A Practical Guide To Witchcraft And Magic Spells Part 13

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Very potent protection can be provided by amulets. These are charms that have been marked with a symbol to indicate the power they contain. This could be a protective G.o.d or G.o.ddess, or a sign of the zodiac or a planet that you feel has the power you need. Alternatively, you might simply write the name of the person to be protected and surround it with a circle to keep out ill-wis.h.i.+ng. You can make an amulet in any shape you wish, out of candle-wax or clay, or you could use wooden discs, cut from an old broom handle. The symbols may be engraved, using a sharp knife, or painted on.

You can add decorations if you wish. Amulets may be carried in your pocket, or you could drill a hole and thread a ribbon through an amulet and hang it around your neck. They may also be placed in a house to offer protection against danger and illness. Protective crystals (see page 153) also make good amulets and empowered herbs of protection (see Chapter 6), carried in a purse or bag are potent in the same way.

Traditionally, the week before the midsummer solstice is the time for making protective amulets, so that they can be pa.s.sed through flame or held up to the Sun on the solstice day at noon.

Salt Salt has always been central to religious and magical practices because it is an absolutely pure substance. It is powerful for psychic protection but also in money-making and in healing rituals. Centuries ago, it was regarded as precious because it was the main preservative of food through the long winter months for early settlers around the globe. In formal magick, it represents the element of Earth.

In modern protective and banis.h.i.+ng rituals, a salt circle is created to keep out harm. Many of us still adhere to the old practice of throwing a pinch of spilt salt over our left shoulder, 'into the eyes of the Devil'. Salt was also added in the making of Holy Water to ward off evil and increase physical strength as well as powers of fertility. Salt is still added to water in casting a triple circle in more formal magick.

On a less formal level, small quant.i.ties of salt can be empowered and used for all kinds of domestic protection. To empower salt, pa.s.s a clear quartz or crystal pendulum over it deosil, chanting the purpose, for example, 'Salt, salt, protect me from all danger'. Keep them separate from other condiments in a watertight container and then you can build in the specific need, perhaps protection for a traveller, purification of a house or comfort for a child unhappy at school. Twists of salt in silver foil hidden in the corners of a room at home or work can offer protection, as can salt in a drawstring bag carried while travelling to guard against illness, accident or harm. You can also scatter a circle of salt around a schoolbag, travel bag or briefcase, around your desk or on the threshold, to create a protective s.h.i.+eld.

You can charge pepper in the same way to make a salt and pepper floor wash for floors (this is an old Afro-Caribbean tradition). As you scrub or sprinkle, create the empowerment charm, for example 'Salt of Earth, pepper of Fire, guard my home and cleanse away all harm'. Pepper also works wonders for keeping away the office vamp or Adonis and if you think your partner is at risk from temptation, add the empowered condiment to a salad and they will absorb the protection.

A Protective Ritual With Empowered Salt * Place the salt in a small ceramic dish on your altar and light a pure beeswax candle at the four main compa.s.s points around the edges of the altar. Beeswax has a long tradition in magick: it was sacred to the Mother G.o.ddess and later the Virgin Mary. Demeter, G.o.ddess of the grain, was called Queen Bee and Aphrodite's symbol at her hive-shaped shrine in Eryx was a gold honeycomb. Her high priestess was always called Melissa, Latin for bee.

* Beginning at the North of your circle, light your elemental candles. At each quarter of the circle say: Demeter, Aphrodite, Melissa, pure mother bee, charge with thy light this salt, to enfold my home (workplace/journey) with thy golden mantle of protection.

You may wish to leave out the G.o.ddess names or subst.i.tute a Mother G.o.ddess or religious icon of your own. Perhaps surprisingly, many witches do ask the blessings of Mother Mary and I believe that if you work in love, then you should use your own focus. If you prefer, just say: Benign light, charge with honeyed fragrance this salt, to enfold -[insert the name of the person to be protected].

