction to the The Four Powers of the Sphinx comes from Lévi’s most popular work: Transcendental Magic. He states:

To attain the SANCTUM REGNUM, in other words, the knowledge and power of the Magi, there are four indispensable conditions–an intelligence illuminated by study, an intrepidity which nothing can check, a will which cannot be broken, and a prudence which nothing can corrupt and nothing intoxicate. TO KNOW, TO DARE, TO WILL, TO KEEP SILENCE–such are the four words of the Magus, inscribed upon the four symbolical forms of the sphinx.

The Sphinx, a composite creature, has the head of a man, the torso and paws of a lion, the rear of a bull, and the wings of an eagle. In its design, it signifies the Four Powers of the four Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. He adds:

You are called to be king of air, water, earth and fire . . . the human head, in order to possess speech; his the eagle’s wings, in order to scale the heights; his the bull’s flanks, in order to furrow the depths; his the lion’s talons, to make a way on the right and the left, before and behind.

To attain such an achievement it is necessary to KNOW what has to be done, to WILL what is required, to DARE what must be attempted and to KEEP SILENT with discernment.

We must WILL to create change
In order to WILL, we must DARE
In order to DARE we must KNOW
And to maintain control we must BE SILENT (show discipline)

To Know refers to the idea that the spiritual journey is one of knowledge. And that’s why we are all here. We must recognize that the quest for knowledge is never-ending. We must constantly be learning, questioning, and expanding our experiences. Also, we must know ourselves before we can know our true paths. “Know thyself.” That’s what the spiritual journey is really about in the end. If you are on this path because you want material riches and worldly power, you will be very disappointed. And you are short-changing yourself. The riches and the power you will obtain by examining yourself and finding your place in the grand scheme of things far supersede any material goods or earthly authority.

To Dare can be understand as “courage.” By daring to face the unknown, even the unknown within our Selves, we inevitably grow stronger.

To Will means more than determination and perseverance. The will is the ultimate tool of the practitioner (Magician, Witch, etc.) . Alistair Crowley, founder of Thelema, defines Magick as: “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.”

To Keep Silent seems obvious, but it’s more complex. Yes, being silent means that we do not share the teachings of our coven, that we do not “out” other members of the Pagan community, and that we do not discuss Magickal workings outside of the sacred circle. But it also means that we learn to maintain a level of stillness, inner silence.

This last point about silence brings me to another phrase: “In perfect love and in perfect trust.” Many Pagans use this phrase to indicate the sanctity of “trust” in our community. The safety provided by perfect love and perfect means that we are safe within our circle and that we avow to protect one another and to never harm one another. This is imperative. When working together (as a solitary, you may not face this) you must have complete trust in those working around you. The vulnerability that comes from functioning within a community – either physically or online – can make or break a magical work and a spiritual path.

But more importantly, I think, there are two reasons to keep silence. Both are very theoretical: one based in psycholinguistics and the other in quantum physics.

One major reason to keep silent involves the nature of Magick and of spoken language. For me, to speak is to conjure. Both Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan knew this. Power resides with those who control language. We can subvert language and we can evolve language, but we only do this because it is language that gives us such power. This is not only true in the cultural-linguistic realm, but this is true in the realm of Magick and Craftwork as well. Consider: most popular representations of “the magician” involves a “magic word”.

Think of Disney’s many magical characters and phrases, like: “Bippity-Boppity-Boo” of Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, “Prestigigitotium” of The Merlin, Angela Landsbury’s “Treguna Mekoitis Tracorum Satis Dee” and any number of things that came out of Mary Poppins’ mouth. Think of the many magical-sounding terms in the Harry Potter series. Think of “Open Sesame” from “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”. Think of almost any TV show or movie involving witchcraft (I particularly remember “Shazam” from the 1970s) . It makes sense that popular culture should represent a “magic word” as the key to all magical working.

Consider Ancient Creation Myths where the universe is spoken into existence by a god/dess (typically one god and one goddess representing order and chaos, respectively) : Mesopotamian, Mesoamerican, and Middle Eastern Creation Myths all include a “speaking” into creation (“And God said, ‘Let there be light, ’ and there was light”) . Further, there is the presumably-antediluvian Enochian (or Angelic) Language, given to Victorian Magicians, John Dee and Edward Kelly by the Great Angel Ave, which suggests that all things, even the apocalypse, can be spoken into existence.

