Tag: Online Book of Shadows

TO HELP DISPEL NEGATIVE ENERGIES AROUND YOU

TO HELP DISPEL NEGATIVE ENERGIES AROUND YOU

Take a small clear crystal, an acorn, some rosemary and mandrake and a bit of green silk
or cotton. It doesn’t need to be a big piece. Cast your circle and creating a pouch from
the herbs, bless them with each element saying:
“While this dwells within,
there will be protection without.
Cleanse and charge this charm,
element of against all who wish me ill!”
Now hang this somewhere not too obviously, like hiding it in a corner or over a window.
This will protect you ’til next Samhain when you should burn it in the sacred fire, crystal and all.
If it is not too tainted, the fire will just cleanse the crystal and you’ll be able to retrieve it
from the ashes but I always recommend just getting a new one.

Communicating with the Spirits of the Departed

While it is true that Samhain is the time when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, you can converse with spirits of the departed at any time of the year. Prepare your altar as you normally do, but place several fresh apples upon it to represent the other-world. Also, use juniper and wormwood as your incense. Speak the name of the person you are trying to contact. State what you need to tell them or that you need to ask. Don’t expect a physical manifestation, but you will very soon find your response in your dreams.


By: Nuala Drago

‘Twas the Night of Samhain

‘Twas the Night of Samhain

 

‘Twas the night of Samhain and all through the house,
Not a creatures was stirring except for my spouse.
The incense it burned in his cauldron so black,
For witchcraft and magick he’d a wondrous knack.
The circle was drawn with the athame of power,
The guardians were called to each quarter tower.
The Lord and the Lady attended our rite,
In wonder and glory and power and mite.
The dearly departed came as our guest,
To live once again after their rest.
We bid them goodbye with a tear in our eye,
Such a lovely presence of loved ones so nigh.
The candles danced in the flickering light,
With the Great Rite we bid them all a good night.
The guardians thanked, have all sped away,
The Lord and the Lady, thanks for the day.
The night of Samhain, Gods bless this house,
A circle of wonder ’round me and my spouse.
—(Unknown)

Welcome To The WOTC’s Special Samhain Edition (Part 1)

Samhain Comments & Graphics
 Good afternoon and Merry Meet, Dear Friends! I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. I also hope you are gearing up for Samhain. I believe this is my favorite time of the year. The trees are absolutely beautiful, there is a crisps breeze in the air, it is marvelous.  

Today I decided to do a Samhain Special for you. It will be Part 1 and then tomorrow Part 2 will follow. I can never understand why people wait to the last day to hand out spells, rituals and other info associated with the Sabbats. I am one of these people who likes to have everything in advance. No running around like a chicken with my head chopped off trying to find an ingredient or item needed. So I figured I would give you, my dear friends, the start of our Samhain Special. That way you can figure out if you would like to try something new or perhaps you need to pick up something. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.  And…….

Blessed Samhain to you and yours,

Lady A 

~Magickal Graphics~

Samhain’s Revels


Samhain’s Revels

Come! Come! Samhain Revels, Summer’s End

Sing! Dance! Celebration For The Dead

Pour! Pour! The Libation For The Dead

Life! Death! Part The Veil, Summer’s End

 

~Magickal Graphics~

“Samhain Dream”

“Samhain Dream”
by Myria/Brighid October 1999

It is Samhain …The Night of Shadows. The Circle is cast around the fire, And through the darkness, we glance, For the veils are thin, in this sacred night! Ancient voices around us, Whispering old and forgotten songs, While we dance the Spiral Dance, To meet Her. And there She comes, The Lady of the Gate! Power and compassion evolving us, As a dark but comforting wave. Beautiful Queen of the Dark Night! With Her mantle of raven’s feathers, And eyes deep with wisdom. Cerridwenn! She opens Her arms, in a welcoming embrace, We feel around us the flow of love, Of Her Eternal Grace. And then we hear Her voice, Melodious and grave, That speaks from inside our soul, As an echo in a cave. Blessed Daughters of My Heart, I hear your prayers from afar. And that is why I came tonight! Do not despair when the times are hard! Do not abandon the Path you found! For time has come for My return, And you, Loved Ones, shall open the way, Singing my name as the ancient bards. I am always with you, do never doubt that! I am the Old and the Young One! I am the Keeper of the Gate! I am the Master of Time! I am the Dark Goddess of Death! I am the Bright Goddess of Dawn! I am The One! I am Cerridwenn!

