A Practical Guide To Witchcraft And Magic Spells Part 16

Anointing Candles With Oil You can anoint, or dress, candles with scented oil or use candles that have fragrance already added. When you anoint candles with oils, they become more flammable, so you need to be extra cautious about sparks. For safety, stand your candlesticks on a fireproof tray.

Generally, the anointing is performed in silence. You can use virgin olive oil for dressing candles for any need. Some people add a pinch of salt for purification and life-giving properties.

Before beginning, pour a small quant.i.ty of the oil into a clear gla.s.s or ceramic dish and gently swirl it nine times deosil with a ceramic or gla.s.s spoon, visualising light pouring into it and endowing it with healing and magical energies. You need use only a small quant.i.ty as the anointing action is symbolic. Rub the oil into the candle in an upward motion, starting in the middle of your candle. Use a previously unlit candle as this will not have absorbed any energies apart from those with which you endow it. Rub in only one direction, concentrating on the purpose of your ritual. See the qualities of your oil and your need entering the candle.

Then, starting in the middle again, rub the candle downwards, again concentrating on your goal. A few pract.i.tioners will rub from base to top for attracting magick and from top to bottom for banishing magick; it is also usual to use a white candle for attracting energies and a black for banishing.

By physically touching the candle with the oil, it is said that you are charging the candle with your personal vibrations so that when it is lit, it becomes an extension of your mental power and life energy. If the candle represents another person and they are present, ask them to anoint their own candle.

If you light a candle for a formal ritual on successive days, you should re-anoint the candle each time, visualising the partial completion of the goal.

Water Water represents its own element and stands in the West in a dish to the left of the chalice. See page 163 for instructions on how to make and empower sacred water. You can also use water to which rose petals have been added or you can float lavender or rose essential oil on top (this water should not be consumed internally).

Charging And Cleansing Your Tools Once you have prepared your elemental substances, you can charge your tools ready for use. If they have been bought, whether new or second-hand, you might also like to cleanse them first. You can also cleanse them after a formal ritual or when their energies seem depleted.

If the ritual is important or arduous, you can recharge the tools before each use, but usually this is not necessary, as the cleansing from a previous ritual will automatically restore the energies. However, as you polish your candlesticks or athame before putting them on the altar, you may wish to focus on the intention of the ceremony and visualise light entering the tools.

Charging With Power You can charge your tools separately as you obtain them. Alternatively, group them together on a table before their first use in ritual and create a circle of light around them with small purple candles at the eight main compa.s.s points (North, North-east, etc.). Start at the North candle and end with the North-west candle.

* First create a circle of salt round the tool(s), beginning in the North, to offer the tool(s) the protection of the ancient Earth element, saying: Mother Earth, charge with the power of the ancient stone circles and the wise ways of the ancestors this - [name the tool(s)] of magick and healing, that my work may be rooted in what is possible and help create abundance and prosperity for others and the land, as well as for my own needs.

* Next, draw a circle of smoke deosil in the air around them, using a frankincense or myrrh incense stick, saying: Father Sky, charge with the power of the mighty winds and the limitless potential of the cosmos this - [name the tool(s)] of magick and healing, that my work may be focused, filled with energy and bring positive change to ever-widening horizons.

* Now, using a golden or scarlet candle in a broad-based candle-holder, mark an inner circle of fire in the air, around the artefact(s), saying: Brother Fire, charge with the power of ancient ritual fires and the brilliance of the Sun, this (these) tool(s) of magick and healing, that my work may be filled with light and inspiration and purged of all self-seeking and negativity.

* finally, sprinkle sacred water or rainwater that has not touched the ground before collection on top of the circle of salt saying: Sister Water, charge with the power of mighty oceans, wide rushing rivers and deep still pools this (these) tool(s) of magick and healing, that my work may release stagnation and bring fertility and peace, not only to myself and my loved ones, but to people whose lives are blighted by polluted places and, especially, water.

Cleansing Using The Forces Of Nature Leave your artefact(s) on a piece of white silk in a sheltered, safe place out of doors or near an open door where children, pets or the curious cannot reach them. Begin at dusk where they can absorb the light of the Sun, the Moon and the stars, for 24 hours. This will be effective even if you cannot see any of these heavenly bodies in the sky.