This last part, to me, seems reason enough to keep silent!

If quantum physics is your thing, another reason to keep silent is to refrain from collapsing the wave. Ly de Angeles explains that consciousness, “the pattern of thought” as she calls it, “moves as light moves and is, therefore instantly there and instantly not. It is both particle and wave, as is light, which, incidentally is why spells are told to no one. To speak a thing is to collapse the wave” (Witchcraft: Theory and Practice. 7) .

I won’t pretend to be a physicist, I will do my best to draw an analogy between Magick and two popular scientific ideas. The first is the “Quantum Double Slit Experiment” and the second is “The Copenhagen Paradox” otherwise known as “Schrödinger’s Cat.” (2) Quantum Physics is the physics of atomic and subatomic levels, and quite honestly, the rules of “normal” physics do not apply on these levels. Electrons, protons, and neutrons move about without passing through the space between. In essence, they are constantly vacillating between existing and not existing. They literally “pop” in and out of existence. We don’t know why. We don’t know where they go. We don’t know from whence they return. Not yet, anyway. There are all sorts of cutting-edge theories that suggest multiverses and parallel universes. (If these things are said in a religious context, we are scoffed; we say them in a scientific context and it’s deemed “cutting-edge.”) This is why I contend that there is nothing supernatural; I believe that we simply cannot account for all of the majesty of our strange and complicated universe – yet.

Return to de Angeles’s reference to consciousness and thought as “both particle and wave.” To make any use of this, we first must try to grasp the difference between a particle and a wave. A particle, quite simply, is perceivable matter – something with mass; a wave is a transfer of energy within some substance – i.e. a disturbance in the water or in the air. Subatomic – quantum – particles are not particles – they have no mass (i.e., they don’t exist) – until they are observed. No fooling. This gives a whole new meaning to the tree falling in the woods paradox.

The answer is “no” – it makes no sound, because there is no tree if it is not observed. (It’s like when the little boy on The Matrix tells Neo, “There is no spoon.”) For some mysterious reason – a reason that keeps scientists banging their heads against their Bunsen burners – everything in existence is nothing more than a wave of information (or possibilities) until we observe it in some way. Until we actually observe the not-yet-a- particle, it’s nothing more than a wave. Sounds nuts, right? Wait, there’s more. That wave is “pure potential” itself. In other words, the wave exists in every possibility at the same time. It’s doing everything that is potentially possible – all at once. Once we observe the wave, it “solidifies” into a material reality. Therefore, we create reality just by observing it.

Need proof? OK. The Double Slit Experiment is a quantum experiment that shows us that subatomic material will take every possible path at the same time as a wave when not observed. When observed, the particle collapses down to one point as a particle. Likewise, The Copenhagen Paradox argues that all potential outcomes are in existence until one of them is observed. The paradox continues: who observes the observer? Some use this as a “proof” of deity; “god” is watching us all. But, then, who is watching “god”? That is a question to be puzzled out later. The universe is full of incongruities; all of our natural laws have exceptions. This too is a Mystery. (3)

But what has this to do with Magick? Much like the collapsed wave or the observed cat, some practitioners believe that speaking a thing changes it. Many believe that confining the meaning of a Great Mystery to the limits of spoken language can “ruin” a spell. This is like taking “potential everything-ness” and reducing it to an observable/hearable singularity.

This is not to say that language is not used for spell-crafting. But in the instance of casting, language is used in conjunction with the will. This makes the words carry the will rather than the literal meaning of the word. Yes, this is a Mystery. But there seems to be something to the argument that banal or causal conversation without the power of will weakens the power of the spell.

Further, some practitioners believe that speaking a thing makes it so. For this reason, they will never talk of magical affairs without first casting a protective circle. Whenever two or more witches are together and start talking about magic, for fear of “drive by” casting, you are likely to find one who will insist on some witchy prophylaxis. If, as many believe, words are thoughts and thoughts are things, we create every time we speak.

I believe all of these things – and then some. For these, and so many other reasons, I encourage you to keep your silence. Protect it. Nurture it. Enshroud it. It is always possible to reveal a thing – it is almost impossible to re-conceal it.

As they say, you can’t un-ring a bell.


Footnotes:
1. This information first published on my teaching blog, with some revision. (Apple, Ehsha. Open Path Sanctuary Training Program. “On Secrecy (and a bit of Quantum Physics) : Phase 1, Lesson 2 (Practice) .” 20 September 2011. Web.)

