About the Author

Timothy Roderick has been a Wiccan high priest and Craft leader for over 30 years. He is an award-winning author of books on earth-based spirituality and fantasy fiction. Timothy’s background as a psychotherapist and his studies in mythology, folklore, and shamanism inform his writings. His titles include Wicca: A Year and a Day, Dark Moon Mysteries, The Once Unknown Familiar, and others. For more information, visit Timothyroderick.com.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

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Wicca: Another Year and a Day: 366 Days of Magical Practice in the Craft of the Wise © 2015 by Timothy Roderick.

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E-book ISBN: 9780738746739

Cover art: iStockphoto.com/17843246/©lestyan4; iStockphoto.com/35424598/©Piotr Krześlak

Cover design: Teresa Pojar

Figures on pages 31, 106, 267, 272 and 279 by Mary Ann Zapalac

Interior art: James R. Clark

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Roderick, Timothy, 1963–

Wicca, another year and a day: 366 days of magical practice in the craft of the wise/by Timothy Roderick.—First Edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9780738746739

1. Witchcraft. I. Title.

BF1566.R58 2015

299’.94—dc23

2015021010

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Acknowledgments

Many hands, minds, and hearts must come together for such a publication to manifest. While I would like to thank all those who participated in the development of Wicca: Another Year and a Day, there are several names that bear independent noting, due to their considerable influence, time, and effort.

Varda Ninna and Saga Gaeffon, two magical teachers and elders of my lineage, spent a good deal of time with me at the inception of the project and provided wise advice throughout its development. The magical men of the Rainbow Warriors—Jayson Rivest, Collie Valadez, and Patrick Turnbull—likewise gave input and shared their collective experiences. Kalisha Zahr, another longtime “magical relative,” offered helpful clues and direction. And if it were not for my early years in Wicca with the members of Oruborus et Ova—Morven, Kes, Brigit, Varda, and Merlin—I would never have had those many years of experiential coven learning.

Finally, my thanks for the love and support of my partner, Valente V.

There are indeed certain expressions and certain words
used [in Witchcraft rituals] which smack of Crowley;
possibly he borrowed things from the cult writings,
or more likely someone may have borrowed expressions from him.1

~gerald gardner, witchcraft today

1. Gerald Gardner, Witchcraft Today (New York: Citadel, 2004), p. 28.

Introduction

I stood naked and blindfolded at the darkened edge of the circle marked by indecisively flickering candles. The high priestess pressed the sharp, cold end of a sword to my chest. I drew in a breath and knew things would be different from now on.

She was small, the dark-haired woman holding the sword, ready to initiate me into the First Degree of Wicca. Her voice commanded the space of soaring beamed ceilings and brick walls. “O thou who standeth on the threshold … hast thou the courage to make the assay?” she asked.

It was a good question. Did I have the courage? My mind drifted, only for a second, but in that moment I relived the journey to the edge of this circle.

It was the early 1980s and I was still a teenager. Reagan was in the White House, and “Thriller,” “Like a Virgin,” and “True Colors” were popular hits that regularly looped on the radio. Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. were the go-to films. Punk, new wave, and movies like Flashdance influenced the lacey-gloved and off-the-shoulder fashions we’d see. Hair was high, and I think most of my peers were too. And while my friends were busying themselves with the fun of the times, I was off scouring the shelves of musty bookstores and college libraries for anything that could teach me about Witchcraft.

I had been on this search, openly so, since I had turned sixteen. But much earlier than that, I would tend to find my way to the occult shelves at the library when my parents weren’t watching. Witchcraft was in my blood from a very early age, but I had to conceal it in my Catholic home. In order to bring such books home for study, I had to call it “research about the witch trials.”

In the 1970s, the typical community library was a barren wasteland for one’s search on the subject of Witchcraft. Aside from academic texts and the odd book discussing rites and practices from the “West Indies,” Africa, and Asia, there were few legitimate options for learning about what we call Wicca or Witchcraft today.

It was in April of 1979 that National Geographic featured a photographic tour of New England, which included a two-page spread of Laurie Cabot and her coven in Salem. The picture showed a group of mostly adult men and women, all clad in black, surrounded by a branching blue bolt of light. I knew that this was where I belonged. My search began in earnest far from the hidden library stacks to actual “occult shops” found in the nearby cities of Long Beach and San Pedro in California. The New Age movement wasn’t yet in full swing, and such shops were small, hidden away, and often dingy. They were really intimidating places to go.

Back then there was no Internet as we know it today, so the only way one could really learn about the Craft (at least initially) was through reading books. In those days, there were only a handful of books widely available to the novice that directly addressed the how-to of Wicca or Witchcraft. Most of us seeking information at that time encountered the books by the British Witches, such as Gerald Gardner, Alex Sanders, Doreen Valiente, and Janet and Stewart Farrar. Looking to the British traditions was important, it seemed, as England was ground zero for the tradition we today call Wicca. But there were other important and well-known authors of the time who came to influence the Witches of the 1980s. Paul Huson’s Mastering Witchcraft was an important work for many novices back then. Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance was a real blessing for me, and it continues to be an important guide for many seekers along the path.

In those spooky old shops, I frequently ran across copies of the medieval and Renaissance grimoires (spell books), such as the Key of Solomon, that of Abramelin, the magical tomes by Agrippa, and Francis Barrett’s The Magus. But these texts, with their arcane imagery, complex tables of correspondences, and convoluted Cabalistic formulae (usually written in Latin or Hebrew), served more to confuse than to enlighten. They intuitively seemed related to my search for Witchcraft in that they promised a magical path, but not only were they too obscure for an individual to comprehend or use in any meaningful way, but they offered no wisdom to the seeker. Formulas don’t teach how to live life in a wise and powerful way, nor do they teach how to tune in to the energies of the natural world. That was the kind of path I was seeking.

During my teen years in conservative Orange County, California, there were few options for learning firsthand the secret ways of Witches. At that time, Witches’ spiritual communities were very secretive, and legitimate practitioners in Southern California were deep undercover. My initial attempts at seeking training led to dead ends. Who was going to teach a kid, anyway?

As the Internet began to blossom, chat rooms designated to various special interests began to appear. It was in one of these chat rooms (dedicated to Wicca, of course) that I made my first honest-to-goodness Witchcraft contact. We met at his home in Santa Monica and circled together a few times, but it seemed to me that his approach to the Craft was highly individualized and did not resemble what I had already learned through reading.

I started posting flyers at one of the most well-known metaphysical bookstores in Los Angeles, the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood, looking to connect with those who practiced a Craft that resembled what I had learned from those treasured and, by then, tattered books from Gardner, Sanders, Valiente, and the Farrars.

The founders of the Los Angeles British Traditional coven Oruborus et Ova picked up my Bodhi Tree flyer, contacted me, and invited me to attend training in the loft of one of the coven members who lived in the downtown Arts District. It was through the principal teacher and the coven members Morven, Varda Ninna, Kestrel Morgan, Brigit Silverbranch, and others of the extended magical family such as Kalisha Zahr that I finally received “traditional” Craft training. Then came the day of my First Degree initiation. That moment of my life, in that magical womb of death and rebirth, changed everything.

Before I knew it, I was the coven’s working priest (all initiates are considered clergy at the time of the First Degree initiation), and I rarely got a break from my regular duties. At least twice monthly I met with the coven for sabbat or esbat rituals, initiations, healing ceremonies, or meetings to raise the cone of power for specific magical aims. I learned through practical training in the coven, while standing side by side with seasoned initiates who taught me the traditional forms of magic, the rites of passage, spellcraft, and the foundational lore, observances, theory, and theology. These were not things learned from books; these were the oral traditions of Witchcraft, usually only shared with initiates.

These have been the “colors” of my palette, as I learned to create magical art across my studies, and they are the ones that I will share with you during this year and a day. While sometimes innovative in their expression, all of the activities I provide in this course of study are deeply rooted in the long-standing magical traditions that have informed Wicca and its magical practices from its inception. These roots grew freely from the practices taught by Gerald Gardner to his initiates, and they were passed down the line until they came to me.

It seems so long ago that I stood at the edge of that magic circle, naked and blindfolded. Morven, Kes, Varda, and Brigit flanked me. Some of them still do to this day. They showed me what I was searching for all those years. “Hast thou the courage?” they asked me. This question holds true to this day, not just for me, but for each of us who takes up this path.

Do I have the courage to take up this art on a day-to-day basis? Do I have courage enough to commit to the discipline of training? Do I have what it takes to examine and then break through layer upon layer of self-told story and conditioning, forged by culture, family, time, and place? It takes bravery to question the foundations of our psyches that orient us to the world. Finally, I ask myself if I have the courage to stand amid those around me who fear Witchcraft (perhaps due to its name alone) and who may need help in understanding that this is a path of healing, nature, and spiritual devotion.

In order to have a real spiritual practice, permeable enough to enter our lives at each moment, these are the questions that are important to answer.

And now I ask you, who stands at the edge of this magic circle, “Hast thou the courage to make the assay?”

Why Another Year and a Day?

If you have already read Wicca: A Year and a Day, you may be wondering why there is another year’s worth of spiritual practice ahead of you. Didn’t I learn all that I needed to know? you may wonder. You learned plenty, especially if you made it to the end of the book. But learning a specific set of skills is not the same as cultivating your spirit. That process is a lifetime effort that requires daily attention and refinement.

In this second year and a day, the practices I offer allow you to hone and deepen the core practices taught in Wicca: A Year and a Day, to increase your magical competence, and to learn how to live while developing wisdom and a natural “spiritual energy field” that you can draw on anytime you need it.

In Wicca: A Year and a Day, there was a focus on learning technologies. These are important and have always been part of Witchcraft practice since its inception. Many of the skills you learned and practiced in that volume, such as spellcasting, scrying, and the like, relied upon your use of magical tools, oils, incenses, correspondences, and specific methods aimed at connecting you to your innate power. As you mature on the path, what becomes important is learning how you might move from a reliance upon formulas and procedures for magic and changing consciousness to relative freedom, where you allow formulas and procedures to inform your practice as an aid, rather than as a necessity. Therefore, during this year and a day, you will learn how to make magic an everyday event without having to pull out the athame, pentacle, chalice, and wand for every single magical working.

Don’t misunderstand me. The tools will always be part of the Craft and they are our treasured magical belongings. In fact, during this year and a day you will be using magical tools, incenses, oils, and technologies throughout. But like training wheels, you will also learn how to ride without the need for support at all times. Developing the skills necessary for spiritual freedom comes from engaging with principles for living your life in ways that continually align you with the basic axioms that govern magical energy.

There will also be an emphasis on developing a close bond with the natural world. Contemporary Western societies frequently teach us that humans, as a species, are the apex predators, the dominant species, and we do not have to pay attention to the living world at all. We are conditioned in powerful ways to see ourselves as separate from nature (including being separate from our human nature) just as we are fooled into seeing ourselves as separate individuals who have little if anything at all to do with one another. As part of living in our societies, we’ve incorporated this “rift” into our very beings. Drawing awareness of this into our moment-by-moment lives through a variety of practices can help bridge these artificial separations. But this process takes a hell of a lot of work. It really does.

Non-human life has consciousness, aliveness. Every non-human object has its own place in the great web of things that is not separate from you or me either. Everything interacts with the next thing, and it is critical for our spiritual advancement in Wicca to learn how to experience this reality clearly (as opposed to understanding it in our heads alone). This process allows us to know at the foundational, experiential level that we actually do fit comfortably into the wholeness of nature. One effective way to get there is to engage in an intense focus on the processes that heighten mindfulness of our place in the “great all.” Therefore, you will encounter many images and practices that ask you to compare yourself to things in nature. This isn’t done to develop a contrast (such as “wow, animals are so cool and I’m so lame”), but to develop a symbolic point of reference for the activity and the approach you may take in your own life. Practices such as this help us to shift toward understanding and then closing the gaps of experience we develop between ourselves and “others.” It also helps close the gaps we sense that can exist between our minds, hearts, and behaviors, which (if you’re like most people) almost seem to have their own rhythms and patterns that push and pull us across the span of our lives.

Through your work this year, you will learn practices that you can use long after you close the pages of this book. You can take them with you across your lifetime so that you may continue this important and never-ending process of spiritual refinement and natural alignment.

What Can I Expect to Learn?

As I discussed in Wicca: A Year and a Day, there are a great variety of traditions beneath the over-arching umbrella of contemporary Pagan Witchcraft. When most new Witches find themselves among a coven, or even when they encounter a teacher, they are almost immediately instructed in basic, general Witchcraft practices. But what one tradition considers “basic” may, in fact, be an idiosyncrasy of that particular group, teacher, or Wiccan tradition. Nevertheless, Wicca: A Year and a Day was my own attempt to expose you to what most Witches usually come to know during their first year of study.

During this second year and a day of study, I will approach the matters in this book as though you and I have already been working together for a while now. And after someone has studied basic practices for a year and a day, a coven or teacher invites the student to be initiated. (I discuss initiation in great detail later in this introduction and in the course of the year’s training.) After initiation, there is usually more focused/specialized training. The training a person receives after their first initiation relates to developing autonomy as a working priestess or priest of the Craft. Typically a student will learn the core teachings of a tradition (or group or teacher, as opposed to “general” Wiccan principles), the rationale of the practices they’ll learn, and some of the magical “secrets” known only to the initiated. So the focus gradually shifts from general studies (such as those of the first year and a day) to more specific forms of study and practice.

During this this second year’s journey, I will review a variety of historical facts and I will be working with the foundational texts and source materials that Gardner found important as he developed Pagan Witchcraft. I will let you know what current Pagan scholars say about our tradition as a whole, and I will give you examples and techniques for using the many source texts in your own magical workings.

In your second year’s course of study, you will have daily exposure to a wide variety of spiritual practices, which teachers usually encourage during the second year of training. Some of these practices are practical, such as learning how to put together herbs for ritual use, compose rituals for sabbats and esbats, and integrate magical practices and spiritual teachings into your everyday life. Others are more esoteric and involve developing practical experience with the old grimoires. Some practices may even feel a little daring, such as working magic during the dark of the moon (from which a good number of teachers shy away for really no good reason).

Other parts of the esoteric training will focus on building a capacity for containing and directing spiritual energy, gaining consistent exposure to ritual practice, learning how to effectively evoke, invoke, and banish spiritual forces and energies, and expanding your general magical repertoire.

At the conclusion of this year, I will (as any teacher might) invite you to take the second initiation. In the British traditions (which are the traditions that usually inform many other versions of contemporary Pagan Witchcraft), there are at least three initiations. Each initiation occurs following at least one year and a day of study, and they signify your position in the Craft, your tenure, and, many times, your spiritual advancement. The First Degree initiation represents Goddess energy. It is your formal entrance to the Witch’s path, and because it aligns with the Goddess, there is special attention to nurturing and developing the new Witch. Among the British traditions, the First Degree initiation is also when one becomes Wiccan “clergy.”

The Second Degree initiation elevates trained initiates to the status of autonomous teachers, with the ability to train and initiate others. The Second Degree aligns with the energies of the Horned God, and it is about knowing the tradition-specific lore so that you will be able to pass the tradition intact to others.

The Third Degree comes much later in one’s magical career and aligns with both Goddess and God energies. It is a degree that signifies spiritual advancement and fully integrated knowledge and experience.

I will emphasize the following three themes during this year’s training:

• Gaining focused, specialized training

• Undergoing a symbolic death and rebirth

• Service to others

Symbolic Death and Rebirth

This magical year will progress toward advancement to a Second Degree initiation (also called an “elevation”). This ritual focuses on a “descent” to the “underworld,” which is symbolic of your own death. There, in that place beyond human name, you as an initiate learn the deeper secrets of magic, then return to the land of the living. The ritual follows closely the Inanna or Persephone myth and underworld journey.

While you will not be learning tradition-specific lore so that you could readily pass information on to your own initiates, there are other important purposes of the Second Degree initiation that will become the focus of your training. One of the most important purposes of Second Degree training and elevation is fostering the “egoic death.” In Wiccan training, one moves toward becoming a “high priest” or “high priestess” at the Second Degree elevation. At that level one is no longer serving one’s own interest in the spiritual and magical practices of the Craft. The practitioner is now learning how to serve others.

Most definitely, there are seekers looking for advanced training for purposes other than this. But as assuredly as one foot falls before the next when walking, the egoic death that occurs during the Second Degree year of study will eventually arrive anyway.

The term “egoic death” is an elaborate way of saying that the training of Second Degree, no matter who teaches you, intends to move you as a practitioner from practicing your Craft for your own personal reasons out into the larger sphere of living in the world. When you join forces with everyone else, you are not living for individual aims, but learning to care for everyone, the planet, and all creatures. There is less room for ego to expand and flourish with a commitment to Second Degree elevation, and work toward the Second Degree works to shift the practitioner’s thinking from exclusively (or even predominantly) “me” to “we.”

Therefore, the symbolic death and rebirth motifs common to most Second Degree rituals are all about dying to the ego. We all have an ego, and there’s nothing wrong with having a healthy sense of self. In fact, it would be very difficult and even unhealthy to live in the world with no understanding of who you are. But, if not recognized and tamed, the ego tends to expand and create a lot of chaos and discomfort for ourselves and for others in our lives.

Once a person shifts out of solely ego-driven spiritual/magical practices, then there are deeper mysteries revealed to the practitioner. The world itself opens up, in essence. There is less need to bring out the candles and incense for creating magic in the world, because as a cooperative, “ego-reduced” participant in the world, the world has more room for you. The world cooperates back with you in ways you never imagined, and it requires a very different kind of effort on your part to make magic and effect change.

Service to Others

The training toward Second Degree is preparatory for serving others. The format, content, and agreement of that service are matters that reside solely between the individual Witch and deity. No one can define what might constitute that very personal covenant of service.

In some Wiccan traditions, there is an expectation that the Second Degree initiate will teach, form a study group, or develop a coven of their own. While these aspects of Wiccan service are important, an individual’s expression of service can be just that: individual.

Serving others may mean healing others, clearing homes of negative influences, ridding individuals of unwanted spiritual forces, doing magic to help others, channeling information for fellow Witches, or providing rites of passage for births, deaths, and marriages.

There may be more mundane expressions of service, such as developing a more cooperative spirit at work or developing more patience for difficult neighbors. It might mean devoting time to help with community-wide activities, social activism, political involvement, assisting the less fortunate, or giving of your time and talents to worthy causes that impact the world on a larger scale than simply your individual existence.

Who Should Read This Book?

Any reader who has ventured down the Wiccan road for a good long while, who has a grounded set of knowledge in the subjects discussed in my previous work, Wicca: A Year and a Day, will be comfortable with the experience ahead. Readers on this year-and-a-day journey would benefit most from having learned many of the Wiccan basics. A foundational, working knowledge of Wiccan theology, the God and Goddess of Wicca, the seasonal passages and celebrations, the magical energies of ritual hand gestures (which I call magical passes), how to cast the circle and evoke the elemental forces, and basic circle etiquette are all important for you to have mastered and incorporated into your regular Wiccan practice by the time you get around to exploring this book.

Other areas important to Wicca that will be beneficial to know before undertaking the activities of Wicca: Another Year and a Day include the basics of magical practices, such as basic magical correspondences, numerology, herbalism Witch lore, and using scrying tools in your spiritual work.

In Wicca: A Year and a Day, I also lead you, the reader, on a daily inner journey, so that by the end of the book you will have had a great opportunity to develop a deeper connection to the earth, to deity, and to yourself. Knowing yourself, your motivations, and your “conditioning” are always key magical workings in my estimation. Celebrated twentieth-century magician Dion Fortune defined magic as the art of changing consciousness. Therefore, knowing yourself, getting comfortable in your own skin, and seeing what makes you work from the inside out is crucial to this process.

This book assumes that the reader already has a good grounding in all of the content areas described. Many of the rituals and discussions—for example, the rituals and discussions of the sabbats—are built upon the foundational knowledge from Wicca: A Year and a Day. This second book contains a more focused, advanced curriculum, and I will not have the opportunity to review the general, foundational curriculum. I will rely on your personal judgment and discernment as to your readiness to engage with the intricate pathways of this year and a day of magical work.

There are circumstances in which some individuals may feel as though their years of experience in Wicca might allow them to bypass the more “basic” work of Wicca: A Year and a Day and jump right into the depths of this year’s magical agenda. I offer my complete respect to those readers who feel they would like to try this year’s practice without having gone through the foundational training. Please do remember that if you are coming from another magical system (such as shamanism, ceremonial magic, etc.), the symbols, rituals, and practices of Wicca may not be familiar to you. Starting with this second year’s journey without sufficient exposure to common Wiccan practices may be a challenge. If along the way, as this year’s magical work unfolds, you discover that you have missed some important training, you might consider switching tracks and exploring the program in Wicca: A Year and a Day.

Adjustments:
Your Second Degree Training Year

Through putting Wicca: A Year and a Day to use, readers reported that they discovered a greater sense of magical empowerment. But they also found the pace to be intense and sometimes challenging to commit to for an entire 366 days. I understand.

Each year and a day of practice presents its own unique set of challenges to juggle, not only magically but in our mundane lives as well. We all have complex lives that include a variety of variables, such as families, spouses, jobs, kids, and more. When you add in a year’s worth of daily spiritual practice, there may be a lot of pressure to keep up. And you may feel even more stressed if you notice that you are supposedly “falling behind.”

While I still hold that engaging with the practice on that level of intensity results in an important honing and tempering of a student, it should never become a burden. That’s how we develop situational avoidance and negative associations with our practice. In this volume, I have made a few adjustments to reduce any undue stress.

The pace of this volume is less demanding. Most magical workings have two or three days for you to work on them before you move on. But the activities still offer a rigorous study, guidance in a spiritual self-search, and practice that is aimed at cultivating depth, spiritual maturity, and above all, wisdom.

Buying Magical Equipment

There will be magical items that you’ll be using along the course of the year. Some of these items are new, and you will need to procure them. Others you may already have on hand. If you read Wicca: A Year and a Day, you’ll know that oils, incenses, herbs, and the like have always been a part of the Witchcraft tradition. You can likely reuse many of the herbs and candles from your first year. You will use all of the magical tools you’ve already obtained and consecrated during your first year, including:

• the athame

• the wand

• the chalice

• the pentacle

• the thurible

• the white-handled knife

In addition to these, there will be other supplies needed for this year’s practice. In many instances, I’ve been careful to study the different traditional magical formulae in order to find ways of recycling and repurposing the herbs and essential oils you’ll buy.

The quantities of herbs and oils I’ve specified for different workings are for individual use (as opposed to making mass quantities of anything) and are typically quite small. At the end of this volume, in appendix C, you will find lists of the items you’ll need to obtain during this year of study. It will be up to you to decide when to procure the items. I do, however, recommend that you plan to obtain the items at least one lunation ahead of wherever you are in the year’s schedule.

Appendix F describes the basic magical tools that you’ll definitely need to have before beginning training. If you have already read and followed Wicca: A Year and a Day, or if you have been following a “standard” variety of Wiccan tradition that uses the athame, wand, pentacle, and chalice, you will already have these tools at the ready. But if you are coming from another magical tradition or system, you will want to look at this appendix and procure or create the items on the list. Better still, if you are coming from another magical tradition or system that has no tools (or very different ones), I recommend that you first go through the instruction provided in Wicca: A Year and a Day.

I do not support or endorse any single distributor of magical supplies. There are many online retailers of mystic wares that can be easily discovered by going to your favorite search engine and typing in “Wicca supplies” or “Witchcraft supplies,” or by simply searching for the specific item you need, such as “dragon’s blood reed.” It’s as simple as that. But, of course, take time to compare prices and value. Find what works best for you.

Maybe it’s my age, but I happen to be a fan of brick-and-mortar Witchcraft shops. All of them. I find that they are hubs of witchy activity. You can meet all sorts of people when you visit a shop, and you might even find someone who is following the same path as you. Many practitioners are good about sharing. And even when they have a juicy “secret” requiring their silence, they always give clues so that you can continue your own search unhindered. I have found that Witches are always kind to one another in that way.

On another note, there are many lists of herbs and oils in this volume, and the sources of their correspondences are many and varied. I have condensed information from the sixteenth-century German magician Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, the lists from Abramelin, the Key of Solomon, Frances Barrett’s The Magus, Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, several grimoires from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and more than one Book of Shadows. The sources are varied and eclectic. I mention this to help you feel free in your use of herbs for the construction of magical incenses and oils. I will note, however, that I have tried each recipe myself and have found them to be effective in my own work. But remember that use of herbs in magical practice can be idiosyncratic; herbs can be a quirk of a coven, a Wiccan lineage, or an individual. Even if the herbal recommendations come from antiquity, that does not necessarily mean they will work for you today. So carefully consider which herbs to use and know that while the lists may align with someone’s individual idea of a magical affinity, they may not always work specifically for you. You should try out what I recommend and then make adjustments to the ingredients, if you sense that another approach may be wiser for you.

Finally, many times I will instruct you to use a computer printer. Not everyone has one. So I do provide alternatives at every turn.

Pace and Purpose

My first book placed an emphasis on the arts of magic only near the end of the year and a day of studies. In this volume, you will explore magical practices right from the start. I will assume that from the first volume (or perhaps from a teacher) you’ve already learned the basics of magic, and you are ready for the more advanced workings you will undertake as part of your second year and a day.

The Second Degree training is comparatively advanced, yet it has many similarities to the first year of training. Learning about the Craft happens in a spiral. You wind your way around the magic circle not just once, but at least three times before you finally arrive at the center, the innermost teachings of the Craft.

What do we encounter along the way to Wicca’s innermost teachings? Ourselves. Life in all of its unvarnished truth. Spiritual freedom and connection to all. True, there are oath-bound mysteries from the British traditions that I must keep. Understandably, some experiences require one-to-one guidance, and to share in a book those mysteries that are truly experiential, shamanic, and ecstatic would not only be inappropriate, but would likely end up creating confusion, rather than offering clarity. But along the course of this year and a day, I will make every effort to provide you with rituals, myths, and spiritual guidance aimed at fostering your own spiritual-experiential growth in a way similar to those who encounter the traditional Wiccan mysteries.

It is important to follow the slow pace of this book and this course of study. If you jump too quickly through the workings, you will have a scattered, disjointed, and probably meaningless experience. If you are overly enthusiastic, trying several workings in a single day, you will not experience the richness of each technique. The purpose of having one spiritual working to complete over the course of several days is to allow you time to steep in the energies of each practice. Speeding your way through this course will produce little effect and will not allow for this all-important “steep-time.”

In a quick-fix culture where microwaves can take too damn long, we have become hooked on fast answers and instant results. Slowing the pace as I am recommending can seem interminable, dull, and definitely lacking in the razzle-dazzle that we’ve come to associate with the Craft because of Hollywood’s flashy portrayals. Not only are there no demons to wrestle and no vampires to slay, but the path decelerates enough so that we can align with nature’s rhythms. Through this, we can begin to arrive at noticeable spiritual results.

Sometimes slowing the pace can cause readers to lose their mojo, their energetic momentum, to follow through on all 366 days. When the creeping pace of a year and a day of spiritual practice shocks the system and grinds against our need for speed, it suddenly seems as though our “other life” becomes more interesting, or more “important,” at any rate. We can be addicted to the drama of our lives and crave mind-blowing intensity. But it isn’t realistic, nor is it healthy, to seek a high level of intensity. Instead, why not be intense? Why not turn up the heat of attention on your spiritual practice and examine the internal structures that keep all of us looping back into habits and conditioned responses that may not be in our best interests, either magically or otherwise?

But, of course, all things considered, life can have a way of throwing us during a year’s time. Anticipate that this may happen, and think about your response ahead of time, well before you embark on a year and a day’s spiritual journey. If the road twists and turns well beyond what you can handle and if the events of your life seem to supersede your magical training, you might consider simply taking a break from this work. Try not to get too stressed-out if this happens. Respond to the demands of your life in a reasonable and responsible way. And when it is possible for you to resume your study, then do so.

On the other hand, if you are able to keep the pace, try to do so without missing days. Skipping many days in a row, or allowing weeklong intervals between magical workings, can also disrupt the magical momentum. Part of the work of the Second Degree is building up a “psychic reservoir” of magical power. Slow, daily progress is one of the best ways to achieve this.

How to Time Your Activities

I have divided the year into thirteen segments that correspond to the thirteen lunar cycles (plus two extra days) to accommodate a full year and a day. It will be important to time the activities of each lunation in such a way that it begins with the waxing moon cycle (when the moon is just starting to gain light) and ends with the dark moon (when the moon has lost its light and seems to be missing from the sky).

The actual date of the full moon is estimated to occur on the 14th or 15th night of each lunar cycle. The lunar cycles, again, were estimated at approximately 28 days. In fact, there are complex calculations necessary to accurately predict when the full moon will occur. Luckily we have almanacs and websites that can predict these for us annually. For convenience’s sake, I have placed the full moon ritual near the 15th day of each lunar cycle, so you can find it each month. You may have to move the date based on the full moon’s actual occurrence. If you find that you’ve needed to move the full moon date from the 15th day of the month to some other day, then:

• Start the very next day with the day of silence, which I recommend you observe the day following your full moon ceremony.

• After your day of silence, resume the flow of the book’s activities in their order after that.

Before you begin your studies, check online or in an almanac to see when the next waxing moon cycle begins, to time when you will begin the book. Your work for a lunar cycle should begin the day following the dark moon, and should end approximately 28 days later, or whenever we have the next dark moon.

The following is an example of how to time this just right. In it, I’ve imagined that the next waxing moon cycle begins on Sunday the 1st of the month as you begin your Second Degree training year. You would start your studies and practices on the 1st and continue through to the 28th, which is the end of the waning moon cycle.

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

Waxing moon begins: start your lunation here

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Approximate date of the full moon

15

Waning moon begins

16

17

18

19

20

21

Summer Solstice celebration

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

Dark moon:

end your lunation here

29

30

Sample Calendar for June

As a refresher on the importance of the moon in Wiccan magic, keep in mind the symbolic and energetic qualities of the lunar cycles. The waxing moon (the time from the dark moon until the moon becomes full again) signifies a period of birth, growth, building, creating, and coming into full potential. The waning moon cycle traditionally signifies a cycle of cessation of growth, decay, and death.

Some Witches feel a little jittery around workings that involve the darker lunar cycles. But that’s frequently because we’re taught culturally to keep the things of shadow hidden away. Nevertheless, shadow, decay, darkness, and death are important and natural expressions of existence.

To ignore any part of existence is a magical mistake. Where is the darkness supposed to go? Where can we hide death, sadness, frustration? And if we do spend time suppressing these important parts of who we are, what will be the cost? Emotional and psychological suffering (as well as illnesses) are the fruits of long-term suppression of life’s shadow side. Seeing in the dark is just as important as knowing the places readily seen in the light.

Planning Ahead

Each lunar cycle will have important dates for you to keep in mind. Some days will be fixed celebrations, such as the lunar esbats. The full moon is traditionally when Witches perform their esbat rituals, which can include Drawing Down the Moon, calling upon deity for guidance, and engaging in all sorts of magical practices.

Important to the esbat celebration is the central, or main, magical working. This can be any working you feel is warranted, such as a special divination, a spell, a meditation, the development of some new magical tool, spirit communication, or more. During each lunar cycle you’ll be learning new material, and you can either save some of it for your main esbat working or simply repeat a spiritual practice you’ve tried before.

In addition to the esbats, there are other important days in the Witches’ year, including the four major sabbats and the four lesser sabbats. The four major sabbats occur on fixed dates:

• Samhain/All Hallows’ Eve, October 31

• Imbolc, February 2

• Beltane, May 1

• Lughnasadh/Lammas, August 2

The four lesser sabbats are the solar festivals, and because they follow the Sun’s progression through the astrological signs, like the lunar cycle, the lesser sabbats have movable dates. Once again, it would be wise to check an almanac or a web-based ephemeris to find the exact dates of these lesser sabbats and mark them on a calendar before you begin your second year and a day. To make the dates less mysterious, the following is a general guide to the ever-changing lesser sabbats:

• Winter Solstice, the Sun enters Capricorn—approximately December 21

• Spring Equinox, the Sun enters Aries—approximately March 21

• Summer Solstice, the Sun enters Cancer—approximately June 21

• Fall Equinox, the Sun enters Libra—approximately September 21

Basic ritual formats (based on traditional sources) for each of the eight sabbats are found in the waning moon cycle of the ninth lunation and throughout the tenth lunation.

Sabbat Ritual Format

Where Do I Find It?

Samhain

Ninth Lunation,
Days 20–21

Winter Solstice

Ninth Lunation,
Days 24–25

Imbolc

Ninth Lunation,
Day 28

Spring Equinox

Tenth Lunation,
Days 5–6

Beltane

Tenth Lunation,
Days 10–11

Summer Solstice

Tenth Lunation,
Days 16–17

Lughnasadh

Tenth Lunation,
Days 21–23

Autumn Equinox

Tenth Lunation,
Days 27–28

During the ninth and tenth lunations, you’ll be asked to write your own rituals for sabbats. As part of the discussion of the sabbats in each of these sections, I have provided basic sabbat templates that you can follow and use for your own seasonal celebrations for much of the year. Eventually, when you reach the ninth and tenth lunations, you’ll be asked to write your own sabbat rituals. But until that time, use the sabbat ritual formats I’ve provided.

Before you begin your year and a day of study, I recommend that you set up a calendar and plot out the following for each month:

• The date of each new and full moon

• The date of your full moon esbat for that month

• The date of any sabbat that month

Try to follow the schedule set up in the book for each lunation, while also making accommodations for esbat and sabbat celebrations.

It is of the utmost importance that you maintain the schedule of eight sabbats and thirteen esbats, as these are tides for aligning with sacred power. Try never to miss a single one, as these rituals form the core of your training.

Stepping into ritual space time and again helps to develop an aggregate of power for you. It cultivates ritual fluency and automaticity, which you’ll need whenever you attend other people’s rituals or if you host your own. Fluency and automaticity also form the groundwork for engaging in meaningful ritual “improvisation,” which is a great spiritual joy to experience as you advance in your practice.

For example, you might find moments in the standard ritual format that would benefit from your own wording, rather than from the words I provide. Or you may understand intuitively how using a different herb, oil, or other correspondences may be more effective in your magical workings. That’s because you’ll know through personal experience (through repeated practice and the natural trial and error that ensues) what will be conducive to a desired effect and what will not.

Moon-Wise Retreat Days

You’ll be doing something unique throughout your Second Degree year and a day of practice. I recommend that you set aside time for several two-day retreats. Your retreat days will not require you to leave your home, travel to some remote location, or isolate yourself from your family, friends, and loved ones.

That being said, these kinds of classical retreat-style activities have a place in spiritual practice for a reason. The purpose of finding some extended alone time is to help you gain some perspective.

Remembering that magic is about changing consciousness, it is important to have the time to look at our perspectives rather than through them. Distance from the habit patterns of daily life can help facilitate this process. Silence can help with this as well. I explain in greater detail what I mean by “observing silence” on your very first day of this course of study. But for now, at least consider that silence, stillness, can be absolutely shocking when you allow it to fully engulf you. Most of the universe is wordless, and allowing yourself time to experience this, away from excessive chatter and the demands of others, can help develop clarity on what really is valuable and what is not.

Gaining perspective in this way can help stop habit patterns that inhibit us as both magical and human beings. Habits can become enslaving agents when they go unnoticed. Hiding out in the shadows, habits of behavior and thought have the potential to keep you entrenched in beliefs, relationships, situations, and activities that disempower you and make you unhappy.

A life driven by unseen habits is typically, and eventually, painful. Life is meant to be about an ongoing cycle of movement, which includes the whole cycle of growth, change, death, and then regeneration. Habits keep us stuck and out of step with the powerful forces of life and nature. Meanwhile, Witches are interested in engaging with life, joining in the flow of it all, because nature, life itself, is the manifestation of deity. It is right here amid the messy “all” that our power blossoms and comes to life.

The purpose of a retreat day is to help you more definitively and concretely reunite with this vast flow. It is vital for you to have some extra alone time for this work to develop better footing in changing consciousness without being reflexively drawn back into habit patterns. This is especially important as you first work on changing the gravity of patterns.

If you’re not made of money (and few of us are), you can easily spend your retreat time at home, or even at a friend’s place, as long as those who are around you understand the purpose of the retreat, and they respect the schedule you’ll be observing.

After saying all of this, I also want you to understand that I know it may be impossible for some readers to have retreat days at all. There are no hard-and-fast rules for doing the retreats. They can be highly facilitative of your growth, and I do recommend that you try at least one retreat session in your training. But even if you simply cannot find time to engage in a retreat, know that the usual schedule of daily Wiccan practice as described in this book will still be excellent for your Second Degree training.

If you would like to try a retreat schedule, then it will be important to look at a calendar and synchronize it with these special retreat days, which occur at the outset of the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth lunar cycles of your year and a day.

I’ve set things up so that you can engage with the retreat schedule at any time within the lunation. This means you can schedule a retreat on a weekend, which can help you find enough free time to follow the daily sequence of activities. The retreats should not replace your usual year-and-a-day practices. It is important to continue to observe the daily activities from the book. However, during Moon-Wise retreat time, you should incorporate these practices at the appropriate times specified on the schedule.

First Degree Initiation: Q and A

Q: What is Wiccan initiation?

A: Initiation is literally a starting point in your magical career. It is a ritualized enactment of one of the most important spiritual movements in any Witch’s life, which is to choose to live a life from spiritual intention, rather than by habitual conditioning. An initiation announces to the infinite, at all levels of existence, that you are working toward making your actions, particularly your spiritual ones, intentional. You intend through this process to seek a life of empowerment versus disempowerment. Wiccan initiation involves pledging your spiritual path to this very life, the one we are in right now, and vowing to live by the Wiccan laws.

Q: What are the Wiccan laws?

A: The main “law” of Wicca is to live in accord with the flow of life, and not in opposition to it. Overall, this means living life in accord with nature and actively choosing non-harming in response to life, when it is possible or when an action will result in greater harmony. Of course, living may mean harming other creatures. For example, the simple act of eating typically means that some plant or animal has died to sustain your life. Because life feeds on life, it is impossible to avoid harming altogether. However, on the Wiccan path, as you move into the sphere of magical empowerment, it is important to be conscious of when you are harming and to take active steps in reducing that harmful impact.

Q: What is the purpose of initiation?

A: The First Degree Wiccan initiation “starts” your spiritual motor. It announces to the universe your intention not only to live a spiritual life, but to live a life of a magical practitioner. It sets in motion the wheels of power that have been turning since before you ever picked up this book. It is the result of many lifetimes culminating in this event that places you at the hub of spiritual empowerment. The effects of participating in initiation can be astounding. Many people, following their initiation, report that their lives were changed for the better, or that they suddenly felt spiritually “protected.”