Charge at the time of the waxing moon to the full moon if possible; if not, let them stand for 48 hours. If the Moon is waning and so not good for energising, create a circle of alternate moonstones and crystal quartz for the powers of the Sun and Moon, and leave the tools within this circle for the full 48-hour cycle.

Sprinkle the tools with nine drops of sacred water that was collected under the full moon or rainwater that has not touched the ground, saying a variation of this old magical rhyme whose origins are unknown: One for joy, two for gladness,Three and four to banish sadness,Five and six do life renew,Seven, eight, nine bring power anew.

Few of these old chants are great poetry, but that was not their purpose - they were created in the days before widespread literacy as a way of remembering magical rituals. If you prefer, you can subst.i.tute your own, composed by you or a coven member who may have a gift for such work. The rhymes served like simple mantras to build up power - some people recite the chant several times, very fast, while sprinkling the water slowly.

Cleansing Using A Crystal Pendulum Hold a clear crystal pendulum over the tool(s) and make nine circles widdershins.

Plunge the pendulum in cold running water to cleanse it, shake it dry and circle it nine times deosil over the tool(s) to restore energies. You may need to repeat this several times if a tool seems lifeless or after you have been carrying out a banishing ritual.

The Four Elements The four elements - Earth, Air, Fire and Water - play an important part in all kinds of magick. Plato, the Greek philosopher who lived around 360 BC, was the first to identify these elements as the components that made up the whole universe and right until Elizabethan times people still believed that our nature was influenced by our elemental composition.

Indeed, Jung, the twentieth-century psychoa.n.a.lyst, used this concept in his personality types, renaming them as Earth/sensations, Air/thinking, Fire/intuition and Water/feelings. Jung also thought that we each had a predominant element, a secondary one and a shadow one that we denied or projected on other people whom we then unconsciously disliked because they mirrored our faults.

In formal magick, the four elements are seen as providing natural energies for transforming wishes into reality. Together they combine to form the fifth element - Ether, or Akasha - that represents pure Spirit, or perfection. Medieval alchemists attempted to create this elusive substance, called the philosopher's stone. It was said to turn base metal into gold and, as an elixir according to the Eastern tradition, to cure all ills and offer immortality.

These elements form the basis for raising power in formal magick and in less formal spells too and are represented by Devas, the Guardians of the Watchtowers or the four main Archangels.

Earth Earth represents midnight, winter and the quarter and direction of the North. It is the most magical of directions.

Earth is the realm of the actual and material, where magical wishes and intentions find expression and so it is very important. It is also the element invoked for abundance and in prosperity rituals, as well as matters concerning your home and family. It is also used for magick concerning animals, all who work with their hands, especially in agriculture, horticulture and environmentalism, in finance or maintaining law and order, for banks and financial and legal inst.i.tutions. Earth can thereby form a focus for rituals where justice and authority are an issue.

Its elemental creatures are gnomes, with their stores of hidden treasure, wisdom and, above all, common sense. They are a reminder that what is of worth does not necessarily offer excitement or instant results.

Earth's colours are green or brown. Its zodiacal signs are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn.

Air Air represents dawn, spring and the quarter and direction of the East. Some pract.i.tioners open their circles facing this direction, rather than the more usual North.

Air is the realm of potential of new beginnings, change, action, travel, house or career moves, knowledge and learning, communication, the media and technology. It can therefore be used for magick concerning all who work in commerce, medicine, teaching, the retail trades, the media and science and all who are studying. It also can be used in rituals for health.

Its elemental creatures are sylphs, gentle spirits of the air who can be seen fleetingly as b.u.t.terflies, offering ideas, ideals and a reminder to enjoy happiness while you can.

Air's colour is yellow and its zodiacal signs are Aquarius, Gemini and Libra.

Fire Fire represents noon, summer and the quarter and direction of the South.

Fire is the realm of light, the Sun and lightning, and so forms the focus of magick for fertility, power, joy, ambition, illumination, inspiration, achievement, all creative and artistic ventures, poetry, art, sculpture, writing, music, dance, religion and spirituality, psychic powers and mystical experiences, pa.s.sion and s.e.xuality.