2. This has been met with criticism. Most of the criticism (firstly with Godel and Einstein) about the Copenhagen Paradox revolves around the superposition state and the specialty of observation.

3. There are mysteries and then there are Mysteries, or Great Mysteries. The kind that involve a sort of “initiation.” The word “Mystery” translates to “secret rite or doctrine.” Therefore, one who practiced “Mysteries” is referred to as a “mystic.” The specifics of these religions are kept “behind closed doors, ” or “secret.”

BINDING SPELL TO KEEP A SECRET

BINDING SPELL TO KEEP A SECRET

This should be used to prevent someone from giving away a secret. It is a form of sympathetic
Magick. A clay or wax figure may be used, or a clothe poppet (voodoo doll). In the ritual it is named
for the person whom it represents. Then, with appropriate word, the witch takes a needle threaded
with a twenty-one inch length of red silk, and sews up the mouth of the figure. She finishes off by
winding the thread all around the body of the figure. The concentration is on the fact that the person
is unable to speak on the forbidden subject – whatever the secret may be that is being safeguarded.
At the end of the ritual the poppet is stored away in a safe place, wrapped in a piece of white cloth.
So long as the thread remains in place, the person represented is bound.

Confessions of a Solitary

Confessions of a Solitary

by Lisa (Wild Rose) Harris

I contemplated the full moon from my position under the “Triple Goddess” tree. The mountains seemed to glow from the magick of her light. The sounds of the night filled the air: the river’s gentle yet powerful sound enveloping the canyon, the haunting sounds of a great horned owl and coyotes singing from the ridge. The tree in the pasture we had chosen for our site was like no other I had ever seen. She was composed of three trunks of separate trees intertwined, which over the years had grown together to become one, rather than three, trees. I could feel her energy, and anytime I needed to meditate, contemplate or ground myself, I would go to her. Yes, the time and place was right, and there was true magick in the air.

The chilly autumn air of the Sierra Nevada foothills penetrated every part of my body, yet I did not shiver. I looked at my companion, my friend Pauline, who was the only other practitioner of the Craft I knew of in our small mountain town. She was bursting at the seams with energy. We shed our robes, letting them fall to the ground. Neither one of us made a habit of public nudity, yet we wanted to pledge ourselves to the Goddess, naked and unashamed, as we had come into this world. The pasture was well out of view of the road and the few houses that were around. That Samhain midnight, under the full moon, with the animals as witness, was the night I pledged myself to the Goddess and to the Craft.

Seven years later, I am still a solitary. I have met friends, teachers and organizations along the way, but none that I could dedicate myself to with “perfect love and perfect trust.” One self-proclaimed “teacher” from New York, whom I met through the same pagan pen-pal listing where I found my friend Pauline, was obviously interested in using the Craft to manipulate young, innocent pagans into sexual situations, long distance if need be.

When I broke off contact, after catching on what this guy was about, I was deluged with creepy dreams, ravens at my back door and other phenomena that I could only interpret as psychic attack. I did some research on protection spells. Finding nothing I liked, I created one of my own. The object I made and buried near my front door was so strongly charged that the energy it radiated caused a buzzing in my hands that reached up through my arms and into my chest. The words I spoke came from a place somewhere inside myself I was not familiar with. They were powerful and they actually rhymed (which is surprising since I have no poetic talent whatsoever).

Two weeks later, I received a letter from him asking for help. He told me that he was in jail after being lured into a sting operation and arrested because of his religion and his very high-profile promotion of the Craft. He told me that all of the pagan leaders had “turned their backs on him.” I knew that his own energy had turned on him and brought him to justice for what I suspect was some sort of sex-related crime. I burned the letter.

My first experience with magick was swift and strong. I vowed never to misuse power, because when bad energy turns back the power is amplified. I was lucky on two counts: first, that I had recognized the psychic attack, because I had experienced psychic phenomenon ever since I was a child, and second, that I realized there are those who would manipulate others in the name of their god in any religious movement, not just the Craft. I continued on my path, a bit wiser than I was before.

As I have continued, the magick I have created on my own has been so powerful that it has frightened me on occasion. Knowing the power that one can raise and direct has made me ever vigilant about only doing magick for the right reasons. I won’t even send healing energy to someone with out their explicit permission. I also teach my daughter that magick should not be done for selfish reasons, as what we set in motion tends to take on a life of its own. Karma works.