Q: Do I have to be initiated to practice Wicca?

A: No, you don’t. But choosing to live by vow, through disciplined, focused spiritual inquiry, can result in a powerful spiritual experience. If you are only interested in dabbling along the fringes of the Craft, you’ll never have, as mythologist Joseph Campbell has said, “an experience akin to that of a saint.” Campbell’s meaning was that those recognized as “saints” have had deep, initiatory, mystic experiences, some controlled, some not. But what differentiates Witches, shamans, spiritual magicians, saints, etc., from ordinary folks is their ability to experience deep mystical awareness. And from that state, they have the ability to channel spiritual power through intentional actions. This can only occur through giving yourself completely to a spiritual path. Initiation is not necessary to practice Wicca, but it is an invitation to plunge deeply into your life in a magical way.

That being said, I have provided alternative practices for those who wish to bypass Wiccan initiation.

Q: If I have already been initiated into the First Degree (or its equivalent), what should I do during the preparatory activities and the initiation itself?

A: Because the requirements for initiation vary between traditions and even between teachers within traditions, I recommend that you follow along with the programming I provide that leads up to the initiation. I also recommend going through the initiation process described in this book. Repeating initiations is common when folks seek cross-training from other lineages. If you’ve already been initiated, you might take the opportunity during the first lunation to engage with initiation and preparations in a new and very mindful way. For example, use this time to observe your own interior, your responses to practices and to the initiation itself, rather than going through the paces robotically. If you’re open to experiencing them, the practices I’ve provided in the first lunation can create shifts in consciousness that can make your magical practice stronger.

Q: Do the initiation rites you provide reveal oath-bound material?

A: No. The rites I provide are what Witches typically call “outer court,” meaning, they are not the rites handed down by initiators that reveal any oath-bound material. Initiation rites are meant to facilitate your spiritual growth and foster a magical life lived by sacred vow and intent. While I come from British Traditional Wicca, and I base my ritual theology, language, and imagery on classical initiation texts, the initiations I provide are not the oath-bound rites found in any Book of Shadows.

Understand that there is a vast array of opinions about initiations, ranging from “they’re not needed,” to “initiation is shamanic, and therefore spontaneous,” to the more conservative view that “one can only become a Witch by traditional initiation methods administered at the hands of a classically initiated Witch.” All of these statements can be true given individual circumstances and contexts. But for your training purposes, it’s important to know that these viewpoints exist, especially as you interact with others in the greater Wicca/Witchcraft community, and particularly if your self-initiation becomes a topic of conversation.

Witches at the more conservative end of the opinion spectrum may not view a self-initiation or an outer court initiation as representative of the full initiatory experience. These Witches would likely want you to undergo further preparation before you would be welcomed into their traditional circles. If you have the opportunity to initiate with a specific Wiccan/Witchcraft tradition, you will be able to experience the importance of having a witness to your spiritual vow. Within a spiritual community, you’re being held in trust and being held accountable for your oaths.

I believe that any form of initiation undertaken with a strong desire and spiritual intent can spark growth and an authentic spiritual journey. Therefore, I encourage you to engage with the initiation rites in this book for your own spiritual process, rather than for validation from others in any spiritual community.

[contents]

First Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

We begin this year and a day’s journey with silence. But what does observing silence really mean for you? It is important to know, as you will return to this practice many times before this year and a day is complete.

The practice of observing silence is primarily about maintaining a committed awareness to reduce or eliminate any unnecessary verbal communication with others. The emphasis here is on the term unnecessary. As the year and a day unfolds, you will become increasingly aware of and sensitized to what is magically and energetically necessary and what is not.

When you begin observing silence, you’ll probably be much like I was when I started. I tried it rather mechanically at first, just going through the activity to see if I could, in fact, do it. The more I practiced incorporating silence into my usual spiritual routine, the more I realized its magical benefits. Talking, I found, is much like allowing a hose to run, especially when verbal output is not required in the moment. The water (and, in our case, the magical energies I had been building up over time) just goes everywhere, in an uncontrolled and unspecified manner. When I practiced silence on a regular basis, I discovered that when I limited—or, more precisely, focused—my verbal output so that it left my energy field in short, concise, and purposeful ways, it allowed me to retain the magical energies I had been working so hard to build. These energies, I found, could then be re-purposed for magical-spiritual work.

Committing to maintaining personal silence has other objectives as well. It helps to create a reflective, energetically receptive space in your life. In most Western cultures, there is an enormous focus on outward-directed activity: producing, creating, making things “happen.” But in silence, we take a backward step, which creates space around our lives and allows inward activity to flourish. It is the equivalent of a “spiritual inhalation.” You cannot continually exhale, or exert outward-directed activity, without eventually arriving at some point of depletion. It is time to allow yourself time to “inhale.”

In this space you create during days of silence, you open the possibility of developing new behaviors, simply because silence offers you a point of maintaining mindfulness of your existing, habitual behaviors (some of which may be disempowering you). This mindfulness aspect of maintaining silence alone can be enough to spark your deeper energies of magic, and can begin to change your consciousness.

Of course, in encountering the everyday world of work and family life, it will be necessary at times to break your silence. I recommend that you maintain your personal silence inasmuch as it is practical. When speaking becomes a necessity of the moment, then of course you should respond as needed. Extraneous, supplemental, or idle verbal output (or input) can reduce the magical effect of this practice.

Magic is about changing consciousness, and sustained silence can be a jolt to the whole body that can facilitate this consciousness change rapidly and in ways that are completely unexpected. It can make us aware of our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, which can later motivate us into action. Noting these patterns, and not necessarily taking radical steps to make changes in them, is really the first step in consciousness change. It is the foundation of a magical practice that you can sustain over the course of your life.

Magic should not be only about systematically creating specific desired changes in response to undesired or less satisfactory parts of your life. It should be about an unsystematic, generalized change of consciousness that pervades the whole of your life. This means magic is about changing how you think, feel, and act in response to the whole of life’s circumstances as they manifest in your life, rather than just a few. Each of us can build a sustainable spiritual practice on a foundation of consciousness-changing practices. One key activity that can be marvelously facilitative is maintaining a focused period of silence.

Today as you work on observing silence for as much of the day as possible, try to focus on staying centered in your body. The mind is able to go to the past or project into the endless future of possibilities, but the body has to stay right here in this moment. There is power in aligning yourself with the body and getting comfortable in your own skin. So every time you catch yourself drifting into thoughts about the past or future, try to refocus on what is happening in your body in the here and now. Allow your breath to settle into your body as it finds its center point, claiming its place on the earth in the present moment.

As time goes by, there are other activities you might try to introduce into your days of silence that will help build, rather than dissipate, your magical energy stores. These activities include reducing (or getting as close as possible to eliminating) media input, such as cell phones, Internet browsing, television, radio, film, or engaging with other media sources. Try a “media fast,” and then see how much energy you have left at the end of the day. It may surprise you.

Practice Days 2–3

Making Consecration Oil

Magical Purpose: Preparations for First Degree initiation.

A Word to the Wise: Be advised that some of the herbs listed in this course of study can be poisonous if ingested. Some herbs can be skin or lung irritants. In this book I’ve listed all herbs, poisonous and nonpoisonous, because they are of traditional use to Witches. It is not advisable to make an incense or develop a magical oil blend that may result in harm or illness to you.

It is always advisable to first try out some of the herbs and essences before you use them in an incense or oil. You might be allergic to something without knowing it. Rub a little on your forearm and wait to see if there is any reaction. If so, you might want to skip using those herbs, woods, or oils that produce an irritant response. If, for example, a recipe calls for three ingredients but you are allergic to one of them, then use only two of the three ingredients, rather than risk your health.

What you’ll need:

• 8 ounces olive oil (extra virgin is preferred)

• 3 tablespoons dried, powdered frankincense

• 3 tablespoons dried, powdered dragon’s blood resin

• 3 tablespoons dried dittany of Crete

Our Second Degree year and a day of study begins with a sequence of steps that will lead (in relatively short order) to initiation into the First Degree of Wicca. Initiation is important for many reasons. It is a rite of passage that signals the deep unconscious mind to the importance of your path. Initiation helps to solidify your intention to explore your mind and spirit, to harness their vast potential. It is a rite that again “shocks” the body and mind into a new state of consciousness about who you are as a human being on this path, and it affirms that you are taking charge of your spiritual life.

There are several preparations for this ritual. Today’s focus is on making the magical oil that Witches traditionally use for consecrations during initiation rituals.

To begin, put the olive oil in a pan and heat it to warm only. Do not heat it too much or you will ruin the properties of the herb and resins. Put all the other ingredients into the warmed oil, and keep on low heat for at least two minutes to help infuse the ingredients.

Then put all of the ingredients into a clear, clean jar with a lid, and seal it tightly so little to no air gets in. Place the jar where it will get sunlight for most of the day, and leave this jar undisturbed for eight days. Strain out the solid ingredients and place the remaining oil back in the lidded jar. Store this away from direct light or heat.

Practice Days 2–3

Making Consecration Incense

Magical Purpose: Preparations for First Degree initiation.

What you’ll need:

• 3 teaspoons sandalwood powder

• 1 teaspoon dried dittany of Crete

• 1 teaspoon benzoin powder

• 1 teaspoon myrrh tears

• Vegetable glycerin (available at most health food stores)

Traditionally, the incense Witches use for initiation is one that helps to induce trance states. Here then is the recipe for traditional initiation incense that Witches use mainly for initiation rites. However, I will add that since this incense induces powerful dreamlike visions and trance states, you can use this incense later on in preparation for divinations.

Using a wooden spoon, mix all four dry ingredients in a bowl. To this add a little bit of glycerin at a time, until the mixture gets dark and a bit tacky. Do not oversaturate the mixture with glycerin when making any of the incense recipes I give to you, or the incense will not burn. The glycerin adds body, preserves the aromatic properties of the resins and herbs, and evenly mixes all ingredients together. Keep stirring until the mixture looks fluffy.

Once you’re done, put this in an airtight container and keep it away from light or heat.

A Word to the Wise: One important assignment that I recommend to you as an ongoing project, especially as you approach the First Degree ritual, is to memorize the eight elemental invoking and banishing pentagrams that you will use frequently throughout this year and a day (see Appendix E). Fluency with the ritual forms allows you to ultimately widen your focus from “How do I do these darn things?” to the more important, essential matters of the rituals you will encounter during your year and a day. There are additionally two more pentagrams, which invoke and banish “spirit active” energies. You will use these last two pentagrams later on in the year. But for now, at least spend some time each day committing to memory the eight elemental pentagrams.

Practice Days 4–5

Magical Names

Magical Purpose: Learning about magical names as well as delving into study toward selecting one.

Words contain power, especially the names of things. You don’t believe me? How does it feel when someone calls you by a name different from your own? Or how does it feel to call an apple a banana? Or to call someone “sweet” when he or she is anything but that? Feels strange, doesn’t it?

Names and words are vibrational expressions that solidify meaning for you, and meanings are one avenue that can lead you to change your views and your understanding. Changes in your understanding lead to changes in how you interact with the world. Therefore, words are magic.

For example, if you attach the word “grouchy” to a person, you have a type of “name” that represents something about the person. But that name, that label, is randomly assigned. Therefore, it can be reassigned. If you never knew the person and were told the person was “nice,” this label would likewise affect your consciousness at the level of attitude, demeanor, and behavior. Names and words change consciousness, and in turn they affect behavior and interaction, and their reach extends far into the world. Names really are magic.

Witches magically create change by “vibrating” or “intoning” the names of things, such as love, health, and prosperity. Of course, it takes more than that to create magic in the world. But knowing the names of things, saying what is true, saying what is not true, or even renaming things based on a renewed understanding is a good start.

Magic is a process, as our old magical cousin Dion Fortune stated, of “changing consciousness at will.” Fortune, a well-respected occultist who lived at the turn of the twentieth century, authored this rather pithy magical adage that goes to the very heart of an entire array of psychological and behavioral human processes. Some of these processes include observing your inner responses to things based solely on name and word. Some involve observing your behaviors and interactions based on names and words. These observations alone can lead you to question what it is that really motivates you, controls you, guides you, and causes you to feel an aversion to certain things. And in turn, this pointed, reflective questioning can lead to changes in awareness, behavior, and interaction with life.

Through this labyrinth of personal exploration, one learns how to intentionally change position to words, thoughts, ideas, sights, sounds, etc. When you make a change on the conscious, intentional level, it can lead to new, preferred actions on your part, and the world responds anew in your own life.

Witches say that knowing the name of something is how one becomes familiar with the thing’s power. With this in mind, you might begin to understand the importance of your own name. When traveling the path of the Witch, an important first stop along the way is to take note of your spiritual essence, and then symbolize that essence in a word, a name.

This spiritual-essence name isn’t your mundane name, given to you by relatives who had their own reasons and intentions. It is your magical name, which represents the manifestation of your spiritual potential, your spiritual realization, your direction, and your magical intention in the world.

It may sound like a chore to figure out the name that represents the “spiritually realized” you. After all, how are you supposed to give voice to a you that is an ongoing process? Potential is something that unfolds moment by moment with each choice we make.

You don’t need to know anything as esoteric sounding as “your spiritual potential” at this point in the year (although, if you have already completed Wicca: A Year and a Day, you’ve probably encountered your spiritual essence more than once).

But what is helpful when choosing a magical name is to get a bird’s-eye view, the long view, of your life. Think in terms of your spiritual journey so far and where you see your spiritual development going. Recognize your past lives, and while noting the patterns of this life (to the best of your ability), project your imagination into the potential next life (for Witches do indeed recognize the cause-and-effect forces known as karma, as well as reincarnation). These are all considerations.

In terms of methodology, there are at least three principal ways new Witches arrive at their magical name. The first is through study and developing familiarity with historical or mythological names. This is the method we will explore first. Even if you do not feel intrinsically drawn to study and research as your primary means of selecting a magical name, it is best to participate in today’s practice to help create some momentum in your search.

Think about your magical efforts to date, and answer these questions:

• What has been your overriding interest in Wicca so far?

• What are qualities you currently embody? (List several positive and negative qualities about yourself.)

• What personal qualities would you like to embody? (Again, list these.)

• What are your greatest magical strengths? (Are you good with healing? Ritual? Chanting? List these here.)

• What areas do you feel are less developed? Or what would you like to pursue?

Based on these lists alone, you should have some fairly good fodder for research. You might also try examining texts like Bulfinch’s Mythology or Robert Graves’s The White Goddess, or look online for ancient myths or classical texts or ancient plays. Consider the names of historical figures, gods, goddesses, sorcerers, etc.

While considering a name to choose, think in terms of the balance of your positive and negative traits. Some readers may consider taking a magical name that does not necessarily have traditional “positive” qualities. For example, you may be drawn to the Norse underworld goddess Hel, because she reflects a life journey aimed at discovering (or uncovering) the unnoticed, suppressed, or rejected parts of one’s psyche. These parts are all symbolized by an underworld being. Or perhaps you have a fiery temper that you acknowledge and that you aim to befriend and possibly tame through your spiritual life journey. So perhaps you choose the name Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, to reflect this quality.

Whether you choose a name with a traditionally positive or negative association is up to you. Neither is better than the other. Putting a spiritual focus on your so-called inner darkness or negativity (which is typically made up of your life’s experiences that our culture demands that you repress, abandon, regret, or deny) is one way of bringing mindfulness to qualities that can otherwise go unattended and then run amok. By focusing on darker traits, you can cause them to become powerful allies, rather than allowing them to hide in the background and become controlling monsters.

A focus on traditionally positive traits does not necessarily indicate a practitioner who is a Pollyanna, naïve, or (as Witches sometimes call positively focused practitioners) a “fluffy bunny.” A name that reflects a positive trait may come about after reading your lists of traits and noticing that you perhaps have a greater balance of so-called negative traits over positive ones, and you therefore choose a name that reflects a commitment to striking a balance between the two. Or perhaps your choice of a more positively associated name aims at purposefully cultivating a life of harmony and greater accord.

Once you have researched a few names that seem like good choices, you’re done with your practice for the day.

For now, set aside the idea of making any final decision on a name, as there are two additional methods you will explore.

Practice Days 6–7

Magical Names

Magical Purpose: Learning an intuitive method for discovering a magical name.

What you’ll need:

• Your circle-casting tools, including wand, athame, chalice, and pentacle

• A pad of paper and a pen

The method you might try over the next couple of days involves a mystical, intuitive, and creative process.

Use the circle-casting directions in appendix A to form your magic circle. Once you’re done, lie down in the center of the circle with your head pointed north and your feet south. Take your wand in your left hand and your athame in your right, then cross them against your chest in the Osiris position (see illustration).

Osiris Position

As you lie there, find the primary center of your body’s energy. While you may have a center like other people’s, you should also anticipate that the center for you could be anywhere you sense it. My center may be in my stomach, while yours may be at your forehead, in the genital area, or in your hands or feet. Try not to judge the location of the energy center; just note it.

Once you sense the location of your center, begin to breathe, imagining as you exhale that you are expanding the energy center. Slowly continue breathing with the intention of flooding your whole body with this energy, from the top of your head to your toenails.

Once it feels to you that you are engulfed by this energy (some people report that it feels like vibration), utter a sound that comes from the center of this energy field. It is important that you do not do this based on rational thinking and intention, but rather that you allow the sound to emerge from the energy source itself, unencumbered by what you “think” the sound should be like.

Open your eyes and write down what you heard. This sound can then be the basis of your magical name. So, for example, if you uttered the sound “maa,” then you can create many names from this base sound. For example, for a female, you could use goddess names such as Maat, Maeve, Macha, or Maia. For a male, a god name based on the sound could be Manannan Mac Lir, Math Mathonwy, Margawse, or Mars.

Again, set this possibility aside, as you do have one more magical method to explore before you settle on a magical name.

Practice Days 8–9

Magical Names

Magical Purpose: Learning one more method for discovering a magical name.

What you’ll need:

• Your circle-casting tools, including wand, athame, chalice, and pentacle

• Tarot cards

• A pad of paper and a pen

Some readers are not inclined to interact meaningfully with intuitive methods, and they find this is true for any form of magical working or divination. For those who like things less fluid and more grounded and clear-cut, there is a mechanical method for discerning one’s magical name. It will still require some creativity on your part, but not as much as the last method.

To begin, cast a magic circle, following the instructions in appendix A. Sit at the center of your circle with a deck of tarot cards.

Using the following numerology table, “translate” your first name into numbers.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Alpha-Numeric Chart

Add together all of the numbers that correspond to the letters in your first name. If you arrive at a two-digit number, add those two digits. Continue doing this until you arrive at a single digit. Repeat this process for your middle and last names. You should end up with three numbers. (If you have no middle name, you’ll have only two numbers.)

For example, based on my first name, Timothy, my first name’s number total is 2. Based on my last name, Roderick, my last name’s number total is again 2.

Then based on these numbers, I can build a name based on imagery from the tarot. Since I have two number twos, I will look to see what cards correspond with my numbers. For me, the cards that have twos on them include the two of wands, cups, swords, and pentacles. The High Priestess and the Hanged Man also correspond to the number two. Since I am drawn to the High Priestess and the Hanged Man, I will place them before me and find imagery from the cards that speaks to me. I like the High Priestess’s moon crown, and I am also drawn to the illumination around the Hanged Man’s head. I can create a name from this, such as “Moon-crown,” or “Wisdom-Moon.”

Another method would be to simply draw a number of cards at random, find their alphabetical equivalents, and try to form names (or the inspiration for names) from them.

Use the table of tarot correspondences to translate the cards into numbers. From there, use the alpha-numeric chart to reverse the process of turning numbers into letters.

Card Number or Name

Numerical Value

Alphabetical Correspondences

Aces, Tens, Magician,
Wheel of Fortune, Sun

1

A J S

Twos, Pages, High Priestess,
Hanged Man

2

B K T

Threes, Queens, Empress,
Judgement

3

C L U

Fours, Kings, Emperor, Death, World

4

D M V

Fives, Knights, Hierophant,
Temperance

5

E N W

Sixes, Lovers, Devil

6

F O X

Sevens, Chariot, Tower

7

G P Y

Eights, Justice, Star

8

H Q Z

Nines, Hermit, Moon

9

I R

Fool

0

Any letter

Tarot Correspondences

Practice Days 10–11

The Four Salutations

Magical Purpose: Calling upon the elemental powers to support your practice before initiation.

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon dried mugwort

• 1 teaspoon dried hyssop

• 1 teaspoon dried chamomile

• Dish of salt

• Red candle

• Self-igniting charcoal

• Thurible

• White-handled knife

A Word to the Wise: Salt is produced from salt mines or by evaporating seawater or mineral-rich spring water. You can use any form of salt you’d like for ritual purposes. Some people prefer ordinary table salt or sea salt. I prefer kosher salt because this is what I used in coven when I first began, and I also love the large, flaky texture.

Look at an almanac to find the time of sunrise, and plan to awaken just before dawn. Either go outdoors (if this is possible) or go to a window, so that you can face the rising sun. Face the east with your thurible, and light the self-igniting charcoal. In a bowl, combine 1 teaspoon each of dried mugwort, hyssop, and chamomile. Sprinkle the herbal combination upon the heated charcoal. Holding the thurible of smoldering herbs, draw an air-invoking pentagram (see appendix E) toward the rising sun.

While doing so, recite the following:

Creatures of air, I invoke thee;

I bless and consecrate upon the rising sun,

To protect and sanctify me,

As I prepare to take my solemn vow.

Then make three small circles in the air before you with the thurible, and extinguish the smoke and charcoal. Finally, bow to the east with arms crossed in the Crone/Sage magical pass. (See appendix G for illustrations of the six primary magical passes we will use in this book. For a beginning understanding of the passes and how to use them, please see Wicca: A Year and a Day.)

Then, at noon, take the red candle, and using your white-handled knife, inscribe the side of the candle with a fire-invoking pentagram (see Appendix E).

Light the candle and turn to face the south. As you do so, say:

Creatures of fire, I invoke thee;

I bless and consecrate upon the midday sun,

To protect and sanctify me,

As I prepare to take my solemn vow.

Hold the lit candle high above your head toward the south. Make three small circles in the air with the candle and then extinguish it. Bow toward the south with arms crossed in the Crone/Sage magical pass.

A Word to the Wise: Traditionally, the word dedicant means someone who is dedicating him- or herself to Wiccan practice and is seeking initiation into the Craft. You will see this word used now in reference to you.

At dusk, boil some water and infuse it with more of the dried mugwort, hyssop, and chamomile. Allow this to steep. While it is doing so, use your athame to draw a water-invoking pentagram above the infusion. (For all invoking and banishing pentagrams, please see Appendix E.)

Strain out the leaves and plant bits, then take seven sips of the infusion.

An alternative to drinking the elixir (for those of you who have less tolerance for the bitter taste of the herbs) is to dab your seven chakras with the mixture. Start at the root chakra, which is located at the base of the spine, between the anus and genitals. Next, dab some of the elixir at the sacral chakra, located about two inches below the navel. Then dab some at the solar plexus, located between the navel and the sternum. Then dab some at the heart chakra, or center of the chest. Next, dab some on the throat, and then some between the eyebrows at the forehead. Finally, dab a bit on the crown of your head.

Note: If you are allergic to these herbs, don’t drink them or put them on your body.

After you sip the infusion or dab your chakras, say:

Creatures of water, I invoke thee;

I bless and consecrate upon the setting sun,

To protect and sanctify me,

As I prepare to take my solemn vow.

Pour the remaining elixir onto the soil, and bow to the west with arms crossed in the Crone/Sage magical pass (Appendix G).

At midnight, stand on soil—barefoot, if possible. If this is not an option, simply sit where you can place your feet on the soil while facing north with a dish of salt. Sprinkle the salt in the pattern of an earth-invoking pentagram (found in Appendix E) on the soil.

When this is completed, stand facing the north and say:

Creatures of earth, I invoke thee;

I bless and consecrate upon the midnight sky,

To protect and sanctify me,

As I prepare to take my solemn vow.

Bow to the north with arms crossed in the Crone/Sage magical pass. Use your left foot to erase the salt pentagram, then turn away and leave the salt where it lies.

Practice Days 12–13

The Sigil of the First Degree

Magical Purpose: Learning the First Degree sigil and sensing its subtle influence.

What you’ll need:

• Consecration Oil

There are three sigils Witches use that correspond to the three degrees in Witchcraft.1 During your year and a day, you’ll learn about two of these.

The sigil of the First Degree is the inverted triangle, symbol for the Goddess. As mentioned earlier, the First Degree in Wicca is about learning the Goddess’s ways and customs. It is also about developing the receptive powers inherent in the divine feminine: learning to develop psychic power; learning how to sense, feel, and gain conscious awareness of the inner mechanisms involved in magical activity. It involves knowing deeply our thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and behaviors that can either limit the outcome of our magic or enhance it.

The inverted triangle is the alchemical sign of water, a feminine element. Water plays a big part in your first year of training. It is about learning how to join the flow of nature, predominantly by unblocking the “flow” of your own true nature. And, like water, the Goddess’s energies flow through all life.

When blessing someone in the circle who is of the First Degree, you bless them in the sign of the inverted triangle. In some traditions, you begin blessing at the girdle of the hips, just above the sexual organs. Some groups start blessing at the solar plexus chakra, just above the navel. Using either the wand or your fingers, you touch, in turn, the lower point of the triangle (the navel chakra, which is just below the navel), the left breast, and the right breast, then you return to the lowest point of the triangle.

First Degree Blessing

The magical action of blessing an initiate in this manner is typically enough to help facilitate an altered state of consciousness. It helps evoke the divine receptivity that typifies the archetypal Goddess’s energies.

Today, stand facing north and use the Consecration Oil to bless yourself in the sign of the First Degree. Following this, sit on the ground in silence. Note the differences in your mind and body after invoking the sign of the Goddess. Making this particular sign on the body is like ringing a bell. When we do so, it is important to listen to the reverberations in our bodies and in our minds.

A Word to the Wise: Sacred Fasting: Tomorrow, you will take part in the First Degree initiation ritual. Witches typically spend the daytime hours leading up to the evening initiation fasting and contemplating the First Degree initiation. Many people are not accustomed to fasting, or they may have special dietary needs based on medical conditions. Participate in the fasting portion of the preparations only if your physician would allow it and it is safe for you to do so.

A Word to the Wise: It is possible that some readers may not wish to take part in the First Degree initiation. For these readers, I have provided an alternative Dedication Rite that you can perform on the full moon night in lieu of the initiation (see Appendix B).

For those readers who are already initiated and are reluctant to go through initiation again, please use practice days 14–15 as a time to commit to memory the invoking and banishing pentagrams found in Appendix E.

Practice Days 14-15

The First Degree Initiation Ritual

Magical Purpose: Initiation into the Craft of the Wise.

It is important to time the First Degree initiation in accord with the full moon, which should occur on approximately the 14th or 15th night following your start of this year-and-a-day journey. Witches consider conducting the rite on a night following the full moon to be inauspicious, as the waning moon energies signify decrease, release, and endings.

If you have followed the activities of this first lunation so far, you will have your magical First Degree name ready for the ceremony. If you are initiating with others, you should not share this name with anyone before the rite begins. If you are self-initiating, try not to speak the name until the time calls for it during the ceremony.

What you’ll need:

• 3 altar candles: one black, one white, and one red (Pillar candles are traditional, but use what you can find.)

• An additional white taper candle

• Thurible

• Aspergillum

• Fireproof dish and self-igniting charcoal

• Consecration Incense and Consecration Oil

• A cauldron

• Small dish of salt

• Small dish of water

• 4 quarter candles (traditionally colored to correspond with the spiritual quarter and its element: red/fire/south; blue/water/west; green/earth/north; yellow/air/east—you can also use either all white or all black, or whatever speaks to you)

• Your circle-casting tools (including your consecrated athame, wand, chalice/cup, and pentacle—see Appendix A)

• Dried hyssop (a small quantity—enough to make an infusion in a cup or to sprinkle in a bath)

• Red wine, any variety (This will not be consumed.)

• A bell

• A white cord (enough to encircle your mid-section twice and still have enough left to tie in a knot with the ends dangling at least six inches)

• Twine (at least nine feet of it)

• Cakes and wine (Wine alternatives can be any natural juice or nectar. Try to avoid sodas, coffee, tea, or water, as Witches consider it poor etiquette/form if you use these. Your cakes can be any baked goods.)

• Circle-casting and initiation scripts (see Appendix A)

• Libation bowl for the end of the ceremony

• Glucose lancets (found at any drugstore)

I have provided two versions of the First Degree initiation ceremony here. The first of these is designed for solitary practitioners. The second is for two or more and presumes one member will be initiating others.

Set up an altar with the items listed here. You might do this the night before your initiation, although setting up the altar on the same day is also acceptable. A typical altar layout is shown in the illustration (from a top view).

Altar Layout

Items that you’ll still need, but that are not sitting atop the altar, include any ritual scripts/cue cards, twine, a libation bowl, a white-handled knife, etc. Place these items below the altar until they are needed.

First Degree Self-Initiation Ritual

After spending an hour before the initiation steeping in a bath of hyssop, or at minimum using a sponge or cloth to apply a hyssop infusion to your whole body, stand before the altar and cast the magic circle around it (as described in Appendix A). Once the circle is cast, “cut open” a gap in the east of your circle. Here’s how you do this:

Stand facing the east of your circle and draw an earth-banishing pentagram (found in Appendix E). Then point the athame blade at the floor. Move the blade slowly upward until your arm is vertical, all the while visualizing that you are cutting open a hole in the membrane of the circle. Place the athame on the ground, with the blade tip pointing outward at the exact spot where you cut the hole. Step through that spot, then face the inside of the circle from your spot outside of it in the east. Remove your robe and stand skyclad. With arms open, in the Mother magical pass (Appendix G), say:

Fearless I stand at the threshold between the worlds of men and those of the Mighty Ones. For the Old Mothers, the crones and sages of all time, warn the cowens and their like against entering this dread domain with a quavering heart. Thus, I enter with two passwords: perfect love and perfect trust. For to live in accord with love and trust, all hindrances and malignancies are lifted, the eyes are opened, and the great way unites both the heavens and the earth.

Pause by bowing before the entry point. Step into the circle at the point where the athame lies on the floor. Pick it up and “close the gap” in the circle. Here is how you do this:

Face the east of the circle again. This time, draw an earth-invoking pentagram. Then retrace the circle thrice with the athame only at the spot where the circle was “cut.” Then walking clockwise at the edge of the circle, face the south, standing with arms open in the Mother magical pass, and say:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, I, _____________(mundane name), stand before thee, in perfect love and perfect trust. I call upon thee to witness this, my initiation into the Craft of the Wise.

Repeat this at the western quarter of the circle, then at the north, and finally at the east. Then close your arms into the Crone/Sage magical pass, while saying:

I will follow the Law of the Old Ones, which is to lovest the whole of nature, for the Gods reveal themselves thusly. I shall suffer no person to be harmed by my hands, words, or Art of magic. I will tread humbly the ways of men and the ways of the Old Ones. And I shall invoke silence, speaking to none of the Arts, nor invoking the Old Ones’ names, nor uttering the names of my brothers or sisters of the Art, unless it is to those who have been properly prepared, and who through their words, deeds, and virtue prove themselves to be among the Goddess’s children. Even if among the vulgar, some discoveries should arise concerning my belief, I shall hold to silence.2 For there is a great risk that the cowen tongue shall wag with my words without knowledge, without will, without the innermost mysteries known to them. I will be mindful of my actions, for one is best judged by deeds and not by their words alone. And may my weapons turn against me if I break this, my solemn vow.

Place the athame in both hands, palms open, and offer it to the sky with head bowed. Go to the south of the altar and face north. Place the athame on the altar and say:

Now for the ordeal.

Take the white cord and tie it around your right ankle, leaving the ends free. Say:

Feet neither bound nor free.

Ring the bell three times. Pour a bit of wine into a dish. Dab some on the third-eye chakra, on the forehead between the brows. Then say:

Eyes neither bound nor free.

Ring the bell seven times. Dab your lips with wine. Then say:

Lips neither bound nor free.

Ring the bell nine times. Quickly pass your open hands, palms down, through the flames of all altar candles. (Be careful not to burn yourself.) Sprinkle Consecration Incense over the lit charcoal and pass your hands through the smoke, saying:

Hands neither bound nor free.

Ring the bell twenty-one times. Go to the four quarters of the circle, starting in the east. Stand before each compass point and say:

Attend, ye Lords of the Watchtowers
of the East (South, West, North)! __________ (magical name) is properly prepared to be made a priest/ess and Witch.

Go to the south point of the altar and stand, facing north, with arms in the Crone/Sage position, saying:

In the ways of the Wicca we are taught to be humble; no creature must kneel before another, for the Great Mother loves and teaches all with great equipoise. To each who comes to these sacred realms, she says:

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil on the tops of your feet, saying:

Blessed be thy feet, which have brought thee in these ways.

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil on each of the knees, saying:

Blessed be thy knees, which shall kneel at the holy shrines.

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil above the genital area, saying:

Blessed be thy womb/phallus and the mysteries of rebirth.

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil on each breast, saying:

Blessed be thy breasts, and know thy strength and beauty.

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil on the chin, saying:

Blessed be thy lips, which speak the names of holiness.

Take the length of twine and hold it over the smoldering incense, saying:

Now, to offer my measure.

Take one end of the twine and hold it to the top of your head. Tie a knot where it measures the length of your body to your feet. Measure from the first knot around the circumference of your head and mark this with another knot. From this knot, measure around the chest/heart chakra and tie the final knot.

Using a clean, never-before-used, sterilized glucose lancet, prick the end of the index finger on your right hand and dab a drop of your blood on the twine. Smear the entire length of twine with Consecration Oil, and place the whole bundle in a fireproof dish. Light the twine on fire.

As the twine burns, kneel before the altar with hands upraised and say:

The measure has been taken,

Its essence has been sent,

The Gods have thus awakened,

I swear my true intent.

Hecate, Astarte, Isis,

Bear witness to my vow,

Cernunnos, Pan, Dionysus,

To thee alone I bow.

Remove the white cord from your ankle. Stand before the altar and take the incense burner with smoldering incense in it, saying:

I am consecrated with air.

Pass or fan the smoking incense in the sign of the First Degree. Start at the area just below the navel, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel. Say:

I am consecrated with fire.

Hold the candle just below the navel, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel (being careful not to get burned or to drip wax). Then pick up the salt/water mixture you used to cast the circle and say:

I am consecrated with water.

Dab the water/salt mixture just below the navel, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel. Pick up the bowl of blessed salt and say:

I am consecrated with earth.

Dab salt just below the navel, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel. Take the Consecration Oil in hand and say:

I am consecrated in the names of the Great Mother and the Horned One.

Dab Consecration Oil just below the navel, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel. Using the white-handled knife, inscribe your magical name on a white taper candle along with the sign of the First Degree (the inverted triangle). Light the candle and place it in a cauldron. Then hold your arms in the Mother magical pass, saying:

As once was done in Cerridwen’s name,

The cauldron womb is set aflame,

And from its depths is found rebirth,

And courage from our Mother Earth.

I conjure well the Grand Assay,

Forth I go, a year and a day,

By sun and moon, by earth and sea,

The path awaits, so mote it be!

Once again, go to the east, south, west, and north. At each quarter, say:

In the names of the Great Mother and the Horned One,

Before the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters,

The Kings of the Elements,

I, _________ (your magical name), have been consecrated a priest/ess of the Goddess and a member of the Wicca.

Perform the rite of cakes and wine (as described in appendix A), then close the circle.

First Degree Initiation Ritual
for Two or More

The initiate spends an hour before the ceremony steeping in a bath of hyssop, or at minimum using a sponge or cloth to apply the hyssop over the whole body. The initiator performing the service sets up the altar and awaits the initiate.

When it is time for the initiation, the initiator casts the circle and (as described in Appendix A) “cuts open” a gap in the east of the circle. Here’s how you do this:

Face the east of the circle and draw an earth-banishing pentagram (Appendix E).

Point the athame blade to the floor. Move the blade slowly upward until the arm is vertical, all the while visualizing that you are cutting open a hole in the membrane of the circle. Place the athame on the ground, with the blade tip pointing outward at the exact spot where you cut the hole. Then step through that spot and go to the initiate, who waits outside the circle (or, even better, somewhere away from the circle casting). The initiate removes his or her clothes and is blindfolded. Lead the initiate to the edge of the circle, then go through the “cut-open” hole and face the initiate, placing the tip of the athame blade to the initiate’s chest.

The initiator says:

Fearless, thou stand at the threshold between the worlds of men and those of the Mighty Ones. For the Old Mothers, the Crones and Sages of all time, warn the cowens and their like against entering this dread domain with a quavering heart.

The initiate says:

Thus, I come with two passwords: perfect love and perfect trust.

The initiator gives a kiss to the initiate and says:

For to live in accord with love and trust, all hindrances and malignancies are lifted, the eyes are opened, and the great way unites both the heavens and the earth.

The initiator safely places the athame nearby and helps the initiate to step into the magic circle at the point where the gap was cut. “Close the gap” in the circle thusly:

Face the east of the circle again. This time, draw an earth-invoking pentagram with the athame (Appendix E).

Then retrace the circle thrice with the athame only at the spot where the circle was “cut.” Then, walking clockwise at the edge of the circle, take the blindfolded initiate to face the south. Stand with arms open in the Mother magical pass and say:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, _____________ (initiate’s mundane name) stands before thee, in perfect love and perfect trust. I call upon thee to witness this, his/her initiation into the Craft of the Wise.

Repeat this at the western quarter of the circle, then at the north, and finally at the east. Then close your arms into the Crone/Sage magical pass. Instruct the initiate to close his or her arms into the Crone/Sage magical pass. Once this is completed, face the initiate and say:

Thou must vow to follow the Law of the Old Ones, which is to lovest the whole of nature, for the Gods reveal themselves thusly. Suffer no person to be harmed by thy hands, words, or Art of magic. Tread humbly the ways of men and the ways of the Old Ones. Invoke silence, speaking to none of the Arts, nor invoking the Old Ones’ names, nor uttering the names of thy brothers or sisters of the Art, unless it is to those who have been properly prepared, and who through their words, deeds, and virtue prove themselves to be among the Goddess’s children. Even if you are among the vulgar, if some discoveries should arise concerning your belief, you shall hold to silence. For there is a great risk that the cowen tongue shall wag with thy words without knowledge, without will, without the innermost mysteries known to them. Therefore, be mindful of thy actions,
for one is best judged by one’s deeds and not by one’s words alone. And may thy weapons turn against thee if thou break this solemn vow.

Dost thou vow to all of this?