* Next enclose your dish of salt in a square of small protective crystals such as jade or tiger's eye and one or two amber if you have any in your collection. (Rose quartz or gla.s.s nuggets in smoky brown and yellow make good subst.i.tutes.) Begin in the North and make sure the crystals are touching.

The square is a sacred geometric form symbolising time and s.p.a.ce and so is good for all protective rituals. The square should be just inside the candles. Some pract.i.tioners create a symbolic square by placing just two crystals in the centre of where each side would be, and you can do this if you prefer. As you create the square, say: Safe within, nought to enter, nought to harm, nought within but this benign light of love. Thus do I build, thus enclose - [insert the name or place to be protected] in light and protection.

* Now create a circle of golden petals, pollen, leaves or pot pourri. The circle should almost touch the candles, so that they can stand sentinel round it, and should enclose the square or crystals and the salt. The circle represents the spirit and so encloses the s.p.a.ce and time square. As you scatter the petals or pollen, say: Circle of gold, s.h.i.+eld from malice, danger and stranger, enter the salt and empower this sphere with a s.h.i.+eld of gold.

* Leave the candles to burn down, making sure they are in broad-based holders so wax does not fall on the petals.

If you are working with other people or wish to have a more active ritual, place the dish of salt in the centre resting on the altar or on a rock. Set tall candles in floor holders a short distance away and make an invisible square with frankincense or sandalwood incense by walking round the square and then scattering your golden petal, herb or pollen circle.

If you cannot obtain beeswax candles, use plain white candles and place a tiny dish of honey to the right of the salt. Since the honey will also be empowered, you can absorb the protective magick by using it in a drink or sandwich.

* When the candles have burned down completely, clear away the crystals and wash them under running water.

Water Because water is vital for life, it has become a.s.sociated with rebirth and healing through the was.h.i.+ng away of sins and disease, and so with protection from ills of all kinds.

Water for rituals must first be consecrated. You can use either pure spring water or tap water left for 24 hours in a crystal or clear gla.s.s container. Cover the water with mesh in the waxing or full moon and then leave out of doors to absorb the light of the Moon and the Sun for a full 24 hours. The full moon rises around sunset, so you can follow the old Celtic day (see the chapter on Planets and Angels). Even if you cannot see the light because of cloud, the energies are still potent.

In formal magick, consecrated water is placed in the West in a special bowl. In the home, it is good to keep a supply of sacred water ready for use at all times: purify objects and areas by sprinkling it, add it to your bath, drink it, put it in your pets' bowl and use it to water your plants.

One way of un.o.btrusively absorbing the protection of sacred water is to keep some in a mineral water bottle so you can dab it on your wrists and temples at times of stress or take a drink if you feel worried or under threat from a person who exudes hostility.

Add a little to the cup when making tea or coffee for an adversary. You are not giving away your power but, by the Threefold Law, creating harmony in the source of the trouble. Sacred water can also be poured on earth that has become barren or spoiled and into polluted seas and rivers.

A Ritual For Consecrating Water If you are carrying out a special healing or protective ritual, you might wish to use this slightly more complex method of creating sacred water. It is possible to buy or obtain water from holy wells, usually in return for a donation towards the upkeep of the well, and some commercially bottled spring water comes from sacred wells. For example, the healing water from Prime's Well, in the Malvern Hills, where the hero in Langland's poem The Vision of Piers the Plowman received his vision, is now piped and bottled as Malvern Spring Water, without which Queen Elizabeth II will not travel.

Use the following ritual to consecrate your bottled water, or, if you are in a hurry for your rituals, pa.s.s a pendulum nine times widders.h.i.+ns over it to remove any influences added in the bottling and nine times deosil to energise it. (A pendulum is made by hanging a crystal, or a piece of wood or metal on a chain and can be used to transmit answers to questions by its movements.