Now I Am Going To Do Things Just A Little Different….

Samhain Comments & Graphics

~Magickal Graphics~ 

 

I thought today I might change things up just a tad. I get tired of the same old same old, don’t you? Anyway today, I am going to give you a closer looker at some of the Goddesses, Gods, incense, recipes, crystals and etc., associated with Samhain. I know Samhain is still a couple of weeks off, but I hate to wait to the last-minute to do anything. Besides Samhain is our highest holy day, why not get familiar with the things associated with it?  I hope you enjoy!

Samhain Verse

Samhain Verse

Dionysus
by Pat Califia

The grapes must be cut down
Or no one but the bees
Will be drunk next summer.
They are full of juice,
Tight-skinned like the testicles
Of a boy with his first shadowed chin.

The harvesters move, row by row,
Unburdening the vines
And making the bees angry.
The grapes are trampled, then put away
While the darkness works its magic.

Not all harvests are so orderly
Comes a day when chaos pours out
Along with the blood of the grape.
Threshing ground and trampling vat
Are abandoned for a wilder dance
In the green meadows, high on the hills.
Where the elder trees of the forest
Still remember their sisters,
Who once cast their leaves and shadows
Upon the floor of the valley.
The plow may subdue the earth, for now.
But the wilderness remembers its ancient boundaries.

And as the sun goes down, Dionysus appears
To dance among his feral women,
His own life safe
Only as long as they can sieze and rend
Anything else athwart their path –
And the wine holds out.
The dance as if they were trampling
The fruit of the vine,
But the red stain has crept
Much higher than their ankles.
They wear golden bells and the skins of leopards.
The hunt has made them happy at last.

If the women cannot kill the god
Who pretends to direct them,
They will take the head of any man
Who struggles to remain upright
When madness has become a virtue
And everything forbidden is permitted.
Backs straight as if they had forgotten.

A lifetime of toiling over field and stove,
The prancing shrieking women dress
Their fores in ivy and demand
They bend their knees or hit the ground
To service what can never be tamed altogether.

The darkness works its magic.
The grapes must be cut down.
A plowshare may be hammered
From a sword,
And just as easily turned
Once more into a weapon
With enough force, enough heat, and
Hard punches from a hammer.
Women are so dangerous
When they become overheated.

Only the profligate might survive this night
And waken eager to drink
Still more of the grape god’s blood,
To help them forget the fences
That were so easily trampled down
Within the walls of this temperate town.

(Reprinted with permission from Pat Califia’s newest book, Diesel Fuel. Pat Califia’s WWW page address is http://www.patcalifia.com)

Mabon To Samhain

Mabon to Samhain

Wiccans observe the autumnal equinox with a lesser sabbat that many call Mabon. The day and night may briefly be of equal length, but from now on the hours of darkness will grow steadily longer, with the signs of natural life fading apace. With harvest over, the Goddess of the waning moon, now descends to the Otherworld, where she will reign alongside the Horned God, who has battled hideous beings in his quest to become Lord of Death.

THE WITCH’S BALLAD

THE WITCH’S BALLAD
                    -Doreen Valente?

      Oh, I have been beyond the town,
      Where nightshade black and mandrake grow,
      And I have heard and I have seen
      What righteous folk would fear to know!
            For I have heard, at still midnight,
            Upon the hilltop far, forlorn,
            With note that echoed through the dark,
            The winding of the heathen horn.

      And I have seen the fire aglow,
      And glinting from the magic sword,
      And with the inner eye beheld
      The Horned One, the Sabbat’s lord.
            We drank the wine, and broke the bread,
            And ate it in the Lady’s name.
            We linked our hands to make the ring,
            And laughed and leaped the Sabbat game.

      Oh, little do the townsfolk reck,
      When dull they lie within their bed!
      Beyond the streets, beneath the stars,
      A merry round the witches tread!
            And round and round the circle spun,
            Until the gates swung wide ajar,
            That bar the boundaries of earth
            From faery realms that shine afar.

      Oh, I have been and I have seen
      In magic worlds of Otherwhere.
      For all this world may praise or blame,
      For ban or blessing nought I care.
            For I have been beyond the town,
            Where meadowsweet and roses grow,
            And there such music did I hear
            As worldly-rightous never know.