The initiate responds:

I do.

The initiator places his or her own athame in both hands, palms open, and offers it to the sky (in front of the blindfolded initiate) with head bowed. Then the initiator says:

Now for the ordeal.

Tie the white cord around the initiate’s right ankle, leaving the ends free, and say:

Feet neither bound nor free.

Ring the bell three times. Pour a bit of wine into a dish. Dab some on the initiate’s third-eye chakra, on the forehead between the brows. Then say:

Eyes neither bound nor free.

Ring the bell seven times. Dab the initiate’s lips with wine. Then say:

Lips neither bound nor free.

Ring the bell nine times. Quickly pass the initiate’s open hands, palms down, through the flames of all altar candles. (Be careful not to burn anyone.) Sprinkle Consecration Incense over the lit charcoal and pass the initiate’s hands through the smoke, saying:

Hands neither bound nor free.

Ring the bell twenty-one times. Take the initiate to the four quarters of the circle, starting in the east. Say before each quarter:

Attend, ye Lords of the Watchtowers of the East (South, West, North)! ___________ (magical name) is properly prepared to be made a priest/ess and a Witch.

After this, place the initiate in the south of the circle. Stand before the initiate and fold your arms in the Crone/Sage magical pass, saying:

In the ways of the Wicca we are taught to be humble; no creature must kneel before another, for the Great Mother loves and teaches all with great equipoise. To each who come to these sacred realms, she says:

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil on the tops of the initiate’s feet, saying:

Blessed be thy feet, which have brought thee in these ways.

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil on each of the initiate’s knees, saying:

Blessed be thy knees, which shall kneel at the holy shrines.

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil above the initiate’s genital area, saying:

Blessed be thy womb/phallus and the mysteries of rebirth.

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil on each of the initiate’s breasts, saying:

Blessed be thy breasts, and know thy strength and beauty.

Draw an earth-invoking pentagram with Consecration Oil on the initiate’s chin, saying:

Blessed be thy lips, which speak the names of holiness.

The initiator takes the length of twine and holds it over the smoldering incense, saying:

Now, to offer your measure.

The initiator takes one end and holds it to the top of the initiate’s head. Tie a knot where it measures the length of the initiate’s body to his or her feet. Measure from the first knot around the circumference of the initiate’s head and mark this with another knot. From this knot, measure around the chest/heart chakra and tie the final knot.

Using a clean, never-before-used, sterilized glucose lancet, prick the end of the index finger on the initiate’s right hand (very gently, please) and dab a drop of the blood on the twine. Smear the entire length of twine with Consecration Oil and place the whole bundle in a fireproof dish. Light the twine on fire.

As the twine burns, the initiate is brought to kneel before the altar. The initiator says:

Repeat after me:

Speak each line slowly and allow the initiate to repeat after you.

The measure has been taken,

Its essence has been sent,

The Gods have thus awakened,

I swear my true intent.

Hecate, Astarte, Isis,

Bear witness to my vow,

Cernunnos, Pan, Dionysus,

To thee alone I bow.

Remove the white cord from the initiate’s ankle and bring him or her to stand. Take the incense burner with smoldering incense in it and say:

Thou art consecrated with air.

Pass or fan the smoking incense toward the initiate in the sign of the First Degree. Start at the area just below the navel, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel. Then hold the fire candle (the red altar candle) before the initiate and say:

Thou art consecrated with fire.

Hold the candle toward the initiate just below the navel, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel (being careful not to burn or drip wax on anyone). Then take the bowl of consecrated salt and water used in casting the circle and hold it before the initiate, saying:

Thou art consecrated with water.

Dab the water/salt just above the initiate’s genitals, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel. Pick up the bowl of blessed salt and say:

Thou art consecrated with earth.

Dab salt just above the initiate’s genitals, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel. Take the Consecration Oil in hand and say:

Thou art consecrated in the names of the Great Mother and the Horned One.

Dab Consecration Oil just above the initiate’s genitals, then right breast, left breast, and finish the triangle just below the navel. Remove the initiate’s blindfold and place it on the altar. Then announce:

Priest/ess and Witch!

Give the initiate a white candle. Instruct the initiate to inscribe his or her new magical name on the candle along with the sign of the First Degree (the inverted triangle). After this, the initiate lights the candle and places it in the cauldron.

The initiator then holds his or her arms in the Mother magical pass. The initiate stands in the same magical pass. Both the initiator and the initiate hold their hands over the candle in the cauldron, and they alternate speaking the lines of the following incantation:

Initiator:

As once was done in Cerridwen’s name,

Initiate:

The cauldron womb is set aflame,

Initiator:

And from its depths is found rebirth,

Initiate:

And courage from our Mother Earth,

Initiator:

Conjure well the Grand Assay,

Initiate:

Forth I go, a year and day,

Initiator:

By sun and moon, by earth and sea,

Initiate:

The path awaits, so mote it be!

The initiator takes the initiate to the east, south, west, and north. At each quarter, the initiator says:

In the names of the Great Mother and the Horned One,

Before the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters,

The Kings of the Elements,

_________ (initiate’s magical name) has been duly consecrated a priest/ess
of the Goddess and a member of the Wicca.

Perform the rite of cakes and wine (as described in appendix A), then close the circle.

1. See, for example, Janet and Stewart Farrar, Principles, Rituals, and Beliefs of Modern Witchcraft, part 2 in A Witches’ Bible (Custer, WA: Phoenix, 1984), p. 11. British Traditional Witches Janet and Stewart Farrar discuss their sources for the First Degree initiation, including the First Degree symbol. They cite Gerald Gardner’s novel High Magic’s Aid and his other two books on Witchcraft, Witchcraft Today and The Meaning of Witchcraft.

2. The vow of holding to silence is customary in most First Degree initiations. While this is an “outer court” ritual that is only based on British Traditional initiation rites, I still felt it was important to include this aspect of the rite, simply out of custom. There were several influences that came together to inform Gardner’s original choice to include a vow of silence in the face of “accusers.” In the 1950s, right after the last Witchcraft laws were removed from the books in Great Britain, Gardner felt that it was prudent for initiates to swear secrecy, obviously to protect the identities of coven members. Of course, Gardner’s claim was also that his tradition had lineage to the “burning times” in Europe and to times even before that period. It was fitting, therefore, that he added this bit about secrecy to maintain the image of an ancient, secret Witch-cult, as described by Margaret Murray, that was concerned about landing in the gallows. Furthermore, Gardner modeled his own oath on that found in Freemasonry, which includes a vow of secrecy. It is prudent for you to carefully evaluate your circumstances and to choose whether speaking up about your practice makes better sense than denying it when people question you about your faith. In some cases, silence may seem impractical or even suspicious to outsiders. It can be disarming and refreshing to offer a curious questioner a simple, direct, and honest explanation of your practice. These can be educational opportunities. However, there are other circumstances in which an open and honest discussion of your faith may not be appropriate or advisable. In these situations, the vow of silence would be wisely observed.

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First Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Practice Day 16–17

Meditate

Magical Purpose: Learning how to build an astral reservoir of power through this ancient discipline.

One of the truly important yet often overlooked spiritual practices for Witches is meditation. Although it results in tremendous power, insight, and full-on life transformation, many Witches choose other, more active methods for raising energy.

That’s not surprising. Many of us following the path of Wicca were raised in Western cultures that are accustomed to taking outward action toward some goal. However, the waning moon cycle is the perfect time to try this discipline on for size, if you haven’t already.

If you’re not big into meditation because it seems too “Eastern” for you, you might reconsider. The founders of our Craft had significant ties to Eastern mysticism and drew heavily from it. Disciplines and ideas borrowed from the East include yoga, concepts aligned with reincarnation, karma, and meditation as one of the eightfold paths to magical attainment.

If that isn’t enough, research shows that some mundane benefits of meditation include a heightened sense of well-being, stress reduction, the development of self-insight, an increase in focus and mental flexibility, the development of protective factors for the brain, reduction of inflammation, balancing of the mind, reduction of emotional reactivity, and more.

Recent studies show that only ten minutes a day of meditation practice are needed to reap the many therapeutic benefits. But as Wiccans, we should consider an increase in the duration to thirty or forty minutes per day, if possible. The reason for the increase in time is that the longer you sit with concentrated effort, the more you develop a reservoir of magical, “astral” power that you can use for many purposes.

But it is always best to start with a shorter duration and build up. Try only two to five minutes at a time to start, then expand this gradually.

There are different options for meditation. Each type resonates with a different elemental energy, as shown in the chart:

Type: Mindfulness meditation

Element: Earth

How: Count slowly and silently through your exhalations from 1 to 10, starting over at 1 each time you notice that you have begun thinking about anything at all (including “hey, I’m counting”). If you think of anything besides the count, start over. Alternatively, try labeling the inhale as 1, exhale as 2, inhale 3, exhale 4, etc., until you reach 10. Again, restart the count if you catch yourself thinking about anything besides counting breaths.

Type: Spiritual meditation

Element: Water

How: After centering yourself and following your breaths for a few minutes, focus your awareness on a single meditative question, such as “Who am I?” or “What is my true power?” Focus on the question rather than on receiving an answer; it may or may not come right away (or at all)! The process is what is important.

Type: “Sung” meditation

Element: Air

How: This practice focuses on repetition of a simple phrase. However, the phrase should be one that holds importance for you. For example, you might chant, “I am one with the Great Mother.” Use a single vocal pitch when reciting the phrase.

Type: Movement meditation

Element: Fire

How: While seated, focus on your attention to small upper-body movements—for example, a slow left-and-right swaying motion, a back-and-forth motion, or moving the entire upper body in a slow circular motion. Another way into this practice could be to try hatha yoga or tai chi.

Meditation Types and Elements

For today’s practice, spend time using each of the techniques listed in the chart. You may find that you resonate more with techniques that align with your Sun sign’s elemental energy, or you may find that you resonate more with the opposite element.

Your Sun sign is the sign the Sun was in when you were born. It is determined by your actual date of birth, including the year (as the equinoxes change every year, thus changing the dates when the Sun goes through several of the signs).

Use any number of free online tools if you wish to determine your Sun sign, or use the chart here, which gives the approximate dates for each sign.

Sun Sign

Approximate Birthdate

Element

Opposite Element

Aries

March 20–April 19

Fire

Earth

Taurus

April 19–May 20

Earth

Fire

Gemini

May 20–June 20

Air

Water

Cancer

June 20–July 22

Water

Air

Leo

July 22–August 22

Fire

Earth

Virgo

August 22–September 22

Earth

Fire

Libra

September 22–October 22

Air

Water

Scorpio

October 22–November 21

Water

Air

Sagittarius

November 21–December 21

Fire

Earth

Capricorn

December 21–January 20

Earth

Fire

Aquarius

January 20–February 19

Air

Water

Pisces

February 19–March 20

Water

Air

Sun Signs and Elements

Practice each of the meditation forms without specifically assigning one or another to yourself simply because you feel a kinship with a particular elemental energy. Be open. You may discover that one or more of these practices are a good fit for you.

Practice Days 18–19

Alignment with the Gods

Magical Purpose: Finding a guardian goddess for spiritual alignment.

One of the most important and powerful aspects of this second year and a day of training is the alignment or partnership with specific deities. Forming this alliance opens up inner pathways of spiritual intelligence and magical empowerment. Your practices over the next several days will focus on aligning first with the Goddess in direct ways.

Calling All Goddesses …

The first step in aligning with deity is finding a goddess that represents your spiritual essence. This becomes important for our later activity of drawing deity energies into your magic circle for spiritual workings.

This may sound like exciting work for female readers, but perhaps is of less interest to the men. However, in magical practice, while it has been considered “traditional” for women to mingle their personal energies with those of the Goddess, and for men to do so with the God, these strict boundary lines only serve to reinforce cultural and gender-based limitations.

Cross-polarity practices, in which men work with the Goddess and women work with the God, not only are empowering, but also help us develop magically. Any time we step outside of the boundaries of the “known” in our lives, it means we’ve stepped outside of well-established patterns and routines. Walking the path of the known, of what feels comfortable, safe, and secure, is not where Witches find their power. Wicca is not a path that assists its members in finding comfort or security. It is about finding your power through a direct connection to all of nature, which includes nature as it manifests in either form, male or female.

If you feel insecure about your gender behaviors and attitudes, then cross-polarity practices will help flush out these limitations. When you are able to openly and honestly question the origins of your attitudes and behaviors, you begin to uproot the entrenched patterns that likely do not serve to empower your life. Anytime you feel as though you are obliged to act in a certain way due to any factor of your life circumstances, or anytime you notice an “automatic response,” you’ve come up against a limitation that will affect the whole of your life, including your magical practice.

Cross-polarity work can help you ultimately notice that your gender-related behavioral patterning is only one more cultural phenomenon to release, and your mindfulness of any routine behavioral pattern is critical before something new can emerge.

It was Einstein who noted that insanity was doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. If you truly want to live in a sane way, in a magically empowered way, then it is important to liberate yourself from any rigid thoughts, behaviors, or beliefs. When you retain (and even cultivate) your routine thought, behavior, or belief patterns, and you trust that you will somehow have a different result in your life, then you are living out Einstein’s definition of insanity. Without changing these deep habitual patterns, you can do as many rituals as you please, but you’ll still have the same life you have right now.

For today’s practice, you should think in terms of searching for a guiding goddess that harmonizes with your worldview, your disposition, your strengths (and weaknesses), your physical attributes, and your special interests or abilities, such as any natural intuition, magical ability, or aptitude with teaching, herbalism, healing, etc.

Finding a goddess that represents these dimensions of your life and spiritual journey takes some time and patience because some of this work is like tracking in the wild. You may find yourself following very small, sometimes fragmented signs, footprints, broken branches, and scents until you arrive at the source itself.

This isn’t because deity is keeping a safe distance from you, as might a deer. Rather, it is we who have managed to develop some distance from deity. The distance develops over time, and in subtle layers that go unnoticed.

Most of us have little awareness of a gulf developing between ourselves and the energies of the divine until one day, perhaps even today, when we notice that our life is about so many other things that appear to have little connection with the divine. It happens, and there is no shame in it. You might have kids to pick up from school, work to complete, deadlines to meet, illnesses to manage, dinner to put on the table, and the list goes on. It is natural to gravitate toward activities that you deem necessary. But it is easy to get lost in the unseen tangle of everyday living and lose a sense of the divine, even if it is right there in what we’re doing.

It takes some time to incrementally remove the long-standing barriers so that you develop greater sensitivity for the presence of the gods in your life. You don’t have to “make room” for divine action and magical empowerment, but rather develop a new way of seeing. The first step toward this spiritual excavation is through meditative inquiry.

Meditative Inquiry

Get into a sitting meditation position. Align and lengthen your spine, tuck your chin, and either close your eyes or cast them downward, looking down at a 45-degree angle. Place your hands in the circular “world” or “universal” magical pass.

This pass consists of placing the left hand face-up inside the right hand. The fingertips of the left hand touch the inside bend of the first knuckles of the lower, right hand. Thumbs then touch lightly to form an oval shape. The magical oval hand design then sits in the lap with the touching thumbs resting near the navel.

Universal Magical Pass

Face a wall that has a neutral-colored surface. If you are choosing to do this exercise with eyes slightly opened (which is my personal recommendation), then while you sit facing the wall, allow your gaze to become soft. Do not look at any one point on the wall. Instead, look “through” the wall, as though you’re looking at something three feet behind it.

Relax the face. Relax the shoulders. Allow the chest to sit high. Breathe deeply, slowly, and rhythmically from the solar-plexus area near the navel.

As you sit, concentrate on the question “Who is my patron goddess?” Do not expect an immediate answer. In our culture, we are used to having polished products and instant results. When efforts don’t result in immediate insights, it can feel as though something has gone wrong. Keep in mind that meditative inquiry is a process of gradual unfolding, rather than a product. An answer or insight may come to you over time, or it may turn up when you least expect it.

Over the next several days, engage with meditative inquiry, holding the spiritual question in mind and yet not forcing a response.

Practice Days 20-21

Look Her Up

Magical Purpose: Finding a guardian goddess through study.

Research is another critical practice for discovering your patron goddess. Think about your personality traits, your interests, your accomplishments, and your limitations. Think about traits you admire or wish to develop in yourself.

Make two side-by-side lists showing your current traits and your desired traits. Then begin a search either online or in books such as The Witches’ Goddess by Janet and Stewart Farrar. Other books that may help include Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine by Joseph Campbell, and The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe and The Language of the Goddess, both by Marija Gimbutas.

Over the next several days, take time to research the Goddess archetype that resonates with you.

In the following chart, you will find a sampling of the most common Goddess forms with which Witches align, along with their energies and powers.

Deity

Aspect

Represents

Governs

Aradia

Mother

Victory/the moon

Magical learning, magical secrets revealed, phases, power over oppressors, protection, tides

Athena

Maiden

Intelligence

Communication insight, intellect, learning, wise words

Brigit

Maiden

Witchcraft

Divination, fertility, fire/the hearth, gardens, healing arts, love, prophecy, Witchcraft

Circe

Maiden

Magic

Herbal lore, potions, sorcery, spells, transformation

Cerridwen

Crone

Teaching

Death, herbal lore and magic, magical transformation, reincarnation, spells, wisdom

Danu

Mother

Inspiration

Abundance, deep intuitive wisdom, prosperity, Witch lore, lakes, rivers, seas, and wells

Demeter

Mother

Abundance

Fruition, gain, gentility, kindness, nurturing, sexuality

Diana

Mother

Commanding

Childbirth, magic, mothering, rulership, sovereignty, supremacy

Epona

Mother

Transitions and
transformations

Animal magic, change, fortune, grounding, passage of the seasons

Hecate

Crone

Wisdom

Kinship with animals, magic, secrecy, sorcery, time-related magic, transformation

Macha

Maiden/Mother

Warrior

Childbirth, competition, dominance, fertility, force, self-protection, triumph, victory

Persephone

Maiden

Magic

Everlasting life, hidden knowledge, occult powers

Goddesses and What They Govern

Practice Days 22–23

Aligning with a Patron God

Magical Purpose: Finding a guardian god for spiritual alignment.

We will now turn our attention toward the divine masculine, the Witches’ Horned God.

Over the next few days, take time to sit in meditative inquiry. Ask yourself during the meditation, “Who is my patron god?”

Simply holding the question will align you properly and an answer will come with time.

Practice Days 24–25

Look Him Up

Magical Purpose: Finding a guardian god through study.

Over the next days, research the God archetype that resonates with you. Think about your personality traits, your interests, your accomplishments, and your limitations. Think about traits you admire or wish to develop in yourself.

Make two side-by-side lists showing your current traits and your desired traits. Begin a search either online or in books. The Farrars’ The Witches’ God is a good starting point for reference. However, there are many websites dedicated to shedding light on deities from around the world. In the following chart is only a very small sampling of God forms, what he represents in his various guises, and what magical energies he evokes.

As a note, I will continue following the concept introduced in Wicca: A Year and a Day of three aspects of the God, which parallel the three Goddess aspects that mirror life through the lenses of youth, maturity, and old age. Like the Goddess aspects, the three God forms are archetypes depicting the energetic changes through which males transform during their life cycle. While the aspects may parallel one another, the expression of the energies varies greatly between Goddess and God forms.

In brief, the three God aspects include:

The Inseminator—This is the male energy as it is expressed between boyhood and young adulthood. The archetype represents wildness, with a focus on sexual energy, reproduction, physical strength, and vitality. Outward achievement, daring, adventure, intensity, a buckshot approach to life, and the expression of boundless youthful, playful energy are all common themes in young God forms.

The Provider—At this stage, the sexual urge and wild vitality have settled down and become focused on themes of building, community, family, acquisition, material gain, and maintaining a field of protection for others/family/children/community. Ruling and rules, as well as expressing a healthy sense of authority, are also themes of the God as he moves into the Provider stage. Gradually, the energy moves from the nearly self-absorbed playful urges of youth to an outward focus on community, family, and social rules/forms among the Provider gods.

The Sage—Physical and outward achievement has turned inward. The Sage represents male energy that has moved beyond sexual urges and the urge to use physical strength to build and maintain power, authority, and safety. The Sage deity has the big-picture view in mind and can see beyond immediate circumstances, and balances action with knowledge from the past and with plans for the future. His is the energy of expressing wisdom. Like the Crone, depending on the nature of the deity, the Sage might express wisdom through cold, harsh facts or in a kindly, grandfatherly way.

Deity

Aspect

Represents

Governs

Belenus

Provider

Stability

Fertility, healing, prosperity, success, sun magic

Bran

Sage

Creativity

Deep insight, leadership, music, peace, prophecy, writing

Cernunnos

Inseminator

Strength

Animal kinship, animals, fertility, magic, nature, sexuality, shapeshifting, virility, transformation,woodlands

Dionysus

Inseminator

Ecstasy

Agriculture, art, ceremony, fertility, libido, religious ecstasy, revelry, theater, wine

Freyr

Provider

Command

Command, prosperity, rulership, victory, virility

Hermes

Sage

Magic

Athletics, communication, divine inspiration, illusion, invention, literature, magical effects, poetry, speed, spells, trade, wit

Lugh

Provider

Sacrifice

Abundance, fortune, reincarnation, journeys, blacksmiths, poetry, harps, music, healing, initiation

Pan

Inseminator

Wildness

Fertility, gardens and vegetation, hunting, love, magic, music, sex, youth

Ra

Sage

Existence

Animal kinship, being “present,” creativity, growth, light, mysteries of life and death, secret knowledge, warmth

Gods and What They Govern

Practice Day 26–28

Magical Supplication

Magical Purpose: Making magical oil and incense for directly drawing God and Goddess energies into your life.

During your research of goddesses and gods, it is likely that you’ve encountered one that you find to be in particular alignment with your own life, worldview, disposition, and more. But aligning with deity forms takes some time and some creativity on your part. Witches call the ongoing process aimed at cultivating a relationship with the deity of your choice supplication. For some practitioners, the alignment (which is a spiritual attachment process) can feel easy and almost instantaneous. In these instances, one generally experiences feeling almost physically accompanied by the deity form in all aspects of life.

For other practitioners, supplicating the gods may take more time. Witches who take the slower track to alignment report a gradual onset of the deity presence. Mind you, the deity form you’ve chosen has already chosen you. Your awareness and feelings of kinship are already established and are mutual. A god/dess smiles upon your efforts and awaits your call. So what you’re doing with these practices is using your intention to align with these forces.

The supplication process may include:

• Creating your own evocations, poems, or recitations that are aimed at calling for the deity form.

– Think in terms of the words that may entice the deity. Give the god/dess your attention and verbalize your intention to work in harmony with the deity.

• Creating an altar that has many of the objects favored by the deity.

– Use stones, grains, beads, dishes of water, coins, flowers, branches, incenses, crystals, bells, statues, deity-specific colors, candles, and whatever else you sense might evoke the deity’s energies. Remember that just as you reach for the deity, the god/dess form reaches for you. The objects that you sense will be evocative of the deity’s presence will be accurate. Follow your instincts.

• Finally, you may choose to burn incense, dab yourself with magical oils, or take nightly baths with herbs dedicated to the deity. The following are recipes that are powerfully evocative for most deity forms. (For more information on specific incenses, oils, herbs, and stones aligned with specific deities, please see Wicca: A Year and a Day.)

For the next several days, your task is to prepare the recipes for Magical Supplication Oil and Incense.

Magical Supplication Incense

Magical Purpose: Making an incense to evoke the God or Goddess form of your choosing. Use during the ritual called Drawing Down the Moon to summon a deity form. Burn when making magical requests from the deity.

What you’ll need:

• Handful of sandalwood powder

• Handful of dried patchouli leaves

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon bark

• 1 ounce or so of vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• 3 drops patchouli essential oil

• 3 drops musk essential oil

• 3 drops carnation essential oil

• Clean jar and lid

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Next add the vegetable glycerin and stir together until the mixture looks fluffy. Add slightly more glycerin, if needed, to get the desired consistency. Finally, add your essential oils and mix thoroughly. Store the incense in a clean, tightly lidded jar.

Magical Supplication Oil

Magical Purpose: Dab at the seven chakra points to evoke the God or Goddess form of your choosing. Use during Drawing Down the Moon to summon a deity form. Use when making magical requests from the deity.

What you’ll need:

• 1.5-ounce lidded bottle

• Pinch of dried periwinkle

• Pinch of dried mugwort

• Pinch of dried patchouli

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin, or a neutral carrier oil such as grape seed, almond, apricot kernel, avocado, or light olive oil

• 2 drops amber essential oil

• 4 drops carnation essential oil

• 2 drops patchouli essential oil

Find a lidded bottle large enough to hold 1.5 ounces of liquid. Try not to use a bottle that is too large, as the essential oils may disperse rapidly. In the bottom of the bottle, place a pinch each of dried periwinkle, mugwort, and patchouli. Fill the bottle halfway with the carrier oil. Add the essential oils, then fill the bottle the rest of the way with the carrier oil. Close the lid and shake the bottle vigorously. Let the bottle sit for at least a day to allow the oils and herbs to mingle.

Magical Supplication Bath Herbs

Magical Purpose: Use prior to any Drawing Down rituals (forthcoming in your studies) and when making magical requests from the deity.

What you’ll need:

• 4 tablespoons dried patchouli leaves

• 4 tablespoons dried periwinkle

• 4 tablespoons dried mugwort

Draw a bath with only hot water. Once the bath is full, sprinkle the herbs into the water and allow the herbs to infuse while the water gradually cools. Once the water is cool enough to tolerate, sit in the infusion while silently regarding the deity form of your choosing.

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Second Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

A Word to the Wise: This lunation is our first opportunity to practice with the intensity offered by the Moon-Wise retreat schedule (Appendix D). Look at your calendar now to schedule time to engage in this important practice.

The Cardinal Magical Axioms

There are two sets of magical axioms, which provide an ethical framework for living a magical life. The magical axioms align with the compass directions as well as the Wiccan high holy days. Witches call the magical axioms that align with the four cardinal compass points (along with the four fire festivals) the cardinal magical axioms. Witches call the axioms aligned with the cross-compass points (and the Goddess festivals) the immutable axioms.

The magical axioms are part of a system that fleshes out, piece by piece, the traditional Wiccan Rede, which is, as you may recall from your first year of study, “An it harm none, do what ye will.” When one begins the path of the Witch, one may not have considered the important role ethics plays on the magical path. But consider that the first premise of magic and of Wicca is that all things are interwoven in the fabric of the universe.

It doesn’t take much to recognize this premise at work in our own lives. The lives of all creatures on the planet, the seas, the soil, the sun, the moon, the rain—everything you can name is responsible for your very existence. We know that the loss of animal or plant species on our planet can wreak havoc on our ecosystems and can have a deteriorating effect on human health and human existence.

One example of this is the plight of honeybees. Agriculturists have called the phenomenon in which honeybee colonies abruptly disappear “Colony Collapse Disorder.” For readers who are hearing of this for the first time, there have been huge declines in honeybee populations worldwide, and this has given rise to pollination problems, which, in turn, have affected plant health and global food supplies. The causes of Colony Collapse Disorder, while still not fully known, may be associated with immune deficiencies caused perhaps by pesticides, beekeeping practices (particularly the use of antibiotics), and electromagnetic radiation.

The chain of causation here is clear, and human activity that moves forward with its own agenda while not paying close attention to the importance of interdependence frequently plays a critical role in a whole host of troubles.

All things in this physical universe are interdependent and must be so for their very existence. Therefore, as Witches, to foster a direct awareness of how our lives intersect with everything else is an act of reverence. Witches revere the connections between all and seek to foster them, rather than control, isolate, or own.

Acts of controlling, isolating, or ignoring the interconnectedness of things broadly fosters separations. This way of being in the world works against the flow of nature (and thus, against the interdependence of all things). Therefore, actions that hinder the flow of life stand in direct conflict with the aims of the Wiccan Rede, which tells us to harm none.

Learning how to live in greater harmony is the broad basis of Wiccan ethical conduct and informs the magical axioms. When you choose to live in ways that contradict the magical axioms or stand in a position of interference with natural harmony, you cut yourself off from deity and deteriorate your magical effectiveness, and this can give rise to the accruing of negative karma.

What we choose to do, moment by moment in our lives, has consequences that reverberate from our personal lives outward to life as a whole. As above, so below. This means that if you are able to focus your attention, even for a moment, on what you are doing and the choices you are making, you can make a big difference in your own life and in the interconnected web. Change cannot occur elsewhere. It starts with you and with me. Therefore, if you recognize that an action you are taking fosters natural harmony (which is part of the macrocosm), then when you recognize and act with knowledge of your interdependence, you will ultimately make changes in the interconnected web of things that will improve your personal magical and spiritual effectiveness (the microcosm). When you live in ways that are less skillful or you are unaware of the big-picture effects of your actions, it becomes much more possible to act in ways that can cut off or interfere with natural harmony (the macrocosm). In disturbing the greater whole, you foster disharmony, and this usually results in an existence (at the microcosm level) that is weighed down with suffering.

Of course, you don’t have to aspire to noble or grand intentions in order to act with interconnectedness in mind. Even if you choose to act in ways that foster harmony simply to avoid a more painful life experience, that’s fine too. Or if you’re doing it to bolster your own magical effectiveness, there is no harm in that. All paths can lead to the spiritual center as long as you remain mindful of the importance of interconnectedness.

Practice Days 1–3

Contemplating Connectivity

Magical Purpose: To gain greater clarity of your role in the greater chain of universal connectivity.

As you go through the next couple of days, focus your attention on interdependence. Find at least five instances each day where you can clearly see interdependence at play. Catch yourself before you take action in any given moment, and take note of how your action is connected to what happened before, what may happen next as a result of the action, and how the action responds to the moment at hand. Journal about this as the day goes along.

At the end of the day, sit in silent meditation. Focus only on your breath, and keep returning the mind to inhalations and exhalations for at least ten minutes. Then take a look at the five instances of interconnection that you included in your journal. See what you wrote and think about where you can elaborate and expand upon the interconnectivity you’ve already noticed.

Consider the following questions, and either journal a response or contemplate each until you have clarity about your response:

• Can I live my life without connections? In what way?

• What in the universe exists without something else?

• Is it possible to “cut,” or eliminate, some connections?

First Cardinal Axiom

Direction:

East

Power:

Knowing and wondering

Season:

Spring

Festival:

Spring Equinox

Theme:

Balance, with an emphasis on the waxing light

Dates:

Around March 19–22

Axiom:

A practitioner of the Old Ways maintains and encourages an impartial mind.

First Cardinal Axiom

“The power to know” is the magical power Witches typically associate with the compass direction of east. The energies of the east and “knowing” include learning, gathering information, research, data, facts, and communication.

In Wicca, we strive to mirror the balance of nature, which encompasses the balance point of every polarity you can name, including male/female, light/dark, up/down, good/bad, and activity/receptivity. Witches strive to find the balance point between outward-directed and inward-directed action and energy.

In understanding this, it becomes clear that in nature, every “active” principle has its own “receptive” polarity. In magical practice, the outward, active energy captured by the symbolism of the east of the magic circle is “the power to know,” and its receptive polar energy is “the power to wonder.”

Whereas knowledge is about facts, wondering is about opening to possibilities that go beyond the known, crystallized data. While there is power in knowing the facts, information eventually decays and becomes stagnant. The knowledge of today frequently falls into obscurity with the passage of time; therefore, knowledge has its limits. If facts and data were timeless, then we’d still believe that the earth was flat, and that it was the center of the universe, that it rode on the back of a turtle, and so on. As quaint as some of these ideas seem to us now, they were once upheld as knowledge.

Wondering—the polar opposite of knowing—takes you beyond facts and data. It evokes a mental state that tests the possibilities and remains flexible and fluid, no matter the circumstances. It takes us into a pure, tabula rasa experience of life, which can be evocative, renewing, and empowering in its own way. Of course, living your life in a perpetual state of wonder is not something to be sustained. If you retain no basic knowledge, then you might step out in front of a bus, consume poisonous materials, or engage in any number of dangerous behaviors. So wondering, too, has its own set of limits.

Therefore, it is important to find the balance point between knowing and wondering. Staying focused in the present time is the most flexible, magical mindset we can adopt as the balance point of knowing and wondering. When you remain as present as possible, using all of your senses as well as your mind to perceive information as it arises moment by moment, you are ready to respond at a moment’s notice to life’s circumstances. When you learn to sustain a mindset of flexible presence, you cease to cling to outmoded information. You release your ideas and opinions. But you also do not live in a “blank slate” mindset.

The mental flexibility of sustained, focused presence of mind frees you up for immediate and spontaneous action. This is a central axiom of powerful magic. Magic is not an isolated instance that you engage in for specific purposes and then set aside. It is a pervasive, ever-present way of life. If you attempt to engage with magic in isolated instances rather than living it moment by moment, you reduce your effectiveness significantly, and you live in a disempowered way.

Over the next several days, you will engage in practices that will help you align with the balance point of knowing and wondering.

Practice Days 4–5

Knowing/Wondering Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Creating herbal aids to help foster a balance between the poles of knowing and wondering.

Prepare the following incense and oil, which you will use over the next several days of practice.

Knowing/Wondering Incense

What you’ll need:

• ¼ cup powdered sandalwood

• 1 teaspoon white balsam

• 1 teaspoon cedar bark, either powdered or chips

• 1 teaspoon cassia, powdered

• 2 drops jasmine essential oil

• 2 drops lemongrass essential oil

• 2 drops rose essential oil (Try to use the best quality rose essential oil you can find. It can be expensive, but it is useful.)

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients together first. Add the essential oils to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scents from the essential oils and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Knowing/Wondering Oil

What you’ll need:

• 2 drops jasmine essential oil

• 2 drops lemongrass essential oil

• 2 drops rose essential oil

• Pinch of dried white sage

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.

Practice Days 6–8

Invoking the Balance/
Knowing and Wondering

Magical Purpose: Using herbal, energetic aids
to foster a balance between knowing and
wondering.

Light the Knowing/Wondering Incense and dab your third eye, at the center of your brow between your eyes, with Knowing/Wondering Oil. Stand facing the east while holding the incense burner. Draw an air-invoking pentagram (Appendix E) in front of you using the smoldering incense.

Set the incense aside and take a seated position for meditation, as described in Practice Days 18–19 of the previous lunation. Set a timer for fifteen minutes. During this time, use the mindfulness meditation technique of counting your exhalations. However, this time, as you sit, you will keep paper and pen with you.

While you are engaging in the count, you will eventually begin to notice your emerging habitual thinking patterns. These represent your personal version of “knowing” that can limit your flexibility and interconnections to the whole of life.

Take notes occasionally, especially if you begin to notice that there is a pattern to your thoughts. For example, you may discover that you’re always planning. Or you may find that you’re obsessed with your work or with specific thoughts about people. Just mentally noting and then jotting these thoughts down each day for the next several days will be enough for these habitual thinking patterns to rise into your full awareness, which is the balance point between knowing and wondering.

When you are finished, pick up the incense burner (add more of the Knowing/Wondering Incense if it has stopped burning), and with it, draw an air-banishing pentagram while facing the east.

Take time to review the notes you took during this magical meditation, and consider the following questions:

• What are your “knowing” patterns?

• How might these thought patterns keep you from acting with full effect in the moment?

• How might these habitual thoughts keep you disempowered?

• Do they empower you in some way, or do they keep you feeling comfortable and safe?

Practice Days 9–10

Who Am I?

Magical Purpose: Considering the effects of context as a defining influence on how you
live your life.

Light the Knowing/Wondering Incense and dab your third eye, at the center of your brow, with Knowing/Wondering Oil. Stand facing the east while holding the incense burner. Draw an air-invoking pentagram (Appendix E) in front of you using the smoldering incense.

Set the incense before you and place a blank piece of paper between you and the incense burner. Write a sentence that starts with “I am.” Finish the sentence with something positive that you “know” about yourself. It should be the crown jewel of who you are. For example, you might write “I am kind” or “I am well loved.” Write whatever you think is a good representation of your most treasured positive quality.

Next, write another “I am” sentence, but this time finish it with a dark, forbidden, or horrifying thing about you that you hope no one else notices. You could write “I am mean” or “I am selfish.” Go ahead. Admit it, and write it down. But pick something that you “know” is true.

Now look at both “I am” statements and consider the following questions:

1. Are these statements true in all circumstances?

2. Are they true for all people?

3. Are they true in all environments?

4. Are they true at every moment of the day?

Chances are, you’ve said no to all four questions about your statements. That’s because we can’t hold on to only one or two facets of ourselves and hide or submerge the others. It’s impossible to be those things in all circumstances, with all people, in all environments, all the time. But we still want to cling to these ideas, which are the “knowing” of who we are.

The truth is far more complex.

So now, with this understanding, end the sentences you started with the following words: “or not.” So the positive one might read, “I am Mother Teresa, or not.” And the negative sentence might read, “I am a jerk, or not.” Think of these statements now in terms of the broader sense of who you are.

Can you sense how wording the statements in less-self-certain terms opens up some space for you energetically?

Finally, cross out all of the evaluative words in your sentences, leaving only the first two words, “I am.”

Imagine yourself in this moment with no labels, with no markers, identifiers, or notions of your past or future. Just enter this moment only as “I am.” What is it like for you to exist in this moment without so many labels (either pro or con)?

When you are finished with this initial exploration, pick up the incense burner (add more of the Knowing/Wondering Incense if it has stopped burning), and with it, draw an air-banishing pentagram while facing the east.

Your task for the next few days is to approach each moment in your life with this label-less sense. No matter the task or situation, enter the moment just as this “I am,” with no additional labels.

At the end of each day, take time to journal or reflect on what it was like to live within the moment that exists outside of labeling. This is to live within the balance point between knowing and wondering.

Key of Solomon Magic

For the next days, we will explore the Key of Solomon, a fourteenth- to fifteenth-century grimoire (spell book or textbook of magic) that played an influential role in the forms and practices of contemporary Wicca.

As mentioned in the introduction, during our Second Degree year and a day, there will be a considerable focus on a few of the ancient texts and practices that have come to inform the contemporary Craft. Craft practitioners and historians alike consider The Triumph of the Moon, written by University of Bristol professor Ronald Hutton, to be the definitive account of the history of modern Pagan Witchcraft. According to Hutton, the father of contemporary Witchcraft, Gerald Gardner, likely developed his Wiccan rituals and initiations as a pastiche of the many occult influences of his day. Gardner was an avid student of the occult, and his writings—including Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical, which was the first version of his now well-known Book of Shadows—were likely amalgams of pieces “borrowed” from several sources, including Margaret Murray’s The God of the Witches, Charles Godfrey Leland’s Aradia, the rites of Freemasonry, Ordo Templi Orientis (or O.T.O., a magical fraternity developed by Aleister Crowley), the writings of Crowley himself, and the now-famous grimoire called the Key of Solomon.

