Whether you are new to our online world or have been coming back for years thank you for supporting WOTC. A special and heartfelt thank you to the founder of WOTC, Lady of the Abyss, for passing her loving work for the Goddess onto me.
From my heart, mind, and spirit to yours
Blessed be dear ones
Lady Beltane
I will be posting all the regular monthly information tomorrow so as not to overwhelm you with posts today.
Protecting Yourself and Your Home: A Basic Warding Ritual
Author: Blondechilde
Have you ever moved into a new home and thought to yourself, “Gosh this place feels so empty and sterile! I wonder how to make it feel more like home quickly?” Worse yet, have you ever thought to yourself, “Eww, this place feels chaotic! It makes me feel like a nervous wreck! How can I cleanse it and make it feel calm again?” Conversely, have you ever walked into someone else’s home and thought, “Wow, their home feels so safe, protected, and relaxing. I wonder how I can make my home feel that way?”
All three questions can be answered with one word: Warding. Mirriam-Webster identifies the etymology of the transitive verb “ward” as Middle English. It means to guard or watch over, or to turn aside (as in the phrase “trying to ward off a cold”) . A warding ritual puts up a kind of permanent circle that protects you and your home from unwanted outside influences. It can also help your home feel safe, inviting, and relaxing.
The following warding ritual is based on one my high priest teaches our coven. I have used it for several years with excellent results.
Determine the extent of your wards
This particular ritual requires walking the perimeter of the space to be warded. If you are a homeowner and you’d like to ward your entire lot, you will need to walk the borders of your property line outside your home. If you are warding an entire house, you may choose to walk the exterior perimeter as opposed to the interior. If you live in a condominium or an apartment like myself, the interior perimeter of your home probably works best.
Walking the interior perimeter of a dwelling can be tricky when dealing with interior walls. You may choose to ward them as well or work around them. I prefer to work around them; I usually walk the perimeter as far as I can, then pause my chanting a bit while I walk around to the other side of the interior wall and find the next available space on the perimeter, then I recommence my casting and continue onward.
In addition to warding your entire home, you may wish to place additional wards on specific rooms within your home. Doing so strengthens the protection. I prefer to ward my home first, and then ward my bedroom as well.
Before performing this ritual, please read the important discussion of ethics on warding shared spaces and rental property that follows later in this article.
Gather your materials
I use salt water to represent earth and water together, and burning incense to represent air and fire together. You may combine elements like this or represent them singly using different materials. I have occasionally represented earth with sand, air with a large feather, fire with a candle, and water with ice. Decide if you want to represent the four elements in pairs or singly, and then choose elemental representations that work best for you.
Clear your space
Much the same way you clear a space before casting a circle, you will want to clear your home of negative and chaotic energies before you put up a protective ward. I prefer to walk every room in my home while ringing a bell loudly. Other sound-based cleansings include the usage of singing bowls and clapping hands.
Cleansing may be also done with smoke or scent, as in smudging with sage smoke or heating essential oils like sandalwood or peppermint. Even something as simple as opening windows to allow in sunshine and fresh air can accomplish the goal of cleansing. The idea is to chase away any negative or disruptive energy so that your home is fresh, clean, and calm before the ritual. Remember, you want your wards to keep the good stuff inside and the bad stuff outside!
Perform your ritual
Choose which elemental representation to use first, and carry it with you while you walk the entire perimeter of the space to be warded in a deosil (clockwise) direction. As you walk, visualize the element (s) forming a great barrier going up all around the space. I visualize the four elemental barriers as mountains, waterfalls, leaping flames, and gusty winds full of leaves and sand. Pass the elements over all portals (windows, doors, fireplaces, gates, etc) twice, for extra strength and protection.
As you pass each of the elements over your home in turn, repeat this chant while you walk:
By (element) , I ward thee:
Guard this space from all ill will
and all those who wish me/us harm.