Crystal pendulums are also used to catch the light of the Sun or Moon, thus adding the energies of these light forces.) Use a crystal or clear gla.s.s jug or decanter, if possible, in which to keep your water. The kind used for wine, with a stopper or lid, is best.

* Wash a clear, round crystal quartz (a stone used in many cultures to energise and purify water) under running water to remove any impurities introduced by the modern world. Place it in the bottom of your jug or decanter.

* Pour mineral water, from a sacred source if possible, into the jug. Some pract.i.tioners, following the ancient Celtic tradition, use water that has been boiled with nine quartz crystals added.

* Leave this water out of doors in a circle of white flowers or blossoms for 24 hours, where it will absorb the complete light cycle. If the Moon is not visible, because of clouds, burn a white candle or nightlight behind it.

* Pa.s.s a twig from one of the protective trees, such as rowan, ash, palm, thorn or olive, over it nine times widders.h.i.+ns to remove any lingering negativity.

* Finally, pa.s.s the twig over it nine times deosil to empower it, saying: Water of the G.o.ddess, flowing from the Earth, filled with lingering moonbeams, healing bring to birth.Water filled with sunlight, crystal light empower, floral life force entering, blessings on us shower.

Keep your sacred water on a special shelf in a cupboard and when it is almost empty pour what is left into a pond or lake and wash out the jug or decanter under running water.

Revitalising Rainwater For Use In Rituals Before the days of acid rain, pract.i.tioners of magick would use rainwater collected in a container before it touched the ground as sacred water. Nowadays, you may find it necessary to revitalise the rainwater you use with a few drops of flower essence. There are many brands available: Agrimony from Dr Bach's Flower Essences; Goatbeard from the Pacific Flower Essence Remedies; Coconut Palm from the African and Amazonian Essences; Alaskan soap berry; Deva Fig Tree or Morning Glory; and Findhorn rowan, all of which seem to work as purifiers for me. Flower and tree essences are created from the living energies of the plant and this spirit water is especially good for protective baths.

A Protective Water Ritual This ritual is particularly effective for removing the effects of spite or unfair criticism or a destructive encounter that has shaken your confidence.

It is based on an old custom whereby a rag was dipped into a holy well and the water rubbed on the body part that was causing pain. The rag was then left on a tree overhanging the well to dry and take with it the illness or pain, after which the rag was left to decay, so ensuring a permanent or long-term cure. These wells, called cloth or 'cloutie' wells in the north of England, are still a focus for protection and healing in many parts of the world, surrounded by ribbons and flowers.

You will need a large crystal or gla.s.s bowl for this ritual. Such bowls, frequently used in magick, are often obtainable cheaply from car boot or garage sales.

* Pour sacred water into the crystal bowl so that it is about half-full.

* Pa.s.s over the bowl three times deosil a silver coloured knife, or a traditional tool related to Air, saying: One, twice, three times, by this blade of Air, by the mighty winds and the boundless sky, thrice thus do I charge this water with power and protection against all who would do or wish me harm.

* Dip a small piece of white cotton or flannel into your sacred water, saying: Wash away the sorrow, wash away the pain,Father Sky and Sister Water, let but peace remain.

* Tie the cloth to a healing tree, such as ash, birch, aspen or willow (failing this, any tree or large plant in your garden or home will do) and leave the cloth to dry naturally. As you tie it, say: As the sacred water returns to the sky to fall as life-enhancing rain, so may my- [name your unhappiness] be dispersed and transformed into joy and reconciliation.

Place a coin in a special pot every time you use your sacred water, so that when it is full you can buy a present for someone you love, a person who is lonely or ill or to give to a favourite charity.

9 - Healing Magick

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Herbs have been used for healing since time immemorial in cultures all over the world. In herbal medicine, the herbs whose properties alleviate a particular illness or state of mind are taken internally or applied to the physical body externally. However, in healing magick, light and healing energies are transmitted through colour, crystals, herbs, oils and incenses and used as a focus for transferring healing energies to trigger the body and mind's own immune system, through visualisation and telepathic waves. In this way, healing magick is akin to spiritual healing.

