A Practical Guide To Witchcraft And Magic Spells Part 23

* Go to the seash.o.r.e just before high tide and, in a bottle, collect some sea water, saying: Lady Ocean, Mother Sea, I take of yours, not willingly, but as a token of what I lack, I ask your help to bring him/her/it back.

* Wait until the tide turns and tip the water back into the sea, saying: Lady Ocean, Mother Sea, I return what is yours, send mine back to me.

* Cast flowers on the water, sending a silent message to the person you have lost or whoever now has your missing item, asking for its safe return - if it is right to be.

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Spell Template

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This guide can be used to help you create spells for every occasion.

It lists all the materials, tools and stages that may be included in a spell but you will not need to use every item every time - some you will only use for formal rituals.

Preparation * Choose the subject matter of your spell, bearing in mind the Threefold Law.

* Note down the purpose of the spell and the order in which you intend to work. Decide whether it will be divided into phases, such as invoking the four elements, raising and releasing the power (see pages 40-1) or merge into one.

* Plan what you are going to say and write it down. (You may of course let the words come to you spontaneously.) * Choose the time for your spell. Check the following influences: The seasonsThe equinoxesThe phase of the MoonThe day of the weekThe hour * Check any time limits (for example, 'May this spell hold sway until the Moon has ebbed away') and ensure that you can adhere to them.

* Choose the place for your spell. If you are working out of doors, and it is a spell that will last over several days, bear in mind any possible changes in the weather. Make sure you have enough room for the circle you intend to cast. Set up your altar in advance, if you can.

* Choose candles for the altar, to mark the quadrants of the circle and to represent people. Check they are the right colour. Choose elemental candles.

* Inscribe your candles.

* Anoint your candles.

* Choose your a.s.sociated symbols that will act as a focus for the spell.

* Choose your elemental tools.

* Choose your herbs. Decide if you are going to empower them before or during the ceremony and write down the words if necessary. Make any sachets or poppets you intend to use.

* Choose your oils.

* Choose your incenses.

* Choose your crystals.

* Choose your ritual substances.

* Consecrate the ritual substances.

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The Ceremony * Cast your circle.

* Invoke the elements and angels.

* Focus on the symbol of the spell and declare your intentions.

* Endow the symbol with magical energies, chanting if appropriate.

* Raise the power to absorb energy from the cosmos, creating a cone of power.

* Release the power, sending it out into the cosmos.

* Close the energies down. * Uncast the circle.

* Ground the energies.

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After The Ceremony * Dispose of materials - some may need to be left out in the light of the Moon, or buried or thrown to the winds; others may be kept, wrapped in silk, or sent to the person for whom the spell is intended.

* Blow out all the candles, unless they are to be left to burn down. If this is the case, make sure there is no risk of fire.

* Cleanse and recharge your tools.

Glossary

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Akasha: The fifth and greatest element, formed by the combination of the ancient elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water that were considered in cla.s.sical times and by alchemists to be the components of all life and matter. Also sometimes called Spirit or Ether.

Akas.h.i.+c records: The collective memory bank on the spirit plane said to hold the experiences of all people, past, present and future.

Alban Arthuran: The festival of the mid-winter solstice, named after King Arthur, the legendary Sun King, which takes place on or about 21 December in the northern hemisphere.

Alpha waves: Brain waves, cultivated in psychic work, that are a.s.sociated with a very relaxed state of mind in which it is possible for intuitive faculties to find expression.

Amulet: A charm carried on a person or placed in a house to offer protection against danger and illness. When charged with healing energies, it becomes a talisman and can attract health and good fortune.

Anima: The term coined by Carl Gustav Jung to represent the female power within men as well as women.

Animus: Jung's term for the male power within women and men. Ankh: An Egyptian symbol of eternal life.

Archangels: Higher orders of angels, celestial beings featuring in the cosmologies of the three major religions of the Western world, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, as well as many other world religions.

Athame: A double-edged knife used in formal ritual magick.

Auric field/aura: The personal energy field around all animate life, visible to clairvoyants.

Beltain: The Celtic festival of summer, beginning on 30 April and lasting for three days.

Bicarmel mind: A way of thinking that uses both hemispheres of the mind, the logical and the intuitive, rather than the left (logical) hemisphere predominating as is normal in adults.

Book of Shadows: A book of reference containing magical spells, herbs, flowers, incenses and moon phases, etc.

Caduceus: The staff of the cla.s.sical messenger of the G.o.ds (Hermes to the Greeks and Mercury to the Romans), shaped like two snakes, entwined in a double circle.

Cardinal: Princ.i.p.al, as in the four cardinal directions set round a circle - North, South, East, and West. Also a term applied to the astrological signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, because when the Sun moved into these signs it marked the start of a new season. Those born under a cardinal sign manifest this quality as a desire to initiate and to take command of people and situations.

Cauldron of Undry: A magical cauldron, one of the original four Celtic treasures, that could provide an endless supply of nourishment and had great healing and restorative powers. Believed by some scholars to be the inspiration for the Holy Grail.

Censer: A container for granular incense that is burned on charcoal. Also called a thurible.

Chalice: A cup or goblet made of gla.s.s, crystal, pottery or metal, traditionally silver, used in ceremonies to represent the Water element and to hold wine, juice or water.