And even more broadly, we might say that via the O.T.O. and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, there has always been a link between Wicca and the ancient grimoires that have informed many of its magical practices. Many concepts are woven into our sense of timing, our magical correspondences, and the like. The influence of the old grimoires may be indirect at times, but it is ever-present in our Craft, and these grimoires can serve as magical resources, if approached sensibly.

That being said, Witches practice differently from ceremonial magicians. Contemporary ceremonialists, such as those of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the O.T.O., practice forms of magic that command and compel spiritual forces in order to create change. Rather than exert a specific force for commanding or compelling, Witches align with nature, which flows from one moment to the next, as it is. A Witch’s focus is on harmonizing with the natural world, and using this harmony as the basis for creating change from within.

When Witches encounter the Key of Solomon or other grimoires from antiquity (as we will during this year’s study), the primary interest is in harnessing these foundational magical forms for the purposes of developing focus and intention, rather than for contacting and compelling the spiritual energies reputed to be aligned with pentacles and magic squares.

I really enjoy working with the pentacles and magic squares from the various antique grimoires. They seem to help us connect to energies that are as old as the earth itself and as powerful today as they were long ago. I’ve found working with them to be useful in changing consciousness and in aiding my own magic.

The current version of the Key of Solomon that you can readily find in bookstores and online is not to be considered a standard volume, but one that existed as a framework for ancient magicians who added their own stylistic flourishes to the grimoires. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, one of the important leaders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, used at least seven versions of the Key to arrive at the version magical folk commonly use today.3

Mathers referred to the Key of Solomon as “the fountainhead and storehouse of Qabalistic Magic, and the origin of much of ceremonial magic of medieval times.”4 Mathers asserted that the Key’s elaborate pentacles were originally inscribed by the biblical King Solomon. However, the version to which he is referring was in all likelihood written in the fourteenth or fifteenth century in Italy.

There were many grimoires written in the late Medieval period through the Renaissance, and authors of such grimoires commonly ascribed their work to biblical (or other historical) characters to lend power and authority to their works. So Mathers simply followed suit in the long-standing tradition of believing that the Key was written by the biblical King Solomon.

Magic and sorcery were frequently part of King Solomon’s legends, especially in the ancient world. Owen Davies, a professor at the University of Hertfordshire and the author of numerous books on Witchcraft and magic, describes a book called the Testament of Solomon, which likely was an ancient world precursor to the Key of Solomon.5 Davies notes that the Testament of Solomon is reportedly a Greek manuscript that may have been written in either Babylonia or Egypt sometime during the first five centuries.

The Testament of Solomon describes how Solomon was aided by spiritual forces to build a temple when the angel Michael gave him a magical ring engraved with a seal that could stop demons from hampering his progress. The Testament goes on to say that Solomon, after losing favor with God for being drawn into worshipping several of the spiritual entities he controlled, wrote the work to serve both as a warning to others and as a guide.

The period from the late Medieval period through the Renaissance in Europe was a particularly fertile time for “high magic,” or “ceremonial magic,” which frequently relied upon the old grimoires, such as the Key. Though such practices were frowned upon by the church, the availability of paper, the invention of movable type, and an ever-growing literate population allowed for a greater dissemination of such magical works.

The magicians using the Key (or other such systems) typically used the grimoire’s pentacles to evoke the presence of spiritual forces. The magicians would then contain the spirits they evoked in magical designs and compel them to do their bidding.

Witches use magic less forcefully. Magic is meant to put you in touch with the flow of life. Therefore, during the next days of practice, you will not learn ways to compel anything at all. Instead, you will use the pentacles in ways that foster earthier, more harmonious, and spiritually collaborative magical relationships.

Craft historians suggest that Aleister Crowley may have played a role (either directly or indirectly) in the development of Wicca’s rituals. Crowley was a member at one time of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was led by Mathers. It is interesting to imagine that Crowley and others had any interest at all in simplifying the complexities of high magic and distilling some of their forms into the earthy Wiccan path, which tends to take its cues from the designs of nature more than from the designs inspired by so-called angelic entities (such as those found in the Key). Going from complex systems like the Key of Solomon (which we are about to explore) and Kabballah to Pagan forms that are so comparatively minimalistic in terms of symbolism must have felt like a relief to these stuffy old guys, a chance to loosen their ties a bit and take a breath of fresh air.

But why would a system of magic with apparent roots in Judaism and Christianity hold interest for Witches? We are, after all, on a Pagan path. The systems of magic represented by the Key are bound to be resonant for more than just the narrow audience of intended recipients. If we consider this for a moment, we can see that this holds true for sacred music, like Gregorian chants, chants or songs of indigenous peoples, and other mystical music. We could say the same for sacred spaces, like old forest groves, soaring cathedrals, and mist-shrouded stone circles. They hold symbolic, archetypal power or energy that seems universally relevant. That being said, once you see the seals of the Key, you’ll understand that these are not representative of anything either Christians or Jews would readily recognize as part of their religious practices.

Not only that, but we are working within the human world, and as marvelous as our tools are, we have only so many. Overlap (and the discovery of shocking interconnections) is inevitable. The Key of Solomon contains a magical set of symbols that have the same archetypal hold on the imagination as do the forest groves, sacred music, or stone circles. The symbols go beyond their immediate cultural trappings, and tap into something very magical and alive for us right now.

Key of Solomon
and Correspondences

As you may recall from your first year and a day of practice, Wiccan magic is synergistic. We change our consciousness and magic ensues. But aiding that change of consciousness are a variety of correspondences that help provide spiritual alignment for magical tasks. The correspondences themselves are meaningless without human engagement and activation. But let’s take a deeper look at Wicca’s magical roots and how Wicca adopted this interest in spiritual correspondences.

There is an important, pivotal magical maxim that Witches use that traces its roots to a mystical work (that scholars say appeared between the sixth and eighth centuries) called the Emerald Tablet of Hermes (or the Smaragdine Table). The history of the Emerald Tablet is rich with speculation, and scholars generally do not agree as to its origins. However, most seem to agree that The Book of the Secret of Creation is the earliest source document that contains information similar to the Tablet. The Tablet is thought to be an amalgam of Hellenistic thought and Egyptian mysteries that spread throughout the Hellenistic world and eventually became translated into Arabic, where we find our earliest textual source.

Renaissance alchemists, hermeticists, and philosophers used this body of writings as the basis of their practices, and they ascribed the work to Hermes Trismegistus, which was an amalgam of the gods Hermes and Thoth, both of whom are said to govern magical affairs.

In any event, the actual translation of the maxim that continues to exert its influence over magical practices is as follows: “That which is below corresponds to that which is above, and that which is above corresponds to that which is below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing.”

Witches today have truncated this maxim to say, “As above, so below.”

The original maxim cuts to the core of magical practice, laying bare the importance of the interconnectedness of all things and labeling the unifying energy of all things as “the One Thing.” It shows the connectedness of microcosm and macrocosm. Thus, the maxim expresses the central idea that experiences occurring on any dimension (whether on the spiritual, mental, or physical plane) will also be reflected on other levels.

Practice Days 11–12

Mix and Match Magic

Magical Purpose: Exploring and contemplating tables of correspondences.

Our practice on days 9–10 included learning about some of the history of our grimoires and the central maxim that guides magical practice, which can feel like a lot to take in. Today, review some of the classical correspondences from the ancient grimoires, as these will be important for our next several days of workings. While some of these were discussed in Wicca: A Year and a Day, it is important to reacquaint yourself with these tables, which will inform much of our practice through the end of this year and a day.

Important to this practice is understanding how to align the tables of planetary hours to the actual hours of your local day. You’ll see that the tables show twelve hours of “day” and twelve hours of “night.” This is a pretty basic system that you can adapt simply by applying the first hour and its planetary correspondence to your local sunrise. All other hours follow from there.

So, if in my hometown the sunrise is at 5:00 am on Sunday, then the first planetary hour between 5:00 and 6:00 am is aligned with the Sun. The second hour, between 6:01 and 7:00 am, aligns with Venus, and so on. Likewise, my “night” hours would start twelve hours following the official local sunrise. So that means on that same Sunday, my “night” table of correspondences starts at 5:00 pm. So between 5:00 and 6:00 pm, the planet that aligns with that first “night” hour is Jupiter. The second night hour corresponds to Mars, and so on.

Play with the tables of planetary hours by finding correspondences that match with your astrological sign, your favorite day of the week, favorite color, favorite time of the day, etc.

Also, take time to commit to memory information from the third table, which lists the correspondences between planets, numbers, colors, herbs, days of the week, astrological signs, and elements. Since the information in this table may be a bit much to commit to memory in one sitting, first try simply memorizing which planets align with the various numbers. Then at another time, try to memorize which planets correspond to the various colors, and so on. Breaking this memorization task up into several days may work best. But memorizing this information is a common task initiators will require of their initiates in the second year of study.

Contemplate the following questions:

• When you consider your life as a whole (including your work, hobbies, and other life patterns), what planetary/magical influences do you find are most heavily involved in your life?

• Using this same line of reasoning and pattern matching, which planetary influences seem to be least involved in your life?

Hour

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

2

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

3

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

4

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

5

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

6

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

7

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

8

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

9

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

10

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

11

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

12

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Planetary Hours of the Day

Hour

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

2

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

3

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

4

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

5

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

6

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

7

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

8

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

9

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

10

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

11

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

12

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Planetary Hours of the Night

Tables of Planetary Correspondences

I want to introduce a quick note about the tables of planetary correspondences and the origins of these correspondences. The origins of magical correspondences can vary from one Witchcraft tradition to another. That is because many of the correspondences you find in Witchcraft traditions originated in a wide variety of source grimoires, such as the Key of Solomon, the works of Agrippa, or even the workings of long-standing ceremonial traditions like Ordo Templi Orientis, etc. Following this, individual covens and individuals try out the “traditional” source information and apply practical experimentation. What works and what doesn’t in magic can vary from person to person, and whatever works is what gets passed down the lineage in a Book of Shadows.

The correspondences that I provide are culled from a variety of sources, including adaptations from my own Book of Shadows and other traditional sources, along with studies in astrology, pieces from “source” grimoires, and Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Of course, simply because something is “traditional” or “old” does not necessarily mean that it is inherently “right.” Some of the correspondences provided here may not ring true for you personally.

Again, my recommendation is to look at the correspondences I have provided and then adapt them as needed to suit your own magical sensibilities. Magic is, after all, about changing consciousness. That is, it is about changing your consciousness, not mine. If it makes sense to me, it might very well make sense to you too. But it might not. Magic is an art. It isn’t science, with exact formulas and equations that render perfect results. Remember, you are dealing with the subtle energies of the mind and spirit; you are working with the etheric forces of planets that change vibrationally all of the time (and unless you are an astrologer, you may not know how to anticipate these changes). Always bear in mind that you are looking to create change from within. So give yourself permission to play with these tables and determine what seems sensible and what does not.

Planet

Number

Color

Herbs (partial list)

Day of Week

Astrological Sign

Element

Sun

1

Yellow, gold

St. John’s wort, chamomile, cinnamon,

rosemary

Sunday

Leo

Fire

Moon

2

White, silver, pale blue, pale yellow

Star anise, ginger, orris root, jasmine

Monday

Cancer

Water

Mars

3

Red

Basil, cayenne, broom, chili, hyssop, pine

Tuesday

Aries

Fire

Mercury

4

Mixed colors, most commonly purple, orange, and gray

Bayberry,
cinquefoil,
lavender,
nightshade

Wednesday

Gemini, Virgo

Air

Jupiter

5

Blue, purple

Hyssop, mistletoe, oak, myrrh, thorn apple

Thursday

Sagittarius

Fire

Venus

6

Green, pink

Flowers, bergamot, catnip, boneset,
dittany of Crete

Friday

Taurus, Libra

Water

Saturn

7

Black, brown

Belladonna, hellbore, hemlock, monkshood

Saturday

Capricorn

Earth

Planetary Correspondences

Planet

Associated Energies

Governs

Sun

Masculine principle, leadership, success, achievement, men in general

Health, authority, rank, title, identity, forward progress

Moon

Feminine principle, receptivity, Mother, Maiden, Crone, women in general

Tides, phases, receptivity, feelings, desires, growth and fertility, psychic powers

Mars

Desire, force, power, work, construction (making, doing, building), competition, suddenness, death

Surgery, sorcery, compelling, forcing, separating, commanding, action, drive, intention, focus, accidents, animal powers (including familiars), inflammation, cuts, burns

Mercury

Reason, intellect, communication,
awareness, dexterity, words, perceptions

Magic, speaking, writing, communicating, flexibility, thinking, understanding, memory, spirits, channeling

Jupiter

Leisure, expansiveness, prosperity,
morality, philosophy

Growth, prosperity, gain, money, leisure activities, higher learning, luck, aspirations

Venus

Art, culture, aesthetics

Charm, magnetism, appeal, beauty, attractiveness, youth, music, dance, poetry, creativity, relationships

Saturn

Discipline, responsibility, karma

Reincarnation, stopping, halting, law, order, rules, sorrows, delays, death, wisdom, aging

Planets and Energies

Practice Days 13–14

Making Your Own
Tables of Correspondences

Magical Purpose: Understanding these planetary influences as they manifest in your life.

Make a table of correspondences that aligns with each of the key activities (or even key interests) of your life. Start by looking at the tables of correspondences in this book and see which activities among them are most influential in your life. For example, if you are a writer, like me, you might want to know more about when Mercury is influencing you each day, so you can harness those energies. Or if you teach children, maybe you want to pay attention to Saturn’s hours, because they can influence disciplined activity, like study and concentration. If you are an artist, maybe you want to follow closely the hours of Venus.

Look at the next few days on a calendar and list the hours that will align planetarily with your key activities or interests. Next, look at the ordinary daily schedule you follow (by routine or even by necessity) and determine if you are somehow aligning with those influential planetary hours, particularly as they align with your key life activities.

Keep in mind that today’s exercise is not meant to shock or shame you into somehow radically changing your life to fit the varying forces of planetary energies. That would result in a pretty hectic and chaotic life. The purpose of this activity is only to increase mindfulness, drawing your attention to why certain times of the day might flow more smoothly than others, particularly as they relate to your key interests and activities.

At the conclusion of this exercise, reflect on what you’ve discovered and contemplate the following:

• Are my life’s activities or interests in harmony with the actual planetary influences?

• Which areas of my life can I alter to synchronize them more with the planetary energies?

• If there are some time frames in my life that cannot change, what can I do to help align out-of-synch times/activities with the planetary energies to promote greater harmony? (Use the tables here as a guide.)

Practice Day 15

Full Moon Ceremony

Take time to determine the central theme of your full moon ceremony, and use the planetary tables to help you decide when you should begin the ritual. For example, if you are doing the ceremony in honor of building a relationship, you might want to align the hour of the ritual with the hour of Venus. If you are focusing on stopping a bad habit, you may wish to align your circle with the hour of Saturn, and so on.

While doing this may feel impractical at times, it is best to continue to press on and experiment with using the magical hours of the day as enhancements to your practice. Keep in mind that there are usually at least two hours within any given day that have the same planetary power. Also, there are many ways to approach the same task. For example, if you were looking to enhance a friendship, you could certainly do this in the hour of Venus. But using the Sun’s influences of happiness and optimism could also add a tone or layer to the outcome.

Look through the tables and consider your magical purposes with different planetary influences as guides.

3. Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 230.

4. Israel Regardie, The Tree of Life (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1972), p. 205.

5. Owen Davies, Grimoires: A History of Magic Books (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

[contents]

Second Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Dark Moon Magic
with the Key of Solomon

During this waning moon cycle, we shall continue our exploration of the Key of Solomon, initially using some of the pentacles of Saturn. Not all of the pentacles of the Key are suited for our second year’s magical explorations, so I have selected a handful of them for our spiritual practice. You can easily find copies of each of the pentacles for you to print from online sources. It would be best to double-check the source and compare it to the pentacle printed in this book, for accuracy.

Begin each practice by printing the pentacle on a piece of parchment that has never been used for any other purpose. Use the highest-quality print setting on your printer. If you have a color printer, you can save some time by printing the pentacles in color from your printer, but be sure the colors are clear and unambiguous and you are able to read the Hebrew letters and the pentacle’s markings clearly.

For colors such as yellow, blue, or green, try setting the printer so that you print out the darkest or most saturated version of each color. Alternatively, for lighter colors, you can print the pentacle in black and white, then using a quill pen and colored ink, color in the entire background area of the pentacle (within the boundary lines of the circle drawn around each pentacle). (Later in the year you will be learning how to make your own magical inks for this purpose, so don’t be worried if you don’t have a magical ink prepared at this point.) Remember, you are not practicing with the Key to evoke spiritual entities, but rather to use the inherent archetypal energy of each pentacle to give your spellwork a boost. So if you make errors or go outside the lines here or there, nothing terrible will happen to you.

Practice Days 16–17

Preparations for the
First Pentacle of Saturn

Magical Purpose: Expelling negative or unwanted spirits.

What you’ll need:

• A copy of the First Pentacle of Saturn. It looks like this:

First Pentacle of Saturn

• A white pillar candle

• Black ink (the kind you can store in an inkwell or other small container)

• A feather quill pen

You will also need the ingredients to make Saturn Incense, which include:

• ¼ cup powdered sandalwood

• 1 teaspoon dried Solomon’s seal

• ½ teaspoon poppy seed

• ¼ teaspoon dried elm

• 7 drops patchouli essential oil

• 7 drops musk essential oil

• Vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• Your circle-casting tools

Finally, you’ll need the following to make Saturn Oil:

• 7 drops patchouli essential oil

• 7 drops musk essential oil

• Vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• A one-ounce bottle with lid

I always like to know what I’m dealing with when I see writing in a language other than English. I’m sure many of you feel the same way. For that purpose, I am providing the following information about each of the pentacles:

• The writing within the square at the center of the pentacle includes the “four great names” of deity in the biblical pantheon: YHVH (which is Jehovah: Yod, He, Vau, He); ADNI (which is Adonai); IIAI (which is Yiai); and AHIH (which is Eheieh).

• In addition, along the circular border we find the versicle, “The Ethiopians shall kneel before Him; His enemies shall lick the dust.”

Have you ever felt like you had a few unwanted spirit guests in your home or in your life? People who practice Wicca and other magically empowering spiritual paths typically report that their homes are ghost-free. Ghosts just don’t seem to like to hang around Witches’ power vortexes. But if you do feel like you have unwanted visitors, there are important steps you can take. After completing the next day’s practices, you’ll likely sense a “cleaner” vibration in your dwelling or magical space. Even if you don’t have unwanted spirits hanging around, you should still complete the following activities as part of your training. This can help to keep unwanted spirits from joining you later on.

Cast a circle in the hour of Saturn (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Light the white pillar candle and place it nearby for light. Using the black ink and the feather quill, retrace the images of the First Pentacle of Saturn. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power.

Next, using a large bowl, mix together the herbs for Saturn Incense. Mix in the vegetable glycerin or the carrier oil. Add the essential oils. Mix everything until it is light and fluffy-looking. Once done, place the incense mixture in an airtight container.

Next, fill a one-ounce bottle with your carrier oil only halfway. Put in seven drops each of musk and patchouli essential oils. Add a few small crumbles of each of the dry herbs to the bottle, then seal it tight and shake it vigorously.

Close your circle and be sure to extinguish the white pillar candle. You’ll be using it again tomorrow night.

Practice Days 18–19

First Pentacle of Saturn
Candle Image Transfer

Magical Purpose: Making an altar candle for ritual purposes.

What you’ll need:

• The white pillar candle you used on practice days 16–17

• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

• Plain white printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Over the next couple of days, we’ll get the materials together to transfer the First Pentacle of Saturn to your pillar candle. In the good old days, if we were doing magic with the Key, we Witches would actually take the time to painstakingly inscribe our candle with the pentacle image. It would never really look clear or all that impressive, though. It left wax shavings all over the work surface. It was a mess, and, in my opinion, I’m glad those good old days are gone, especially when we have cleaner, more detailed ways of creating the same effect.

Today you will use a homemade image transfer process to get the exact image onto the candle you’re using in your magical work. To do this, you’ll need to first print (using the highest-quality print setting you have on your printer) the image of the pentacle onto the white tissue paper. Since you can’t feed tissue into your printer without damaging it, you’ll need to size down some of the tissue to the general size of your regular computer paper. Cut the tissue out and tape it to the regular computer paper at four corners.

Next, test the printing of the pentacle to make sure it is sized correctly for your pillar candle. If the pentacle is too big, you can resize it. Or consider getting a candle big enough to accommodate the pentacle image.

Once your image sizing is complete, feed the tissue (that is taped to computer paper) into your paper tray and print the image of the pentacle. Once you have the image printed on tissue, cut it out and trim the image so it is very close to the pentacle borders. Try not to leave a large paper margin around the image.

Take the trimmed pentacle and place it on the candle surface with the image facing out. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. (You might want to wear an oven mitt for this next part so you don’t burn your hand.) Be sure you are holding the wax paper tightly, so the image is pressed firmly between the wax paper and the candle surface.

Turn on a blow dryer to the hottest setting and allow it to blow on the wax paper. This process can take a few minutes. Once the wax paper looks shiny all across the pentacle image, you can turn off the blow dryer. Wait a minute for the wax to settle and harden. Then remove the wax paper. The tissue edges and the image should have “melted” into the candle surface.

Practice Days 20–21

Banishing Spirits with the Pentacle

Magical Purpose: A banishing ritual using your incense, oil, and candle.

What you’ll need:

• The pillar candle with the image transfer (from days 18–19)

• The First Pentacle of Saturn you used on days 16–17

• Saturn Incense and Oil

• Circle-casting tools

On the hour of Saturn, cast your magic circle. Place your altar pentacle (the five-pointed star, not the Pentacle of Saturn) at the center of your altar, and on it place the First Pentacle of Saturn. Use the middle finger of your right hand to trace the outer circle of the Saturn pentacle with Saturn Oil.

Consecrate the candle with your blessed water and salt by dabbing it around the sides. While doing so, say:

Thou art consecrated with the elements of water and earth.

Place the pillar candle atop the oil-smeared Saturn pentacle. Sprinkle a circle of (unlit) Saturn Incense around the base of the candle. Smear the perimeter of the Saturn pentacle image on the candle with Saturn Oil.

Then sprinkle Saturn Incense on your incense burner and cense the candle, blessing it with the elements of fire and air. While doing so, say:

Thou art consecrated with the elements of fire and of air.

Light the candle now and hold your hands around the flickering flame. (Be careful not to burn your hands or catch your sleeves in the flames!) Say:

I call upon the names of the Great Mother and the Horned One that thou cast out from my presence all harmful or negative spirits, energies, forms, and manifestations. I expel thee in the names of the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters, the Kings of the Elements, that thou leave for thy realms, never to return.

Take the pillar candle now to each of the four quarters, starting in the east and moving clockwise (south, west, north, and ending in the east again). Hold the candle up at each quarter of the circle and draw a banishing earth pentagram with the candle. When you finish at each quarter, say loudly:

Begone! Begone! To Bane, begone!

Back ye go from whence ye came.

Place the candle back on the pentacle. Sit nearby and gaze into the candle flame, imagining that your home has become clear, clean, and safe. Extinguish the candle and close the circle.

Practice Days 22–23

Sealing Your Home from Unwanted Spirits

Magical Purpose: A rite for keeping energies at bay.

What you’ll need:

• Saturn Incense and Oil

• The pillar candle with the image transfer of the First Pentacle of Saturn

• The pentacle seal you used in the previous ceremony

At an hour dedicated to Saturn, sprinkle Saturn Incense over hot coals in an incense burner you can carry around your dwelling. Start at the front door and carry the burning incense clockwise throughout the entire house, returning finally to the front door.

Set the incense down in a safe place and consecrate each door with Saturn Oil. Starting at the front door, move clockwise through the whole house, marking each door (as best you can) with Saturn’s magical letters:

Saturn’s Magical Letters

When you go back to the front door, use the oil to mark it with the sigil of Saturn (see illustration). The Saturn sigil comes from the Medieval period, when the use of planetary “signatures” (such as this seal) was a common practice to invoke the planetary influences.

The seal was made first by using the magic square of Saturn (which we will discuss later in the year). Spiritual names would be converted into numbers and the numbers would then be plotted out on the magic square, ultimately giving the sigil.

The illustration shows the magic square of Saturn as well as how the sigil was created. And by the way, just creating the magic square invokes the Saturn energies. So if you feel you need to get an extra charge to vanquish unsavory spiritual forces, you can always draw Saturn’s magic square and place it near you.

Saturn’s Magic Square and Sigil

The third in the sequence of illustrations is the final sigil that you will draw, using Saturn Oil, on each door of your house.

Next, light your white candle that has the image transfer on it. Starting at the front door, draw the sigil of Saturn in the air using the candle’s flame. Perform this same procedure at each door in your house, going clockwise and returning to the front door.

Finally, take the First Pentacle of Saturn that you copied and traced with oil, and affix it to the interior front door or just above it.

Safely store away the pillar candle with the First Pentacle of Saturn inscription, as you will use it in later workings during the year.

Practice Days 24–26

Third Pentacle of Saturn

Magical Purpose: Reducing the flow of unwanted karma.

What you’ll need:

• A good copy of the Third Pentacle of Saturn (see illustration).

Third Pentacle of Saturn

• Black ink and a quill pen

• Saturn Incense and Oil

• Circle-casting tools

• 8 small black votive candles

The Third Pentacle of Saturn has eight rays emanating from a central spot, which Mathers calls “the Mystic Wheel of Saturn.” At the end of the rays are the magical characters associated with the energies of Saturn. At the four cardinal points of the wheel, we see inscribed four angelic/spirit names: Omelil, Anachiel, Arauchiah, and Anazachia.

There are many approaches to reducing the number of destructive effects in your life. We will cover more of them in-depth over the course of the year; but suffice it to say, at least for now, that perhaps the effects of things as they are occurring in your life right now are what mystics call “karma flow.”

Karma is a Sanskrit word that means action. The word karma also means “deed” or “work.” Most magical practitioners understand karma to mean “cause and effect.” Whatever action you take, there is a response in the world. The concept has close ties with the magical axiom discussed earlier from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes: “That which is below corresponds to that which is above, and that which is above corresponds to that which is below.”

Karma flow is the release, or “ripening,” of a karmic effect in your life. The conditions were right to produce a response to an action. Mystical folk know that when you can’t trace the karma flow to a recognized action, it could well be that karma from another lifetime has ripened and has begun to flow.

The most effective way of dealing with an unpleasant karma flow in your life is to reduce your struggle against it. That being said, if you are being victimized or are struggling to save your life, you should take action toward whatever the moment requires. Who knows what you may have to do in your lifetime as your face each moment? Might you have to end a marriage? Save a child? Put an animal to sleep? Quit a job? Take a job? The magical stance, the position of power, is to remain flexible, neutral, and aware. You should be ready for whatever the moment requires of you without letting your inner discourse or commentary interfere with the necessary action.

The “struggle” (or perhaps it is clearer to call it “suffering”) you experience about whatever unwanted karma flow is occurring has more to do with your mental state, your emotional response to the karma flow. If you can meet the moment and respond to it, as needed, without engaging in mental/emotional warfare with others, yourself, or the world, then the karma will pass through quickly and cleanly. However, if you take action based on your inner commentary (including resentment, anger, frustration, fear, etc.), you can prolong or even disrupt the karma flow. This means that whatever you’ve disrupted may occur again at some other point.

The workings over the next several days are aimed at slowing the outpour of karma flow, rather than eliminating it. I will note here that it is possible to halt your karma flow, but it is not advisable. Allowing karma to flush through, like the flow of a clean, clear river, finishes the karma once and for all. It frees up your life for newer karma, perhaps positive karma of your making in this very moment.

You can perform the following activity for your own benefit or for the benefit of another. But if you intervene on behalf of someone else, be certain that he or she knows what you’re doing and has requested the magical work. Slowing karma flow may protract the flow over a longer period of time, but it can also provide some immediate relief.

On an hour of Saturn, cast your magic circle. Smear the surfaces of your eight black votives with Saturn Oil. Next, sprinkle Saturn Incense over hot coals and hold each votive over the smoke, allowing it to be blessed by the spiritual energies of the incense.

Third Pentacle of Saturn with Compass Directions

Looking at the illustration of the Third Pentacle of Saturn with compass directions, start with the magical character that corresponds to the eastern quarter of the Pentacle. Using your white-handled knife, inscribe that magical design into your first candle. Go to the east of the quarter and light the candle, setting it so that the magical character faces outward. Stand facing the east with hands in the Mother magical pass and say:

Eko, Eko, Omelil! (pronounced O-mel-lil)

Eko, Eko, Anachiel! (pronounced Ah-nah-key-el)

Eko, Eko, Arauchiah! (pronounced Ah-rah-oo-key-ah)

Eko, Eko, Anazachia! (pronounced Ah-nah-zah-key-ah)

I call upon thee to guard this circle.

Calm the clouds, soothe the seas,

Tame the earth’s trembling and foil fire’s fury.

Peaceful the path and diminish all darkness.

Repeat this now in the south. Using your white-handled knife, inscribe the magical character of Saturn that corresponds to south on the next black votive. Light it, face its design outward, and again say:

Eko, Eko, Omelil! Eko, Eko, Anachiel!

Eko, Eko, Arauchiah! Eko, Eko, Anazachia!

I call upon thee to guard this circle.

Calm the clouds, soothe the seas,

Tame the earth’s trembling and foil fire’s fury.

Peaceful the path and diminish all darkness.

Repeat this same procedure for the west and the north, inscribing each candle with its corresponding magical design and intoning the evocation as just described for east and south. (Intoning is when you sing in a fairly monotone, “chanting” sort of way.)

Once those are completed, do the same for the northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest, inscribing each candle with the corresponding magical design from the pentacle and placing it in the correct spot along the perimeter of your magic circle. Each time, intone the evocation as described earlier.

Once you have inscribed all eight candles and have placed them about the magic circle, take a seated position at the circle’s center (which is where your altar should be placed). Take your computer printout of the Third Pentacle of Saturn, place it upon your altar pentacle, and trace the designs using your black ink and quill. Once you are done, allow the ink to dry and then anoint the perimeter of the Saturn pentacle with Saturn Oil.

Hold your athame between both palms, just above the pentacle design, intoning:

O Ancient ones who live here,

Those of the ten thousand names,

Who live among rocks, trees, winds, and rivers;

I calm the gathering clouds in the ten directions;

I soothe the churning seas in the ten directions;

I tame the earth’s deep trembling in the ten directions;

I foil fire’s fury in the ten directions.

Imagine that you build up power in your hands as you chant and you focus that power down through the athame blade. Imagine that the center of the pentacle burns with a brilliant light as you touch it with the point of the blade. Visualize this for a few moments, then remove the blade from the pentacle design.

Close your circle, first extinguishing each of the black candles in reverse order: northwest, southwest, southeast, northeast, north, west, south, and finally east. If you have a fireplace, melt the black candles in its flames. Or if you want, you can melt the candles in a pot on your stove. That can work just as well, but be very careful and use low heat, as most votive candles are made of paraffin wax, which ignites easily. If you melt the candles in a pot on the stove, please supervise the activity from beginning to end and use low heat only. In addition, take any customary fire safety precautions that you can.

Pour the black melted wax into a hole in the soil and bury it.

Please note that the “ten directions” referred to in the chant are the four cardinal directions, the four cross directions, and above and below.

Practice Days 27–28

Easing Karma Flow Chants

Magical Purpose: Magical activity to ease karma flow.

There are many things we can do as magical practitioners to ease karma flow. One of the most effective positions we can take is to align ourselves with the flow of life, of nature itself. Instead of attempting to force the world to conform to our individual will, or resist some event that we find distasteful or frustrating, we should be flexible enough to widen our personal view and understand karma flow in a larger context.

All things in the world arise and come into being, moment by moment, all at the same time. The interconnectedness of things is vast and beyond our personal understanding. Why a certain energy has ripened and come to fruition is nothing we can control, really. There are many conditions that must align in order for karma flow to begin. We cannot escape cause and effect, no matter what. We can divert it (at least for a short while), but eventually the “river flow” of universal energy (of which we are made) will seek its rightful, impersonal path.

With this understanding, it becomes clear that struggling against the vast interconnectedness of the universal flow of energy not only can be exhausting, but can ultimately waste your time. A better and more effective use of your magical energies would be putting yourself in alignment with the universal flow. This position is magically recommended not only because once you are in alignment, you will struggle less against life (and thus you will become less anxious, sad, frustrated, disappointed, or angry), but also because you won’t impede anything, and whatever needs to pass through will finally be able to do so without interference. This is important because if you impede the flow of karma, you can cause it to repeat at some other time.

But what if there is abuse involved? What if there is bigotry? Being in the flow of life is not a call for you to roll over and do nothing at all. Being in direct contact with the moment compels you to be responsive to whatever is happening. So, for example, if there is abuse that comes my way or a bigoted comment is directed at me, staying in alignment with the immediate flow of the moment can allow me to respond to the facts at hand without reacting to them.

The difference between responding and reacting is subtle, but is important to understand. Reacting is a form of action that starts from an emotional basis. That emotional basis is rooted in a whole storyline (usually a painful one) that you develop across your lifetime. And reacting to the circumstances of life from the history of this storyline results in the blockage of karma flow. Reacting also usually takes you down a path that evokes (in you and others) an intensified sense of anger, frustration, sadness, and more.

Responding means taking only the action necessary or dictated by the circumstances, and nothing more. When something appears abusive, make sure you ask yourself three questions before responding:

• Do I have all of the information about how this circumstance arose?

• Does the person with whom I am engaging have all of the information?

• What is the most skillful response to this moment?

These three questions can help guide a wise response rather than an emotionally driven one. There is an element of intention involved in your decision to respond or react, and it is important for you to understand clearly whether you are acting from some personal, emotionally dictated intention or not. An easy way to know if you are reacting is to sense if your body is tensing, tightening, or flexing as you produce your response. Frequently, this muscle tension is a clue that you’re experiencing a difficult-to-process emotion, and it is far more instructive to experience a painful emotion sometimes than to act from it.

I find that when I am truly aligned with the moment and something painful comes my way (like abuse or bigotry), I simply respond by leaving the scene. Or sometimes, if it feels safe enough (or warranted by the moment), I use the situation to instruct, speaking from my own experience and truth. For example, I may simply express/reflect the experience I’m having by saying, “This feels abusive to me,” or “I feel pretty frustrated by what you’re saying (or doing).”

There is no need for any of us to hold ourselves in the flames of abuse of any form, but it would only impede the karma flow if I were to engage with the abuse by reacting from my long-ingrained emotional habits and behaviors. And who really knows how you may need to respond in the varied circumstances of your life? It is a moment-by-moment decision that requires you to be fluid, flexible, and alert.

This practice of allowing the flow of karma to pass through your life has additional benefits. Once you are fully engaged in the uninterrupted flow of nature’s power, you begin to strengthen your own personal energy stores for later use.

The following is a “sung” form of meditation. Don’t worry, I’m not asking that you perform for everyone. Instead, you will chant (in a monotone) the following incantations each morning as you awaken and before you go to bed. What seems to work best is about ten minutes of chanting this incantation at each sitting.

Although I’m presenting this meditation during this discussion of karma flow, I recommend that you use the following two incantations on a regular, general basis to maintain your alignment and to remind you of your place in the vast, impersonal universe.

Knowing this, remembering this, can be helpful in so many ways. When chanting these two karma-releasing incantations, it will feel like a soothing balm is being poured over your life. And ultimately, this magical activity may influence new decisions or directions in your life, as long as you continually align, following the flow of universal energy.

Morning Chant

Vast is the tide of stars and seasons,

Formless the field of benefaction;

Cause; no cause,

Effect; no effect,

Flowing, arising, clean and clear.

Evening Chant

Being one with the Great Mother Goddess,

Being one with the Great Horned God,

Being one with all the Gods and Goddesses

In the east, south, west, and north,

Being one with the Mighty Ones,

The Kings of the Elements,

Being one with all the formless forms

Throughout space and time.

I am the universe and the universe is me.

I am the universe and the universe is me.

[contents]

Third Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

Two-Day Moon-Wise
Retreat Schedule

Remember that during this lunation you can elect to go on a two-day retreat. I have placed the schedule for you to follow each day in appendix D at the end of this book. There is also an explanation of each part of the schedule and what I recommend you do with each hour of the retreat days. You should have already chosen a day or days for this retreat, but if you haven’t yet, schedule it now if you’re able to. Then, on the days of your retreat, follow the retreat schedule while also following the regular flow of this book. Although I am recommending that you begin the retreat schedule on day 1 of this lunation, your retreat does not have to take place on day 1.

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

From this point forward, at the beginning of each waxing moon lunation, your goal is to observe silence for as much of the day as possible. As mentioned earlier, silence helps to develop a regular practice aimed at storing and maintaining the magical energy you’ve been building over the past weeks. It can be easy to “leak” power. Going through the usual paces of your day without maintaining moment-by-moment awareness dulls the sixth sense, the psychic faculty that you use to direct power and create purposeful change in your life. One of the easiest ways to engage in habitual behavior that whittles away at stored magical power is by engaging in idle chatter.

For the day, speak only when it is necessary and choose your words wisely. Otherwise, focus your awareness on building energy, which you may begin to feel either in the chakra near your navel or at the level of your heart. Some people feel a pressure-building sensation. It is never expressed as an uncomfortable feeling, but rather, those who observe regular silence report a sensation not unlike water building up behind a dam.

Second Cardinal Axiom

Direction:

South

Power:

Willing and surrendering

Season:

Summer

Festival:

Summer Solstice

Theme:

Surrender as the ultimate form of willing

Dates:

Around June 19–22

Axiom:

A practitioner of the Old Ways understands the courses of rivers and the turning of the seasons, and does not seek to alter them.

Second Cardinal Axiom

The traditional power aligned with the south is “the power to will.” But when we think of willing, we think of causing change based on our personal wishes and desires. But when we unpack the concepts of “willing” and “desire,” we can see these as mindsets, actions, or positions that may not necessarily harmonize us with the whole of nature. Yet our path of Wicca is one that intends to align us with the flow of nature, which is the moment-by-moment manifestation of our Goddess and God.