It can be invoked by those who work in the arts and those who seek or are required to be leaders and for those in all dangerous professions, especially involving fire, furnaces or metalwork. It is also potent for destruction of what is now no longer needed, for binding and banishing and so for protection.

Because it is the most powerful of the elements, it must be used only with care in a pure, calm frame of mind and for a positive purpose.

The elemental creature of Fire is the salamander, the mythical lizard that lives within Fire (the name is nowadays given to a species of amphibious newts). The salamander offers an understanding of mystical processes and visions to inspire future paths and ventures.

The colour of Fire is gold, orange or red and its zodiacal signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius.

Water Water represents dusk, autumn and the quarter and direction of the West.

It is the realm of love, relationships, sympathy, intuition, healing and the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Water can form the focus for rituals of purification, healing, all water and sea magick, Moon magick, reconciliation and peace, harmony in oneself and with others, restoring balance, unconscious wisdom and divination, especially scrying. It is also potent for overcoming stagnation and inertia and for moving forward after an impa.s.se, for friendship and for travel by sea. It is linked with work in the caring professions and all healers, with those who work in the psychic arts, sailors, people who live or work on or near water and for those in the hospitality industry.

Water's elemental creatures are undines, spirits of the water. The original undine was created without a soul, but gained one by marrying a mortal and bearing him a child. However, she also lost her freedom from pain and her immortality and so she is a reminder that love may have a price, but that without it life does not have meaning.

The colour of water is blue and its zodiacal signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.

The Four Quarters Of The Circle Every magical circle is divided into four quarters that are in ceremonial magick called the Watchtowers. The higher essences who protect the quarters are invoked as the Guardians, who control and direct the elemental powers. Sometimes they are called Kings, sometimes Devas, or they may be pictured as the four main archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel.

How you perceive your guardians in the ritual circle is up to you. As with all magick, there are disagreements about which archangel represents each element. This is because angels are found in a number of different traditions and religions and so may serve different functions under similar names.

Previously, I have a.s.sociated Raphael with the North and Uriel with the East, seeing Raphael in his aspect as a healer and protector, and Uriel as the fiery dawn in the East. However, recently I have started to use a more traditional a.s.sociation of Raphael as the messenger in the East and Uriel as sentinel of the North and I have found that this works better. Do read about angels and experiment to see what suits you. I have listed source material on pages 201-2 and you can find more information on the Internet. Use the elemental candle colour to represent the angel you want. You can also use angels in the four quarters to invoke protection in less formal magick by lighting candles in the four quarters when you feel afraid or alone.

I have also seen Michael listed as archangel of the dawn and East, but I think he is better placed as archangel of the Sun in the South. If you feel uncertain, simply refer to each guardian as Archangel of the North', etc., then the celestial being can reveal itself in the form that is right for you.

The angelic colours I have given vary slightly from the elemental ones and if you are carrying out a personal angelic ritual of protection or meditating on the archangels, you can use the archangel colours for your candles.

Some pract.i.tioners do not greet the Guardians of the Watchtowers at all, but instead light each elemental candle in turn, visualising golden energies pouring from each direction into the circle.

Uriel Uriel, whose name means Fire of G.o.d, is a.s.sociated with earthquakes, storms and volcanoes and is the archangel of salvation. He is sometimes linked with the courage of Mars. He warned Noah of the impending flood and led Abraham out of Ur. Believed to have given alchemy to mankind, he also imparted the wisdom of the Kabbalah, the book of sacred writings, to Hebrew mystics. He stands as wise protector and keeper of the sacred mysteries, hence representing the direction of magick and initiator of all who seek the mysteries.

Uriel stands in the North and his colour is the deep blue or purple of midnight.

Raphael Raphael is the healer and travellers' guide and is often a.s.sociated with Mercury, the messenger of the dawn. He is the angel who offers healing to the planet and to mankind and all creatures on the face of the Earth and in the skies and waters and the promise that tomorrow really is another day.

He is also guardian of the young. He is depicted with a pilgrim's stick, a wallet and a fish, showing the way and offering sustenance to all who ask.

Raphael stands in the East and his colour is yellow.