If you are representing the four elements singly, you will circumambulate your space four times, each time chanting the above incantation for the specific element you carry. If you are representing the elements combined in pairs, you will circumambulate your space twice, alternating your chant back and forth between the two elements you carry.
Maintain your wards
With this ritual, you will create living wards that need regular maintenance to stay strong and effective. In a sense, you will need to feed and care for your ward as you would a pet. When I am healthy and my energy levels are up, I strengthen and repair my wards with my own energy.
I will sit in the center of my home with my eyes closed and my palms up, and I visualize pouring my own energy from my palms into the wards around me. A friend of mine touches the front door to her apartment briefly and pours a little energy into her wards that way every time she leaves the house.
Another way to strengthen your wards without depleting yourself is to draw energy from an outside source and channel it into your wards. I have accomplished this by channeling energy drawn from a candle into my wards, and also from warm sunbeams streaming through my windows. How you choose to maintain your wards is up to you, but you must understand that regular maintenance is important to keep your wards strong and effective.
Ethical considerations
What if you share your home with a roommate? What if you rent your home and you’ll be moving out in another eight months? What about common walls shared with other dwellings? As practitioners, we must remain sensitive to the ethical implications of using magic to protect ourselves.
If your home is a shared space with family, significant others, roommates or other housemates, it is important to discuss your intentions with them before performing a warding ritual. It is entirely possible that housemates may feel uncomfortable with the idea of having the home warded. If this is your situation, it is important to respect their point of view. You may present your reasons why you believe warding the space would be beneficial, but I urge you against coercion or secretly warding the home anyway.
If you are unable to reach compromise with your housemates on warding the entire home, you may wish to ward your private space. I once warded my private bedroom in a college dormitory. If your bedroom is shared, you can also simply ward your own bed. This ritual can be made as large or as small as the practitioner requires.
If your home is rented and you plan to move out in the future, it is important to dispel and dismiss all wards and energies before you leave. The same is true if you are selling your house to new homeowners. Just as you wouldn’t ward a shared space without informed consent from other housemates, you also don’t want to leave behind any magical residue to pollute the environment for unsuspecting new residents. Information on how to dispel your wards follows in the next section.
Regardless of how you choose to bring your wards down, it is ethically imperative that you ground or dismiss any remaining energy residue so as to leave the space clean and fresh for the next residents. To help you accomplish this goal, you may wish to follow dismissal with a cleansing of the space like those mentioned previously in this article.
Common walls with other dwellings frequently occur in rental housing (apartments, duplexes, etc.) as well as in condominiums. It is mainly for this reason that I suggest walking the interior perimeter of apartments and condominiums. Unless you have your neighbors’ permission to perform rituals on their space, it is important that any ritual energies you work with remain contained inside your own dwelling.
In this case, it is important that your ward barriers stop where your walls do. Please take care that your ward barriers do not extrude into the living room or bedroom of your neighbors on the other side of your dining room wall. Similarly, be cautious that your wards do not spill outside your exterior walls into walkways or common areas around your dwelling.
Dismissing your wards
Whether you are leaving a rented dwelling, selling your house, or if you just need a fresh start, there are almost as many ways to tear down and dismiss your wards as there are ways to bring down a ritual circle. You may choose to circumambulate the space in a widdershins (counterclockwise) direction and dismiss the energies as you go. You can also sit stationary in the space and draw all the energies through you and ground them into the earth, leaving nothing behind.
A friend of mine dismisses his wards by element, much as many dismiss quarters after a ritual. Working in a widdershins fashion, he faces each of the cardinal directions in turn. He humbly thanks each element for its protection and dismisses it gratefully.
I prefer to stand somewhere in the center of the warded space and picture the energy barriers around me. I hold my arms straight up and reach with my hands as though I could touch the ceiling of the ward. I visualize ripping a small hole in the ward, and then gripping the edges of the hole, I bring my arms down to my sides, tearing the ward down around me and grounding the energies at my feet. You may also wish to follow dismissal with any of the cleansing rituals mentioned previously.