When you take time to ponder the activity of willing based on personal desire, you can readily notice that an emphasis on activity based on the personal will can result in separating you from the interconnectedness of life, of nature. Desires are based on habitual craving for specific (usually pleasurable) outcomes. When you exert pressure on the world (either physically or spiritually) for there to be a specific outcome that is aligned with your personal goal or desire, there are unintended effects. Insisting on a specific outcome is a process of interfering with nature’s grand design, and the pressure you exert fractures nature’s inherent harmony. If you think about the idea of a single human being focusing entirely on a specific outcome, and then contrast this to the world of nature, the discrepancy becomes clear. In the course of a full day, almost everything passes by in the natural world with no assistance from anyone. It happens of its own accord, based on many factors, including the interconnectedness of things and the universal arising of karmic factors and activity all at once. We are talking about a system that is much bigger than you or me. Yet at the same time, what is arising in that moment is, in fact, you and me.

Imagine that you were at home today, doing nothing at all. Would the world continue to turn? Would life play itself out just as it would? Of course. Yet we frequently go to great efforts to affect life in some particular way that focuses on personal design and specific outcomes rather than alignment with the natural design and the grand whole.

Meanwhile, the earth orbits around the sun. Day and night pass. Seasons come and go. Flowers bloom and wither. The creatures that inhabit the planet come into life and then they die. And very little of this world is under our direct personal control. To entrench yourself in a life directed solely by personal design exposes a worldview in which people and nature’s bounty are things that you should somehow attempt to “own” or “control.” Doing this has an effect on the already interconnected flow of life. Starting down the path of willing based solely on personal design places an energetic wedge between you and the Gods.

When you dam up a stream, erect walls to control a bit of the water, the stream becomes stagnant and sick. Trash and bacteria can build up and can get caught in your dams of personal design. But if you just open the dam and allow fresh water to continually run through, things won’t build up. When trash (or unpleasant or difficult experiences) passes into your life, it has greater opportunity to move through much more quickly if you allow the clean rushing of water, the ongoing flow of life.

In the grand scheme of things, in the face of nature’s ancient, sacred rhythms, if you are clear-eyed enough, you can see that it would be foolish to believe that you had any hope of exercising control over the way everything is going to turn out, or even a fragment of it. Once in a conversation about this subject with Wiccan author Barbara Ardinger, she commented to me, “I’m not in charge of the meteors from outer space.” And yet, as Witches there is a mythology we have come to believe, a lopsided view of magic that systematically reinforces a belief in that kind of control.

Let’s take a look at this from another angle. The purpose of willing is essentially to obtain something you desire. What happens once you get what you want? There’s usually another desire lined up right behind the first. In fact, it is part of the human condition that we all experience a never-ending conga line of wishes and wants.

There’s nothing wrong with being human, and there’s nothing wrong with your desires. Where things go wrong is when you choose to live in a way that results in being pulled around by the dictates of your desires. What happens when you do not obtain your wish? Typically we experience deep distress. It is common for those on the magical path to believe that they are somehow a “Witchcraft failure” because they could not manifest their personal desires through magic. That’s when I hear from practitioners who feel disillusioned and let down by magic and by the Craft itself.

The problem here isn’t the magic. The problem with approaching magic from the unipole of willing while simultaneously denying the power of surrendering is that the universe cannot “deliver” under such personally dictated circumstances. The universal powers, the powers of the God and the Goddess that govern magic, birth, death, the formation of clouds and rain, the circling of planets, and the birth of solar systems, cannot be wrangled into delivering the goods to our personal, individual vision. There are too many variables and contexts larger than ourselves operating all at the same time.

At first glance, the term surrender does not seem like much of a power at all. But surrendering, magically, means releasing a strangulating hold on personal influence. It means that after you have taken the actions you can toward some purpose, you release a hold on intent. Surrender is about honoring the sacred rhythms of nature and allowing things to be as they are, because we know that the universe, deity, has its own course.

This power, like willing, can have its own difficulties if relied upon to address all of life’s circumstances. For example, if there is a fire raging, you cannot simply allow it “to be,” even if fire is a natural expression of energy. Nor is it appropriate to allow things “to be” in the face of abuse or destruction. Non-action in the face of such circumstances is not powerful and, from the examples given, is clearly dangerous.

So how do you reconcile the two poles of willing (your individual agency) and surrendering to the vastness of it all? Simply put, it’s about alignment. The most empowering stance you can take as a Witch is to meet the requirements of the moment and put yourself into the vast flow of universal power, rather than set yourself aside from it. Acting out of self-serving intention, or completely refraining from action, are both ways that lead us away from the inherent power of deity running through all.

Over the next days, we will practice aligning ourselves in this natural, empowering way, which is the balance point between willing and surrendering.

Practice Days 2–4

Willing and Surrendering Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Making magical incense and oil that facilitates alignment.

Willing/Surrendering Incense

What you’ll need:

• ¼ cup powdered pine bark

• 1 teaspoon cypress bark, either powdered or chips

• 2 teaspoons mastic gum

• 2 teaspoons dried juniper

• 10 drops dragon’s blood reed essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the essential oil to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scent from the essential oil and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Willing/Surrendering Oil

What you’ll need:

• 2 drops cinnamon essential oil

• 2 drops clove essential oil

• 2 drops pine essential oil

• Pinch of dried basil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.

Practice Days 5–7

Creating Your Own Blend

If you are interested in creating your own magical blend, here is a list of herbs and essential oils that can help balance the forces of willing and surrendering:

Basil

Black pepper

Cedar wood

Cinnamon

Clove

Coriander

Cypress

Geranium

Ginger

Grapefruit

Juniper

Lemongrass

Mandarin

Neroli

Peppermint

Pine

Rosemary

Sandalwood

Spearmint

Vetiver

Ylang-ylang

Go to a health food store to smell the various essences and herbs. Find ones from this master list that are most evocative of fire to you. Always be sensible. Make sure you test any essential oils on your skin before you slather yourself with something to which you are allergic.

As far as creating a ratio of essential oils to base or carrier oils, I recommend that you use this time to play and experiment. Again, this is not science. But you can make this work a “magical laboratory,” where you try out different ideas.

If you’re just not sure whether you’re doing it right, you can always follow this simple guide each time you are encouraged to create your own blend. However, as a note, it is important to approach magic as an art that requires interpretation, reflection, and personal taste.

In tribal cultures where magical practitioners (shamans) still exist, there are rarely spell books or specifically predetermined formulae one must follow in order to accomplish a magical or spiritual aim. Rather, shamans (tribal “Witches”) invoke the Gods through ecstatic states and envision a personal blueprint for their magic. Try, just like shamans, to flexibly and intuitively approach the magical work of creating your own blend with few absolutes in mind. Follow your instincts, your magical impulses, and your working will be strong.

Magical Oils

• Fill a 1-ounce bottle halfway with a carrier oil (such as vegetable glycerin or grape seed oil).

• Add 5–7 drops of the essential oils you choose.

• Add a pinch of one of the dried herbs that you think can add a little scent or energetic kick to the mix.

• Shake the bottle vigorously and use the oil for your workings.

Magical Incenses

• Start with ¼ cup of a wood base ingredient (usually about enough to fill your palm). Many (if not most) incense recipes start with dried, powdered sandalwood, for example. Sandalwood can be a neutral (or “carrier”) base, because it can easily absorb and assume the essential oils and energies that you add to it.

• To the sandalwood, you might add a small amount of another dried herb from the list of ingredients and stir those together.

• To this, add at least 7–10 drops of essential oils. I recommend that you use the same essential oils you chose for your magical
oil recipe.

• To this, slowly add a small quantity of vegetable glycerin, and stir the ingredients together. Keep adding glycerin until the mixture takes on a fluffy consistency.

• Allow this to dry (or “cure”), giving the essential oils and herbs time to mix and mingle their scents. I suggest at least 12–24 hours of drying time.

Practice Days 8–9

The List

Magical Purpose: Considering the total effects of your actions.

What you’ll need:

• Willing/Surrendering Incense and Oil (or your own magical blends)

• Your athame

• A blank piece of paper

• A pen

• Your circle-casting tools

The following exercise is meant to promote awareness of your personal wants and wishes, as well as their effects. It is a powerful exercise that can help change consciousness and bring you into the balance point of alignment.

To begin, light a coal in your incense burner, and on it sprinkle some of the Willing/Surrendering Incense (or your own blend). Allow it to burn, filling the sacred space you are in with its energy. Take the burner to the east of the space you occupy and begin walking clockwise around the perimeter of the room. Trace a simple circle, making sure that you accommodate the area where you will be sitting to do the exercise.

Anoint yourself with the Willing/Surrendering Oil (or again, anoint with your own blend) just below the navel, drawing there a fire-invoking pentagram.

Turn to face the south, and using your athame, draw before you a fire-invoking pentagram.

Next, take a piece of blank paper and draw two lines lengthwise down the page so that you have three empty columns. In the far-left column, make a list of things that you desire. They could be anything, but take your time and be honest with yourself.

In the middle column, list the outcome of obtaining each of these desires. How will you feel? What will you accomplish? Finally, in the last column, list ways that obtaining your goal might harm others. This list is not meant to be self-shaming, but rather informative. In our shared human existence of cause and effect, every action you take (no matter how well intentioned it may be) yields both beneficial and harmful effects. Consider the list carefully before you finish the practice.

When you are finished, face the south and, with your athame, draw a fire-banishing pentagram. Using the Willing/Surrendering Oil, draw a fire-banishing pentagram just below your navel.

Practice Days 10–11

Willing and Surrendering Explorations

What you’ll need:

• Willing/Surrendering Incense and Oil

• Your athame

• Paper

• Pen

• Circle-casting tools

Light the Willing/Surrendering Incense and allow its smoke to fill your magical working space. Anoint your solar plexus chakra, near your navel, with Willing/Surrendering Oil, drawing a fire-invoking pentagram with the oil. Stand facing the south, and draw a fire-invoking pentagram with your athame.

Set your athame aside, and on a blank piece of paper, write down your top ten wishes and desires. Set the page in front of you and assume a seated meditation position. For the next ten to fifteen minutes, count your exhalations only (as described in the first lunation). After you have sat in focused awareness, while facing the page of your written desires, take out the pen and circle the desires on the page that are required by the moment right now to make it more complete than it already is. Is it possible that the moment you are in right now is whole and complete without need of anything more?

Now answer the following questions:

• What am I trying to achieve with each of these desires and wishes?

• How will the core of existence (meaning my objective reality) improve if I achieve these wishes?

• Am I willing to put my body in motion right now, and keep going until the wish is obtained?

• How might focusing on willing these wishes into my life create limitations in other ways?

• What would the world be like if everyone focused exclusively on willing their desires into their lives?

The answers may surprise you. Once you achieve an aim, does this permanently satisfy you? You might experience some short-term gratification, but gradually, over time, dissatisfaction creeps back in, and the endless list of wants and wishes continues.

When you are done with this exercise, burn the paper in the smoke of the Willing/Surrendering Incense.

Practice Days 12–13

Jupiter Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Making incense and oil that promote the energies of Jupiter.

Jupiter Incense

What you’ll need:

• ¼ cup powdered oak (or substitute powdered sandalwood)

• 1 teaspoon myrrh, either powdered or in tears

• 1 teaspoon dried cinquefoil

• 1 teaspoon dried white sage

• 5 drops myrrh essential oil

• 5 drops sage essential oil (Be sure that you are not allergic to this essential oil. If you are, omit this ingredient.)

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• A clean, dry container with a tight-fitting lid

Mix the dry ingredients and then gradually add the glycerin and the drops of essential oil. Mix until light and fluffy, ensuring that the glycerin is well mixed into the dry ingredients. Store in a clean, dry container with a tight-fitting lid.

Jupiter Oil

What you’ll need:

• 5 drops white sage essential oil

• 5 drops myrrh essential oil

• 3 drops sandalwood essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• A clean glass container with a tight-fitting lid

• 1 drop blue food coloring (optional)

Mix the essential oils into the glycerin or carrier oil. Add blue food coloring if you’d like. Store the oil in a clean glass container with a tight-fitting lid.

Practice Days 14–15

Full Moon Ceremony

Be sure to include one of your magical workings during the full moon circle. For example, you might use the circle to prepare your Jupiter Incense and Oil (in case you missed the last lesson, or any other day you may have missed in the training schedule). Or you could get a jump on things and prepare some of your magical inks (as described in days 16–19 in the next section).

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Third Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Practice Days 16–19

Making Magical Inks

Magical Purpose: Making inks for use with the Key of Solomon.

We will be continuing with the Key of Solomon in earnest, and at this point we will use magical inks. You can certainly purchase magical inks in a variety of colors, but you will find that the magical work you do is much more layered, intimate, and potent when you hand-make many of the components of the spells you create.

Blue Ink

What you’ll need:

• 4 tablespoons liquid bluing

• 2 tablespoons denatured alcohol

• 3 drops iodine

• Corn syrup (as needed for thickening)

• Pinch of salt

• A small bottle/jar with a tight-fitting lid (empty baby food jars, cleaned and delabeled, can serve nicely)

Pour the liquid bluing into a jar or small bottle that you can seal with a lid. Mix in the denatured alcohol and iodine. Add just a bit of corn syrup until you get a thicker consistency. Test the ink periodically, using your quill pen, to see if the consistency is right for you. Close the lid and shake the bottle to mix the ingredients well. Add a pinch of salt to help preserve the ink. Close the lid and shake it until well mixed. Because this ink has corn syrup in it, know that it may attract insects. So keep the lid tightly affixed, and you might also want to keep it in the refrigerator until you use it.

Black Ink

What you’ll need:

• 1 small bottle of lamp black

• Gum arabic

• Ceramic mortar and pestle

• Glass bowl

• Blender/food processor

• Hand mixer

• Distilled water (for thinning)

• A few drops of iodine

• A few drops of patchouli essential oil
(optional)

• A small bottle/jar with a tight-fitting lid (empty baby food jars, cleaned and delabeled, can serve nicely)

Mix equal parts lamp black and gum arabic together with a ceramic mortar and pestle in a glass bowl. A larger one that has smooth sides is preferred. As you add the ingredients, expect that the lamp black and gum arabic may not want to combine right away, and it may take up to an hour to combine them. Keep adding lamp black little by little until you have what looks like a paste that resembles tar. Once the paste is smooth, put it in a blender or food processor. Turn it on and add distilled water, just a little bit at a time, until the mixture has an ink consistency. It is best to keep the consistency thicker rather than too thin.

A Word to the Wise: Make sure you thoroughly clean your blender/food processor after mixing the lamp black and gum arabic, or perhaps designate a separate smaller food processor for projects like this. Lamp black can be hazardous to your health if ingested. Consider also mixing this next stage of the ink in a glass bowl with a traditional hand blender. But again, make sure that you really clean the bowl and the mixer blades after you use them, particularly if you plan to use the hand mixer and bowl for food preparation later.

Experiment with the ink, using your quill pen to dab it and write something partway through the blending process. If the ink still seems too thick for your writing preference, turn on the blender and add more distilled water until it is the consistency you prefer. Add a few drops of iodine to the mixture to help preserve it. For added strength, put in a few drops of patchouli essential oil. Bottle the ink once you’re done.

Red Ink

What you’ll need:

• 1 part powdered dragon’s blood resin

• 1 part logwood, powdered or chips (or powdered beet juice)

• 15 parts isopropyl rubbing alcohol

• 1 part gum arabic, ground

• A strainer (such as doubled-up cheesecloth
or a coffee filter)

• A few drops cinnamon or myrrh essential oil (optional)

• Small bottle/jar with tight fitting lid (empty baby food jars, cleaned and de-labeled, can serve nicely)

The procedure is simple. Mix the dragon’s blood resin and logwood with the gum arabic. Add the alcohol just a little bit at a time, until all the powder is dissolved completely. This might take some time, so keep track of the process. Once the resins are dissolved, filter the liquid through the strainer. For extra zing, add a few drops of cinnamon or myrrh essential oil (or both) to the liquid and shake to mix thoroughly. Bottle this right away in a jar with a tight lid.

Green Ink

What you’ll need:

• Large bunches of fresh green leaves (your choice, but herbs add elemental/essential power)

• A small saucepan

• Water

• A bowl

• A strainer (such as doubled-up cheesecloth
or a coffee filter)

• Pinch of salt

• 1 teaspoon white vinegar

• Corn syrup (as needed for thickening)

• A small bottle/jar with a tight-fitting lid (empty baby food jars, cleaned and delabeled, can serve nicely)

• Cucumber essential oil (optional)

Choose fresh green leaves that have intense, jewel-like colors. You can use herbs for this, but remember that your herbal mixture may have a specific scent, which may be counterproductive to certain magical workings, depending on their aims. But really, you can choose any fresh green-leafed plant from the garden that calls to you. Avoid using baleful or poisonous herbs such as hemlock, henbane, etc.

Finely chop the leaves and place them in a small saucepan. Use a lot of leaves to really fill the pan, at least halfway. Tamp the leaves down and then fill the saucepan with just enough water to cover the plants. Bring the mixture to a boil on the stovetop, then reduce the heat and let simmer for fifteen minutes.

Strain out the leaves with doubled-up cheesecloth or a coffee filter, allowing the colored ink to flow into a bowl. Add the salt and white vinegar to the ink to help preserve color and reduce molding. You can add some corn syrup to this later if you feel the ink is too watery. For extra power, add a few drops of cucumber essential oil to the mixture. Pour the ink into a glass jar and secure the lid.

If you add corn syrup, know that it may attract insects. So keep the lid tightly affixed, and you might also want to keep it in the refrigerator until you use it.

Yellow Ink

What you’ll need:

• 1 part dried, powdered turmeric

• 1 part isopropyl alcohol, at least 90%
(for thinning)

• 2 small bottles/jars with tight-fitting lids (empty baby food jars, cleaned and delabeled, can serve nicely)

• A marble (for mixing)

• A strainer (such as doubled-up cheesecloth
or a coffee filter)

• Corn syrup (as needed for thickening)

• A few drops lemongrass essential oil (optional)

Turmeric can have a distinct and pungent scent, so you might try to find some that has been sitting around for a while. Mix the turmeric with the alcohol in a small jar. Put the marble in the bottle, then close the lid and shake until thoroughly mixed. Allow the mixture to rest undisturbed for a couple hours. To get all the lumps out, pour the mixture through the strainer, allowing the ink to strain through to a second jar.

Add corn syrup little by little to this mixture if the ink seems too watery. To this, you may optionally add several drops of lemongrass essential oil. Because this ink has corn syrup in it, know that it may attract insects. So keep the lid tightly affixed, and you might also want to keep it in the refrigerator until you use it.

Purple Ink

What you’ll need:

• Mesh strainer

• A bowl

• 1 cup blackberries (or the freshest undiluted blackberry juice you can find)

• A pestle or a broad metal serving spoon

• ½ teaspoon white vinegar

• ½ teaspoon salt

• Water (for thinning)

• A small bottle/jar with a tight-fitting lid (empty baby food jars, cleaned and delabeled, can serve nicely)

Hold a strainer over the bowl and mash all of the berries using a pestle or a broad metal serving spoon. Allow the juice to drip into the bowl below. Continue mashing until only pulp is left in the strainer. Add the vinegar and salt to the berry juice. If the juice mixture is not thin enough for using as ink, add a tiny bit of water. Bottle this and store safely away in the fridge, as this ink may attract insects.

Practice Days 20–21

Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter

Magical Purpose: Learning about and charging with power a pentacle of protection.

What you’ll need:

• A printed copy of the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter (see illustration). It would be convenient to print this pentacle from your color printer (if you own one) in blue ink. If not, you will have a chance to retrace the image with your own blue ink.

Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter

• 4 blue votive candles or tealights

• Jupiter Incense and Oil

• Blue ink (you have either already made this or purchased it)

• A feather quill pen

• Your circle-casting tools

Information about the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter:

• The four names on each arm of the central cross are Seraph, Kerub, Ariel, and Tharsis, who are rulers of the four elements (at least as described in Mathers’s Key of Solomon).

• In addition, along the border we find this phrase: “They pierced my hands and my feet, I may tell all my bones.”

Continuing with the theme of karma and protection from the sometimes harmful effects of ripening conditions, you will work with the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter, which can keep you from harmful circumstances and situations. Of course, the magic of this pentacle is not a talismanic shield against all danger. It is one piece of a entire plan that requires your active participation.

Magic can help to produce and fortify particular patterns of energy. If you align yourself with those energy patterns, you can experience the benefits of the magic. But magic can only be helpful if you take actions that are in alignment with the pattern. Therefore, if you are seeking to avoid harm, you would be wise to take an active role in positioning yourself away from potentially harmful situations and people, as reasonably as is possible.

For this working, start by finding the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter online and printing it out in blue ink (if that is available for you). Before you print it out, be sure to match the pentacle you find online with the one printed in this book.

Magical Letters of Jupiter

Cast a circle in the hour of Jupiter (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Light the four blue candles and place them at the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. Light the Jupiter Incense and re-trace the circle with its burning smoke. Anoint yourself just above the genital area with Jupiter Oil, tracing (as best you can) the magical letters of Jupiter:

Using the blue ink and the feather quill, retrace the images of the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power and your intention to avert harm.

Close your circle and be sure to extinguish the blue votive candles.

Practice Days 22–23

Jupiter Pentacle Candle Image Transfer

What you’ll need:

• 1 blue pillar candle

• White tissue paper (the kind for wrapping gifts)

• Regular printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in the kitchen)

Over the next couple of days, get the materials together to transfer the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter to a blue pillar candle.

There is always a magical or spiritual purpose for each activity you will try along this journey. The magical purpose of inscribing (or transferring images to) candles is simple. In earth-based spiritual practices, the basis of magical work is always about three key components: energy, alignment, and working within the maxim of “as above, so below.” In the case of candle magic, we are working with all three components by energizing your intention with the element of fire; aligning color, form, and image (the candle and the pentacle itself); and working to produce a magical result in your life (manifestation of any kind represents the “so below” part of the magical maxim), starting with a spiritual working (the “as above” part of the maxim). That’s why you will commonly find basic magical candle work, such as today’s working, across Wiccan practices and traditions.

As was discussed on days 18–19 of the last lunation, here are the basic steps to transfer the image:

• Print the image of the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter onto the white tissue paper using the highest-quality print setting you have on your printer.

• Remember to first attach the tissue paper to regular computer paper so it doesn’t shred and ruin your printer.

• Make sure the printed pentacle is sized correctly for your pillar candle. If it is too big or too small, you can resize it, or find a different-sized candle.

• Trim the tissue paper image so that it is very close to the pentacle borders.

• Place the trimmed pentacle (image facing out, away from the wax) on the candle surface. Wrap tightly with wax paper.

• Use the blow dryer on the hottest setting, blowing hot air onto the wax paper for several minutes until the wax paper looks shiny across the pentacle image.

• Wait a minute for the wax to settle and harden, then remove the wax paper.

Practice Days 24–25

The Spell of the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter

Magical Purpose: A spell to create a field of goodness.

What you’ll need:

• Small piece of paper

• Blue pillar candle with the image transfer

• The Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter you retraced
on days 20–21

• Jupiter Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

• Hand-copied magical letters of Jupiter (as found in days 20–21 of this lunation)

On the hour of Jupiter, cast your magic circle. Copy the magical letters of Jupiter onto a small piece of paper and set this aside. Place your altar pentacle (the five-pointed star, not the Pentacle of Jupiter) at the center of your altar, and place the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter atop. Use the middle finger of your right hand to trace the outer circle of the Jupiter pentacle with Jupiter Oil.

Consecrate the candle with your blessed water and salt by dabbing it around the sides. While doing so, say:

I consecrate thee with the elements of water and earth.

Place the pillar candle atop the oil-smeared Jupiter pentacle. Sprinkle a circle of (unlit) Jupiter Incense around the base of the candle. Smear the perimeter of the Jupiter pentacle image that is on the blue candle using Jupiter Oil.

In your thurible (or any fireproof dish), burn the paper containing the magical letters of Jupiter. Mix the ashes with a small quantity of the Jupiter Oil. Set this aside for a moment.

Sprinkle Jupiter Incense on your incense burner and cense the candle, blessing it with the elements of fire and air. While doing so, say:

I consecrate thee with the elements of fire and air.

Light the candle now and hold your hands around the flickering flame. Be careful not to burn your hands or catch your sleeves in the flames! Say:

I consecrate thee in the names of the Great Mother and the Horned One.

Hold your arms in the Mother magical pass and say:

Cast round me a ring of protection, a guardian and rampart that shall preserve me from harm that may come.

Dissolve and decay, O you of darkness.

Anoint yourself with Jupiter Oil mixed with the ashes of the burned magical letters of Jupiter. Dab a bit at the root chakra (between the anus and genitals). Then say:

Dissolve and decay, O you who seekest harm.

Dab yourself with the Jupiter Oil/ash mixture at the solar plexus chakra. Say:

Dissolve and decay, O you who hides in shadow.

Dab yourself with the Jupiter Oil/ash mixture at the heart chakra. Say:

Dissolve and decay, O you of wicked intent.

Dab yourself with the Jupiter Oil/ash mixture at the third-eye chakra, between your brows.

Take the pillar candle now to each of the four quarters, starting in the east and moving clockwise (south, west, north, and ending in the east again). Hold the candle up at each quarter of the circle, and draw a banishing earth pentagram with the candle.

Place the candle back on the pentacle. Sit nearby and gaze into the candle flame, imagining that you are protected by a formless field of goodness.

Extinguish the candle and close the circle.

Practice Days 26–28

Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter and Action

Magical Purpose: Bringing focused attention to action.

It has become a cliché in New Age circles (and even among the general public) to say that “things happen for a reason.” And, in fact, if you live your life searching for reasons that connect events, that may be an unwise use of your life energies. The search is much less important than actually living your life.

Actively taking part in your life is what leads you to empowerment. Other paths (including those that endorse spending time searching for meaning) may seem tempting and intriguing, but ultimately they do not lead to an empowered, satisfying existence. At the end of your life, when you look back on the experience, it seems unlikely that you might muse, “If only I could have understood more.” More than likely, if you haven’t been an active participant in your life, you may look back musing, “If only I had taken more chances or seized the moment.”

Witches, as they mature, realize that it matters little if occurrences have special meanings attached to them. What is most important is how you meet each moment as it arises. Are you prepared to act in whatever way is necessary? Or are you going to act in ways that further entrench habit patterns that ultimately inhibit your alignment and create fodder for harmful circumstances to arise at a later time?

For the next days, try the following exercises in only three domains of your life: listening, eating, and working. The purpose is to clear your daily actions of harmful activity that has its origins in habit thoughts which feed our resistance to facing the requisites of each moment. Thus, these exercises are meant to activate the power of the Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter.

To begin, make sure you have the blessed Sixth Pentacle of Jupiter with you as you go about your day. During the first hour of Jupiter each day, take out the pentacle and trace the outer circle of it with your right index finger three times, going clockwise around its perimeter. While you do so, say:

Dissolve and decay, O you of darkness;

Dissolve and decay, O you who seekest harm;

Dissolve and decay, O you who hides in shadow;

Dissolve and decay, O you of wicked intent.

Once you have done this, engage in one of the following whole-body activities. Try to do all three exercises daily.

• Whole-body listening: listening to another person using the whole body as an instrument. Notice the difference in the speaker as you give them full-body awareness.

• Whole-body eating: approaching meals with complete awareness and attention. Notice how your eating habits change when you focus your attention on where the food is in your mouth, how it tastes, and where it is as it passes down the esophagus moment by moment.

• Whole-body work: Approach your work each day with full-body awareness of each task and the components of the tasks. Where are your hands, feet, stomach, torso, neck, and head as you do each task? Maintain full attention to each component of your work until the task has been completed. Notice how your perception of time lessens as your attention soaks into each passing moment.

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Fourth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–16

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

Observe silence for as much of the day as possible. Speak only when necessary, and choose your words wisely. As the day goes on, put twenty percent of your attention on the physical sensations in your body. Put the remaining focused attention on whatever task is before you. Can you split your attention like this? It is possible and powerful.

At the end of the day, take time to journal about the effects of maintaining some awareness inside the body at all times.

Third Cardinal Axiom

Direction:

West

Power:

Daring and accepting

Season:

Fall

Festival:

Fall Equinox

Theme:

Inclusion

Dates:

Around September 19–22

Axiom:

A practitioner of the Old Ways stands as witness to the unfolding of the Great All, and knows that the oceans do not refuse any form of water.

Third Cardinal Axiom

The traditional Wiccan power aligned with the west is “the power to dare.” When we think of daring, we think of going beyond the bounds of something. But in order to go beyond, we have to have knowledge and experience with the boundaries themselves, and everything contained within.

Daring is important in Wicca because, as Witches, we answer a deep call to go beyond the known world, at least spiritually. The familiar world, for those hovering within the warm currents of the mainstream, is one defined by social and cultural norms, customs, values, gender expectations, family rules, and everything else deemed acceptable by social standards.

Going beyond the village light, the village bonfires, requires some nerve. This twilight journey into the unknown is often too difficult, too dangerous, for most people to face or complete. So most people stay with what’s familiar to them, even if it does not lead to living a fulfilling or empowering life.

But everyone, even if they are not on an intentional magical journey, as are you, eventually gets pushed to venture into the twilight world from time to time over the course of a lifetime. Someone dies. Someone gets married. A child is born. A job is lost or started. These are all everyday experiences that push the seekers of safety out of their comfort zone and cause them to walk along the uncomfortable, shifting sands of the twilight world. Mainstreamers who are pushed out into uncharted waters by life circumstances frequently seek safety and familiarity as soon as possible, since venturing beyond the known causes such discomfort and anxiety, and usually requires them to make behavioral changes (which are often too difficult or anxiety-provoking to maintain).

Witches, however, learn that there is little power for them in staying exclusively within the known village compound. The comfort of what is known, routine, and expected is not necessarily where power resides. The journey outside of social boundaries causes those of us on the magical path to see things from new perspectives, fresh vantage points. As a result, more of life is included in our world vision, and it compels changes in action in order to meet the demands of the new, unfamiliar terrain.

But this journey into the unknown cannot be started aright without first knowing the village and all of its inhabitants well. Charting the world you inhabit with complete intimacy is called the “power to accept.”

The power in accepting comes from complete intimacy with the reality of your existence. Once you can fully accept what is in your world, you can take the right action. For example, if you think you are being harmed, then you might take a certain course of action to stay away from harm. But if you refuse to see or accept that harm is occurring, then you may never take the action necessary for your own well-being. Or perhaps you must accept the reality of your financial situation. Or maybe it is time to accept and see clearly the realities of your relationship. These are all difficult to do, but once you open your eyes to the reality of your situation, then it becomes easy to claim power in your life.

Accepting, too, has its limits, if relied upon solely. When you stay in a pattern of acknowledging only the facts of your life, it may protect you from anticipatory anxiety, but it can also result in a lack of vision and imagination. Sometimes it is important to see the whole mountain before you climb it. That kind of action allows you to evaluate the scale of what you are doing and whether you have the skill required to involve yourself rightfully in a task. If, for example, you believe that you are going to build a house, but in actuality you have no skill or background in construction, you may be setting yourself up for trouble.

Inclusion is a process that encompasses a balance point between daring and accepting. It helps us venture into the unknown, yet still retain a grounded vision of our spiritual work.

Inclusion is a very different concept for those of us in Western cultures because there is a decided accent on denial. We are taught to evaluate people or situations to determine if they might be distasteful or lacking utility or just undesirable in some way, and we learn to reject them with automaticity. Meanwhile, on the path of the Goddess and the God, there is nothing you can see, taste, touch, hear, or smell that is not a manifestation of their energy. The Gods are our bodies. We are walking on them, breathing them, eating them, excreting them, hearing them, and touching them right now.

But let’s take a look at some images from nature to elucidate this point, since nature should be one of the Witch’s primary sources of spiritual inspiration. My first image to consider here is that of the vast, churning oceans. The oceans accept all forms of water, and they do not discriminate, separating out the supposed “good” water from the “bad.” The ocean does not label its droplets in this way. All contributions are rolled into the whole ocean.

Another image to consider is the lives of animals. Think, for example, of a bird, which does not act based on separating out good from bad experiences. Instead, a bird (and most other animals) meets the moment head-on, with no preconceived notions. It takes in the immediate circumstances and may have some behavioral, physically reactive memory of past experiences. But these past experiences do not change the bird’s immediate needs or its response to the requisites of the moment.

The purpose of these examples is not to ennoble animals or oceans, raising them up in some way to further erode the experience of inclusion. Rather, they can help us to consider our own process of picking and choosing, labeling and separating experiences into categories of so-called good (which usually means pleasurable or preferred) and bad (which usually means unpleasant or at least nonpreferred). In this contrast, we can understand that when we separate out the experiences of our lives in these ways on a habitual basis, we start down a path that fundamentally fractures life itself.

Without taking a breath or even realizing what has happened, we come to live our lives based on personal opinions rather than based on including all of the ingredients of life. And we often miss (or misinterpret) the actual circumstances and requisites to which the moment is pointing. It is common for likes, dislikes, debates, haggling, and feelings of love, hate, fear, and desire to run our lives when we don’t notice that it is happening. But in the heat of the ongoing parade of opinions, we are less capable of acting in accord with the needs of the moment with the immediacy of a lightning strike. This “lightning strike” responsiveness is the most powerful action we can take in the moment.

It is important to notice how frequently we engage in distracting internal discriminations, because they ultimately slow us down and make us less willing to be fluid with life’s ever-changing circumstances and demands. If you either grasp at certain preferred circumstances or avoid things you deem intolerable, then you engage in a continual push-and-pull that is alien to the inclusiveness of nature. In fact, nature defies the smallness of our personal push-and-pull, doing only what it does, following its own rhythms and cycles, despite the churning of human feelings, desires, and dislikes.

In order to follow the third magical axiom, to be powerful like the tides of nature, it becomes important to include all of life in your experience. See it. Hear it. Dive into all of its joy and pain without the “extra” of running commentary. By doing so, Witches can act powerfully, just as nature does.

When you engage the world in this watery, inclusive way, you develop a softened approach to life and the people in your sphere. Water and inclusion temper the spirit, like a red-hot sword being plunged into water.

Over the next days, we will practice aligning ourselves with the balancing point of daring and accepting, which is inclusion.

Practice Days 2–3

Daring/Accepting Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Creating herbal aids to help foster a balance between the poles of daring and accepting.

Daring/Accepting Incense

What you’ll need:

• ¼ cup powdered sandalwood

• ¼ cup powdered mesquite, elm, alder, or willow

• 1 teaspoon orris root (Try to find powdered. If not, grind up some orris root bits in a food processer as finely as possible.)

• 3 drops rose essential oil (the best quality you can find)

• 3 drops gardenia essential oil

• 3 drops iris essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the essential oils to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scents from the essential oils and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Daring/Accepting Oil

What you’ll need:

• 3 drops gardenia essential oil

• 3 drops iris essential oil

• 3 drops orris root essential oil

• Pinch of dried rose petals

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

Mix the ingredients together, and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.

Practice Days 4–5

Creating Your Own Blend

If you are interested in creating your own magical blend, here is a list of herbs and essential oils that can help balance daring and accepting:

Mercury Herbs:

Alder

Aloe

Apple blossom

Lemon balm

Chamomile

Camphor

Catnip

Cardamom

Cherry

Coconut

Comfrey

Elder

Elm

Eucalyptus

Iris

Gardenia

Hazel

Heather

Hyacinth

Jasmine

Lemon

Licorice

Lilac

Lily

Lotus

Mesquite

Myrrh resin

Orris root

Passion flower

Sandalwood

Peach

Rose

Spearmint

Sweet pea

Tansy

Thyme

Tonka beans

Vanilla beans

Violet

Yarrow

Ylang-ylang

Willow

Go to a health food store to smell the various essences and herbs. Find the ones that are most evocative of water to you. Make sure you test any essential oils for allergic reactions.

Practice Days 6–7

Daring and Accepting Meditation

What you’ll need:

• Daring/Accepting Incense

• Daring/Accepting Oil

• Your chalice

• Your circle-casting tools

One very simple way to evoke the balance of inclusion is to bring awareness to your personal catalogue of opinions that may affect your actions. Building and maintaining awareness of these influential opinions is a process. It is not unlike allowing muddy water to settle and eventually to clarify. Clarity helps you discern between action based on opinion and that dictated by the needs of the moment.

To begin, light a coal in your incense burner and sprinkle on the hot coal some of the Daring/Accepting Incense. Allow it to burn, filling the sacred space you are in with its energy. Take the burner, and walking clockwise, trace a simple circle around the room, making sure that you accommodate the area where you will be sitting to do the exercise.

Anoint yourself with the Daring/Accepting Oil, drawing a water-invoking pentagram at the heart chakra, at the center of the chest.

Face the west and use your chalice to draw a water-invoking pentagram before you.

Next, sit either in a chair or on a meditation cushion facing the west. Align your body, breath, and mind by first counting each of your exhalations for a few minutes.

Now do not count at all. Simply sit in silence while facing the west with your eyes cast downward. As you sit, your mind will likely produce thought. Your magical action is to label your thoughts and feelings as they arise. For example, you may start thinking about work, so you’d label (silently to yourself) the thought “work.” If you started thinking about Missy from work, whom you don’t like, you could say “Missy,” or if you’re keenly aware of your emotional state, you could label the feeling “frustration.” Engage in this mental noting for at least fifteen minutes.

After that, stand and use your chalice to draw a water-banishing pentagram.

Using the Daring/Accepting Oil, draw a water-banishing pentagram at the heart chakra, at the center of your chest.

Practice Days 8–9

Magic Right Now

Magical Purpose: Creating change through interaction.

Witches sometimes become discouraged when their magic seems ineffective, or when they cannot see the results of their work with their own eyes. Remembering that magic is a process of transformation and connectivity can help us recognize two important pieces of information. The first is that you cannot see the whole of life at any given time. You do not know what transformation has occurred due to your magical activity. Therefore, the term “ineffective” is only a judgment label that can dilute the energetic momentum behind your magical working. The second thing to keep in mind is that magic has less momentum (giving it more opportunity to be “ineffective”) when you start it from a place of misalignment from the source of universal power that runs through everything.

There are really only two ways that you can act in the world. One way leads to harmony and inclusion, and the other leads to exclusion and disharmony. If you promote inclusion and acceptance, then you are living in greater alignment with nature and your inherent magical power. When you exclude, you separate from the streams and oceans of power that course through your life. Therefore, it becomes essential in your year and a day of practice to take stock of your habit patterns to see if you are aligning with nature or against it; if you are aligning with your power or diminishing it.

Today and tomorrow, take time before each conversation, before each interaction, before you take an action, to pause and determine if your action includes or excludes. Does it promote harmony, or does it tear it apart? After you notice, you can always shift your perspective and your action.

At the end of these two days, take time to journal about your experience. Ask yourself:

• Was this practice difficult or easy to do?

• Do you more frequently tend to include or exclude?

• What was the result once you changed from excluding to including?