By directing the natural restorative energies of the Earth, nature and the cosmos towards a sick or distressed person, animal or place through mind or soul flow, we can stimulate and amplify their self-healing powers.

A number of witches are formally trained in the healing arts, using both conventional methods, such as surgery, and alternative therapies, such as chiropractic, aromatherapy and Reiki. Witches may also be members of healing a.s.sociations, and conventional medicine is increasingly recognising the value of alternative and much older methods.

But many witches without any formal training in either conventional medical treatment or spiritual healing follow the tradition of the wise men and women, the Wicca. These pract.i.tioners pa.s.sed their craft down over centuries, from one generation to the next, but we also all have an innate ability to heal, which tells us how to soothe a loved one's headache or a child's distress. If you do wish to learn more of the craft see pages 299 and 305-7 where I have listed books on herbalism and aromatherapy and healing organisations.

Unlike some modern physicians or surgeons, who sometimes regard the prolonging of life as the major purpose of their work, regardless of the quality of that life, many witch healers, like other spiritual healers, accept that sometimes decline and death are inevitable. So they work to ease the parting and the pa.s.sing over, knowing that this life is not the end. Magical healing has a very gentle tradition.

You can carry out healing with the sick person present, by directing the light and energies towards them. This can be done, for example, through a candle flame set between you. Alternatively, you can circle a pendulum over their head, widders.h.i.+ns to remove pain for whole-body healing or to ease a painful place, and deosil to restore energies. If the subject is absent, you can visualise them and send healing light across the cosmos. Healing magick can also be used with your pets, and for more general purposes, such as healing a particular place or the planet.

Do note that I am not claiming that the methods of magick healing given in this chapter will always effect a complete cure; if you suffer from a chronic or acute condition that does not quickly improve, you should consult your conventional doctor or registered alternative medical pract.i.tioner. However, magick has successfully been used in speeding healing, partly, it would seem, by stimulating the body's own self-healing system, operating through the close connection between mind, body and spirit in a way that the medical profession is only now beginning to understand.

Creating A Healing Sanctuary Many pract.i.tioners use their magical altar for healing work and because each piece of work is related, this adds to the positive energies already concentrated there. However, if you have room, you might like to set aside a corner specifically for healing.

You can use a table or any flat surface for your altar. On it, you should keep a single, pure beeswax or white candle; this is a symbol of the unity of all life and the one divine source that flows through every natural being, whether it is male or female, G.o.d or G.o.ddess, animal, bird, fish, tree, plant or stone. You will also need your special healing crystals, perhaps arranged in a circle around the candle and a clear crystal sphere or crystal pendulum for directing sunlight and moonlight.

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The crystals could include gentle rose quartz and amethyst for healing all ills and bringing harmony, moonstone for female and hormonal disorders and for fertility, citrine for energy and lifting depression, and agates for balancing energies. Later in this section I have listed some healing crystals I use under their different colours, as these are related to healing properties. You can also refer to the list of crystals in the previous chapter on psychic protection.

You can also keep here pots of healing herbs, seasonal fruit, flowers, nuts and seeds that will be empowered by the healing energies. These can regularly be given to anyone feeling tired or anxious - not forgetting yourself.

A covered jar of empowered salt and a bottle of sacred water are also important. However, you might like to bless them before use, in the name of the G.o.ddess, a healing deity or simply the powers of goodness and light, by pa.s.sing them three times over the healing candle flame.