There have been times when I’ve wished that I could become part of a coven and do great magickal and celebratory works with others. There are other times when I am grateful that I have chosen a path that frees me of hierarchy and dogma. To me, the thought of earning degrees and having someone else “bestow titles” on me is too much like the Christian faith I was raised in. I entered the Craft as a spiritual quest, a way to connect with something that I understood, rather than trying to fit into someone else’s religion or dogma. My beliefs would put me at odds with some traditions. Some people may want and need a specific structure and system; I do not do well in such a system. I can’t bring myself to profess to believe in something unless I honestly believe and agree with every fiber of my being. That’s difficult for me to do in anything organized.

Another difficulty I have with working groups is just that, that they’re groups. My personal philosophy on paganism is that most “witches” were solitaries, doing kitchen magick and healing. I believe that this magickal work and connection with the natural world was an everyday way of life, and that witches got together mainly for seasonal festivals and rites of passage. I tend to agree with the theory that coven structure, as we know it, did not enter into the picture until later, during the Inquisition and the like. Since none of us were there at the time, we can only do our best to follow the path as we see it.

Now that I have a family and want a spiritual community for my daughter, I’ve addressed the group aspect of the Craft differently. We belong to a Unitarian Universalist Church in Tacoma, which has no dogma, only basic principles that I can wholeheartedly support, and which give my daughter the freedom to find her own path. When I arrived at the church, I immediately asked who ran their Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) chapter. “Where are your pagans?” I asked the board president. He explained to me that the group had gone defunct and that there wasn’t anyone who had the energy to reinvent the group.

I couldn’t abide by the idea of a Unitarian church without a strong pagan presence. Earth-centered spirituality is one of the many traditions the church’s practices are based on. The first thing I did was to write an article responding to a sermon given by the staunch humanist minister who was serving at that time. It was a pagan view on humanism, which challenged the congregation to find magick and sacredness in their lives, rather than just intellectual stimulation.

Once I stirred the pagan political cauldron, I found myself planning a winter solstice service, and soon people began saying that my energy was just what was needed to get things going again. One day I noticed that I was being introduced to new members as the “chief pagan,” and I was being referred to as “priestess.” I now facilitate the church’s Earth Centered Spirituality Group, which leaves me in the odd position of being a solitary leading a group.We get together to study and celebrate seasonal festivals and rites of passage, as I believe our ancestors did. We also reach out to the congregation and community to teach them about the wheel of the year and to dispel myths and propaganda. I didn’t set out to lead a group; it just happened.

My solitary work has taken a back seat, now that I spend so much time and energy facilitating meetings and rituals. Most of my personal practice involves cleansing, purifying and healing, while the seasonal celebrations seem to fall in with the group. I also recently began networking with other groups in the area. Since I have been thrust into a position of leadership and most of my “knowledge” and practice comes from books and personal experience, I feel that it is important to go out and learn from others. I was afraid that I didn’t have the right to lead a circle or study group. What I found in the community was wonderful people to celebrate with, and a feeling of belonging. I also found the rituals I wrote and organized weren’t any different than anyone else’s. I watched other groups spill, trip, forget words, read from cards and make the most of it just like we do. It didn’t hurt the rituals; it made them real. The Goddess loves a good laugh.

My practices have changed over the years. Rather than chanting under the Triple Goddess tree as a rural pagan, I find myself working indoors as a Northwest city pagan. I do healing work for family and close friends, honor the seasonal cycles with a family altar in the living room and occasionally find time for divination. Much of my time is spent at my computer researching and writing our next ritual. Since I never seem to be able to find a ritual from written sources I like, I write them myself.

For me, working ritual that I have created myself or with the help of others gives me more of a sense of connection than reciting something from a book. My wonderful, supportive husband, who is just now embracing his inner pagan, likes to tease me by calling me “Hemingway” when I write. I decided a long time ago that I am looking forward to becoming a very eccentric old woman, and so as not to shock anyone, I’m starting early. I like to write ritual, articles and homilies naked while drinking a glass of Merlot.

And so the wheel turns. It begins under a tree in the mountains and is continued at a keyboard in the city. Some things stay the same. I still ritually purify the house after an illness or argument. I still infuse candles with herbs, oils and energy to use in healing or personal and spiritual growth. Most of all, I try make spirituality a part of my day-to-day life, not just something I do at the full moon or at a Sabbat.