Bill Gates’s Book On Wicca

Bill Gates’s Book On Wicca

1. The book would be called Windows to the Goddess.

2. Iconology was be a major chapter.

3. A revised edition would be released approximately every 6 months without which your magic would no longer work.

4. Your broom would crash at least once a week.

5. Cauldrons would be called recycle bins.

6. A book of shadows would be called the folder of magic.

7. A free high speed connection spell would come with every book.

8. Ever now and then, your circle would collapse and you would have to perform the reboot ritual to get it working.

9. If you used the more powerful MagicNT rituals, the above would happen to all circles within a 5 mile radius.

10. At least once a month, you would have to reinstall your spells into your folder of magic.

11. You would have to use a start ritual to exit your circle. (And cake and wine would only be available after a sign from the Goddess saying it was safe to do so.)

The Cauldron
http://www.ecauldron.net/humor27.php

What’s All This About “And Harm None”?

What’s All This About “And Harm None”?

article

by Freya Ray

“Do what you will, and harm none.” What does that mean, exactly? Why on earth would any community hamstring itself with a fundamental motto so basically impossible to live up to? When you think about it, it’s crazy, right?

The Jains, those intensely wacked-out Hindu-type people who believe all life is sacred — and I mean all life — they try. They go barefoot so they don’t inadvertently crush any little critters. They eat no animals. They wear a cloth across their mouth so they don’t inhale a bug. Now that’s devotion to a creed.

Does it work for them? If you play it out logically, any food they eat is taking food from the mouths of other creatures. In India, this equation is even more apparent than here, the land of the surplus. I’m sure Jains roll over during the night and squish caterpillars, brush gnats out of their ears with a little too much force and kill them dead, dead, dead or eat some rice with little cooked rice-eating bugs in it. Not to mention the damage that is inflicted to all the tiny dandruff-eating mites that inhabit our bodies with every belly scratch. You can run it up the food chain, too. The rice that the devout Jain eats is grown on land that is therefore not used to grow hay, and he could be causing the death of a cow through his own feeding.

Please indulge me, and allow me to run through a similarly ludicrous examination of a good little witchy person trying earnestly to do no harm. Say she wants to draw love into her life. She does a nice little ritual to draw a mate to her, being terribly careful not to make any specific requests about any particular individual, so as to not infringe on anyone’s free will. She disposes of any leftover ritual props in sharps containers or recycle bins and dumps nothing into a storm drain. She just wants to be happy, after all, and thinks she needs a mate in her life to be happier, although of course she’s fully aware that true happiness comes from being full in yourself and wouldn’t ever dream of needing to be rescued from her loneliness, although it might be nice to have sex again before she dies.

You with me? Now what happens? Anything. She’s altered the energetic balance of the universe, moving energy and intent toward a specific purpose. She’s shaken things up, sending out a “Now!” signal into the void. She might get someone, but not a very good someone but only what was available at the moment. She might get the letter of what she asked for but not the intent, because the deities are crafty bastards. She might run around after the ritual radiating sexual readiness in such an overtly enticing way she provokes a normally faithful partner to start hitting on her, causing his girlfriend to dump him. Any of these scenarios are possible, and any of them can result in heartbreak and angst for all of the players involved. Or worse, she might get what she wants, be deliriously happy, pissing off her bitter single girlfriends and losing all her pals.

Go on, play this game yourself. Ask yourself, when did I do ritual asking for something? How did it go wrong, in ways I might have anticipated but didn’t? If you’ve been playing with fire, you’ve been burned, unless you’re perfect, and then why are you reading me?

Then there’s ritual for other specific purposes. You might do a ritual of protection for yourself after a bad relationship, a woo-woo restraining order. A year later you realize you haven’t had sex since the circle went up, and guess why? Think of the untold harm this has brought all your potential sex partners during that period of time! The heartbreak!

You do a healing circle. After the circle, one participant has a nervous breakdown, another ends a long-term relationship, another quits his job and becomes an artist. Harm, or not? The nervous breakdown might lead to breakthrough healing, but then it might be the frying caused by too much energy running through a system unprepared for it. The end of the relationship might be good and long overdue, or it might be the result of someone high from endorphins released by letting go of old baggage who decides she’s too good for the partner who stood by her through carrying all the baggage, and if she stuck around another six weeks they’d have been happy together forever. The artist — following his dream or caught up in a Bohemian fantasy? Living his path or abandoning his responsibility to pay child support every month?

