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estimate the space you will need to work or dance and cast your circle accordingly.
(Deities in the cosmos with measuring tapes are remarkably rare.)
* Using a taper lit from the candle you placed to the West of the cauldron, light
the candle in the West of the circle. If working in a group, this should be done by
the person standing by the West candle. As you light the candle of the West say:
I call upon the guardians of
the mighty oceans,
the inland seas, the straits and
the channels between land
to protect my/our undertakings
and to create this circle of light.
May the circle be unbroken
to keep all within from harm.
* Re-light the taper if necessary from the West candle. Carry the taper of light to
the candle in the North, creating an arc of light. Light the candle in the North.
(If working in a group, the taper is given to the person sitting nearest the North
candle, who comes forward as the first person returns to sit in the circle.) As the
candle in the North is lit, say:
I call upon the guardians of
the rushing rivers,
the watercourses and
the canals to protect my/our
undertakings and to create this circle of light.
May the circle be unbroken
to keep all within from harm.
* Re-light the taper if necessary and carry it in an unbroken arc to the East (pass
it to the next person, if working in a group) and light the East candle, saying:
I call upon the guardians of
the lakes,
the still pools,
ponds and marshes
to protect my/our undertakings
and to create this circle of light.
May the circle be unbroken
to keep all within from harm.
* Re-light the taper once again and in the same way make an arc of light to the
South, and light the final candle, saying:
I call upon the guardians of
the water that flows through or near our homes,
the sacred wells and streams,
the ditches and the watercourses
to protect my/our undertakings and
to create this circle of light.
May the circle be unbroken
that I now make complete.
* Carry the final taper to complete the circle in the West and join it to the
burning West candle, saying:
Fire to fire,
water to water,
so does power increase.
* Take a crystal from the dish and cast it into the cauldron, saying:
So ripples the power to cleanse,
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to heal and to restore life
to the waters of the planet,
from whence it has departed.
* Say a few words of healing, perhaps naming special waters you know and care
about, and areas where there is no clean drinking water. If working in a group,
each person can take it in turns to cast a crystal and add a few words of their
own.
* Blow out the four elemental candles in the reverse order in which they were lit,
saying:
May the circle be uncast
but remain unbroken.
The floating blue candle and the one next to the cauldron can be left to burn down.
Afterwards, have a simple meal and drink. If you are working in a group, this may
be a good time to plan a campaign for furthering your efforts for clean waters in
the daily world.
~~~~~~~
6 - Herbs In Magick
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There is a long tradition of using herbs for healing, but they have many other
uses. As well as healing rituals, you can place dishes of charged herbs near a
bedside in a sickroom or on your healing altar next to a symbol, photograph or the
name of the person to be healed. However, they are also excellent for emotional
support and spiritual empowerment. For example, if you get stressed on a regular
car journey through heavy traffic or on motorways, you may well benefit from a
healing or protective herbal sachet in the glove compartment of your car. In fact,
herbs may be used to add their strength to almost any kind of ritual and spell.
As they have such a wide variety of uses in magick, you will probably need quite a
large supply. Fortunately, herbs are, for the most part, very easy to grow - and
very ornamental. If you have a garden you can set aside a small area specifically
for cultivating herbs. Alternatively, you can create an indoor garden of herbs
grown in pots, so that you have a ready supply of growing energy. Once picked, all
your herbs can be used either fresh, for example on your altar, or dried, in
healing sachets and poppets.
Each herb has its own natural properties and strengths and they also have the
benefit of offering dual purposes. If, for example, you use allspice for a person
with digestive or throat troubles, as a bonus both you and the person you heal may
experience a gradual upturn in fortune, one of its magical meanings. Though most of
the traditional uses of herbs apply to physical and emotional ills and so are most
commonly applied to people - and animals, of course - you can also use them for
spells concerning places; for example, herbs for soothing wounds, such as lavender,
are equally potent in rituals for healing the Earth or reversing the effects of
pollution.
Empowering Herbs
In addition to their natural properties, you can further empower the herbs,
defining their purpose, and adding to the strength they display spontaneously.
Empowering herbs can be done in one of two ways. The first method is to use an
empowerment ritual, such as the one described on page 109; this is good for herbs
to be used in poppets and healing herbal sachets (see below). Alternatively, you
can use the method described on page 172 for charging colour-infused water. This is
particularly effective for adding extra healing power to a pot of herbs to be
placed on your healing altar, as a focus for the need of a particular person.
Herbal Poppets And Sachets
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Traditionally, empowered herbs were used to fill either sachets or featureless
dolls called poppets. They were made for love, protection, prosperity, fertility,
healing and success and could contain either a single herb or a mixture, depending
on the purpose.
Poppets, which are used mainly in love or healing or occasionally in protective
magick, are generally kept in a safe place, such as a drawer, rather than carried
around. So, for a love spell, two poppets would be tied together and placed in a
drawer in a bedroom or left out on the window ledge in the moonlight, especially
around the time of the full moon. For fertility, a miniature poppet might be placed
in a tiny woven cradle on the window ledge from the new to the full moon. It would
then be wrapped in silk until the end of the moon cycle and kept in an enclosed
space, for example, a large painted egg made of pottery or wood. The would-be
father would make the cradle and the mother would sew and fill the doll.
Some practitioners attach hair from the person to be healed or the object of the
love spell to the poppet, but I consider that this is an intrusion of privacy.
Instead, I would suggest that if you wish to add extra power, you make your
featureless dolls in an appropriate colour.
Herbal sachets are particularly versatile; small ones can be carried around in a
bag, pocket or pinned to undergarments, and large ones can be hung over a bed or
near the door or in a drawer at work. Traditionally, sachets of empowered herbs
were tied with three, six or nine knots of ribbon or twine, these being magical
numbers. If you do this, choose ribbon of a colour appropriate to the need - or
more than one colour if you wish to add a secondary colour meaning. The number of
knots depends on the intensity of the need as knots are a powerful way of
concentrating energies. You can, of course, buy ready-made drawstring purses in
different colours, which make instant excellent herb pouches, but making herbal
sachets is very straightforward.
Rather than giving you set formulae for herb poppets and sachets, I have listed a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]