Charge: A declaration of the power and benevolence of the G.o.ddess (or G.o.d) in Wicca, similar to the Creed in other religions. It is spoken usually in the first person and is sometimes believed to be the words of the G.o.ddess channelled through the speaker.

Ch'i: The invisible life force, the flow of positive energy through everything, promoting growth, health and vitality.

Clairaudience: A natural psychic ability to hear sounds beyond the range of the physical sounds and the physical ear, sometimes from other dimensions. Mediums often communicate with spirits by hearing their voices and so can convey messages to relatives or friends in whom the ability is not so developed.

Coven: A meeting of any group, numbering from two to 13 pract.i.tioners, who meet together to perform magick.

Deosil: Clockwise, or, literally 'in the direction of the Sun'. The direction used in creating a circle, in all forms of attracting magic and for giving healing energies. See also Widders.h.i.+ns.

Devas: The angelic beings who watch and direct the natural world. In formal magick, one Deva rules over each segment of a magical circle and one of the four elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Also known as the Devic Lords of the Watchtower.

Dhoop: An incense stick like a slender rope, from India.

The Divinity: Generic term for the ultimate source of goodness, light and creation.

Djinn: An invisible, shapes.h.i.+fting creature of fire and air, originating in the Middle East. In Islamic tradition, djinns live in a parallel universe and so are invisible, created, it is said, before mortals from smokeless fire.

Druids: Celtic high priests and wise men (and women) who preserved a common culture, religion, history, laws, scholars.h.i.+p, healing, magic and science amongst the disparate Celtic tribes. There is historical evidence of Druids in Ireland, England, Wales and Gaul and it would seem that they also held sway in the Celtic settlements of Spain, Italy, Galatia and the Danube valley, although under a different name.

Eightfold Wheel of the Year: An ancient magical and spiritual division of the year, formalised by the Celts, though possibly dating back to the first agricultural societies.

Elementals: The forces or energies that in nature and magick give shape to living things and bring thoughts and desires into actuality.

Equinox: The two times of the year when day and night are equal -namely, the spring equinox around 21 March (21 September in the southern hemisphere) and the autumn equinox around 22 September (22 March in the southern hemisphere). In Celtic myth these were the times when the twin G.o.ds of light and darkness fought each other for control.

Esbat: A monthly coven meeting traditionally held 13 times a year during each full moon.

Evil eye: A way of transmitting negativity to another person, not as a deliberate curse, but through feelings of envy, jealousy or resentment.

Evocation: The summoning-up of angels (and sometimes demons) in order to bind them to perform tasks.

Fixed: In astrology, a term applied to the signs of Leo, Taurus, Aquarius and Scorpio because the Sun enters them in the middle of a season. Those born under these signs exhibit stability and a tendency to continue in a predetermined path. See also Cardinal, Mutable.

The G.o.ddess: The archetype or source energy of the feminine ultimate power or principle. All the named G.o.ddesses are aspects of particular qualities of the G.o.ddess in different cultures.

Grail: The chalice that Christ used at the Last Supper, in which His blood was collected after the crucifixion.

Grail guardians: Nine maidens, sometimes a.s.sociated with the guardians of sacred wells or with the nine priestesses of the Isle of Avalon who included Morgan le Fay, Arthur's half-sister, and Vivien, the Lady of the Lake in Arthurian tradition who accompanied Arthur on his funeral barge. In some Grail legends, the Knights Templar were the traditional guardians of various holy relics, including the Grail Cup, that were brought back from the Crusades.

Grail treasures: The main elemental ritual items in magick, a.s.sociated with the treasures of the Celts, and having parallels in Christianity.

Handfastings: A popular marriage rite among Wiccans, named after the focal point of the rite in which a couple's right hands are loosely joined by a cord to symbol the uniting of the two people, body, mind and soul.

Hedge witches: Lone witches; the name comes from the practice of village wise women surrounding their homes with a hedge of hawthorn, a magical tree that afforded privacy from the curious.

The Horned G.o.d: The male principle in Wicca, Lord of the Hunt, the Herds, Winter and the Underworld. Known to the Celts as Cernunnos, the generic name for 'horned one'.

Imbolc: The Celtic festival of early spring. A Fire festival, christianised as Candlemas on 1 February. Also known as Oimelc.

Immanent: Usually refers to a G.o.d or the G.o.ddess; indicating that they are manifest within the object of their creation, as the divine spark within people. See also Transcendent.

Inner-plane teaching: Contacting through meditation or rituals the cosmic memory bank or Akas.h.i.+c records in order to tap into the great existing magical systems and wisdom without external formal teaching.

Invocation: The process by which the wisdom and benign powers of the natural world and of higher planes of consciousness, a.s.sociated with the evolved self and divine power, are drawn into oneself. Medieval magicians would invoke spirits to take over their bodies -dangerous and mind-blowing.

Karma: The concept that the good and bad deeds and thoughts acc.u.mulated in an individual lifetime may either progress us forwards to spiritual perfection or mean we need to learn lessons in subsequent lives in order to right our mistakes.

Litha: The Celtic festival of light, held around the midsummer solstice on 21 June.

Lughna.s.sadh: The Celtic festival of the first corn harvest, held from 31 July to 2 August in the northern hemisphere. Christianised as Lammas ('loaf ma.s.s'), the day on which loaves of bread were baked from the first grain harvest and placed on the altar to symbolise the first fruits.

Mabon: The second Celtic harvest festival of the autumn equinox, around 22 September.