How on earth is one to tell?

Spirit can probably keep track of all the ramifications of individual events, but humans can’t. As to judging whether individual results are boon or bane, I’m not entirely convinced Spirit keeps score that way. When we do, it only makes for extensive confusion, and worse.

“And harm none” is a great idea for keeping Fluffbunny Artemis Moonriver from casting a spell to bring Peter Trent, the boy next door and man of her dreams, to her bed, despite his complete and utter lack of interest in giggling little Artemis. It’s a good motto to try and dissuade High Priestess Arachne Wolfspawn from casting a curse unto the seventh generation on the landlord who wouldn’t refund her security deposit because of the teensy little cigarette burns in the carpet. It’s a fine thing to attempt to keep Lord Wizard Aleister SexGod of the Ninth Circle from “initiating” all his “novices” with mushrooms and “tantric sex magick.” I’m not sure it works, but it’s a nice idea, and well worth repeating.

What effect does it have on those with both a conscience and a brain, though? You work to learn responsible magical practices. You sweat the language for your rituals, trying to envision all the possible consequences. You set up support groups and phone trees for helping people who crash after ritual. You do giveaway work more often than you ask for anything for yourself; you try not to offend people in the supermarket.

Good for you.

After a while, you realize you’ve PC’d yourself into a little box, and you can’t really remember why this whole Wiccan thing was so appealing in the first place. Wasn’t there some original moment of power and glory when you touched all of creation, throbbed with majestic spiritual strength, knew your divinity? Wasn’t there some seminal idea about living without compromising yourself to your dominant culture; following your own heart, creating your own reality?

Screw it, then. I mean, assuming you’ve got a conscience and a brain. If you don’t, then you don’t need my words as an excuse to bungle things up wildly all around you all the time.

I let that idea, harm none, lead me away from the place where I radiated power all the time. I got tired of people (only some of them, some of the time, but still … harm none) jumping back out of a hug as if they’d been shocked. I got tired of people calling me after a two-hour first date to tell me their stuff was suddenly all up in their face and they were in no way ready for a relationship. I got tired of people shrinking from eye contact as if I were overwhelming their circuits by beaming lasers from my eyes.

I mean, it’s not like I’m Guru Mai, right? I’m not offering shaktiput, elevating the consciousness of devotees with a glance, touch or hug. I’m not part of some grand tradition where running current at a zippy frequency is celebrated.

No, I was making people uncomfortable. I was doing too much meditation, too much energy work, too many readings, too much talking to God, too much teaching and ritual. Too much. I was too much.

So I stopped. I watched a lot of TV, I stopped meditating, I turned my attention to writing rather than all the other stuff that required my being terribly amped up. Readings I can still do, even when I’m not crackling with juice. Energy work, no. But it was fine, really.

Until I realized consciously what I had done. In seeking to harm none through least common denominator thinking, I had removed a significant portion of my light from the world. I wasn’t making people uncomfortable anymore, but neither was I challenging them to grow and giving them a little nudge with catalytic energy. I wasn’t radiating at the highest frequency possible for me, the one that brings me the most joy.

It’s a lot more fun being all amped up. If I thought about it, I could list the harm I brought the world by damping my energy down, but the other kind of harm was much more in my face. It’s a Wonderful Life, and all that.

That’s my point, then. Screw `em. Do what you reasonably can to act ethically and responsibly, but don’t sweat it, trying to find the perfectly harm-free path. It can’t be done. Harm happens. Every action you take, every word you speak, is going to have consequences, more of them unforeseen than foreseen. That’s life!

Take a deep breath and do what you are moved to do. If you expand the first part of the creed to “Do what you will, as guided by spirit, your intuition, your wisdom and your conscience,” you’re probably going to be fine.

There will be consequences. You’ll deal with them when they happen. But don’t let the fear of them stop you from charging yourself up, radiating light, learning energy work or asking for what you want. I’ve got the army slogan running through my head now: “Be all that you can be!” Whatever. So it’s hokey. Do it anyway.

Screw it. Do what you will, as best you can.

It’s me again…….