You will also need somewhere to keep all you need for your healing work that you can also use in more general magical work with a healing focus. You might have a box at the side of the altar, or, if you adapt a cupboard for your altar, you could use the s.p.a.ce inside it. In this place you would have your dried herbs, healing oils and incenses, favourite flower essences, coloured bottles containing empowered water and small crystals or gla.s.s nuggets. You could also collect twigs or small carved artefacts from healing trees, such as ash, olive, rowan, palm and aspen. (See page 139 for details of incenses and page 128 for information on oils.) On the table in front of the candle you could keep a special healing book in which you could write the names of people or places you know who need healing. These could include pets, a hospital or hospice with which you have connections, sanctuaries for injured creatures, threatened species and places. It is better to have this separate, rather than as part of your Book of Shadows, but if you prefer you can use your Book of Shadows for both areas of work.

You might also like to keep a special 'Loving Connections' section for the names of friends or family members who are away from home and may be feeling lonely, and also anyone from whom you are estranged.

A bound journal with blank pages is good for this kind of work or you could buy a leather loose-leaf binder and insert blank pages with dates. If you work in a group, one member can be responsible for regularly updating the book.

A Ritual For Creating Healing Magick Each evening or morning - or whenever you have time - light your healing candle and hold one of your special crystals and your crystal sphere or pendulum and focus on of the names in your book, sending the candlelight reflected though the crystal to wherever it is needed. The traditional healing hour is ten o' clock at night, but what is more important is that the time is one where you can be quiet and are not pressurised by other demands. Begin by holding a healing crystal and focusing the energies through the candle flame; you can then extend this ritual for specific healing purposes.

You will need a photograph, newspaper cutting or symbol of the person, animal or place to which you are sending healing energies.

* Take a dish of sacred water and place it near the candle.

* Hold the symbol of the person to be healed between your hands and speak a few words of love and rea.s.surance as though they were with you. If you have already created for the sick person a herb poppet (see page 108) or sachet (see page 106), hold that between your hands and repeat the original herb empowerment or sit in silence recreating the ritual in your mind. You can add words of healing as above. If the object of the healing is a place, such as a lake or woodland under threat, imagine that you are in that place.

* Circle your crystal pendulum or a pointed healing crystal over the symbol (or sachet or poppet) nine times widders.h.i.+ns, saying as a mantra: Go, pain and sorrow, change to star or sunbeam, transformed in joy and in tranquillity.

* Plunge the pendulum into the water and hold it to the light so the drops of water fall off and scatter as rainbow light beams all around the symbol. You can also create the light beams by angling your candle or hanging rainbow crystals in your window. It is not cheating, but directing natural forces for a purpose and infusing physical light beams with spiritual energies. Mirrors are another good way of reflecting light beams.

* Now circle the pendulum nine times deosil over the symbol, saying: Sunbeam, star beam, rays of light, replace, restore, renew, rejoice.

* Blow out the candle, sending the light to the sick or sorrowing person, saying: Go, light of healing, radiance of love and friends.h.i.+p, to where you are needed most this night, with - [name the person, animal or location].

May blessings fall, darkness and doubts recede into nothingness. So may it be in the name of all that is good and loving and pure [or 'in the name of the G.o.ddess', if you prefer].

If you are feeling ill, worried or afraid you can go to your healing place and light the candle, holding your favourite crystal and expressing softly your needs and fears. However, the more healing you carry out for others, the more harmony will fall on you under the Threefold Law.

If you are working with friends or in a group, after showering it with light beams, pa.s.s the symbol round to each person, adding individual blessings. Give each person a small, white candle to set before them so that they can personally send light and blessings.

The words can be spoken as a joint mantra or chant.

A Short Ritual For Absent Healing This can be carried out once a month for those who regularly need your help and support. Use natural candles such as beeswax rather than paraffin-based for this ritual if possible.

* Light your healing candle and burn rose or lavender incense or a healing oil, such as Chamomile or rosewood.

* Read through all the names in your healing book, adding any new ones to the list and giving thanks for any who have recovered.

* Speak your own prayer or mantra to your G.o.d, the G.o.ddess, or any healing deities who seem appropriate. You may call upon an Archangel (see page 236) or the benign powers of Light and Love, if this seems more meaningful. Each person present can again add blessings.