Make your wards your own
This ritual is fairly simple and straightforward. Try using it as a base upon which to build and create your own personal warding ritual. Remember to determine the extent of your ward ahead of time, and always consider the ethics of your particular situation. When gathering your materials, do not be afraid to use your favorite elemental representations, even if they are different from examples listed here.
Clearing your space can be as simple as smudging with sage, or as complex as performing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, it’s up to you to decide which cleansing works best for you.
The incantation must serve its intended purpose, but it need not be as bare and simple as the one suggested here. Try expounding upon it, adding to it, making it rhyme, singing it, and even dancing if you wish.
Finally, it is imperative that your wards receive proper maintenance. I’ve offered examples of different ways to make certain your wards have adequate energy to perform their intended task. You may expound upon these examples in any manner that you find works well. The most important points of warding are covered here. How exactly you choose to carry them out and make them your own are entirely up to you.
Footnotes:
I am a member of the coven Goethe’s Garden, which has a listing here at WitchVox. My High Priest has used this ritual for many years, and he passed it on to me during my year-and-a-day dedication. I share it with you with his permission.
This page details dates when the world was, or is, forecast to end.
| Date | Author | Event | Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 | Martin of Tours | Stated that the world would end before 400. | |
| April 6, 793 | Beatus of Liébana | The Spanish monk Beatus of Liébana prophesied the second coming of Christ and the end of the world that day to a crowd of people. The crowd thinking that the world would end, fasted through the night. The following morning, Hordonius, one of the fasters, said, “Let’s eat and drink, so that if we die at least we’ll be fed.” | |
| 1284 | Pope Innocent III | Pope Innocent III predicted that the world would end following 666 years of the rise of Islam. | |
| 1689 | Benjamin Keach | ||
| October 16, 1736 | William Whiston | Comet colliding with the earth. | |
| 1792 | The Shakers | ||
| 1806 | The Prophet Hen of Leeds | In Leeds, England in 1806 a hen began laying eggs on which the phrase “Christ is coming” written on the eggs. Eventually it was discovered to be a hoax. The hoaxster had written on the eggs in a corrosive ink so to etch the eggs, and reinserted the eggs back into the hen.[4] | The Prophet Hen of Leeds |
| 1843-1844 | William Miller | Miller predicted Christ would return between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844, then revised his prediction, claiming to have miscalculated Scripture, to October 22, 1844. The realization that the predictions were incorrect resulted in a Great Disappointment. Miller’s theology gave rise to the Advent movement. The Baha’is believe that Christ did return as Miller predicted in 1844, with the advent of The Báb, and numerous Miller-like prophetic predictions from many religions are given in William Sears book, Thief in The Night. | |
| 1867-1875 | Rev. Michael Baxter | Forty ‘Wonders’ occurring in the following seven years and seventy-five days including wars, famine, pestilence and earthquakes culminating in the return of Christ in 1875. | |
| 1919 | Albert Porta | Alignment of planets causing the sun to explode. | |
| December 21, 1954 | Dorothy Martin | Martin, a housewife from Chicago claimed to have received messages from aliens via automatic writing which stated that the world would end in a great flood before dawn on December 21, 1954. | When Prophecy Fails |
| Summer of 1969 | Charles Manson | Manson predicted that an apocalyptic race war would occur in 1969 and ordered the Tate-LaBianca murders in an attempt to bring it about. | Helter Skelter (Manson scenario) |
| 1980 | Leland Jensen | In 1978 Jensen predicted that there would be a nuclear disaster in 1980, followed by two decades of conflict, culminating in God’s Kingdom being established on earth. | |
| 1980s,2000 | Hal Lindsey | Lindsey has been continually predicting the end of the world since his 1970 book The Late, Great Planet Earth. His later books including The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon and Planet Earth 2000 A.D.: Will Mankind Survive? gave revised dates. | |