I have a ton of comments in the back and I have been trying to answer some of them. That is why I am running so late on my daily postings. One post so of struck me that the rest of you might be thinking the same thing. It involved me not being open. That it would be nice that I opened up more with my readers and let you know what I think and how I feel. Witches are very private people. We aren’t suppose to reveal any of our practices, rituals or beliefs to the mundane world. In fact there is a law that states this very fact. I have been open for several years about being a witch. Especially since I got on the internet in 1999. I have been criticized and took a lot of heat about what I do. I have lost good friends. At the time I thought they were good friends come to find out all they wanted to do is stab me in the back and cut my throat at the same time. What there motivates were I don’t know? Also you couldn’t reveal your real name or your dead parent’s name either. I had a dedication page to my mother and my sister. They threw a fit because other witches might use this against me, do something to my relatives even after their dead. I had to keep my shield up 24 hours a day. I had to triple protect my house. And I had to do this because of my so-called friends. To my face they supported everything I was doing, but secretly that was another story.

I am just starting to feel comfortable here. Please have patience you will get to know me I promise. I made a clean break with those so-called friends. I even disappeared for about three months. I had to get my head on straight again and focus on what I had to do for the Goddess.  After the three months was up, I had a little voice tell me that I ought to check out the blogs. So I did and I was lost as a black cat, lol! I got to reading and figuring this out and that out (I believe I had a little help, lol). It started to make sense. I got my confidence up and decided many I can do this or at least give it a shot. I did and here we are today.

As far as me breaking the Law about not discussing our beliefs, rituals, spells and so on. I don’t believe I am doing anything wrong. I am doing the Goddess’ work. She watches over me every day and She knows what I put on this blog. So if it wasn’t suppose to be here I figure it wouldn’t.

Most forget in the Old Days that was the only way people had to communicate was by word of mouth. During the Burning Times, if our Religion had when underground then it would have been lost. Witchcraft has always been a word of mouth Religion. Just thought of it, I am going to post the Ordains again.

Well I guess I better hush for now……….but before I go you want to try something a little new, how about “Spell Saturday?” What do you think? I like the idea. Spells are my second nature, hee, hee,hee!)

She grabs her broom and her trust familiar and their off

Circle Etiquette

Circle Etiquette

 

Never summon Anything you can’t banish.

Never put asafoetida on the rocks in the sweat lodge.

Do not attempt to walk more than 10 paces while wearing all of your ritual jewelry, dream bags and crystals at the same time.

When proposing to initiate someone, do not mention the Great Rite, leer, and say, “Hey, your trad or mine?”

Never laugh at someone who is skyclad. They can see you, too.

Never, ever set the Witch on fire.

Looking at nifty pictures is not a valid path to mastering the ancient grimoires. Please read thoroughly and carefully from beginning to end so that your madness and gibberings will at least make some sense.

A good grasp of ritual and ritual techniques are essential! In the event of a random impaling, or other accidental death amongst the participants, (see next rule) a quick thinker can improvise to ensure successful completion of the Rite. Make them another sacrifice, Demons like those.

Watch where you wave the sharp pointy items.

Avoid walking through disembodied spirits.

Carry an all purpose translators dictionary in case the ritual leader begins talking in some strange and unknown language.

Avoid joining your life force to anything with glowing red eyes.

If asked to sign a contract or pact and you are experiencing doubts or reservations, sign your neighbors name. Malevolent entities rarely ask for photo ID.

Blood is thicker than water. Soak ritual garments an extra 30-45 minutes.

While drunken weaving may be mistaken for ecstatic dancing, slurring the names of Deities is generally considered bad form.

Some Tips for Making Ritual Feel Real

Author: Juniper

Decorate your altar, shrine and ritual space with items that relate (in your mind) to the ritual purpose. Use colors, scent, images, and tools to their best effect.

If you are doing a very masculine working, do not put pink flowers on your altar. Put images and items that have a masculine feel to and meaning to you.

If you are doing a hearth and home related ritual, put a dollhouse in the room, cut out images of fireplaces from a magazine and tack them on the wall.

Do not bother with placing items that will not be used or useful during the ritual, only use what is going to be really helpful. If there is a print on the wall that does not relate to your ritual, take it down, or hang a piece of fabric over it. Cut out the distractions as much as possible.