Although part of me still hopes to someday meet that group of people with whom I fit perfectly, I guess I have the best of both worlds, my own personal relationship with the Goddess and wonderful new friends to celebrate with. As I close this article, I raise my glass to the goddesses and gods everywhere, and to those who explore, celebrate and honor them in whatever way they see fit. So may it be.

Empowering Your Magick Potion

Empowering Your Magick Potion

 

 

To empower or enchant magic potions, focus your mind on your magical goal and on the specific effect you expect the potion to have. Use your intention plus the natural energy of the ingredients to cook the magical energy into them. Your focused energy is imparted into the ingredients through your willful intent, your touch and the heat of your hands.

Use the three basic steps of magic—-intention couple with expectation, desire and merging—-to empower the potion. When you mix the ingredients, mix them with the intention and expectation of imparting your magical goal into them.

You can also use the power of touch to enchant potion ingredients. First, wash your hands well, dry them, and then rub the palms of your hands briskly together to charge them with energy. Immediately place your hands on the ingredients for a few moments , imagining that you are transferring the energy in your hands into the potion ingredients, very much like you would bless food. Then whenever possible, use the fingers of your power hand to mix the ingredients. Your power hand is your right hand if you are right-handed, your left if you are left-handed. If you are ambidextrous, your power hand is the one you eat with. If you are using a wooden spoon or blender to mix the ingredients, visualize or sense the energy from your hands moving into the spoon or blender, and then moving into the potion mixture. If you need to, just pretend doing this at first until you get the hang of it.

When you mix and charge the potion ingredients, either with your fingers, a wooden spoon, or in a blender, send your energy into the mixture. The stronger your desire for your goal, the stronger the energy you impart into the potion. At first it may seem odd to actually be sending power or energy into the ingredients, but with a little practice, empowering and energetically charging potions becomes a natural skill that is easy and fun. You will also begin to understand how powerful transferring energy from your hands to another object or from your mind to a specific goal, can really be. More specifically, how this energy can be applied toward attaining your magical goals.

The key to empowering potions, as in all magical work, is to stay focused on your magical goal for the entire time it takes to make and use the potion. For example, if you are adding the ingredients of vanilla or honey to a love potion, concentrate on each ingredient , bringing sweet and delicious love into your life. See, touch, taste, hear, and smell the love coming into your life. Imagine the potion being particularly effective. See and sense it as already having the proper effect. Do this by moving your awareness into the near future and imagining the successful effect of the potion. In your awareness feel the great joy and happiness of having the potion work, of attaining your magical goal. See and sense your magical success. Bath in the flow of energy that surrounds it.

Then move your awareness back to the present, and impart that image and joy full energy, that great feeling, into the potion ingredients. You can do this by imagining a bright white light coming from your hands and moving into the ingredients or you can see and sense a laser beam of light coming from your third eye (on your forehead between your eyebrows) and igniting the ingredient with its powerful radiance. You can also use deep breathing to empower potions by sensing yourself breathing bright energy into the ingredients.

After you have placed the potion in its container, you can empower it even more by saying something like:

Magick powers, that be

Please bless this potion

On Earth ,Sky and Sea

Charge it with Divine power

So Mote It Be.

Magick Powder Potions

Magick Powder Potions

Magick powder potions are easy to make as most of them require no cooking. Make these by finely grinding up the ingredients listed in the powder potion recipes. Use your mortar and pestle and also your fingers to crush the ingredients. The whole time you are grinding the ingredient focus on your magical goal as it is essential to empower the ingredients. Always grind clockwise.

You can also purchase ingredients that are already ground up. If you do so, be sure to get in touch with the ingredients by running them through your fingers as you concentrate on empowering them. See and sense the magick powder potion working exactly the way your intended.

To use the magick powder potion, simply sprinkle it to release its power. As you are sprinkling it, be sure to focus on your magical goal. You can sprinkle magic powder potions in a clockwise circle around you, beginning and ending in the North or you cans sprinkle the powder in certain magical shapes, for example, a love powder can be sprinkled in a heart shape. You can also sprinkle magick potion powders on your altar, around altar candles, and on crystals and gemstones. Again, it is your intent and focus as you empower the potion ingredients and sprinkle them that really gets the magick flowing.