| 1982, 2000s | Pat Robertson | In late 1976, Robertson predicted that the end of the world was coming in October or November 1982. He also predicted various cataclysmic events for the first decade of the current century such as a Pacific Northwest tsunami ” and a Middle East war involving Russia that did not come to pass. | Pat Robertson |
| April 23, 1990 | Elizabeth Clare Prophet | Prophet predicted an impending nuclear holocaust, leading her followers to stockpile a shelter with supplies and weapons. Later, after Prophet’s prediction did not come to pass and she was diagnosed with epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease, the group’s leadership attempted to draw the focus of its work away from doomsday predictions. | The Summit Lighthouse |
| June 9, 1994 | Pastor John Hinkle | Hinkle of Christ Church in Los Angeles predicted the return of Christ this day. | |
| September 6, 1994 | Harold Camping | Camping predicted the Rapture would occur on this date. | |
| January 1, 2000 | Various | “Y2K” Computers predicted to stop working, leading to failures of the electrical grid, dams, nuclear warheads, and everything else with a computer in it. | Year 2000 problem |
| January 1, 2000 | Credonia Mwerinde, Joseph Kibweteere | An estimated 778 followers of this Ugandan religious movement perished in a devastating fire and a series of poisonings and killings that were either a group suicide or an orchestrated mass murder by group leaders after their predictions of the apocalypse failed to come about. | Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God |
| May 5, 2000 | Richard Noone | In his book 5/5/2000 – Ice:The Ultimate Disaster, Noone predicts that the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn would align for the first time in 6000 years. This would cause a catastrophic build up of ice at the South pole leading to devastation across the planet. | Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis |
| August 2007 | Thomas Chase | ||
| October 21, 2011 | Harold Camping | Camping predicted that the Rapture will occur on May 21, 2011 with God taking approximately 3% of the world’s populations (200 million people) into Heaven. The actual end of the world is predicted to occur five months later. | 2011 end times prediction |
| December 21, 2012 | Various | Several scenarios for the end of the world including galactic alignment, a geomagnetic reversal, a collision with Planet Nibiru or some other interplanetary object, alien invasion, earth being destroyed by a giant supernova. | 2012 theories |
| 2060 | Sir Isaac Newton | Newton proposed, based upon his calculations using figures from the book of Daniel, that the Apocalypse could happen no earlier than 2060. |
Items You Will Need:
Pentagram
Compass
Rosemary
Lavender
Snap lock bag
Glue the Pentagram to the compass, “Spirit” point north. Place everything into bag, and bury in center of building or middle of door.
Pentagram pointing north. Cast a circle, Chant the spell.
Goddess and God bless this house,
Keep it free from bug or mouse.
For good or bad, dark or light,
Those unwelcome will feel thy might.
Protect me as I do thy will,
here you are master for good or ill
Goddess and God hear my prayer.
So Mote it Be.
Concentrate on the Spell until you feel the power flowing, Then break the circle and finish.
Walking a Pagan spiritual path and doing some soul searching, I find it has helped me like myself and become a better person to all I meet. Part of my almost daily prayer is “Please help me be kind, consider, and thoughtful to anyone I come in contact with no matter how they may treat me, talk to or about me. Let my smile bring a little joy into their life today.” One morning I was praying while walking my dogs and a woman I had many run-ins with over the last couple of years start yelling something at me from inside her truck. I was just getting ready to yell back something equally offence when the Goddess or God or a Spirit Guide put those words in my head. So instead of what I was going to say I replied with, “Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Hope you have a good one.” Needless to say she just sat there with her mouth hanging open, I waved and we continued our walk. The next time this woman’s and my paths crossed all she said was, “Good Morning.” This all happened almost 5 and a half years ago and to this day she is not a friend but at least nice when we happen to meet. We use to at opposite ends of the block until I moved so it happens about once a week while still living at my old address. I know it was meant as a growing thing for me to tolerate nasty people more but I wonder if she grew a little too?