Do not worry about the proper correspondences as written in a book; think about what gives you the right impressions, thoughts and feelings. It is all about your mind connecting your surroundings with the ritual purpose.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Do allow yourself to become distracted by silly little things, like almost tripping, almost spilling, slipping up a few words, and the clock ticking in the next room. Do not worry about making a fool of yourself, if your makeup is getting smeared, if your deodorant is holding up. These are all distractions. They do not matter.

Don’t rush! Slow down and take your time. Rushing through a ritual will not give it that deep meaning; you will gain nothing from it. If your rituals are too long, cut the fat. Trim it down to only what is really important, so that you can spend the proper amount of time focusing on that.

Move! Dance, clap, stomp, sway, and wave your arms around. Just standing there shuffling your feet does not help to build energy, it also does not help you to feel the ritual. It may seem a tad silly, but if you are finding a lack of emotion, a lack of meaning in your ritual, try doing an interpretive dance, act out your ritual. Tap your foot in time to the words you are speaking.

Do your own personal sign language. If you are saying something about the moon, draw a circle or crescent in the air with your hand or ritual tool. If you are trying to connect with the feminine divine, touch your breasts (if you are a woman) , draw the shape of a woman in the air, hold you arms as if stroking a pregnant belly or as if you are holding a baby. When contacting a god, touch your crouch (if you are a man) , or draw a hammer, a phallus or horns or oak leaf in the air in front of you.

Stand up straight, lie down, sit up, lean to one side and then the other, hop on one foot, and use those hand signs and body postures found in Paganism 101 books.

Say it like you mean it. One of my best teachers was into drama and acting. She used to shout at us during ritual “Emote dammit! Say it like you mean it!” don’t just read off of some page in a monotone, say it with feeling, drama, and meaning.

When you are inviting entities into your ritual, speak with welcome in your voice, say it as if you were inviting a friend in to your home.

Do not rush through a prayer, chant or poem as quickly as possible. Take the time to carefully speak each line, with feeling. Repeat if necessary.

Pretend you are an actor on a stage where your audience is hard of hearing and far away. Emote and project. Speak from the heart and use your belly voice, as acting and singing instructors would say. Singing and chanting rather than speaking can also help you to inject emotion into your words. So try it, even if you do not have a great voice.

Use your imagination. That’s what visualizing is all about. Using your imagination will help you to connect with your creative side, the right side of your brain, the part of you that does not worry about logic, but that relies on feelings and intuition.

Practice, practice, practice. Do not give up if things just don’t feel like they are working the first time. Try it again; try everything at least three times before moving on to something else. The first couple of times you perform a new ritual, you will feel rather awkward, that’s perfectly natural. You cannot truly find that spiritual connection until you have become somewhat comfortable with what you are doing.

Do not expect results right away, the very first time. This rarely happens for people. Also it can be a good idea to practice at home, alone a couple of times before you go and join in a group ritual.

Feel it, really feel it. Don’t just go through the motions. If you feel that you are, stop! Take a few deep breaths and remind yourself what you are doing and why. Find your motivation. Say it out loud, think it, picture it in your mind, and really feel it. Draw it, paint it, and write poetry about it.

Do whatever you need to do before a ritual to make sure the purpose of the ritual is fresh in your mind and filling your heart. At each step along they way during a ritual, stop for a second and reaffirm what you are doing and why.

Keep the ritual purpose in the forefront of your mind and heart.

A good ritual, a really truly good ritual should bring you to the brink of tears, happy or sad. People have often made fun of me for getting choked up or actually crying during ritual. They don’t get it, not at all.

If you really want results, you need to bring your heart fully into it. If you want a ritual to have meaning, you must give it meaning. You must really feel it; you must put that feeling into it.

Laugh, cry, shout, sing, dance, smile, and do it like you mean it! If you do not mean it, you shouldn’t be doing it. If you do not mean it deep in your mind, heart and soul, you will never have that special spiritual experience you seek.

Staff

Staff 

Today’s staff is either chosen in accordance with your height, or by how it feels when used as a walking stick. Where some Witches perfer a shorter staff, others like the extended length. Of all the wooden tools, the staff is often seen as a symbol of honor and authority, and is normally decorated with magical symbols, talismans, bells, amulets, and trinkets given as gifts to the bearer tied with leather strips or sturdy cord and other unusual magickal bits that relate to its owner. In a group environment the staff of the high priest or high priestess may have symbols that relate to how many covens they have under their direction and how many members they have initiated. Like the wand and the rod, the staff is used to direct magickal current, often out-of-doors, but also used indoors if space permits. In more shamanic groups, the staff has replaced the sword. A staff carved with knobs and topped with a wooden replica of a human skull is specifically used at Samhain to honor the dead, or in other rituals where ancestors play a pivotal role: a duo derivation from Canadian Indians tribes and Haitian Voudou traditions, through ancient Celts did put the heads of their enemies on poles to capture their power and honor their valor. Obviously the Witches of today don’t carry reconstructionism that far.