Michael Archangel of the Sun and Light, Michael is the warrior angel. He appeared to Moses as the fire in the burning bush and saved Daniel from the lions' den. As commander of the heavenly hosts, Michael, with his flaming sword, drove Satan and his fallen angels out of the celestial realms; as Angel of Judgement, he also carries a scale for weighing the souls of the dead. According to the Koran, the cherubim were created from Michael's tears.

He offers power to overcome any obstacles and challenges, and brings wisdom and illumination as to the right path.

Michael stands in the South and his colour is gold.

Gabriel Archangel of the Moon, the messenger archangel and the heavenly awakener, Gabriel appears many times in the Bible. He visited the Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, to tell them that they were to bear sons who would lead mankind to salvation. It was Gabriel who parted the waters of the Red Sea so that the Hebrews could escape from the Pharaoh's soldiers.

Gabriel is usually pictured holding a sceptre or lily. To the followers of Islam, Gabriel is the spirit of truth who dictated the Koran to Mohammed.

Gabriel brings wise words of truth and the clear voice that speaks of hope and a new purpose in life, but also compa.s.sion and the acceptance of the weaknesses of oneself as well as others.

Gabriel's protection can be felt with each new moon, especially on the day before the crescent is visible in the sky.

Gabriel stands in the West and his colour is silver.

Pentagrams The pentagram, as I have already mentioned, is one of the most sacred geometric forms in magick. Some witches wear a gold pentacle, a pentagram in a circle (see page 189), on a chain as a sign of their craft.

Each of the five points of the pentagram represents one of the five elemental powers, so that the uppermost single point is symbolic of Spirit, or Akasha or Ether. It is dedicated to the G.o.ddess in her triple aspects. It is the realm of spirituality and the divine spark within all life.

The top left point of the pentagram symbolises Air and the fixed sign of Aquarius, representing logic, intelligence and the conscious awareness that enables us to reach beyond the material and follow steps to knowledge of what is hidden.

The top right point is the element Water and the fixed sign of Scorpio. It represents the feelings that endow magick with purpose, desire whether for love or spiritual development and the compa.s.sion and empathy that make us care about ourselves, others and the world we live in. It forms the interconnectedness of all life.

The bottom left point of the pentagram symbolises the element Earth and the fixed sign of Taurus. It connects with the Earth Mother, ecology and the basis from which we explore spirit and also the material plane in which ideas are manifest.

The bottom right point in the pentagram symbolises Fire and the fixed sign of Leo, flaming ever upwards, the impetus and illumination that transforms thought into action and enables us to see potential, not least our spiritual potential.

These positions correspond with the zodiacal positions on an astrological wheel.

On another level, the pentagram is seen as representing the human body with the four limbs outstretched and the head touching the clouds.

Drawing A Pentagram Pentagrams are remarkably easy to draw. They are created in one continuous line, moving from point to point, and ending where you began. In ritual magick, pentagrams are drawn in the air at each of the four compa.s.s directions of the circle, either with an athame, a wand or the index finger of your power hand. It is best to draw really big, strong pentagrams.

Pentagrams can be drawn either to attract the elemental guardians (invoking, or attracting pentagrams) or to close their energies (banishing pentagrams).

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There are various rather complicated ways of drawing pentagrams, but I suggest you use the basic methods given on the previous page for attracting when opening your four quarters and banishing when closing. If you wish to find out more, I recommend you read Dion Fortune's Applied Magick. If you do not wish to draw pentagrams at all in your circle work, you can instead call the Guardians in the candle flame.

Preparing For Ritual Preparation for ritual is important. Despite this, even magick has to conform to the needs and customs of the modern world, and so witches today often do not fast for 24 hours or abstain from s.e.x for the same period. But you should try to slow your activities down in the hours before a formal ceremony, eat only a light meal and turn off all phones, faxes and computers if you are working from home.

Make sure you have all the basic tools and ingredients for the ceremony and that the room is ready.

About an hour before the ritual, prepare yourself, by having a bath in which a sprinkling of sacred salt and a few drops of cleansing oils, such as pine or eucalyptus, have been added. Light purple or pink candles in the bathroom and allow all your daily concerns to flow out of your body into the water, to be transformed by the candlelight. When you are ready to get out of the water, swirl the reflected light three times widdershins and as you take out the plug, say: Go in peace, flow in harmony to the sea of eternity.