* Leave the candle and incense to burn away and bury any ash or wax afterwards in the earth beneath a tree.

A Healing Ritual With Sunlight And Moonlight This is a very magical form of healing and can be carried out either alone or as a group activity. Quartz crystal b.a.l.l.s were traditionally used medicinally to concentrate the rays of sunlight upon a diseased or painful area of the body or in the direction of some internal organ.

This clear crystal stone has always been a.s.sociated with energising powers and with healing. In its spherical form of completeness, it is perhaps the ultimate healing and magical stone. You can buy tiny spheres quite cheaply and these work just as well as a large crystal ball.

Sunlight is good for energising and improving physical health and vitality, encouraging re-growth and regeneration, and for matters of the mind where clarity and optimism are needed.

Moonlight is potent for removing illness or pain and for all problems concerning emotions, hormones or fertility and is especially effective in healing women, children and pets.

* Direct the sunlight or the light of the full moon into your crystal sphere, so that it s.h.i.+nes on the person you are healing, or their photograph or other symbol. If you are using sunlight, be careful that the crystal does not become too hot and of course do not look directly at the image of the Sun.

* Stand in a circle in the open air and in the centre, place a dish of pure spring water. Use a golden coloured bowl for sunlight, and a silver bowl for moonlight.

* Into the water, drop tiny clear quartz crystals (if you are working in a group, each person adds one crystal). As you cast the crystals, make a wish for healing the sick or distressed person.

* Hold a crystal pendulum and swirl it on its chain to catch within it either rainbows or sunbeams, or the silver light of the Moon.

* Cast the beams into the water, calling: Go forth with love and healing. You can, if you prefer, create your own words.

* Pour the water into a clear gla.s.s bottle with a stopper and send or give it to the sick person. They may drink it or use it in a bath.

* Return the energies to the cosmos by placing yellow flowers or seeds in a pot for the golden energies if you used sunlight, and white flowers for the Moon.

Colour Healing Colour has long been believed to have the power to influence not only our moods, but our physical well-being. The Babylonians called the healing power of light 'the medicine of the G.o.ds'. Healing colours have been used for thousands of years in Chinese treatments and in Ayurveda, an ancient Indian medicine. The Ancient Egyptians wore amulets of coloured stones: red to treat disease, yellow for happiness and prosperity, and green for fertility.

Colour healing is not just a fancy: we know for a fact that each beam of coloured light has its own wavelength and is absorbed by the body through the skin and the optic nerves. This triggers complex biochemical changes. Each of the seven primary wavelengths or vibrations of light visible to the human eye focuses on different parts of the body, evoking in them both a physiological and psychological response. Red has the longest wavelength of visible colour and violet the shortest. The colours that we can see make up only a very small segment of the electromagnetic spectrum and lie between the infra red and ultra violet rays.

Methods Of Using Colour For Healing You can use specific colours to charge water with magical healing energies. You can then drink this water or pour it into your bath, to absorbing the essence of the colour. You can also place one of the appropriately coloured healing crystals listed below in water for a few hours to increase its life force.

Coloured candles may also be used: light a candle in the appropriate colour, then breathe in the specific colour energies and exhale the darkness. This can be practised alone either for your own benefit or to direct the colour energies towards a sick person.

Colour breathing, which is used to create a cone of power (see page 40) is another healing method. You can also co-ordinate healing breathing within a group, again directing the energies to where they are needed.

Healing With Crystals And Colour The healing colour a.s.sociations listed here are drawn from a variety of traditions and my own experience. You may find that for you the colour correspondences are different - this is the reason there are so many alternative systems. I have included the key colours here, but you can also refer back to the colour correspondences that I mentioned from page 90 onwards in the section on candles.

White / Clear White is for limitless potential, clarity of vision, the life force, integration, seeking what is of worth.