My fiancée’ is a non-practicing Christian and is ok with me doing spellwork, rituals, blessing our home, etc. the time. When at all possible I do my full blown rituals (Big altar set up, pre-ritual bath, etc.) are done when he is gone or I do them out in our side yard. Sometimes though out of the clear blue he will ask me to do something for him, for example, getting his ex-wife to quit spreading very negative rumors about him. Which I more than willing did a spell to bind her from talking or writing or texting or typing anything about him.
I have five children, three boys and two girls. My oldest son is Buddhist, my middle son a sort of Christian (believes in the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit but does not attend any church), my youngest son claims to be an Atheist but I have some doubts about that. My older daughter follows Lakota Native American traditions as well as some Christian and Pagan ones, my younger daughter is very Christian to the point that we have agreed not to talk to each other about our spiritual beliefs (Although I was raised in the same Christian church she attends with her family.) All my children are grown and live in their own homes which makes it easier to keep a small altar set up in mine all the time.
I also have three granddaughters and six grandsons, some are old enough to decide on their own what spiritual path they want to follow while other are not old enough in their parents eyes. Most of my grandchildren have inherited some type of special gift that can be nurtured properly with incorporating certain teachings into their spiritual lives. I am allowed to help five of the nine grandchildren with this openly. There is one I have to take small baby steps with because her mother is my youngest daughter but she wants to learn witchcraft. While this is not an ideal situation my daughter has begun to see the benefits of me helping her and is allowing me to do more with her. I do not want to force my spiritual path on any of my children or grandchildren but I expect them to respect my path as I respect theirs.
You may be asking yourself, “What does all of this have to do with the question I have in the title?” The answer is this what my spirituality means I have learned to have greater tolerance for people with beliefs different than my own. I have learned that it is ok to walk with the Goddesses and Gods and be comfortable doing so and being out of the “broom closet” all most all of the time. I have learned not to be afraid to answer the question, “What faith are you?” when in the hospital or other times and to answer without shame, “I am Pagan.” My spirituality is not something that I cling to in times of need or make a show of on Sabbats, my spirituality is something I walk with in every part of my life and do so proudly.
I hope and wish for those who are new or even older to The Craft can feel the same way. I hope that someday all Pagans can be out of the broom closet and accepted in mainstream society and our spirituality is accept too. This is not going to happen overnight or by us hiding who and what we are. Be proud of the path you choose to bring you closer to yourself and any deities you may wish to interact with.
Lady Beltane.
2021
From a Wiccan viewpoint, it is marvellous how the traditional names of days have survived all through the dark times. It is no secret that all seven days of the week have been named after Gods and Goddesses worshipped by the Old Tradition. Let’s explore the way we could bring a little magic in our everyday use.
According to modern Wicca traditions, all seven days of the week has different attributes and represent a certain element. It is down to you individually, how you use this information but it is believed that an understanding of the wheel of the week can bring a nice change to a hectic lifestyle.
The seven-day week was first introduced by ancient Egyptians, when according to Egyptian astrology they assigned a name to every day by the planet that was regent during the first hour of that particular day. As ancient Egyptian astrology knew only seven celestial bodies, we now have seven days of the week. But all this has also a deeper meaning not only within Wicca.
Sunday was named after Sunna – the Germanic goddess of the Sun. In modern Wicca traditions it…
Christmas may get buried under the catalogues of holiday cheer, present buying, and a lot of food prep stress, but the 2 thousand-year-old holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus has one of the most complex and interesting timelines of any holiday in the history of the world.
The annual festival celebrated on Dec. 24, Dec. 25, January 7, and Jan 19 depending on denomination, is both a cultural and deeply religious occasion celebrated by billions of people around the world. From the inclusion of the Christmas tree to the annual gift-giving, the feast day that spans through modern history has many traditions, myths, and stories that resonate around the globe.