Practice Days 10–12

Mercury Oil and Incense

Magical Purpose: Magic through the energies of Mercury.

Astrologers say that Mercury governs thinking, thought processes, logic, making conclusions, communication, ideas, sensory information from both unconscious and unconscious sources, understanding, and making sense of things. Mercury also governs magical practice and speed.

The oil and incense you will make over the next days will help evoke these and other Mercurial energies.

Mercury Incense

What you’ll need:

• ¼ cup powdered cedar

• 1 tablespoon dried fennel

• 1 tablespoon dried cassia

• 1 tablespoon dried mandrake

• 3 drops lily of the valley essential oil

• 2 drops meadowsweet essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the essential oils to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scents from the essential oils and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Mercury Oil

What you’ll need:

• 2 drops cedar essential oil

• 3 drops lily of the valley essential oil

• 2 drops meadowsweet essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.

Make Your Own Incense and Oil

Use the following lists to come up with your own blends that ring with Mercurial power for you.

Mercury Herbs:

Caraway

Dill

Fennel

Fern

Five-leaved grass

Fumitory

Ginkgo

Golden maidenhair

Hazel

Honeysuckle

Horehound

Licorice

Lotus

Marjoram

Parsley

Pimpernel

Savory

Smallage

Sweet marjoram

Valerian

Mercury Essential Oils:

Cucumber

Dill

Fennel

Honeysuckle

Lavender

Licorice

Lily

Lotus

Sweet marjoram

Vervain

Practice Days 13–14

Second Pentacle of Mercury

Magical Purpose: Learning about and charging a pentacle that allows any question to be answered.

Everyone has questions about things that can’t be readily known. “Will I get better?” “Is my job safe?” “Will I find a partner?” Questions such as these tend to cause mental discomfort and disrupt a sense of ease that might otherwise flow throughout the day. This can, in turn, impact your overall magical effectiveness.

Work with the Second Pentacle of Mercury can help answer the questions that keep you feeling unsure, distracted, or uncomfortable. This pentacle is reputed to inspire the seeker with direct answers to his or her questions.

A Word to the Wise: It is my recommendation that you exercise caution with the questions you ask. Be sure you are certain that you want to know the answer to something before you ask a question. Sometimes receiving an answer can be more upsetting than not knowing.

In lieu of asking a question that may result in a response you’re not quite ready to hear, you might try diving into any feelings of anxiety or disquiet you recognize running in the background of your life. Instead of allowing them to run the show from the shadows, bring them out into the open. Feel them fully, allowing them to arise. No feeling can last forever. Feelings simply arise and pass. Staying with the feeling may help you develop inner serenity and balance.

What you’ll need:

• A printed copy of the Second Pentacle of Mercury (see illustration). It would be convenient to print this pentacle from your color printer (if you own one) in purple ink (or another mixed color that suits your purpose, such as gray or orange). If not, you will have a chance to retrace the image with your own homemade purple ink.

Second Pentacle of Mercury

• Purple ink (you have either already made this or purchased it)

• A feather quill pen

• 4 purple votive candles or tealights

• Mercury Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

Information about the Second Pentacle of Mercury:

• The letters between the central lines of
the pentacle form the name Boel and the names of other spirits. Boel is a spirit of Mercury whose name means “Deity is in him.” According to myth, Boel holds the keys to the four cardinal points of the material world; thus he controls all four energies: air, fire, water, and earth.

• On the outside circle are four letters of the Hebrew alphabet. At the highest point is Aleph. The next letter, to the right, is Vau. Next is Lamedh, and the final inscription is Bet.

Start by finding the Second Pentacle of Mercury online and printing it out in deep purple ink (if that is available for you). Before you print the pentacle out from your printer, be sure to match the one you find online with the one printed in this book. If you are not printing the image from the Internet, photocopy it from this book and cut it out.

Cast a circle in the hour of Mercury (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Light the four purple candles and place them at the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north.

Before you set the candle in the east, intone the name Vau (pronounced vow).

In the south, before you set the candle down, intone the name Lamedh (pronounced la-med).

In the west, before setting the candle down, intone the name Bet.

In the north, before setting the candle down, intone the name Aleph (pronounced al-ef).

Light the Mercury Incense and retrace the circle with its burning smoke. Anoint yourself between the brows with Mercury Oil, tracing (as best you can) the magical letters of Mercury:

Magical Letters of Mercury

Using the purple ink and your feather quill, retrace the images of the Second Pentacle of Mercury. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power and your intention to have answered all questions that you ask.

Sprinkle the pentacle (carefully, so it doesn’t smudge) with blessed water and salt. Hold it over the burning Mercury Incense and then pass it quickly (so as not to singe) through the fire candle on your altar.

Use the middle finger of your right hand to trace the outer circle of the Mercury pentacle with Mercury Oil. Present the Mercury pentacle to each quarter, starting in the east and moving clockwise.

At each quarter, redraw an invoking pentagram for each respective element using the Mercury pentacle as your magical evocation tool. Thus, at the east, use the pentacle to draw an air-invoking pentagram. At the south, use it to draw a fire-invoking pentagram, and so on, returning back to the east of your circle.

Stand at the center of the circle, hold the pentacle up to the sky, and close your eyes. Intone the following magical words, which are based on imagery from ceremonial magician Henry Cornelius Agrippa and the Orphic hymns:6

Hermes, draw near, and incline to my invocation,

Winged of Jove and Maia’s son attend my invitation;

Studious of contests, ruler of all-kind,

With heart almighty, and a prudent mind.

Celestial messenger, and bringer of skill,

Whose powerful Arts could salve or kill:

With winged feet, ’tis thine through air to soar,

O friend of man, and prophet of lore:

Great life-supporter, to rejoice in wine,

Of pleasures both mystic and divine:

With power to speak and to expound,

Oh ye of magic, and the source of sound.

Whose hand contains the sacred rod,

Blessed be, O wisdom-God;

Ye weapon of tongue, which men revere,

Come to us, Hermes, and draw thee near;

Assist my works, and make them aright,

Give knowledge, wisdom, and blessed insight.

As you intone the magical words, imagine that the pentacle in your hands blazes with power. When you are done with the rite, close the circle quickly, starting by extinguishing the purple votives. Place the Second Pentacle of Mercury someplace where it will be protected from smudges.

You might try using this pentacle at the full moon ceremony coming up. To activate the pentacle, hold it to your brow and intone the names slowly:

Vau, Lamedh, Bet, and Aleph!

After you intone, ask a question silently to yourself. Make sure that you have a clear question. In my experience, this pentacle only works once. You will need to create a new pentacle each time you wish to have a magical response to any question you have. Remember to pay attention to any information coming to you, whether it is in dreams, writings, the words of others, or pure intuition.

After you receive your answer, burn the pentacle in your thurible and dispose of the ashes.

Practice Days 15–16

Full Moon Ceremony

Today we are going to put our Goddess alignment to use. For the next several days, following the full moon, we will be exploring magic that requires your deity guardian. Tonight, as you engage with the full moon ceremony, you will use incense and oil you’ve already made, as well as many of your magical tools to “draw down” the energies of the Goddess.

Aspecting

Aspecting (also known as “channeling”) is an important magical art that forms the basis of a central Wiccan mystery called Drawing Down the Moon. Not everyone can aspect successfully. But during your Second Degree year, aspecting the Goddess (and later on, the God) is a skill with which you must be familiar and practiced.

Aspecting is the process of making room inside of your consciousness for the direct presence of Goddess (or God) energy. The purpose of this practice is to mediate communication between deity and your coven members, or even just for yourself.

The process is rather simple, but it is not necessarily easy to open the mind sufficiently or hold it open long enough for messages to begin flowing. This may take some time and practice. And luckily you will have the chance to practice Drawing Down the Moon from now on at each of your full moon ceremonies.

Many of the techniques that we have been practicing over the past several months have been aimed at reducing some of your inner ruminations and habit thoughts that can impede your alignment with deity and with life itself. Now you will be able to put these months of practice to magical use.

During Drawing Down the Moon, you will recite an important Wiccan liturgical text entitled The Charge of the Goddess, which communicates the Goddess’s promise to teach and guide all Witches.

The original text was said to have been written by Gerald Gardner in the 1940s. His original draft of the Charge drew heavily from texts and ideas that came from several of Aleister Crowley’s works, including Liber AL (The Book of the Law), his Gnostic Mass, and Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente, as well as Charles Leland’s 1899 classic, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches.

The most common form of the Charge, found in various edited and unedited forms in a variety of Wiccan books, was penned by Doreen Valiente. She rewrote Gardner’s original text and added her own innovations.

It was not uncommon for those interested in the magical arts during Wicca’s early days to derive inspiration from classical texts, such as Aradia. Thus, since our Second Degree year focuses on examining and working with many source texts, I have provided an adaptation of the Charge of the Goddess, which I have based on Leland’s original words.

As a final note (as I’ve already commented, though it deserves reminding), though it breaks from sometimes rigid traditional Pagan ideology, readers should feel comfortable Drawing Down the Moon on male Wiccan practitioners. Remembering the principle of “as above, so below,” we can see that physical gender can directly link our bodies to the Goddess or the God. While physical gender may make it be easier for women to link to the Goddess and men to link to the God, by no means does physical gender, nor gender identity, preclude men or women from channeling deity in any form. And in some circles, a male may be called upon for any number of reasons to aspect the Goddess, while a female coven member may be needed to aspect the God.

What you’ll need:

• Supplication Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools (including wand, athame, chalice, and pentacle)

• First Pentacle of Saturn candle (the white pillar with the image of the pentacle on it from the second lunation)

• A black, fairly translucent veil

A Word to the Wise: The following ritual makes references to womb and phallus, which you bless. You may choose whichever word suits your gender or physical sexual characteristics. Remember, magic is about shifting consciousness rather than specifically blessing a body part. The point of blessing yourself in this way is to honor the life-generating force as expressed by sexuality and reproduction. So again, choose whichever word (either womb or phallus) that will have meaning for you.

Cast your circle using the circle-casting script in appendix A. Once the casting is complete, light your Supplication Incense and cense the perimeter of the circle. Start in the east, walking clockwise, and finish in the east. Light the pillar candle with the First Pentacle of Saturn on it. Hold it with the image facing the outer perimeter of the circle, and retrace the circle with the candle.

Using the middle finger of your right hand, dab Supplication Oil on the tops of your feet, drawing an invoking earth pentagram on each, saying:

Blessed be my feet, which have brought me in these ways.

Using the Supplication Oil, draw an invoking earth pentagram on each knee, saying:

Blessed be my knees, which shall kneel at the sacred altar.

Draw an invoking earth pentagram with the oil just above the genital area, saying:

Blessed be my womb/phallus, without which we would not be.

Using the oil, draw an invoking earth pentagram on each breast, saying:

Blessed be my breasts, formed in beauty and strength.

Finally, draw an earth-invoking pentagram at your chin, saying:

Blessed be my lips, which shall utter the sacred names.

Over your head, place a black veil that masks the features of your face but still allows you to see through it clearly, as depicted here:

Black Veil

Using your wand, draw the sign of the First Degree starting below the navel, then to the left breast, the right breast, and back to just below the navel:

First Degree Blessing

If you are working with another Witch, have this person use the wand to draw the First Degree triangle. This person then hands the wand to you, the priest/ess who is aspecting.

Hold your athame in your right hand and your wand in your left, then cross them over your chest in the Osiris position.

Osiris Position

Recite the traditional evocation:

I invoke and call upon thee,

Mighty Mother of us all,

Bringer of abundance,

Gatherer of seed, root, leaf, and bud,

Gusts over moors, and fires of the hearth;

Storms of the sea, and majestic stillness of mountain,

Come, O come, bringer of life;

I invoke and call upon thee to descend

Into this, thy priest/ess.

Speak with my tongue, touch with my hands,

Fill the world with thy sacred utterances.

Intone the name of your patron goddess, one syllable at a time (for example, if your goddess is Inanna, chant each syllable: In-an-na). Stand in silence and allow words to emerge, if they will come. Sometimes you may see images or scenery, hear sounds, or more. If you see rather than hear, then simply verbalize what you are seeing, feeling, hearing, or sensing. Audio-recording your aspecting sessions can be helpful, as you may not necessarily recall the things you said afterward.

Following Drawing Down the Moon, Witches traditionally recite the Charge of the Goddess: 7

Whenever ye have need of anything,

Once in the month, and when the moon be full,

Ye shall assemble in some secret place,

Or in a forest all join together

To adore the potent spirit of your Queen,

Who am I, the Great Mother of all.

And ye who are fain to learn all sorcery,

But yet have not yet won its deepest secrets,

To them the Great Mother will teach,

In truth, all things yet unknown.

Thus ye shall be freed from slavery,

And so ye shall be freed in all things;

And as a sign that ye are truly free,

Ye shall be naked in your rites; both men

And women also. And in thy rites, you shall feast,

And call upon the Great Mother so, saying:

You, who art indeed our body,

Since without thee we could not live,

Thou who, before becoming flower

Went as seed into the earth,

To the darkest place where all secrets hide,

And when below the ground, didst thou dance

Like the dust that swirls about in the wind,

And yet there too didst thou bear with thee

The secrets of magic rare and strange.

And while thou grew into the glittering grain,

Even then the fireflies came to cast their

Shimmering light upon thee!

Oh Great Mother, you who unites the races

Of Witches and fairies, hurry apace!

You who art brilliant and fair,

I will study your bright mysteries

Till they are fully revealed;

Thus to all thy magics I shall attain,

Of wing and hoof, of plough and grain,

And when the earth’s dark secrets are known to me,

I shall cry out Blessings Be!

6. See, for example, Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, Ch. LIX: “Of the seven governers of the world, the Planets, and of their various names serving to Magicall speeches.”

7. See, for example, Charles Godfrey Leland, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (Newport, RI: The Witches’ Almanac, 2010), pp. 7–12, based on the original work, published 1899.

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Fourth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 17–28

Practice Days 17–18

Mars Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Aligning with the powers of Mars using magical herbs and oils.

Mars is the traditional ruler of all things fiery and masculine. This planet rules physical energy, sexuality, and physical strength. Achievements, recognition, and power are also ruled by Mars. The placement of Mars in the astrological chart indicates the health and vitality of the individual. In the upcoming days, you will use the incense and oil blends you create to foster vitality and improve health. However, knowing the broader array of Mars energies, you can use the incense and oil blends at any other time for a variety of Mars-governed magical workings.

Mars Incense

What you’ll need:

• ¼ cup powdered sandalwood

• 3 tablespoons dragon’s blood resin (powdered)

• 1 teaspoon benzoin resin (powdered is preferred)

• 10 drops frankincense essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• A clean, dry container with a tight-fitting lid

Mix the dry ingredients and then gradually add the glycerin and the drops of essential oil. Mix until light and fluffy, ensuring that the glycerin is well mixed into the dry ingredients. Store in a clean, dry container with a tight-fitting lid.

Mars Oil

What you’ll need:

• 3 drops frankincense essential oil

• 3 drops geranium essential oil

• 3 drops cedar essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• A clean glass container with a tight-fitting lid

• 1 drop red food coloring (optional)

Mix the essential oils in the glycerin or carrier oil. Add red food coloring if you’d like. Store the oil in a clean glass container with a tight-fitting lid.

Make Your Own Mars Incense or Oil

Witches associate Mars with the following traditional herbs and essential oils. Use these lists to create your own Mars incense or oil.

Mars Herbs:

Barberry

Basil

Beech

Benzoin

Black pepper

Blessed thistle

Broom

Cayenne

Coriander

Cumin

Dogwood

Dragon’s blood reed

Gum mastic

Hawthorn

Hops

Hyssop

Nettles

Pine

Tobacco

Woodruff

Wormwood

Mars Oils:

Basil

Black pepper

Cardamom

Cedar wood

Clary sage

Elemi

Eucalyptus

Frankincense

Geranium

Grapefruit

Juniper

Lemon

Neroli

Peppermint

Rosemary

Sage

Sandalwood

Spikenard

Tea tree

Vetiver

Practice Days 19–20

Second Pentacle of Mars

Magical Purpose: Promote healing by diminishing illnesses.

What you’ll need:

• A printed copy of the Second Pentacle of Mars (see illustration). It would be convenient to print this pentacle from your color printer (if you own one) in red ink. If not, you will have a chance to retrace the image with your own red ink.

Second Pentacle of Mars

• 5 red votive candles or tealights

• Red ink (you have either already made this
or purchased it)

• A feather quill pen

• Mars Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

Information about the Second Pentacle of Mars:

• The letter He appears within in each of the six points of the hexagram. He (which represents
a voiceless glottal fricative) is the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, aligning the Second Pentacle of Mars with the number five. Within the center of the hexagram are the names IHVH. (The four letters form the Hebrew tetragrammaton, or “incommunicable name” of deity. The supposed true pronunciation is lost, but many substitute the name Adonai or Elohim in its place.) IHShVH, which is the mystical pentagrammaton, also appears in the center. The letters IHShVH represent the name Yahshuah. The first ones to use the name Yahshuah were Renaissance magicians and alchemists. The third name in the center of the hexagram is Elohim.

• In addition, along the border, we find the phrase, “In Him was life, and the life was
the light of man.”

The Second Pentacle of Mars represents energy that reputedly diminishes illnesses, especially if you place the consecrated pentacle directly on the afflicted area.

Whether or not you have ailments at the present time, this pentacle is important to have within your repertoire for healing those in your life who request your aid. Ministering to the sick is historically one of the Witch’s community duties. In fact, many wise-women, or “cunning-women” knowledgeable in herbal tinctures and plant lore for healing, were burned at the stake for “sorcery.”

Of course, knowledge of herbs and their curative powers is a mainstay for Witches. In fact, some Witches devote their entire magical practice to the study of herbs or other alternative healing methods such as acupuncture or homeopathy, which would also likely have fallen under the auspices of “sorcery” if practiced in Renaissance Europe. At that time, knowledge of healing was considered an art for men only, and women caught birthing a child or nursing a sick person were almost immediately branded as “witches.” Some may, in fact, have been. But most were simple village healers.

Be sure you’re not using magic as an alternative to medical treatment. If you are sick, invoke the power to accept, roll the illness into your life “as it is now,” and allow it to empower proper choice-making. The Second Pentacle of Mars can be a powerful healing adjunct to qualified medical aid.

For this working, start by finding the Second Pentacle of Mars online and printing it out in red ink (if that is available for you). Before you print it out, be sure to match the one you find online with the one printed in this book. You could also photocopy the image from this book and cut it out.

Cast a circle in the hour of Mars (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Light the five red votive candles and place one at each of the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. Set the fifth one on the altar for later use in empowering the pentacle. Light the Mars Incense and retrace the perimeter of the magic circle with its burning smoke. Anoint yourself along the abdomen with Mars Oil, tracing (as best you can) the magical letters of Mars:

Magical Letters of Mars

Take the Second Pentacle of Mars and bless it (lightly) with water and earth (salt/water). As you do so, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (you may also use the names of the Goddess and the God with whom you are working)

Deign to bless and consecrate this seal of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

To heal the wounds and bind what is ill.

Then pass the pentacle through your fire candle’s flame quickly, so as not to ignite it. Pass it through the smoke of your Mars Incense smoldering in the incense burner. As you bless the pentacle with fire and air, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (or use your Goddess and God names)

Deign to bless and consecrate this seal of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

To heal the wounds and bind what is ill.

Using the red ink and the feather quill, retrace the images of the Second Pentacle of Mars. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power and your intention to heal.

When you are finished, place the fifth red votive candle on the pentacle and intone the name Madimiel, which Agrippa states is the governing spirit of Mars’s affairs. Do this five times, intoning each syllable of the spirit’s name:

Eko, Eko, Madimiel! (pronounced
Ma-dee-me-el)

Eko, Eko, Madimiel!

Eko, Eko, Madimiel!

Eko, Eko, Madimiel!

Eko, Eko, Madimiel!

Then invoke the energies of Mars:

Magnanimous, unconquered, lively Mars,

You who rejoices in the red of wars,

Fierce and untamed, your might can make

The walls from their foundations shake:

To lovely Venus and to Dionysus yield,

To the Great Mother give sword and shield;

Encourage peace, to gentle works inclined,

Lend us health, with benevolent mind.

Stand while imagining the pentacle blazing with a brilliant red power. When you sense you have empowered the pentacle sufficiently, say the following consecration:

Gracious Goddess, Mighty Horned One,

You who rule the world,

Who guide the tides of change,

Bless this magic I set before thee;

Let your power in this act of enchantment unfurl,

Let the task be worthy of your countenance,

Let its aims be joy and peace,

Let it bring forth thy harmony;

May it come to full fruition in thy names.

So mote it be!

Close your circle after this, saying no further words at all. When disassembling the circle, start by extinguishing all five red votive candles.

Practice Days 21–22

Knot Magic

What you’ll need:

• Three thin 9-foot lengths of cord made of natural materials

• Your circle-casting tools

Knot magic is one of the oldest forms of folk magic, and you can find versions of this practice globally. Early in our history, knots took on magical importance and were part of many charms, which were easily made and inexpensive. Knot magic was common in a variety of ancient cultures for healing, binding, protection, luck, love, and more.

For example, ancient sailors reputedly bought knotted cords from enchanters who would bind winds into the knots. Parents might protect their children from the evil eye by braiding their hair with special herbs and trinkets.

Then there is the infamous Witches’ ladder noted in folk journals, particularly in the nineteenth century. The Witches’ ladder generally consisted of a knotted cord (sometimes made of human hair) with magical intentions tied into the knots. In 1878, The Folk-Lore Journal ran articles and letters describing a find in Somerset, England, which was a rope with feathers tied into it. Charles Leland (the American folklorist who penned the famous Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches) identified the item as a Witches’ garland. The purpose of the garland, said Leland, was to bring ill fortune.

Other folklorists, such as James Frazer, suggested that the Witches’ garland or ladder was a broader form of folk magic that served many purposes.8 Frazer cited many instances of cord magic, such as the garland or ladder, that common folk typically used during pre-industrial Europe. Examples included strings with beads and knots tied into them. Sometimes magical folk would braid feathers, bones, and other trinkets into the string to symbolize some magical effect. Typically the effect was talismanic. Frazer goes on to note that early versions of a Witches’ ladder consisted of a rope or cord of three, nine, or thirteen knots.

With knot and cord magic’s long history, it is no wonder that Witches continue the practice. There are basic forms, which you will learn in the next days. You can adapt many of the basic forms to your own purposes.

To begin, you will need to identify a cord color that best suits your magical purpose. Remember that if you are following the book as planned, you are currently in a waning moon cycle. So for your first cord/knot magical working, choose a color that embodies something you wish to diminish, reduce, or stop altogether. For example, you might want to diminish an illness or a negative magical energy sent your way. You might also consider using this opportunity to broaden your sense of community and interconnectedness by focusing your magic on reducing poverty, pollution, inequality, or violence in the world. Use the chart here to select the color that best embodies your working.

Color

Magical Purposes

White

Spirituality, truth, sincerity, spirituality, the Goddess, peacefulness, purification, marriage, union, moon energies, beginning, all potential

Black

Banishing, absorbing, neutralizing, reversing, ending, stopping, diminishing, fertility, wisdom, victory, force, finality, power, loss, spiritual strength, depression, discord, protection from evil, mysteries, confusion, illusion, spirit guides and spirit helpers, the entire universe

Red

Health, vitality, strength, vigor, battles, blood, sex, anger, frustration, passion, protection, fire, energy, salamanders, lust, passion, drive, ambition, action, movement, decision

Green

Healing, harmony, fertility, money, growth, prosperity, abundance, financial gain, nurturing, gnomes, stability, calmness, steadfastness, loyalty, good fortune, luck, treasures, protection, earth energies

Blue

Emotions, flow, psychic awareness, freedom, peace, calmness, tranquility, patience, happiness, arts, writing, drawing, acting, singing, dancing, creativity, trustworthiness, trust, protection, undines, water energies

Yellow

Communication, knowledge, speech, learning, the arts, inspiration, intellect, eloquence, thinking, reasoning, understanding, insight, sciences, wit, anxiety, magic, speed, fairies, sylphs, air energies

Pink

Love, friendship, peace, harmony, togetherness, tenderness, romance, emotional maturity, sentimentality, compassion, affection, emotional warmth, a calmer version
of red

Colors and Magical Purposes

For later workings, you can braid together several colors for a single magical effect, but for now, procure three lengths of a cord of a single color. Each length should be nine feet in length. Witches believe that nine is a particularly magical number, as it represents the three phases of the Goddess or the God, times three.

The cord can be of any natural material of your choosing (wool, cotton, silk, hemp, etc.). I recommend that you do not use thick cords. Thinner strands are better for the final product.

Once you have selected your cords, cast a magic circle as you normally would. Once the circle is cast, begin braiding the three lengths of cord together. As you braid, focus your attention on your particular magical aim. Tie a knot at each end of the braid to keep it from unraveling.

As you braid, chant the Witches’ Rune, and finish by repeating the Eko Eko chant. One of the most traditional methods of raising and binding magical power is by chanting the Witches’ Rune. The Rune first appeared in Gerald Gardner’s Book of Shadows. Later, Doreen Valiente wrote another verse adaptation of the Rune.

Here is some additional information about the unusual names and words in the second part of the Witches’ Rune:

• Aradia: This is the name of the Goddess first introduced by folklorist Charles Leland in his 1899 work Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. Aradia was originally a Goddess figure from Italian folklore. We invoke her name in this chant to represent the element of earth.

• Cernunnos: This is the primary name Witches use to mean the Celtic Horned God. His name first appeared on a Gallo-Roman monument that dates back to the first century. Witches typically depict Cernunnos as a male deity with stag’s antlers.

• Azarak, Zomelack, and Gananas: These
are names of elemental spirits representing, respectively, air, fire, and water. Also, some have suggested that they are names of deity, or names representing the directions east, south, and west.

• Eko: Most Pagan scholars believe Eko means “here is.”

Witches’ Rune

Darksome night and shining moon,

East, then south, then west, then north,

Harken to the Witches’ Rune,

Here come I to call thee forth.

Earth and water, air and fire,

Wand and pentacle and sword,

Work ye unto my desire,

Harken ye unto my word.

Cords and censer, scourge and knife,

Powers of the Witches’ blade,

Waken all ye into life,

Come ye as the charm is made.

Queen of Heaven, Queen of Hel,

Horned Hunter of the Night,

Lend your power unto the spell,

Work my will by magic rite.

By all the power of land and sea,

By all the might of moon and sun,

That of my will, so mote it be,

Chant the spell and be it done!

Eko, Eko, Azarak,

Eko, Eko, Zomelack,

Eko, Eko, Hern,

Eko, Eko, Hecate!

Eko, Eko, Azarak,

Eko, Eko, Zomelack,

Eko, Eko, Aradia,

Eko, Eko, Cernunnos!

Eko, Eko, Azarak,

Eko, Eko, Zomelack,

Eko, Eko, Gananas,

Eko, Eko, Aradia!

Once you have finished braiding the cords, set them on your altar in the middle of your pentacle. Close the circle and leave the cords where they are, undisturbed, until tomorrow’s final spell.

A Word to the Wise: The Mysteries of the Scourge: You probably noted the word “scourge” in the Witches’ Rune. In British Traditional Wicca, the initiations, including that of the Second Degree, include a magical tool known as the scourge. This magical tool is likely the most controversial of the instruments of the Art because of its overt and undeniable associations with pain, dominance, and submission. This controversy around the scourge is nothing new. The British Traditional use of the scourge has been openly questioned since it was introduced to Americans—in particular, the question of whether or not initiatory use of the scourge was of Gardner’s own invention, if the scourge had some historical significance as a remnant of some pre-Christian magical activity, and if it still holds a valid place of some mystical significance in an earth-based religion.

In Gardner’s writings, he discusses the scourge as a tool to be used in initiations as part of “the ordeal,” to be used for purification, raising energy, and maintaining “coven discipline.” Gardner (via Valiente, in her version of the Charge of the Goddess) insinuates that this tool had a place in pre-Christian pagan cults, such as those that arose in ancient Greece and Rome.9 Witchcraft scholars note that Gardner’s addition of the scourge to the Charge seemed to be based on his particular need, as it was one of the few methods in which he could effectively participate to raise power while in his elder years. The rest of the text is reported to be cobbled together from Leland’s Aradia, Crowley’s Nuit in The Book of the Law,10 and other Crowley sources. Advocates of the scourge state that the purpose of ritualized flagellation in these ancient spiritual paths was meant to “bring on the sight,” or induce visions.

For a large number of Witches, the scourge symbolizes the wielding of power over another. In this light, the scourge seems antithetical to the spirit of the contemporary Craft, which values a shared-power vision of life.

I neither discourage nor endorse the use of the scourge. I do, however, recommend that before you use this tool, you take time to consider your own views on the matter. Take time to envision yourself standing above a friend, or kneeling below the hand of another. Will you feel as though you’ve lost power or gained it by scourging others or by being scourged? Does it seem to you that the practice has the potential to change your consciousness in spiritually liberating ways? Will it bring you closer to alignment with the whole of life? Are you simply using the scourge because “it’s traditional”?

Also, if you choose to use this tool, be certain that you have not taken liberties by requesting that fellow Wiccans participate in the practice when it may hold unfathomable layers of psychological distress for an individual. The scourge must be wielded with mercy and intelligence.

For purposes of using the scourge, remember that the intention in Wicca is never to inflict physical pain. The scourge should be used lightly, aiming the ends of the lashes at the base of the spine.

Practice Days 23–25

A Knot Spell

What you’ll need:

• The braided cords from yesterday’s working

• Your circle-casting tools

• Welsh Witch Incense (recipe to follow)

• Consecration Oil (from the initiation ceremony in the first lunation)

This traditional Witch knot spell is very effective in sending off specific forms of energy to achieve specific aims, and is especially powerful for solitary Witches. It becomes even more potent when blessed with the traditional Welsh Witch Incense, which you can use as an all-purpose empowering incense. You will bind the incense ingredients within the magic circle just before you use them for greater empowerment. Use only a portion of the incense you make, as you will need more for tomorrow’s working.

You will also make use of Consecration Oil (the one you made for the initiation ceremony in the first lunation). Similar to the Welsh Witch Incense, Consecration Oil is an all-purpose blessing and empowering substance that you can use in a pinch for spellcasting, circle casting, scrying, consecrating new tools, or any other magical working. Once you try this incense, you will get a firsthand sense of its power.

Finally, you will be making slip knots in the cords you’ll use for the knot spell. Here’s how you make a slip knot:

Directions for making a slip knot:

1. Hold the ends of the rope.

2. Make a loop.

Making a Slip Knot

3. Pull another loop of rope through the first loop.

4. Pull the ends tight until the rope grips the new loop.

5. Pull the ends of the rope until there is only a small nub (rather than a whole loop) showing.

To begin the spell, cast your circle as usual. Then make the Welsh Witch Incense.

Welsh Witch Incense

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon gum mastic

• 1 teaspoon sweet rush root

• 1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon dried juniper

• 5 drops patchouli essential oil

Blend together the dry herbs in a bowl. Add in the drops of patchouli and mix together. There is no call for vegetable glycerin (as in other recipes), so you can use this incense right away. (Sometimes vegetable glycerin makes the mixture a little too moist for immediate use.)

Sprinkle some of the incense on your hot coals, allowing it to smoke, and reserve some of the dry incense for tomorrow’s working.

Take the braided cords from yesterday and bless them with water and earth (salt/water). As you do so, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (you may also substitute the names of the Goddess and the God with whom you are working)

Deign to bless and consecrate this instrument of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

And harmonize that which is above to that which is below.

Then pass the cords through your fire candle’s flame quickly, so as not to ignite them. Pass them through the smoke of your incense. As you bless the cords with fire and air, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (or use your Goddess and God names)

Deign to bless and consecrate this instrument of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

And harmonize that which is above to that which is below.

Dab Consecration Oil on the cords, rubbing it into the full cord length. Then hold the cords between your palms and concentrate on the aim of your magical working. Visualize your aim and desired outcome. Open your eyes and tie a slip knot at the far left of the braided cord, like so:

Knot One

At the first knot say:

By knot one, the spell’s begun.

Continue tying knots in the following manner:

Knot Two

As you tie the second knot, say:

By knot two, it cometh true.

Knot Three

At the third knot say:

By knot three, so mote it be.

Knot Four

At the fourth knot say:

By knot four, the open door.

Knot Five

At the fifth knot say:

By knot five, the spell’s alive.

Knot Six

At the sixth knot say:

By knot six, the spell I fix.

Knot Seven

At the seventh knot say:

By knot seven, the stars of heaven.

Knot Eight

At the eighth knot say:

By knot eight, the stroke of fate.

Knot Nine

At the ninth knot say:

By knot nine, the thing is mine!

As you tie the last knot, direct all the energy into the cord and its knots, visualizing your desired magical effect one last time. Pull the ends of the cord vigorously, allowing all of the knots to pop free. This final act releases the spell into the universe.

Practice Days 26–28

A Knot Charm

Magical Purpose: Drive away the “evil eye” or reduce the effects of unwanted energies or circumstances.

What you’ll need:

• 3 colored beading threads to braid (cut to size)

• Your circle-casting tools

• Welsh Witch Incense (from yesterday’s working)

• A taper candle that matches the color of the thread you select

• Consecration Oil

• Salt and water, and a dish for both

• Incense burner and self-igniting charcoal

• 9 colored carnelian beads (optional)

The following knot charm is based on an ancient Egyptian practice. Ancient Egyptians used the knotted charm to avert illness. The Egyptian practice incorporated nine carnelian beads tied (really “sandwiched” between two knots) and equally spaced along the length of a necklace.

This adaptation is relatively easy and inexpensive to make. This magical knot necklace requires no more than three strands of beading thread, which you can obtain relatively cheaply from any craft store or online. There are no beads necessary, although if you choose to follow the Egyptian practice and tie carnelian beads between the knots, that’s fine too. You can use colored threads that align with the various planetary energies, or you can simply use colored threads that align with your magical intent. Remember that since this is a waning moon cycle, you will align and charge your necklace for the purpose of reducing, diminishing, banishing, removing, or sometimes “revealing” hidden qualities. Here are some colors and some ideas of what you can diminish with them:

White

Softening glaring truths, reducing harsh realities

Black

Reducing force, obstacles toward a goal, “evil,” severity, curses, or depression

Yellow

Reducing over-thinking, getting stuck in your head, being overly analytical, anxiety

Gold

Diminishing others’ biased opinions, reducing materialism

Copper or Pink

Ending relationships, stopping a romance from evolving, slowing or halting negotiations

Green

Diminishing or halting the proliferation of something unwanted (such as cancer or other growing forces)

Blue

Reducing spaciness, being less dreamy and ungrounded, reducing a lack of will or diminished interests (thus strengthening one’s will and determination), reducing sadness

Red

Reducing illnesses of all kinds, anger, agitation, aggression, violence, cutting comments, war

Colors and Their Diminishing Purposes

The method for making this charm is simple and mirrors the nine-knot spell you practiced yesterday. However, the final result is a necklace that you can wear to reduce the effects of something unwanted.

To begin, measure your neck, then add at least twelve to fourteen more inches to that measurement. (You will want the finished necklace to fit over your head and around your neck.) With this measurement (with the added inches) in mind, cut three lengths of beading thread (choose a color that matches your beads and candle, or find a color that adds another meaning or dimension to your working). Braid the three threads together, making sure you knot both ends of the loose strands so the braid won’t come undone while you tie the magical knots.

Take the braided threads and bless them with water and earth (salt/water). As you do so, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (you may also substitute the names of the Goddess and the God with whom you are working)

Deign to bless and consecrate this instrument of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

And harmonize that which is above to that which is below.

Then hold the braided threads above your fire candle’s flame, so as not to ignite them. Sprinkle Welsh Witch Incense on the hot coals and pass the braided strands through the smoke. As you bless the threads with fire and air, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (or use your Goddess and God names)

Deign to bless and consecrate this instrument of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

And harmonize that which is above to that which is below.

Dab Consecration Oil on the threads, rubbing it along the full length of the braid. Then hold the braided threads between your palms and concentrate on the aim of your magical working. Visualize your aim and desired outcome. Open your eyes and tie a knot at the far left of the braid. When you do this, say:

By knot one, the spell’s begun.

Continue tying knots in the threads, using the same pattern as in yesterday’s knot spell. After you tie each of the nine knots, you will say one more line of the spell.

At the second knot say:

By knot two, it cometh true.

At the third knot say:

By knot three, so mote it be.

At the fourth knot say:

By knot four, the open door.

At the fifth knot say:

By knot five, the spell’s alive.

At the sixth knot say:

By knot six, the spell I fix.

At the seventh knot say:

By knot seven, the stars of heaven.

At the eighth knot say:

By knot eight, the stroke of fate.

At the ninth knot say:

By knot nine, the thing is mine!

After you tie the last knot, close your eyes and again direct all your energy into the threads and its knots, with a final visualization of the desired magical effect.

Tie the ends of the knotted threads together and wear as a magical necklace until you achieve your desired goal. This may take some time, but keep in mind that once you achieve your magical intention, you should burn the braided thread necklace in your thurible and bury any remaining ashes.

8. Sir James G. Frazer, “A Witch’s Ladder,” The Folk-Lore Journal 5 (December–January 1887).

9. Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 234.

10. Ibid., pp. 234–235.

[contents]

Fifth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–16

A Word to the Wise: The next lunation offers us another opportunity to practice with the intensity offered by the Moon-Wise retreat schedule (Appendix D). Look at your calendar now to schedule time to engage in this important practice.

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

Here is yet another opportunity to observe silence for the day. Silence for a day is a blessing. It may not feel so initially, but as the day goes along, the inner ramblings common to us all start to quiet down somewhat.

Suddenly, like the screech of nails on a chalkboard, the shocking truth of the moment emerges. You can hear birds chirping. You can feel the wind on your skin, the slight discomfort you have in a certain sitting position.

You start to wake up to the life you’re living, right now. This, right here, right now, no matter how it looks or feels, is the Goddess and the God. Silence allows us to pause from attending to the distractions that put a wedge between ourselves and the life we’re living, the Goddess and the God, nature, the divine.

Does your job feel like a distraction? How about your child or spouse? If it feels like they are, then take time to breathe into the life you share with them. Allow the experiences of spouse, children, and work to become real, solid, living, breathing expressions of life itself. There is no other life you can have except the one you’re living right now. There is no ideal husband, wife, child, or job. Ideals are the true distraction that can take you away from the unfolding of the beauty and majesty of what’s right here.

Slow down today. Breathe. Just be with your life in silence.

Fourth Cardinal Axiom

Direction:

North

Power:

Silence and resonance

Season:

Winter

Festival:

Winter Solstice

Theme:

Freedom

Dates:

Around December 19–22

Axiom:

A practitioner of the Old Ways encourages freedom, for all is woven together, an expression of the divine.