Wear something light and loose for the ritual. You may like to keep a special robe for your magical work, ready washed and pressed. Though some witches work skyclad, in groups this can result in self-consciousness and sometimes unnecessary emotional complications that can detract from the magick. Also, in Northern climes it is usually too cold! But the choice, of course, is yours.

Next sweep out and cleanse the area you will be working in and set up the altar, either in the North or the centre of your circle. Pract.i.tioners who work from the East of the circle may want their altar there. The position of the altar really does not matter. (See also page 42 for working in the southern hemisphere.) If the altar is placed centrally or in the North, you follow the tradition, as I do, of working from the North; this means that you cast the circle from the North and enter the circle from the South so you are facing the North. If, however, you work with the altar in the East, you will cast from the East and enter from the West, facing the East. A central altar will work for either direction and it also means a group can easily circle it. After all, for most of us s.p.a.ce is at a premium, and sometimes it is a question of marrying metaphysics with logistics.

Creating A Temple Before you begin a formal ritual, you must cast an astral or spiritual temple above and surrounding the circle and the location. In your mind's eye, visualise your own temple, perhaps one from the ancient world, resplendent with gold and jewels, with a statue of a deity in marble, gold or silver. The roof of the temple may form a crystalline pyramid or be open to the stars. (Readers of the late Dion Fortune's occult novels will have no difficulty in forming images of such splendid edifices.) Or you may create a grove of oak or olive trees or one of the ancient stone circles as your working place or a castle room whose battlements are lashed by a stormy sea.

The altar in your temple may be pure gold, ornate stone or beaten copper, and the candles may be set in ancient lamps. With practice, you may find that a particular temple form automatically creates itself in your mind's vision, but if this is not helpful, then concentrate on the magick that exists your own very special working place.

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Let us go through a formal ritual. I have created this one for a solitary pract.i.tioner, but it adapts well for a group.

A Formal Ritual To Restore Prosperity Such a ritual could be used, for example, to boost employment in a town that has become an urban wasteland.

* Set four floor candles in the elemental colours in the four main compa.s.s points of what will be the circle. The altar is in the centre.

* Place a single large beeswax candle in the centre of the altar. Arrange your tools and the four elemental substances, also on the altar, to form a square around the central candle: salt in the North, frankincense, fern or cinnamon incense in the East, a gold candle in the South, for abundance, and a jug of water and two small dishes in the West.

* Set the pentacle containing a honey cake in the North, and place the athame in the East, the wand in the South and the chalice of juice or wine in the West.

* Place a ball of clay or dough within the elemental square, on a dish in front of the candle so that light shines on it.

* Facing North, light the altar candle.

* Take the salt from the North and stir it deosil with your athame, saying: Power of new life, power of healing, power of regeneration, enter this salt, I ask, mother and father of light and love.

You can subst.i.tute the names of G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses a.s.sociated with success, prosperity, fertility and renewal into the ritual if you wish.

* Take next the water from the West and pour some into one of the dishes. Stir it deosil, saying: Power of growth, power of fertility, power of prosperity, enter this water, I ask, mother and father of abundance and increase.

* Now take the salt to the water and tip a little in it, stirring it once more with the athame, saying: Dissolve and disperse, flow far and free to attract rebirth to -[name the town] and its inhabitants.

* Now cast the circle around the elemental candles, with your wand, starting from the North in a single unbroken movement, visualising as you do a stream of light emanating from it that encloses you above, around and beneath. (If you are working with a group, they can stand or sit within a circle while you cast around them. This is better than slowing the ceremony by having people entering the circle separately after it is cast and then having to close the circle after each one.) Say: I cast this circle of light, of power and of protection. May the circle that is cast always be unbroken. Bless my workings this night [or day], O mother and father of rebirth and renewal, unified and yet two, and all that is and has been and shall be, creative spirit of the universe, the cosmos and the smallest blade of gra.s.s.

Pick up the bowl of salt water and sprinkle a second circle deosil around the perimeter of the first, saying: Salt and water, enclose, bless and protect you who have sustained life from the beginning and will so to the end.

If others are present, a second witch or the High Priest then sprinkles all present individually with the water, saying 'Bless and protect'.

* Light the incense in the East (or add to it if it was lit before the ritual).