As a main celebration in the Christian liturgical calendar, it follows the season of Advent and ushers in Christmastide, or The Twelve Days of Christmas. It was first decided to the specific date in the Western calendar by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk who was an abbot in Rome. With Exiguus’ research and biblical texts, Jesus’s birth was decided to have occurred on December 25, 1 C.E. There have been many disputes over the actual date of Jesus’s birth since, but Exiguus’ date has stuck despite them.
Prior to Christian celebrations, Roman pagans celebrated the holiday of Saturnalia, a week of raucous celebrations from December 17-25, where Roman courts were closed and the law dictated that citizens could not be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the feasting. The Romans believed these celebrations, which chose a community victim and forced them to indulge in food and festivities, destroyed the forces of evil when they murdered this victim at the conclusion of the week, on December 25.
In the 4th century, Christian leaders were successful at converting many pagans to Christianity by allowing them to also continue the celebration of Saturnalia, and this was its first connection to Jesus’s birth. Because the festival of Saturnalia had no connection with Christian teachings, leaders tacked on the holiday of Jesus’s birth onto the last day of the festival. For many years, contemporaries of the time continued to allow the celebration.
I suggest you always cast a spell yourself as you know the intention you have behind wanting it cast. Having someone else cast a spell for you can lead to the intention of the spell being left to their interruption of what you say you want. Through the years I have found the intention is about 90% of how the spell will manifest. Keep your intention upmost in your mind when writing and casting your spells. If using a spell someone has written edit or tweak it, so it becomes your spell with theirs as a baseline for you to build on. – Lady Beltane
BE CAREFUL! We do not recommend casting spells yourself without serious training. But if you are interested in learning about witchcraft basics, then read on!
All witchcraft practices have one thing in common. They require creating a sacred space where you can focus your intention. Wiccans cast a circle using the elements. Other forms of pagan spellcasting or witchcraft spells use the pentagram. Other spells don’t require either, but a gathering of the energies and focusing of your intentions is always necessary for spells to work. Otherwise, there will simply be no effect!
Stay away from darker magic if you are a beginner. Even white magic spells can have negative consequences if you accidentally cast them wrong, but black magic can be very dangerous. If you’ve already reached out to a professional spellcaster and you are ready to try some white magic basics, then keep these tips in mind:
As you can see it is very important to know what you are getting into before you go dabbling around with witchcraft and magic spells! But for the sake of learning, I will share a few free spells with you, so that you can begin to understand how spellcasting works. But be sure to get the advice of a professional before trying these out!
Spells take effect immediately, so you should notice the effects of your spellcasting right away. But remember, if your spell was very complicated, it might take some time to manifest fully. Sometimes spells require several steps and take effect gradually over time. Especially if your spell is controlling the actions of others by sending them away, for example. It will probably take some time for them to pack up their belongings and move away.
In this post I’m going to reveal my full moon ritual for manifestation that’s designed to release negative energy and cleanse your soul.
Over the years I have experimented with many different rituals and am excited to share what I’ve learned with you.
A few benefits of performing a full moon ceremony include:
Ready to learn more?
Let’s get started!
A full moon ritual is a spiritual ceremony performed on the night of a full moon to release negativity and practice gratitude. The ritual does not need to be completed at the exact moment of a full moon, but should be performed within 48 hours before or after for best results.
When the Moon is completely illuminated by the Sun this is called a full moon. This happens about once per
Today and tonight the Moon will be in a Full Moon phase. During a Full Moon the moon is 100% illuminated as seen from Earth and is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. The Moon will be visible throughout the night sky rising at sunset in the east and setting with the sunrise the next morning. The point at which a Full Moon occurs can be measured down to a fraction of a second. The time it takes between full moons is known as a Synodic month and is 29.530587981 days long. Keep track of all the Full Moons throughout the year on the Full Moon Calendar >
Visit the December 2021 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.
The Full Moon on December 19 has an illumination of 100%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On December 19 the Moon is 15.04 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.
There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.
Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com
For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society
19 December 2021
06:00 am GMT 5:00 PM AEDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)
19 December 2021
08:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM BRT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)
Witches Of The Craft® 
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