The Athame

The Athame

The athame is the practitioner’s ritual knife, symbolising the masculine principle, asociated to the element of Air, and according to several authors also with Fire (for the fire used during the forging of the blade). Other tools closely asociated with it are the Sword and the Sickle (a small knife with a scythe-like blade, very popular in british traditions).

The Athame traditionally must have a black handle and a double-edged blade, even though we’re not really going to use the blade too often. The main function of the Athame (and the Sword) is to direct the user’s energy, whether when tracing the circle, or casting a spell. It’s also used, raised high as a greeting, when calling the four quarters when casting the circle. Some traditions also used a smaller, white handed knife for everything that implies cuting or carving.

The sickle is used in a similar manner, mainly to cut ritual herbs, thanks to it’s shape. We could say it’s a direct heir of the small gold sickle druids used to cut ritual herbs, mainly mistletoe. The only difference is that due to it’s curved shape, similar to the waxing moon, it symbolises the feminin principle, and can be used in some lunar rituals. For more practical uses, it can be replaced with the athame, the same as the white handled knife.

The Sword is not strictly a necesary element, even though it’s highly decorative. It has exactly the same ritual uses of the athame, directing the energy projected by the witch. The only problem it can pose is the uncomfortable size when working in smaller places, along with it’s weight. Unless we were lucky enough to get a short sword, they’re generally heavy items, difficult to handle, at least for a woman. And let us not get into the difficulties of taking it along to an open place to perform a ritual, which can be illega in several countries. Whatever the uses we’re planning, it can well be replaced by the Athame, and we’ll gain in comfortability and practicity.

Bill Gates’s Book On Wicca

Bill Gates’s Book On Wicca

 

1. The book would be called Windows to the Goddess.

2. Iconology was be a major chapter.

3. A revised edition would be released approximately every 6 months without which your magic would no longer work.

4. Your broom would crash at least once a week.

5. Cauldrons would be called recycle bins.

6. A book of shadows would be called the folder of magic.

7. A free high speed connection spell would come with every book.

8. Ever now and then, your circle would collapse and you would have to perform the reboot ritual to get it working.

9. If you used the more powerful MagicNT rituals, the above would happen to all circles within a 5 mile radius.

10. At least once a month, you would have to reinstall your spells into your folder of magic.

11. You would have to use a start ritual to exit your circle. (And cake and wine would only be available after a sign from the Goddess saying it was safe to do so.)

Daily OM – A Special Goodnight

  

A Special Goodnight
Creating a Nightly Ritual

 

Behind us lies the previous day and all that has come before; ahead of us, dawn heralds all that is yet to be.

At the end of the day, as the sweet, dark stillness of night beckons us to lay down our bones and rest, we find ourselves at a clear transition point: Behind us lies the previous day and all that has come before; ahead of us, dawn heralds the unfolding of all that is yet to be. While many of us have morning rituals that connect us with our center and help us to set intentions, we may want to explore the magic and power of nighttime ritual as well. It holds for us a beautiful chance for self-appreciation and blessing. Before you go to bed each night, you can send gratitude, compassion, and healing to the being you have been up until this moment. And you can send lightness and love into the future for the one you are in the process of becoming.

Though simple, this action honors the journey you have taken thus far, while opening you to the wonderful possibilities still ahead. When you consciously engage with your own evolution this way, you may find that your sleep gets sweeter, filling your night with a deeper sense of trust and relaxation. As you rest, you can surrender to these peaceful hours, knowing that the road behind you has been seen and acknowledged with respect and kindness, while the path ahead now holds your own benevolence and well wishes.

This bedtime ritual empowers you as the only one who can determine the meaning of your own past and the hopefulness of your future. By setting this special time aside each night, you can begin to orient yourself on your path of growing. It allows you to let the past have its place, to trust that the future is taken care of, and to simply rest yourself in the graceful arms of the present moment.