Fourth Cardinal Axiom

The traditional power aligned with the north is “the power to be silent.” You’ve experienced several days of silence over the course of the past several months. But what comes up for you during your days of silence? Boredom? Frustration? Peace? Relaxation? A sense of inner spaciousness?

The experience can be different for each Witch, depending on the depth of practice, the individual’s history, and the activity of the mind (which can change from day to day).

But more important than this is exploring the question “What is this silence?” As a practice, right now, sit where you are and follow your breath for several inhalations and exhalations. Do not follow anything else but this. Hold the question “What is this silence?” in your gut, at the solar plexus chakra, rather than in your mind. Ask the question as you exhale, but do not force an answer. Set a timer (most cell phones have one) and close your eyes for at least ten minutes and actually give yourself away to the question, becoming one with it.

When the timer announces the end of the meditation, open your eyes and consider what arises for you from this experience. What response comes forward? The answer, if you have tuned in mindfully to the experience, is a simple one. “What is this silence?” It is your life. That’s it, plain and simple. And everything else is an addition that you and I have allowed to take the focus away from this unassuming truth.

Life itself is very simple. It consists of eating, sleeping, eliminating, sensing. Your wakeful life is made up of your objective, moment-to-moment sensory experiences. Stop right now and take note of your objective sensory experience of being alive right now. Don’t interpret it, using a lot of words, since words lend themselves to interpretations—and our inner interpretations lend themselves to feelings and emotions. Then those emotions lead toward actions. Actions that arise directly from emoting can lead to some serious karmic results.

Your moment-by-moment sensory experience is simple. The list should consist of things like heat, cold, hardness, softness, light, shadow, breeze, sound, and so on. That is your life.

It is so shockingly simple, so devastating in its directness, that most of us cannot tolerate this as truth. Most people want life to be more, to be “meaningful.” It’s the brain’s job to create meaning where none may have existed at all. It is a survival tactic our brains developed over millennia.11 But this thinking and interpreting process goes into overdrive and feels compelled to “explain” every experience of life. It wants the time you are spending eating, breathing, and existing to have a specific reason. And those of us inclined toward spiritual paths may attribute many “spiritual” explanations to our natural living experiences. But over-analyzing and self-explaining, trying to make sense of everything, takes each of us far from the actual concrete experience of life that we are living. That mental activity of explaining takes us away from nature, which is what you and I are at our essence.

The words we generate to express ideas, to interpret our experiences, are fine, but they are not life itself, nor are they nature. They are symbols that we use to identify the experiences and things of our world. But ideas are a far cry from concrete reality, which is this life, right here, and only this.

Take a moment to look at an object somewhere nearby to where you are sitting. Before you get a chance to register it with a label, allow it to enter in just as an experience. If you do not go into “story” and “label,” you’ll only notice shape, color, form, movement, stillness, and other basics. If you go into story, you’ll start with a label. “Oh that’s a chair.” Once an object has a label, it connects to other interconnected labels and stories that ensnare you like a spider web.

“Oh, that chair is the one I got with my ex-husband” might be the next mental connection. Then maybe, “That man was just terrible,” and you’re off and running. Once that happens, it’s only natural that you develop responses, such as attraction to one experience and aversion to another. That sets in motion your emotions, including fear, joy, anger, happiness, and so on. This “mental framing” together of experiences with emotions and other experiences that may not even be directly related to the first label is a mental process that we perform millions of times a day. Thus it becomes habitual. Unfortunately, the habits of mental framing, if you don’t recognize them and short-circuit them, can take you away from the true nature of who and what you are. They easily drag you into emotional responses that have little to do with the concrete reality of what you are living. They can take you away from soaking in this natural expression of nature, which is the divine source where all Witches find empowerment.

When you take the step to live in the experience of your life (rather than in your thoughts about it), you “vibrate” with it, you “resonate.” It doesn’t take much convincing to see that the closer you are to resonating with life, with nature, the closer you are to experiencing the divine, namely the Goddess and the God. This process of moving toward experiential resonance is critical not only for spiritual development but for spiritual freedom as well.

Practice Days 2–4

Silence/Resonance Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Making herbal aids to your magic.

Silence/Resonance Incense

What you’ll need:

• ¼ cup powdered pine

• 3 tablespoons dried patchouli

• 1 tablespoon mandrake root (Try to find powdered. If not, grind up some mandrake root bits in a food processer to get them as fine as possible.)

• 5 drops sage essential oil

• 3 drops violet essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients together first. Add the essential oils to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scents from the essential oils and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep the incense stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Silence/Resonance Oil

What you’ll need:

• 3 drops sage essential oil

• 2 drops violet essential oil

• 2 drops patchouli essential oil

• 2 drops pine essential oil

• Pinch of mandrake root

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.

Practice Days 5–7

Creating Your Own Blend

If you are interested in creating your own magical blend, here is a list of herbs and essential oils that can help evoke silence and resonance:

Earth Herbs, Woods, and Essential Oils:

Alder

Aloe

Bearsfoot

Bistort

Burdock

Cypress

Deadly nightshade

Elm

Fern

Fumitory

Hazel

Hellebore

Hemlock

Henbane

Honeysuckle

Horehound

Lemon

Magnolia

Mandrake

Moss

Mugwort

Myrtle

Narcissus

Oakmoss

Patchouli

Pine

Poppy

Primrose

Sage

Shepherd’s purse

Starwort

Vervain

Vetivert

Violet

Willow

Wolfsbane

Yarrow

As I mentioned at the beginning of your year and a day of study, there are herbs that Witches use from this list that are poisonous. The most commonly known ones are deadly nightshade, hellebore, hemlock, henbane, mandrake, and wolfsbane. I list these herbs here only for traditional knowledge. It is never advisable to make an incense or develop a magical oil blend while incorporating these poisonous herbs.

Practice Days 8–10

Silence and Resonance Meditation

Magical Purpose: Evoking resonance.

What you’ll need:

• Silence/Resonance Incense

• Silence/Resonance Oil

• Your pentacle

• Your circle-casting tools

• Three pages of blank paper

• A pen

To begin, light a coal in your incense burner and sprinkle on the hot coal some of the Silence/Resonance Incense. Allow it to burn, filling the sacred space you are in with its energy. Take the burner and, walking clockwise, trace a simple circle around the room, making sure that you accommodate the area where you will be sitting to do the exercise.

There are two traditional chakras that we associate with the element of earth: the root and the throat chakras. So you will anoint both areas. First, anoint yourself with Silence/Resonance Oil at the root chakra, which is between your anus and genitals. Just dab some there. Then using the oil and the index finger of your right hand, draw an earth-invoking pentagram at your throat chakra, which is at the hollow of the throat.

Face the north and use your altar pentacle to draw before you an earth-invoking pentagram.

Next, sit either in a chair or on a meditation cushion facing the north. Align your body, breath, and mind by first counting each of your exhalations for a few minutes.

Using your pen, begin writing nonstop, freely associating from one idea to the nest and filling up several blank pages (do more than one). Do not stop the flow of the writing by scrutinizing grammar, style, punctuation, or legibility. In fact, expect that the writing will look very sloppy. The focus here is on speed. Move the pen as quickly as you can across the page, jumping from one idea to the next. You may feel as though you’ve run out of things to say at some point. Don’t allow that to stop you. You can write about not knowing what to write about, if it comes to that. It doesn’t matter what you write. You can use swear words, loving words, creative words, blasphemous words. Use them all. Just keep the pen moving until you have several pages filled up with your ideas and commentary.

Once you’re finished, set the pen down. Do you feel lighter? Do you feel emptier? Relieved? Hopefully you do. If not, take out more paper and keep on going until thoughts and their accompanying feelings subside. Once you are finished with your commentary, it can open you up, by contrast, to “open space.” Note how this feels. Try not to label this experience in any way. Just be in it fully. Allow yourself to steep in this experience for as long as it lasts.

It is likely that you will not be able to sustain this “open space” experience for a lengthy time. But this is an exercise you can come back to regularly, whenever you recognize that thinking about things has become excessive and heavy and has led you into emotional responding.

At the end of this exercise, stand facing the north and use your pentacle to draw an earth-banishing pentagram. Then, using the Silence/Resonance Oil, draw an earth-banishing pentagram at the throat chakra.

Try to approach the rest of the day from the perspective of your grounded, earthy, experiential awareness.

Practice Day 11

Resonating with the Elements: Air

Magical Purpose: Learning about elemental imbalances and a magical method for restoring equilibrium.

What you’ll need:

• Knowing/Wondering Incense and Oil

• Your wand

• Your circle-casting tools

Elemental imbalances occur when you disengage from one or more of the elemental energies. This disengagement occurs through unconscious habits of thought and behavior. Here is how to know if you are imbalanced in one of the elements:

Air: Feeling spacy, lightheaded, forgetful, difficulty thinking clearly, mental fogginess, too much thinking and inner chatter, over-active mind, jumping thoughts, anxiety, communication problems.

Fire: Lack of or too much physical energy, lethargy, fatigue, hyperactivity, anger, irritability, fighting, aggression, snapping at others, difficulty focusing, restlessness, inability to keep weight on.

Water: Overly emotional, sappy sentimentality, over-sensitivity to what people say or do, depression, sadness, worry, many bad dreams, frequent crying, clinging, yearning for love, feeling lonely, difficulty focusing.

Earth: Feeling heavy, immobile, unable to take action, slow thinking, slow speech, refusing to talk, feeling the weight of the world on one’s shoulders, dark thoughts, weight gain, hoarding, possessive, overly focused on money or gain, selfish, brooding.

The following resonance exercises will help to bring you back into better elemental balance. The first practice is about balancing the element of air.

Light a coal in your incense burner and sprinkle Knowing/Wondering Incense on it. Sit before the smoke and simply observe it for a while. Focus your attention on the movement of the smoke as it wafts upward. Use your hands to cup the curling vapors and bring them to your face. Inhale deeply as you place both hands over your eyes. Repeat this several times, focusing primarily on your breath and the sensations of air entering and leaving your lungs.

After you have done this for a while, stand facing the east with your wand. Draw an air-invoking pentagram.

Then draw an air-banishing pentagram.

Continue to draw invoking and banishing pentagrams in rapid succession until you feel that there is a shift in the energies in your body. If you are tuned in to your body, you’ll know when to stop. It may take a while for your energies to feel as though they have shifted. Just keep drawing the air pentagrams, alternating between invoking and banishing.

When you feel the inner shift, stop and sit before the incense once again. Once again, use your hands to cup the curling vapors to your face. Inhale deeply as you place both hands over your eyes one last time.

Once you have completed this simple ceremony, use your Knowing/Wondering Oil, consecrating yourself with a dab at your third-eye chakra and saying:

I am consecrated with the element of air.

The process, once completed, should help you feel a greater sense of balance and ease.

Practice Day 12

Resonating with the Elements: Fire

Magical Purpose: Learning about fire imbalances and a magical method for restoring equilibrium.

What you’ll need:

• Willing/Surrendering Incense and Oil

• Your athame

• A fire ring, fire pit, or fireplace (a red candle can serve as a substitute)

• Your circle-casting tools

A quick safety note first: Be very careful around fire in this exercise. Try not to wear long sleeves and don’t sit too close to the flames. Remember, always practice safe Witchery.

Light a fire inside of a fire pit, fire ring, or fireplace, and sit before it. If none of these are an option, then light a red candle and sit before it. Light a coal in your incense burner and sprinkle Willing/Surrendering Incense on it. As you sit before the burning fire, use your hands to “cup” the flames. Be very careful doing this; do not put your hands in the fire, but bring them near enough to feel the heat. This is what you’ll cup with your hands. Bring your hands with the fire energy in them to your face. Inhale deeply as you place both hands over your eyes. Repeat this several times, focusing primarily on the sensations of heat you feel from sitting near the fire.

After you have done this for a while, stand facing the south with your athame. Draw a fire-invoking pentagram.

Then draw a fire-banishing pentagram.

Continue to draw invoking and banishing pentagrams in rapid succession until you feel that there is a shift in the energies in your body. Again, watch for the moment you should stop. It may take a while for your energies to feel as though they have shifted. Just keep drawing fire pentagrams, alternating between invoking and banishing.

When you feel the inner shift, stop and sit before the fire’s flames once again. Use your hands to cup the fire energies to your face. Inhale deeply as you place both hands over your eyes one last time.

Once you have completed this simple ceremony, use your Willing/Surrendering Oil, consecrating yourself with a dab at your solar plexus chakra and saying:

I am consecrated with the element of fire.

Practice Day 13

Resonating with the Elements: Water

Magical Purpose: Learning about water imbalances and a magical method for restoring equilibrium.

What you’ll need:

• Daring/Accepting Incense and Oil

• Your chalice

• A body of water (a large bowl of water can serve as a substitute)

• A towel

• Your circle-casting tools

For this exercise, you’ll need to locate a place in nature that is near a body of water, such as an ocean, lake, pond, river, or stream. If you are unable to go to a place in nature for this exercise, then fill a large bowl, a basin, or a tub with water and sit near it. If you go out in nature, be sure to bring your chalice, incense burner, incense, oil, and a coal to ignite the incense.

Sit before your body of water and observe it for a while. Sit close enough that you will be able to touch it. Then light a coal in your incense burner and sprinkle Daring/Accepting Incense on it.

Cup your hands into the water and bring it to your face. After the water drips from your face, inhale deeply as you hold both hands over your eyes. Repeat this several times, focusing primarily on the sensations of the water in your hands and on your face.

After you have done this for a while, stand facing the west with your chalice. Use it to draw a water-invoking pentagram.

Then draw a water-banishing pentagram.

Continue to draw invoking and banishing pentagrams in rapid succession until you feel that there is a shift in the energies in your body. Again, watch for the moment you should stop. It may take a while for your energies to feel as though they have shifted. Just keep drawing water pentagrams, alternating between invoking and banishing.

When you feel the inner shift, stop and sit before the body of water once again. Use your hands to cup water to your face. Inhale deeply after the water drains away and you place both hands over your eyes for the final time.

Once you have completed this simple ceremony, use your Daring/Accepting Oil, consecrating yourself with a dab at your heart chakra and saying:

I am consecrated with the element of water.

Practice Day 14

Resonating with the Elements: Earth

Magical Purpose: Learning about earth imbalances and a magical method for restoring equilibrium.

What you’ll need:

• Silence/Resonance Incense and Oil

• Your altar pentacle

• A mountain or a garden location (a bowl of soil can serve as substitute)

• Your circle-casting tools

For this exercise, you’ll need to locate a place in nature that is aligned with the element of earth. Hidden mountain pathways, deep forests, and gardens are the most common. If you are unable to go to a place in nature for this exercise, then fill a large bowl with soil and sit near it. If you go out in nature, be sure to bring your pentacle, incense burner, incense, oil, and a coal to ignite the incense.

Sit in your natural setting (or before the bowl of earth) and observe it for a while. Feel its deep silence. Sit on the ground so you will be able to touch the soil. If you are using a bowl of soil, then try to sit on the floor with it.

Light a coal in your incense burner and sprinkle Silence/Resonance Incense on it.

Place your hands in the soil and bring your hands to your face. Inhale deeply as you hold both hands over your eyes. Repeat this several times, focusing primarily on the sensations of the soil beneath your hands and then imagining bringing that energy toward your face as you inhale.

After you have done this for a while, stand facing the north with your pentacle. Use it to draw an earth-invoking pentagram.

Then draw an earth-banishing pentagram.

Continue to draw invoking and banishing pentagrams in rapid succession until you feel that there is a shift in the energies in your body. Again, watch for the moment you should stop. It may take a while for your energies to feel as though they have shifted. Just keep drawing earth pentagrams, alternating between invoking and banishing.

When you feel the inner shift, stop and sit on the soil once again. Use your hands to cup earth energies to your face. Inhale deeply and place both hands over your eyes for the final time.

Once you have completed this simple ceremony, use your Silence/Resonance Oil, consecrating yourself with a dab at your root and throat chakras and saying:

I am consecrated with the element of earth.

Practice Days 15–16

Full Moon Ceremony

During your full moon ceremony this lunar cycle, be sure to incorporate Drawing Down the Moon and the recitation of the Charge of the Goddess into the practice.

11. See Steven Hayes, PhD, Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life (Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2005). Through Relational Frame Theory, Dr. Steven Hayes explains the brain as a “meaning-making machine,” developed over the millennia for survival. Language too plays a role in this meaning making and in human survival. The problem, as Hayes sees it, is that language forms the basis of meaning, and its primary purpose was to solve problems at a social level. The very process of language acquisition is involved in our difficulties with language, which serves as a basis for over-analyzing, making comparisons, contrasting, and judging. These processes are “relational frames” that can harm us by creating inner discomfort and agitation.

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Fifth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 17–28

Practice Days 17–18

Sun Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Creating herbal aids to solar energies.

Sun Incense

What you’ll need:

• ½ teaspoon frankincense

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon copal

• A clean, dry container with a tight-fitting lid

Mix the dry ingredients and store in a clean, dry container with a tight-fitting lid.

Sun Oil

What you’ll need:

• 4 drops frankincense essential oil

• 4 drops copal essential oil

• 2 drops bay leaf essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• A clean glass container with a tight-fitting lid

• 1 drop yellow food coloring (optional)

As a note, cinnamon essential oil can be a skin irritant. Bay leaf essential oil can be a good sun-energy replacement for cinnamon.

Mix the essential oils into the glycerin or carrier oil. Add yellow food coloring if you’d like. Store the oil in a clean glass container with a tight-fitting lid.

Make Your Own Sun Incense or Oil

Witches associate the sun with the following traditional herbs and essential oils. Use these lists to create your own solar incense or oil.

Sun Herbs:

Angelica

Ash

Bay

Burnet

Butterbur

Celandine

Centaury

Chamomile

Chicory

Cinnamon

Copal

Eyebright

Frankincense

Gum arabic

Gum benzoin

Heart trefoil

Heliotrope

Honeywort

Lovage

Marigold

Mastic resin

Mistletoe

Oak

Olive

Orange

Peony

Pimpernel

Rosa solis

Rosemary

Rowan

Rue

Saffron

Sandalwood

Sesame

Sunflower

St. John’s wort

St. Peter’s wort

Tangerine

Tormentil

Walnut tree
(the wood)

Witch hazel

Sun Oils:

Angelica

Bay

Butterbur

Chamomile

Celandine

Centaury

Cinnamon

Copal

Eyebright

Frankincense

Gum arabic

Gum benzoin

Heliotrope

Lovage

Marigold

Oak tree

Olive

Orange

Peony

Pineapple

Rosemary

Rue

Saffron

Sandalwood

Sunflower

St. John’s wort

Tangerine

Walnut oil

Witch hazel

Practice Days 19–20

Fourth Pentacle of the Sun

Magical Purpose: Spirit contact/make spirits visible.

What you’ll need:

• A printed copy of the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun (see illustration). It would be convenient to print this pentacle from your color printer (if you own one) in yellow ink. Try converting the image of the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun from the black-and-white one found online to yellow in your image editing program (if you have one). Print a sample of the image. If it seems too difficult to see the images, then print it in black and white and retrace the image in yellow ink when the time comes in your ceremony.

Fourth Pentacle of the Sun

• Yellow ink (you have either already made this or purchased it)

• A feather quill pen

• Sun Incense and Oil

• 1 yellow votive candle

• Your circle-casting tools

Information about the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun:

• The four-letter Tetragrammaton (which is Greek for “four letters”) is the “true” name of deity, according to Cabalistic teachings. As per magical custom, the four letters of the name (either the Hebrew YHVH or the Latin IHVH) appear in several of the pentacles in the Key of Solomon. One example is here in the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun. The four letters also represent the four magical tools, which are wand, athame, chalice, and pentacle. IHVH are the letters that mean “Yahweh” or “Jehovah.”

• The names IHVH and Adonai are written in the center.

• At the end of each of the eight radii from the center of the circle we find characters from Agrippa’s magical alphabet called “Passing of the River.” Finally, the inscription around the outside of the pentacle reads, “Lighten mine eyes that I sleep not in death, lest mine enemy say I have prevailed against him.”

The purpose of the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun is to make any spirit visible to you. Witches also use this pentacle for general spirit contact.

Spirit contact is an important working in any magical practice. In previous works, I’ve referred to Wicca as a contemporary “shamanic tradition” that comes to us from northern and western Europe. One of the key shamanic practices is that of interpreting the messages of the spirits—hearing what they have to say and conveying the messages for others who cannot “see” or “hear” these presences.

For this working, start by finding the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun online and printing it out in yellow ink (if that is available for you). Before you print out the pentacle, be sure to match the one you find online with the one printed in this book. Again, if yellow is too subtle or difficult to see (especially if you are working in the dark), print the image of the pentacle in black ink. You may also photocopy the image from this book and cut it out.

Cast a circle in the hour of the Sun (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Light the yellow votive candle and place it on your altar pentacle for later use.

Light the Sun Incense and retrace the perimeter of the magic circle with its burning smoke. Anoint yourself at the center of the chest with Sun Oil, tracing (as best you can) the magical letters of the Sun:

Magical Letters of the Sun

Take the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun and bless it (lightly) with water and earth (salt/water). As you do so, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (you may also use the names of the Goddess and the God with whom you are working)

Deign to bless and consecrate this seal of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

To heal the wounds and bind what is ill.

Then pass the pentacle through your fire candle’s flame quickly, so as not to ignite it. Pass it through the smoke of the Sun Incense smoldering in the incense burner. As you bless the pentacle with fire and air, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (or use your Goddess and God names)

Deign to bless and consecrate this seal of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

To heal the wounds and bind what is ill.

Using the yellow ink and the feather quill, retrace the images of the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun on your computer-printout (black-ink) pentacle. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power and your intention to cause spirits to appear.

When you are finished, place the yellow votive candle on the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun and intone the following ( based on Agrippa’s formulation of forms aligned with the Sun and the Orphic hymns). Also, it is important to know you that will intone the names Vau and Eloh, which align numerologically with the Sun’s influences. You will also intone the names Nachiel, which represents the Sun’s intelligence and is responsible for the planet’s beneficial influences, and Sorath, who is the spirit of the Sun. Slowly intone each name, one syllable at a time:

Eko, Eko, Vau! (pronounced Vow)

Eko, Eko, Eloh! (pronounced Eh-low)

Eko, Eko, Nachiel! (pronounced Nah-key-el)

Eko, Eko, Sorath! (pronounced So-wrath)

With your wand, draw three sunwise circles above your head, imagining that you are collecting solar energy in the wand as you do this. Then point the wand quickly over the pentacle image, imagining the solar energy entering it as you say:

Ye golden Titan, whose eternal shine

With broad survey, you illumine the divine,

Self-born, unwearied in your golden light,

Behold he comes, he who vanquishes the night:

Lord of the Seasons, with your fiery car,

Your shimmering light dances, beaming afar:

All who see your golden might,

Know you also as Father of the Night.

Agile and hearty, honored Sun,

Fiery and bright, O Horned One.

Foe to wicked, and good man’s guide,

Over all you shall preside:

Immortal flames you set and rise,

Great eye of nature and starry skies,

The world’s great Father, over all you rule,

As Lord of Justice, Lover, and Fool,

We ask that on our rites you shine,

And bless thy suppliants with magic divine!

Stand while imagining the pentacle blazing with a golden power. When you sense that you have empowered the pentacle sufficiently, say the following consecration:

Gracious Goddess, Mighty Horned One,

You who rule the world,

Who guide the tides of change,

Bless this magic I set before thee;

Let your power in this act of enchantment unfurl,

Let the task be worthy of your countenance,

Let its aims be joy and peace,

Let it bring forth thy harmony;

May it come to full fruition in thy names.

So mote it be!

Close your circle after this, saying no further words at all. Disassemble the circle, starting by extinguishing the yellow votive candle.

Practice Days 21–22

Abramelin Holy Oil

Magical Purpose: Creating a powerful consecration oil.

What you’ll need:

• Myrrh essential oil

• Calamus essential oil

• Cassia essential oil

• Cinnamon essential oil

• Extra-virgin olive oil

• An amber bottle for storage

From yet another of the ancient grimoires comes the formulation for Abramelin Holy Oil. Mathers referred to the grimoire as The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. Scholars say the textual sources of the grimoire date back to circa 1365–1427. The grimoire’s text concerns an Egyptian mage who shares his secrets with an aspirant. The formulations within the grimoire are reputedly those taught directly by Abramelin.

The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage and other grimoires were influential to Mathers, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and Aleister Crowley’s Thelema.

Here then is the formula that Witches use to consecrate and protect themselves before working with spirits or with other powerful energetic tides. Witches also use the oil to consecrate their magical tools and to empower any magical working. Thus, it is a good all-purpose blend.

Mix together:

• 1 part myrrh essential oil

• 1 part calamus essential oil

• 1 part cassia essential oil

• ½ part cinnamon essential oil

• 7 times the total weight of the above in olive oil

• An amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid

High magic author and authority Aaron Leitch notes that weight is the correct basis for the oil’s formulation. However, Witches are practical about such matters. Most of us don’t carry scientific weight-measurement sets with us. We’re more concerned with the spiritual and energetic components of our practice than getting mired in strict measurements. That being said, since we are not using this oil to command and compel, as was the original intention of the formulation, we can estimate the amount of olive oil we’re infusing into the essential oil droplets.

Once you’ve finished your bottle of the oil, store it in a clean, dry amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid.

Practice Days 23–24

Spirit Contact Meditation and Reflection

Magical Purpose: Understanding our fears and concerns about spirit contact.

What you’ll need:

• Abramelin Holy Oil

• Sun Incense

Working to contact spirits of the dead is a common Wiccan magical working, not only during the waning Moon cycle but also at Samhain. Witches contact the departed for several reasons, including gaining spiritual information, understanding the future, and communicating with loved ones who have died, thereby gaining wisdom and perspective, as a reminder of our own limited time being alive.

Regarding gaining spiritual knowledge, it is important to keep in mind that just because someone has died does not mean that he or she is smart, or that the intentions behind communication from the spirit to you are honorable (or even useful). People who have died may be hanging around the living because they cannot or do not wish to move on. Perhaps the departed individual is afraid of what may come next, or maybe he or she is so attracted to some aspect of living that it feels impossible to let go.

Some of the departed who have moved “beyond the light”—that is, they have fully transitioned into death—are higher functioning and have knowledge of things that lie beyond our immediate knowing. These spirits are the ones we seek for communication.

I’ve occasionally found that some Wiccan practitioners, especially those who are embarking on their Second Degree year and a day of study, are apprehensive about engaging in spirit contact. It is crucial never to engage in a practice that feels uncomfortable or that causes a fear response.

Remember that during this working, you’ll be stepping into the magic circle. The circle is a platform for magical power that only serves to amplify your intentions and your feelings behind them. When you enter the circle with fear, you may inadvertently amplify that energy in yourself, and you may amplify that energy in your life, once your magical workings are done and the circle is banished.

Therefore, it is wise to use the next couple of days to reflect on your feelings about spirit contact. Take time to unearth any hidden (or overt) fear and reflect on the origins of your concerns. Frequently, fear of spirit contact comes from family and cultural influences, which likely include things you learned as a child. Sometimes a fear is rooted in your own unresolved feelings about death.

To strengthen yourself, take time to meditate today and tomorrow. Spend time working with many of the mindfulness activities in this book, such as counting the breath and observing thoughts. I recommend at least two sessions, each twenty minutes in length, one in the morning and one before bed. Write in a journal about any of your concerns.

Consecrate yourself at all seven chakras with the Abramelin Holy Oil just before and after each meditation. Light the Sun Incense as well, just before you start your meditation. The energies of the Sun Incense will work well energetically with the Abramelin Holy Oil. Together, these procedures may be helpful in stilling fear and fortifying inner strength. At a minimum, they will help you understand more about yourself, which has significant magical value.

Practice Days 25–26

Spirit Contact

Magical Purpose: Gaining knowledge of things unknown.

What you’ll need:

• Abramelin Holy Oil

• Sun Incense and Oil

• Your Fourth Pentacle of the Sun (covered by a cloth)

• A clear bowl of water

• A small quartz crystal

• A bunch of fresh bay leaves

• Your circle-casting tools

Spirit contact and mediumship stretch back as far as the first documentation of humankind. There are many effective ways to contact spirits, and these methods have earned a rightful place among Witch practices.

For example, some Witches go into a trance and “listen” to the words spirits tell them. Or, just as in Drawing Down the Moon, the Witch may choose to allow the spirit to take hold of his or her voice. Witches also use ouija boards, tarot, rituals, and crystals for spirit contact. All of these methods can produce meaningful effects.

There are several universally observed conditions for successful spirit contact. For example, it is easier to contact spirits at night because they are more visible, and in moon lore, the moon in her waning cycle exerts a powerful influence over issues governed by the Crone, including wisdom, insight, death, and the dead.

Moving water, such as a stream or even falling rain, can be helpful in attracting spirits of the departed. Someone present during the spirit contact should have a strong emotion, as this energy is also attractive to spirits. Finally, Witches have known from time immemorial that quartz crystals attract spirits. Make sure you have at least one small crystal on hand for the ceremony, and maybe wear one in a necklace for psychic conductivity.

Both Agrippa and other ancient magical sources warn against the presence of iron or steel during spirit contact, as you can reputedly repel spirits with these metals. Therefore, after you have drawn your circle, it would be advisable for you to carefully wrap your athame in silk, which can serve as a psychic insulator to the metal blade. You might also remove jewelry, as many Witches state that a variety of metals can interfere with spirit contact.

As strong emotions can attract spirit energies, it is advisable for you to skip this particular working today if the strong emotion you feel is fear. Fear will likely attract the wrong kind of spirit for communication and will not likely evoke wisdom or insight.

To begin, make a list of questions you would like the spirits to answer. I’ve found that I draw a blank once the ceremony begins and I’m in trance. Better to be prepared.

If you have another quartz crystal, place this in the bottom of a clear bowl and fill the bowl with unused distilled water. Set the bowl atop your altar pentacle. Set the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun beneath a cloth on the altar, so that its image cannot be seen just yet.

Cast your circle as usual, and when it is time to consecrate yourself in the names of the Goddess and the God, use both the Abramelin Oil and the Sun Oil you made.

Place four drops of Abramelin Oil in the bowl with the crystal and water. In your left hand, hold the bunch of bay leaves. In your right hand, hold the bowl of water. Stand in the east of the circle, facing outward. Dip the bay leaves in the water/oil mixture and then fling the liquid outward. Continue doing so around the entire circle until you reach the east again. While you do this, say aloud:

Lord of Living,

Lord of Dead,

Lord of hoof and horned head,

Call your children

From the light,

Bring them forth to walk this night.

Touch with hands

Of blood and bone,

See with eyes beyond the stone.

Come this night

By three times three,

I call thee forth, so mote it be!

Sit before the altar in a comfortable position, and place the bowl of water in the center of the southern part of the altar. Put the fire candle just north of the bowl. Uncover the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun, sprinkle some of the Sun Incense in the incense burner, and intone the names of the Sun’s spirits and intelligences for protection:

Eko, Eko, Vau!

Eko, Eko, Eloh!

Eko, Eko, Nachiel!

Eko, Eko, Sorath!

Take several deep breaths, allowing your eyes to fall on the surface of the water in the bowl. Count your exhalations, clearing the mind and focusing solely on the count and the exhalations. After a few minutes, just follow the breath, and stop counting.

Use your perceptions to sense any movement, tingling, coldness, heat, or any other changes in the room. Usually you’ll sense these phenomena outside of the magic circle. Open and become receptive. Ask aloud if there are spirits in the room. Wait for any sign at all. Ask again after several minutes. Watch for flickers in the candles or changes in the patterns of the incense smoke.

If any words come forward, allow them to do so unhindered. Most Witches (and mediums) are fully aware when they are channeling spirit energies. Listen to whatever is communicated to you. Ask your questions and wait for the responses in silence. If you have an audio recorder, it would be beneficial to record the session for later listening.

After a while, the spirits lose their ability to sustain their manifestation, and you will likely sense them slipping away. At that point, end the spirit contact session by unwrapping your athame and covering the Fourth Pentacle of the Sun.

Stand in the east and draw an earth-banishing pentagram while saying:

O spirits who have come this night,

We thank thee for attending,

And ere ye depart for your lovely realms,

We say hail—

Now kiss the blade of the athame. Point it sharply outward to the east as though banishing the spirit, and say:

And farewell!

Repeat this at the south, west, and north, drawing the appropriate banishing pentagram at each direction. Finish in the east by pointing the athame in that direction.

Close the circle as usual. When you have finished, pour the water from the glass bowl onto soil, then turn and walk away, never looking behind you.

Practice Days 27–28

Ridding the Home of Residual Spirit Energy

Magical Purpose: To keep spirits from hanging around.

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon dried mullein

• 1 teaspoon dried wild smallage

• 1 teaspoon sagapenum resin (in tears or powder)

• 1 teaspoon powdered sandalwood

• 2 tablespoons dried mugwort

• 6 ounces purified, boiling water

• Your First Pentacle of Saturn candle (the candle with the image transfer of the pentacle on it from the second lunation)

• Your athame

• Your circle-casting tools

Mix together the following herbs: mullein, smallage, sagapenum resin, and sandalwood.

Light your charcoal and sprinkle the herbal mixture onto the glowing coals. Start at the door in the room where you did yesterday’s spirit contact, and walk around the room clockwise with the smoldering fumes. Now expand from that room, going around the inside perimeter of your house and incensing the entire space.

Next make a tea of mugwort, infusing at least two tablespoons of dried herb into six ounces of purified, boiling water. Allow the herb to steep for at least five minutes. As you wait during the steeping process, light the First Pentacle of Saturn candle. Start again at the door in the room of yesterday’s ritual, and walk the perimeter of the room with the lit candle. Then walk the interior perimeter of the rest of the house, going clockwise as you exit the door of the room of your ritual. As you walk the perimeter of each room, say aloud:

Begone! Begone! To bane, begone!

Back ye go from whence ye came.

Once this is complete, pour the mugwort infusion into a ritual bowl. Bring this and your athame into the room of your spirit contact ritual. Dip the athame blade into the infusion and asperse (a term in magical practice that means “sprinkle around”) the mugwort infusion around the room. Again, start at the door of the room, walk clockwise, and end at the door of the room. Then continue around the rest of the house, sprinkling the infusion as you go.

These procedures are extremely effective in ridding the home of any unwanted or residual spirit energies in your dwelling. I recommend that you use this procedure not only following spirit contact sessions in the future, but also when friends, family, or community members complain to you of “spiritual energies” in their homes that are bothering them or creating discomfort.

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Sixth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

Two-Day Moon-Wise Retreat

Remember that during this lunation, it would be wise to try (if you haven’t already) a two-day Moon-Wise retreat schedule (see Appendix D). You can schedule your retreat at any time during this lunation.

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

Here is yet another opportunity to observe silence for the day. Today, while you are maintaining silence, focus your attention on details that you would normally dismiss. For example, take time to notice the shape of a leaf, or the sound of the car as you drive. Bring into awareness anything that you normally exclude.

Take time to journal about the experience at the end of the day. Ask yourself:

• Why do I exclude some of my daily experience?

• Was including that which I normally ignore useful? Why?

• How might I include more detail when I converse with someone, make dinner, eat lunch, use the bathroom, go to bed, etc.?

First Immutable Axiom

Direction:

Northeast

Power:

The power to affirm

Season:

Midwinter

Festival:

Imbolc

Theme:

Encouraging life

Date:

February 2

Axiom:

A practitioner of the Old Ways cultivates and encourages life by actions of non-killing.

Continuing the discussion of Wiccan powers and ways to infuse them into daily life, we arrive at the first of the immutable axioms. These four immutable axioms are aligned with the four central high holy days, which are the Goddess festivals of the Wiccan calendar. These include Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas, and Samhain.

I call these axioms “immutable” because the days with which they align are not movable dates. But also, these axioms stand through time, just like the four Goddess festivals, as monoliths or touchstones of magical truth. We find variations of these four archetypal immutables across time, cultures, and spiritual systems.

These four axioms of magical practice are not the same as “commandments,” as we find in other top-down management-style religions. As immutables, they are basic truths, manifesting through nature. Your ability to feel and see these immutables working gets better as you become attuned to how they are expressing themselves within you. Even without having inner attunement with the immutables right off the bat, you can at least understand them as models for action that Witches come to naturally express over years of practice and close alignment with life itself. In fact, a good sign of a maturing practice that demonstrates advancement along the Way is to see how these immutable axioms express themselves without the need for continual mindful reflection.

Imbolc marks the official end of the “dead time,” a period from October 31 to February 2 during which Witches perform very little magic and no initiatory rites. Imbolc, which takes place at the beginning of February, is a time when daylight hours are starting to become visibly longer, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. Pagans of northern and western Europe historically celebrated this time of year because of the awakening of the earth’s energies, the promise of spring, and the renewal of life.

Many of the historic celebrations of Imbolc include the lighting of candles in honor of the goddess Brigid, to mark the growth of light and the coming of life-sustaining seasonal changes. Imbolc is a Celtic word that means “in the belly” or “in the womb.” Older definitions of the word refer to the lactation period of ewes in early spring. The highlights of Imbolc celebrations were fertility, new light, and new life. In the ancient world and the agrarian world, female herd animals that gave birth and suckled their young at this time were given special honors, as they symbolized the promise of spring and the end of winter.

The central themes that Witches observe at Imbolc (also called Candlemas in England) are birth, fertility, potential, and the sowing of new “seeds” (a metaphor for anything that the Witch is looking to grow in the new, waxing year).

The central magical expression of Imbolc is affirmation. When Witches align with Imbolc, we recognize and affirm the impersonal power of life as a force. That is, no matter what occurs in our personal lives, no matter our concerns or our joys, the cycles of life continue unperturbed.

Affirming life means that, as Witches, we incorporate into our behavior and day-to-day lives the practice of “non-killing.” Very few of us have ever intentionally killed another human being, but the concept of this magical axiom extends to all living creatures. Again, this axiom is far from being a parallel to the similar-sounding Judeo-Christian First Commandment. Instead, it serves as a beacon that can shine light on a pathway that does not lead us to accruing stores of negative karma. But following this axiom does more than avert unwanted karmic results. Living within this principle (and those of the other axioms), allowing it to express itself through you, results in you experiencing greater alignment with the life force. It aligns you with nature, with the Goddess and the God. The first immutable axiom does not command non-killing as much as it directs us to affirm all life.

If you align with the power to affirm, you draw upon a deep awareness of the interconnectedness between you and the rest of the universe. You understand that there are no gaps between your own life and the expression of life within the whole of the universe. In fact, your life is the life of the universe. If you engage in the act of taking life, you are automatically disrupting the inherent wholeness of existence. To take life is to discontinue the natural reverence Witches must maintain for all of existence, which includes your own life.

Acts such as killing arise primarily because of conditioning, which arises from very personal variables of your life, starting with genetics and ending with whatever just happened a few moments ago. All of these factors, some inherent, some environmental, come to shape how you and I think and behave in the world. However, these factors are so ingrained that they start to confuse and distract each and every one of us from seeing the true relationship between all things.

The conditioning you’ve experienced can make you feel separate, giving the illusion of “you” and “everything else.” It takes time and effort on the part of Witches to see through the personal conditioning, to experientially behold the true interconnectedness of all things. Until this experience opens you up, the term “interconnectedness” remains only a nice idea (and maybe even a New-Agey one at that). And it is easy to work against something that is only an idea.

This magical axiom opens up many questions. “Does this mean I can’t eat meat?” “What if I must fight for my life?” Remember, the goal of these axioms is not to incite more thinking and internal discourse. Rather, they signal to you a pathway that aligns with nature and the unfolding of universal power. Each of us must make our own decisions on how to interact with the magical axioms moment by moment, knowing that the Wiccan Rede states, “An it harm none, do what ye will.” Living in the powerful moment of “right now” means making authentic choices on the fly, confronting reality as it actually manifests right in front of you.

Is killing necessary for sustaining life? Yes, it is. We live in a universe of tides, consumption, and transformation. It’s bigger than all of us. Might you be called upon to defend your life? Who knows? The unfolding of each moment lets you know your next necessary move.

As you contemplate this magical axiom and consider its ramifications, you have a great window of opportunity to understand your role in killing, even at the smallest, reactive, unconscious level. Once this is in your awareness, you can take action that aligns you with and affirms life, moment by moment.

A Word to the Wise: You may have noticed that the four cardinal axioms have dual actions: an “active” and a “passive” action, a “light” and a “shadow” action. For example, aligned with east and the spring is “the power to know” and its counterpart, “the power to wonder.” In the immutable axioms, there are no balancing counterparts. Like the sun itself, they shine without having a shadow. They align with each of the principal holy days of the Witches’ calendar, which take place on set (immutable) dates throughout the year. Thus, they are “perfections” aligned with the Goddess, who encompasses the wholeness of life.

Practice Days 2–4

Power to Affirm Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Creating powerful herbal aids to opening up the power to affirm.

Power to Affirm Incense

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon dragon’s blood resin, powdered

• 1 teaspoon frankincense tears

• 1 teaspoon red sandalwood (preferred, but use regular sandalwood if you have it on hand)

• 1 teaspoon dried white sage

• 6 drops heather essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the heather essential oil to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scent from the essential oil and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Power to Affirm Oil

What you’ll need:

• 2 drops frankincense essential oil

• 4 drops sandalwood essential oil

• 2 drops sage essential oil

• 2 drops lemon essential oil

• Pinch of powdered dragon’s blood resin

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.

Practice Days 5–7

The Cabalistic Cross

Magical Purpose: A rite of blessing, protection, and purification.

What you’ll need:

• Power to Affirm Incense

• Power to Affirm Oil

• Your athame

As part of our grand and long-standing tradition in Wicca, we borrow from the ceremonial forms of magic. One such borrowed practice is the Cabalistic (or Qabalistic) Cross. The purpose of learning this particular rite is to induce purification of the mind, which (if practiced daily) works to reduce the energetic effects of negative conditioning.

This rite alone cannot eliminate the effects entirely, but it helps create a protective buffering layer against karmic damage. Aside from its protective quality, the Cabalistic Cross opens the practitioner up to alignment with the greater whole.

To begin, light the Power to Affirm Incense and walk the interior perimeter of your room. Anoint yourself with the Power to Affirm Oil at all seven chakras, starting with the root, then sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and crown.

Stand with the athame in your dominant hand. Ground yourself by feeling your feet as root connections to the earth. Imagine that a taproot emerges from your root chakra and enters the earth. Imagine it sinking deeply, traveling to the earth’s white-hot core. Allow those earth energies to rise through the taproot, filling your whole being.

Hold your athame above your head, pointing it to the sky and intoning (say the sounds very slowly): Ateh (pronounced Ah-tay).

Point the athame down to the earth and intone: Malkuth (pronounced Mal-koot).

Hold the athame, blade upward, but touch the left shoulder, intoning: ve-Geburah (pronounced Vey-gey-boo-rah).

With the athame blade still pointing upward, touch the right shoulder, intoning: ve-Gedulah (pronounced Vey-gey-do-lah).

Touch the point of the athame at the center of the chest (be careful!) and intone: le-Olahm (pronounced Lay-o-lahm).

Now imagine that the energy absorbed through the taproot begins to slowly descend to the earth. Imagine the taproot climbing back up, and visualize it completely back inside of the root chakra of your body.

If you’re like me, you don’t like saying things without knowing what they mean. Here is an interpretation of each of the intonations of the Cabalistic Cross:

Intonation

Meaning

Ateh

“for thine”

Malkuth

“is the earth”

ve-Geburah

“the power”

ve-Gedulah

“the compassion”

le-Olahm

“across ages”

For clarity’s sake, the Cabalistic Cross follows this pattern:

Cabalistic Cross Pattern

Practice Days 8–9

Power to Affirm Meditation, Part I

Magical Purpose: Practicing alignment with the power to affirm.

What you’ll need:

• Power to Affirm Incense

• Power to Affirm Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

In today’s practice, you will learn to widen an auric circle of concern from the self to the greater whole. The goal of this exercise is to break old conditioning, to move from thinking of yourself as separate, and to include more of the world into the “mandala” (an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “circle”) of your life.

To begin, do the rite of the Cabalistic Cross, as practiced in yesterday’s lesson. This is an easy practice you can incorporate from now on every time you engage with spiritual forces such as spirit entities, God/Goddess energies, or the Mighty Dead (ancestral spirits), or even when intentionally entering the auric fields of other people for the purposes of healing or blessing, which is what you’ll be doing in today’s working.

Light a coal in your incense burner, and on it, sprinkle some of the Power to Affirm Incense. Allow it to burn, filling the sacred space you are in with its energy. Take the burner and, walking clockwise, trace a simple circle around the inner perimeter of the room, making sure that you accommodate the area where you will be sitting to do the exercise.

There is only one chakra associated with all four of the immutable axioms, and that is at the crown of the head. So you should use the Power to Affirm Oil to anoint yourself at this chakra point (which is at the top of your head). Just dab some there.

Face the northeast and use your athame to draw before you a spirit-active-invoking pentagram (see appendix E).

Sit in a chair or on a meditation cushion facing the northeast. Align your body, breath, and mind by first counting each of your exhalations for a few minutes.

Close your eyes and visualize the face of a loved one. Imagine that you hold the face of the loved one between your hands, and as you exhale, imagine that you are sending blessings, caring, and openhearted kindness to this individual. Visualize the person happy and smiling, receiving the blessing from you. Take your time doing this visualization. Do not try to contact the person, attempt to heal the person if he or she is sick, or attempt to send a specific form of blessing or favor to the individual. This practice is only about directing a general sense of benevolence and blessing to another.

When you are finished, stand facing the northeast and use your athame to draw a spirit-active-banishing pentagram.

Practice Days 10–11

Power to Affirm Meditation, Part II

Magical Purpose: Practicing alignment with the power to affirm.

What you’ll need:

• Power to Affirm Incense

• Power to Affirm Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

In today’s practice, you will continue to widen an auric mandala of concern from those you love to those toward whom you have neutral feelings. This may be the postal worker, someone from your job, a random person you saw on the street, or others that hold no emotional charge for you.

As you did yesterday, begin by doing the rite of the Cabalistic Cross. Then light a coal in your incense burner and sprinkle some of the Power to Affirm Incense onto the hot coal. Allow the incense to burn, filling the sacred space with its energy. Take the burner and, walking clockwise, trace a simple circle around the inner perimeter of the room, making sure that you accommodate the area where you will be sitting to do the exercise.

Consecrate your crown chakra with the Power to Affirm Oil by simply dabbing some there.

Face the northeast and use your athame to draw before you another spirit-active-invoking pentagram.

Sit in a chair or on a meditation cushion facing the northeast. Align your body, breath, and mind by first counting each of your exhalations for a few minutes.

Close your eyes and visualize the face of a person toward whom you have neutral feelings. Imagine that you hold the face of this person between your hands, and as you exhale, imagine that you are sending blessings, caring, and openhearted kindness to this individual. Visualize the person smiling and happy, receiving the benefaction from you. Again, don’t attempt to spiritually contact the person, try to heal him or her, or attempt to send the person a specific form of blessing or favor.

When you are finished, stand facing the northeast and use your athame to draw a spirit-active-banishing pentagram.

After this rite is completed, answer the following questions either on paper or by discussing them with a fellow spiritual seeker:

• Did today’s working feel different from the first two days’ practice of sending blessings and kindness to a loved one? If so, how?

• What was your internal response to sending kind energies to neutral people? Did the energy flow as well for you as it did the first two days? Either way, why was that?

Practice Days 12–13

Power to Affirm Meditation, Part III

Magical Purpose: Practicing alignment with the power to affirm.

What you’ll need:

• Power to Affirm Incense

• Power to Affirm Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

Today’s practice may be the most difficult for you to do, but it is necessary to at least try it once. The practice today involves widening an auric mandala of kindness and concern to those toward whom you have negative feelings. You may not want to begin this practice by trying to send blessings to known villains and criminals right off the bat. Start small. Try it with someone who simply annoys you.

Over a long period of time (it might be months), try to extend the blessings and kindness to people who have intentionally harmed you. Then widen further to people who have done harm on a larger scale.

As you did yesterday, begin by doing the rite of the Cabalistic Cross. Then light a coal in your incense burner and sprinkle some of the Power to Affirm Incense onto the hot coal. Allow the incense to burn, filling the sacred space with its energy. Take the burner and, walking clockwise, trace a simple circle around the inner perimeter of the room, making sure that you accommodate the area where you will be sitting to do the exercise.

Consecrate your crown chakra with the Power to Affirm Oil by simply dabbing some there.

Face the northeast and use your athame to draw before you another spirit-active-invoking pentagram.

Sit in a chair or on a meditation cushion facing the northeast. Align your body, breath, and mind by first counting each of your exhalations for a few minutes.

Close your eyes and visualize the face of the less-preferred person. Imagine that you hold the face of this person between your hands, and as you exhale, imagine that you are sending blessings, caring, and openhearted kindness to this individual. Visualize the person smiling and happy, receiving the benefaction from you. Again, don’t attempt to spiritually contact the person, try to heal him or her, or attempt to send a specific form of blessing or favor to the person. Also, be careful that you do not send negative influences in this person’s direction.

When you are finished, stand facing the northeast and use your athame to draw a spirit-active-banishing pentagram.

After this rite is completed, answer the following questions either on paper or by discussing them with a fellow spiritual traveler:

• Did today’s working feel different from
the first several days’ practices of sending blessings and kindness to loved ones and to neutral people? If so, how?

• What was your internal response to sending kind energies to people toward whom you have negative feelings? Did the energy flow as well for you as it did the first two days? Either way, why was that?

• Did anything feel as though it shifted for you regarding your attitude toward this less-preferred individual?

Practice Days 14–15

Full Moon Ceremony

For this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your full moon ceremony:

• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)

• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon

• Drawing Down the Moon

• Aspecting the Goddess and speaking her words

• Reading the Charge of the Goddess

• A meditation, such as the Power to Affirm Meditations from the past several days

[contents]

Sixth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Practice Day 16

Day of Silence

Today should be all about taking time to retreat from everything you’ve experienced over the past fifteen days. Retreating, in this case, means moving inward. It means allowing your eye of awareness to move into your internal processes, rather than focusing on your outward achievement.

As you maintain “Great Silence” today, take time to observe what occurs in your “interior.” Do not judge whatever occurs. No matter what arises, it too is a part of you, and you are a part of nature. Nature is an expression of the divine. Therefore, how can your natural processes be “wrong” or “right”? They are neither. But they are also not necessarily the basis for taking action. In observing the interior movement, you have a window of opportunity to examine whatever it is that might motivate action and lead you in not necessarily wanted directions.

At the end of the day, contemplate the following questions and journal about them:

• Is there such a thing as an “interior” to me?

• If not, what else might there be? If so, what is that like for me?

• What are some actions I take that might be driven by normally unobserved interior activity?

Practice Days 17–18

Deeply Understanding Karma

Magical Purpose: Changing consciousness through awareness.

What you’ll need:

• Blank paper

• A pen or pencil

Karma is a Sanskrit word that comes to us from ancient Hindu religions, and it means “action, work, or deed.” It is a term that you hear used widely in today’s world. Most people think of karma as “something bad happening to you,” but that is too simplistic for our studies. Karma is a neutral force involving cause and effect, action and response.

The understanding of karma (and its counterpart, reincarnation) was not historically confined to ancient India. It was also central to the beliefs in ancient Celtic culture, and it informed the Druid religion. So karma has a direct spiritual lineage for Witches that connects to Celtic myth, ritual, and magic. That lineage continues today in Wiccan practices involving karma.

There are two primary forms of practice for Witches around karma. One approach is the reactive karmic “clean-up” strategy, which involves certain rituals and activities around karma resolution. Witches do these usually at the beginning of their direct and intentional dealings with karma, especially when a karmic result has a resounding, distressing, or harmful impact. The other form of practice involves proactive strategies, developing more than just a passing familiarity with karma, deeply understanding it, and allowing it to inform your day-to-day living.

Involved in the idea of karma is the principle of “causality,” meaning that both your intention and action ultimately influence your future. I remember long ago someone trying to minimize the long-standing ancient understanding of karma with the flippant remark, “Karma is the ‘New Age’ hell.”

However, no one burns forever in karma. And karma is not a New Age idea. It isn’t an idea at all, nor is it “hell.” It stands where you stand. It is living truth, like air, fire, water, and earth, manifesting as your life, right now.

One of the key teachings in Wicca is that you should never believe any teaching out of hand. In fact, on this path practitioners should verify the validity of every teaching for themselves. So it goes with the principles of karma.

There is little that you even need to believe when it comes to the laws of cause and effect in this world. If you live your life like everyone else does, eventually you will see clear demonstrations of karmic principles, particularly in the lives of people around you. In fact, many of you have probably witnessed the causal relationship between a direct action that someone took and the quality of that individual’s life. You’ve probably seen people around you making choices that directly affect well-being, happiness, dissatisfaction, health, and more.

These patterns are always easier to recognize in other people’s lives than in our own.

Every action you can think of affects the outcome of many future actions in a wide circle of activity. For example, your actions affect those of other people around you. What’s more, actions arise together. Your action comes forth in response to my action. My action arises from another cause, and so on. Now imagine everyone in the world, right now, taking action based on causes and conditions that arose just moments earlier. And they will act next on the responses that subsequently arise. We’re all participating in this karmic process right now. Like gravity, no one can escape it, and it does not end.

Many actions arise from causes and conditions that existed long before you were born. For example, if you live in a city, the urban environment was probably there long before you were born. And before that, there were other civilizations that influenced the arising of the city in which you now live. And before that, there were causes and conditions that gave rise to the formation of coordinated civilizations. And before that, there were conditions that led to the earliest of human activities. And these causes arose simply from being alive; there were needs for food, shelter, and warmth.

Surprisingly, karma has some benefits. It helps you directly understand the interconnections between the whole of life, and breaks down the concept of a solely personal and private experience of living (and it brings home the understanding that a life lived somehow individually, personally, and privately really is a concept rather than an actuality). You may be a very private person, and you may even choose to live alone. But the causes and conditions of everyone else in your community, country, society, and the world at large have arisen together to allow this experience of yours to come to fruition. And your actions, even if they are isolative, inform the actions of literally everyone else. Therefore, being alone doesn’t change your participation in karma. If you are alive, it’s the game you play. So it is important to understand and respect the rules.

Your personal life is just a momentary speck. It is the most recent manifestation of a long lineage of consciousness expressing itself in endless forms. Once your life is finished, another will take its place and continue to express this impersonal flow long into an unfathomable future. The same immense, powerful, vast, and impersonal tide of energy that gives birth to solar systems and swallows them up in black holes also gives birth to the temporary forms that we inhabit. Life always fulfills itself far into an unknowable future.

One of the causes and conditions of feeling unhappy is that your own personalized version of life is not occurring according to plan. On an individual scale, you can impede the vast and impersonal flow of this life force and attempt to make things happen according to your individual plan. But that line of action results in another set of future results, and those results then inform future actions.

So what is there to do in the face of karma that makes sense for your life right now? Are there things you can do to improve your personal karma? Of course! Let’s start with the karmic clean-up process.

At the end of the next couple of days, sit quietly and reflect on your behaviors and actions. On a piece of paper, make a list of these behaviors and actions and divide them on the page into three columns. In the first column, list those behaviors and actions that seem to you to be intentionally aimed toward constructive or positive ends. In the middle of the page, list behaviors and actions that seem neutral or perfunctory, such as going to the bathroom, eating your lunch, and so on. Finally, make a list of behaviors and actions in the far right column that seem intentionally directed toward unhappy ends. Just be neutral about the whole thing. Try, if you can, to avoid emotional judgment about the actions you took. As you write out your day, your inner voice should be gentle, not scolding. Just making the list today is your first clean-up activity.

Practice Days 19–20

Reactive Karmic Clean-Up: Your Thoughts

Magical Purpose: Learning how to clean up your karma once a deed is done.

If you look at yesterday’s list, you might see how you have contributed to action that will lead to future results. Remaining aware of your actions is important. It helps you to slow down or even halt habitual behavioral trends that can lead you in directions that may not serve you or your ultimate magical aims. Conversely, making thoughtful choices in your action can foster a different set of karmic results.

But recognition is only a good first step. In the section on the first cardinal magical axiom, you took a look at the ideas of knowing and wondering, and the balance point of mental flexibility. Fully engaging with these magical states of mind is a longer-term process that can help clean up karma.

Let’s focus first on the effects of “knowing,” which acts as a kind of lens through which each of us views the world in our own particular way. Looking back at your list from the last couple of days, focus on the right-hand column and the actions that may be those that led to unwanted outcomes. Start a categorization process based on the following list of mental habits that align with elemental energies and natural phenomena:

Natural Phenomenon

Elemental Energy

Style of Thinking

Cloud

Air

Magnifying negative details while filtering out positive aspects.

Rock

Earth

Responding in black-or-white terms; no shades of gray. Acting as though there is no middle ground.

Tidal wave

Water

Arriving at a general conclusion based on a single incident or a single piece of evidence.

Mud

Earth

Anticipating what others think and feel and why they act the way they do.

Sparks

Fire

Expecting disaster to strike, no matter what.

Whirlpool

Water

Believing that everything others do or say is a direct, personal reaction to you.

Wind

Air

Comparing yourself to others and trying to determine who is better, worse, happier, etc.

Landslide

Earth

Thinking you are a helpless victim of fate, or assuming responsibility for the pain and happiness of everyone around you.

Molten lava

Fire

Thinking you know what is fair, though others don’t seem to agree.

Falls

Water

Holding others responsible for your pain, or blaming yourself for every problem.

Iron

Earth

Rigidly holding to rules about how you and others should behave.

Tornado

Air

Believing that if you feel it or think it, it must be true.

Spring

Water

Thinking that changing someone or something about your life will result in happiness.

Wildfire

Fire

Trying to prove that your opinions and actions are always correct.

Natural Phenomena and Styles of Thinking

This chart lists styles of thinking or “lenses” for viewing life that all of us use at various times. The more one relies on viewing through these lenses, the less likely it is that a response to the world and the unfolding of karmic events can be neutral, flexible, or fluid. However, the most powerful approach we can take when facing the unfolding of karmic events is to remain mentally fluid and flexible and to choose neutralizing behaviors.

In considering your far-right column, take time today to note which of the energies you habitually invoke in responding to the world that may lead to unwanted results.

• Which element(s) comes up for you the most?

• In thinking of the natural phenomenon that aligns with the mental habit, can you sense or visualize how this energy disrupts? In what way?

For the remainder of the day, visualize one of the opposing forces whenever you sense that you are about to engage in a habitual behavior. Imagine the energy filling you, then take action as the energy itself. What would each of these phenomena do as a response to difficult situations? Allow the natural phenomenon to act through you in response.

Natural Phenomenon

Neutralizing Natural
Phenomenon

What to Imagine

Cloud

Flowing tides

Tide pools flowing slowly in and out.

Rock

Sunlight

A bright, warm glow.

Tidal wave

Gentle breeze

Standing/sitting in a favorite spot on a warm day, and a cooling breeze begins to blow.

Mud

Warmth

On a bitter cold day, you begin to feel warmth.

Sparks

Silent mountain

Standing tall, silent, and watchful.

Whirlpool

Cool draft

A cool draft flows through an otherwise stuffy room.

Wind

Clear, still pond

A serene, crystal-clear pond.

Landslide

Balmy evening

After a summer’s day, a warm evening.

Molten lava

Frozen peaks

Stillness, a hush, the motionlessness of winter.

Falls

Breath

A gentle breath easing in and out.

Iron

Warm coals

After a fire, the glowing embers that remain, true and steady.

Tornado

Slow river

A winding river through a grassy countryside.

Spring

Upper atmosphere

The stratosphere surrounding the whole planet.

Wildfire

Mountain range

A long range of slow-mounding mountains, covered with lush pines.

Neutralizing Natural Phenomena

At the end of the day, consider the effects of approaching difficult situations with the mindset of these easing natural phenomena, and then journal about the experience.

Practice Days 21–22

Reactive Karmic Clean-Up: Not Knowing

Magical Purpose: Learning a magical practice to halt negative karmic results.

Knowing what you do and why you do it is critical to halting future actions based on rigid or mistaken mental frameworks. But of equal importance to knowing is wondering.

Wondering means not knowing. When you “not know,” you drop your conceptual framework altogether from very personal biases and assumptions to open presence, without trying to mentally separate from what is happening. Not knowing, especially in the face of unwanted life circumstances, halts the flow of mental activity that can cause you to feel uncomfortable, sad, angry, frustrated, and more. In turn, when those strong feelings arise, when you “not know,” you reduce the likelihood that you’ll take action out of pain or emotional reactivity, which usually results in further unwanted karma.

Over the next days, with each event that arises that provokes an emotional response in you, say to yourself, “Not knowing,” as a simple reminder to stay open and neutral and to wait for all of the facts to be revealed. Doing so reminds you to assume nothing, even if you have previous extensive experience with the situation or person, even if you believe you can ultimately predict a particular outcome. Put it all down. Set it aside and allow life to unfold and see the situation with fresh, unknowing eyes.

Be sure to journal about your experiences at the end of the day.

Practice Days 23–24

Reactive Karmic Clean-Up: Bearing Witness

Magical Purpose: Learning another magical technique to reduce future negative karmic results.

Once you have practiced not knowing, you can move on to the next stage of reactive karmic clean-up, which is the stage of bearing witness. In this stage, you will learn to merge or join with an individual, situation, or environment, deeply soaking in its essence.

In the bearing-witness stage, you are again reminded not to take action yet. Bearing witness allows you to take in the information in an intimate way, seeing yourself as other and other as self. In other words, you understand at your deepest possible level what others are saying and doing.

Take time to dissect, understand, and digest the multiple reasons and causes for the arising of a particular situation. You may never know them all. Still, bear witness to the unfolding of whatever karmic situation is arising without taking action. Of course, if someone is in danger, it is important to act. But aside from that, remain like the mountains: firm, silent, immovable in the face of the storm.

Today, as experiences arise that may be troubling or upsetting, there should be no “you” observing the circumstances. There should only be observing.

Take time to journal about the experience at the end of the day.

Practice Days 25–26

Reactive Karmic Clean-Up: Skillful Action

Magical Purpose: Learning a technique for
taking skillful action in the face of difficult circumstances.

Once you have taken the stance of not knowing, you stand like a mountain, bearing witness to the unfolding of an event, and you are ready for the third phase of reactive karmic clean-up, which is skillful action.

From the first two phases of karmic clean-up, you have learned to cultivate an intimate knowing of the situation or another person’s perspective. From knowing things very intimately, you can choose an appropriate response to the person or situation that is holistic and integrated and has a better chance of resulting in the betterment of the situation.

An action that results in the betterment of the situation for all parties involved is what is ultimately “skillful.” Skillful actions are honest, but they have a neutralizing effect.

In today’s practice, focus your attention on integrating not knowing and bearing witness, and then finally arriving at taking skillful action.

At the end of the day, journal about what happened.

Practice Days 27–28

Reactive Karmic Clean-Up:
Herbal Remedies

Magical Purpose: Making magical herbal aids to invoke the three steps of karmic clean-up.

What you’ll need:

• A small amount of dried white sage

At the beginning of the day, bless yourself with the four elements, as you do each time you create your magic circle. By blessing yourself with the four elements, you are able to better draw on those forces as needed to assist in neutralizing karmic situations.

Instead of using typical incense for blessing with air, try using dried white sage, which is a generally helpful herb for clearing troublesome vibratory energies or any other “hovering darkness” that might be plaguing your life.

Other herbs that you can use for clearing karma depend on the nature of the karma. Use the following chart to determine the herbs that are best for your purposes. You can use them as incense, by burning the dried herbs, or you can create a “wash” by making a tea from the herb and then applying this to your skin.

Karmic Themes

Planetary Influence

Karma-Clearing Herbs/Incenses

Ego, self-expression, power, pride, authority, leadership, creativity, health, vitality

Sun

Angelica, chamomile, lovage, rosemary, rue

Emotions, habits, rhythms, memories, moods, women, home, security, the past, prejudices, beliefs, dogma

Moon

Adder’s tongue, moonwort, poppies, white roses

Communication, intellect, education, messages, politics, announcements, media, film, ideas, inventions, magic, contracts, anxiety, nervousness, stupidity, dullness

Mercury

Dill, fennel, lavender, marjoram, valerian

Action, physical energy, sexuality, strength, men, anger, war, disputes, battling

Mars

Broom, basil, nettles,
wormwood

Marriage, divorce, friendships, unions, money, pleasure, religion, high ideals, wealth, sensual enjoyment, vanity, indulgence, laziness, attraction

Venus

Balm of Gilead, burdock, yarrow, pennyroyal

Trust, belief, hope, optimism, ideals, values, prosperity, riches, confidence, affluence, goodwill, ethics, luck, expansion, generosity, mergers, power hunger, hypocrisy, over-indulgence, extravagance

Jupiter

Bay, hyssop, sage

Control, severity, psychological problems, the “shadow,” hidden things, rules, structure, law, concentration, effort, perseverance, time, harsh reality, inevitability, consequences, karma

Saturn

Comfrey, fumitory, Solomon’s seal, hemp, beech

Karma, Planets, and Herbs

[contents]

Seventh Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

While you observe your day of silence, take time sporadically to focus on a part of your body that feels “neutral.” It could be your hair, your elbow, or any part that has a neutral sensation to you. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. While you exhale, imagine that this neutral energy begins to spread throughout your whole body and mind from head to toe. Once you feel this energy wash over you completely, open your eyes and continue through your day. Journal at the end of the day:

• Was there a difference between my “usual self” before the visualization and how I felt after the visualization? In what way?

• Did any perceived change in my body and mind affect how I engaged with people and situations? In what way?

Practice Days 2–3

Reactive Karmic Clean-Up:
Accept Responsibility

Magical Purpose: Learning more steps to act with less harmful impact.

“What?” you may ask. “You want me to accept responsibility? But she did it!” That may be true, but she would not have done it without some interaction, some relationship, no matter how passing, with you. In this stage of reactive karmic clean-up, it is important to recognize your part in how things turn out. Of course, you’re not in charge of planetary rotation. But what you are in charge of is your response to the unfolding of life. That means it is important to be mindful of the following:

• What it is you say.

• Whether you react or respond.

• If you act based on your personal needs/concerns, or if you act based on the requirements of the moment.

What you say: Words have meaning. They can and do change the course of events. All words that fall from your lips have an effect on others. Therefore, be mindful of the words you use when cleaning up any karmic result. Speak as the voice of nature. Remember that your karma is nothing new. Many other people have been there too.

Reacting versus Responding: A reaction is action arising from emotion. A response is action arising from thoughtful, intentional reflection. Reacting starts with fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, and frustration. Responding starts with healthy detachment and factual analysis. Before you take action to resolve your karma, check that you are responding, not reacting. Reacting will only compound the problem, and it demonstrates that you have not accepted any form of responsibility for your actions.

Action Based on Needs: I’ve discussed this in other sections of this lesson on karma, but it bears repeating. You should be mindful of the needs in the moment and respond to them, rather than base your actions on your habit behaviors and conditioned responses. That does not mean you should neglect your needs. But you must keep in mind that it was some past action that led to the ripening of undesirable karma in the first place. A karma-neutral approach to cleaning up situations starts with recognizing what the moment requires, and it results in you noticing, “This needs doing.”

Today, take these three tenets into account as you act throughout your day. Journal about the response you get at the end of the day.

A Word to the Wise: “Good intent” and “good deeds” contribute to the accruing of positive future results. These then lead to a future with far less difficulty, strife, or suffering than is necessary. The reverse is true as well, with “negative” or “bad” intentions and actions contributing to future difficulties. And as we learned earlier in this book, those difficulties radiate throughout the world, affecting not only you, but others around you as well.

Let me break this down a bit further to clarify the meaning of “good” and “bad” in Wiccan terms, especially since these words tend to be loaded with emotional meaning that connects to many readers’ religious or moral upbringings and to feelings of judgment, harshness, and rigid rules.

In Wiccan terms, the energy involved in karma itself caries no inherent “goodness” or “badness” to it. It is neutral. But like electricity, karmic energy not handled properly can create pain, distress, or worse. Therefore, it is the form of action you take that ultimately results in particular outcomes. For Witches, “good” deeds are ones that take into consideration a wide view of life and that aim toward the affirmation of all existence. Less skilled actions are those that arise from a narrowed and constricted view, or habitual response, and they aim toward purely personal ends.

To take proactive steps in maintaining “cleaner” karma and to live a more fulfilled existence, it is important to detach from the notion that “it’s all about me.” Proactive karma control is all about living your life as an agent of this unknowable, impersonal, and never-ending flow of energy that manifests as just this moment.

Practice Days 4–5

Proactive Karmic Clean-Up: Steer Clear

What you’ll need:

• A small bottle of your favorite essential oil

One of the most intelligent things you can do is to reduce the time you spend engaging with events, people, and situations that can start the negative karmic ball rolling.

In steering clear, there are two main activities:

• Watchful Magical Eyes: In proactive karmic clean-up, it is important to be watchful of any of the behaviors you know can result
in unfavorable karma. Always ask yourself moment by moment, “What can I control here?” The answer is always the same: your response to the moment.

• Making Conscious Choices: Making conscious choices is a moment-by-moment activity requiring your absolute attention: attention to detail, to your words, to the situation itself, to the people involved. Once you address your inner responses to people and events, then changing the course of action you take is possible.

Over the next days, try the following magical action. Focus your attention so that you are able to make conscious choices that are either neutral or beneficial to each situation. Immediately after making a constructive choice, take out your bottle of essential oil and dab a little at your wrists. Lift your wrists and inhale deeply. Make up your own prayer to your patron god or goddess for strength, or recite the following, based on an ancient Egyptian prayer to Isis for creating change:

Awake, awake, awake!

Awake in peace, O Mighty One,

Ancient and beloved,

Arise thou in peace and beauty.

Arise thou in life!

Arise on the earth and in the skies;

O Mighty One, beloved of Osiris,

Goddess of many names, standing at the scales,

Arise in me with thy peace and serenity.

Practice Days 6–7

Living by Sacred Vow

Magical Purpose: Developing sacred intent.

What you’ll need:

• Paper

• Pen/pencil

• Your circle-casting tools, including thurible and self-igniting coals

• Abramelin Incense and Oil

You have already been establishing a spiritual rapport with patron deities over the past months. At this point in a Witch’s training, it is not uncommon to take up a vow that honors the preferred direction of your own life, and then live by it.

Living by personal vow means living your life with a sense of intention. By living in this way, each moment of your life is infused with spiritual energy. In fact, Witches who live their lives by their personal vow discover that over time they rely less on specific magical workings in order to create change in accord with their will. There is a kind of purity that pervades your life when living in this way that is much like a clean-burning flame. When you live with the guiding focus of personal vow, the great way (which is none other than life itself) opens up.

To start this practice, first identify what is inspiring and meaningful to you. One way of getting to this material is to imagine your own death. When someone dies, all that remains is whatever it is the person stood for. For a moment, reflect on someone who has died whose life you admired. Isn’t what the person stood for what was most important? So it should be for you.

Whatever it is that arises through this practice represents the core material for creating your vow. When engaging in this practice, know that a sacred vow, a guiding principle, is not any of the following:

• Specific outcomes, goals, or end points
(e.g., “I want to win an Academy Award.”)

• Something in the future (e.g., “In the next ten days, …”)

• Specific feelings (e.g., “I want to feel happy finally.”)

The point of this practice is to determine what you want the life you’re living to really be about right in this moment. Therefore, a sacred vow involves action you can take right now.

Begin by casting a magic circle. Then ignite a coal in your thurible, and sprinkle some of the Abramelin Incense on the hot coal. Breathe in the fumes. Anoint yourself with Abramelin Oil in the First Degree sigil. Start just below the navel, then anoint the left breast, the right breast, and back to just below the navel. Take up your athame and wand and lie in the center of the circle with your tools crossed in the Osiris position, across your chest.

Close your eyes and imagine your own funeral. Take your time to imagine the scene. Who is there? Imagine now that someone stands up to say something about your life. The person says something about you because your current karmic issues (your old habit patterns of behavior, thought, and speech) dominated your life or even grew over the course of your living. Imagine the person saying something about this unsavory life outcome. Listen carefully, then write down everything you heard. Take a moment to elaborate on what you heard. Are there other outcomes that might trouble you if things keep going the way they are right now?

Once you have done this, draw a line across the page, dividing it in half.

Now close your eyes and reimagine your funeral, but this time, when someone stands up to speak, the eulogy is about the life you lived in accord with what was most valuable to you. Imagine the person talking about what you would have wanted most to manifest in your life. After you hear what the person says, open your eyes and write this down on the second half of the page.

What you have written about in this second eulogy is what you value most. This is the raw material from which you can fashion your vow. Distill and refine what you understood into a single sentence, naming what it is you most value. To help, you could draw your own tombstone, and since there is little space on this, you have to sum up what was most valuable with brevity: “Here lies Fiona. She loved her pets with all her heart.” “Here lies Craig. He lived as freely as a bird.”

A Word to the Wise: What you find valuable, meaningful, and inspiring may change over time. You’ll know what is really valuable to you (as opposed to seemingly valuable) when you are motivated to put your body into action over it. Also, before you settle on something valuable to follow, evaluate the likelihood of each thing you find valuable by rating each one on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most likely and one being the least likely that you would find the value inspiring and meaningful across your lifetime.

Once you have discovered what you find valuable right now, take time to journal. Ask yourself:

• Is what I find valuable a surprise to me? Why?

• How long have I known or sensed what was valuable/important to me?

• What has impeded me from pursuing a life based on what holds value for me?

Practice Days 8–9

Crafting the Sacred Vow

Magical Purpose: Learn a technique for empowering your sacred vow.

What you’ll need:

• Abramelin Oil and Incense

• Thurible and self-igniting coals

• Blank paper

• A pencil with an eraser

• All of your colored inks

• A quill pen

Light the Abramelin Incense in your thurible and carry it around the room in which you’ll be working. Anoint yourself with Abramelin Oil, making the First Degree symbol: touching solar plexus first, then left breast, right breast, and solar plexus.

On your blank piece of paper, write down the sacred vow you intend to evoke in your life, based on what is most valuable to you.

Find which elemental energy aligns with your vow. You can use the following guide or your own intuition to help you determine the elemental energy that guides this vow:

Air: Vow is guided by…

Thoughts, ideas, communication, speaking, planning, teaching, divination, higher learning, study, information, writing, opinions, data, knowledge, etc.

Fire: Vow is guided by…

Power, energy, drive, will, motivation, initiative, courage, strength, physical activity, physical drives, passion, sexuality, force, commitment, focus, intention, vitality, progress, health, etc.

Water: Vow is guided by…

Dreams, visions, fantasy, love, emotions, gentility, compassion, joy, empathy, devotion, aspirations, flow, tides, currents, etc.

Earth: Vow is guided by…

Matter, foundation, sensuality, the five senses, luxury, money, fine things, sensibility, fortune, luck, groundedness, the dead, stability, even-tempered, anchoring, weight, inner strength, silence, etc.

Spirit: Vow is guided by…

Intuition, wisdom, spiritual enlightenment, insight, vision, unity, belonging, wholeness, goodness, cosmic harmony, healing, spirits, the universe.

Once you have a sense of the elemental force governing your vow, use your pencil to create a pentacle, like those from the Key of Solomon, that incorporates traditional imagery, symbols, God and Goddess names, and other things that are associated with the elemental power.

Once you have this, on a second piece of paper, use your colored ink to draw the image more permanently: yellow for air, red for fire, blue for water, green for earth, and purple or black for spirit.

After you are done, extinguish the incense and store the inked symbol (perhaps in a plastic page protector) for later use.

Practice Days 10–11

Aligning Your Vows to the Directions

Magical Purpose: Connecting your daily sacred vow to the five elements.

What you’ll need:

• Abramelin Oil and Incense

• Thurible and self-igniting coal

• Paper

• Pen

Light the Abramelin Incense in your thurible and take it around your room, starting and ending in the east. Anoint yourself with Abramelin Oil in the sign of the First Degree.

Although your vow may align specifically with one element, it takes all five elements within a day to express the vow. Looking at the elemental guidelines given here, create five statements that represent concrete actions you can take each day as manifestations of the vow, based on each of the elemental energies.

For example, if I crafted a vow such as “I will promote harmony,” I would then look at each of the elemental energies (in the descriptions that follow) and see how I might act on/manifest this vow. For air, I might write a statement such as, “I will speak in ways that promote harmony.” For fire, I might say, “I will live in harmony with my sexual drive.” For water, I might write, “I will promote inner harmony with my emotions.” For earth, I could say, “I will promote harmony with how I spend money.” For spirit, I might write, “I will take action based on my understanding of the wholeness of each situation.”

Come up with your own ways of manifesting your sacred vow that make sense to you, for your life. You will use these five statements in tomorrow’s ceremony.

Air: Vow is guided by…

Thoughts, ideas, communication, speaking, planning, teaching, divination, higher learning, study, information, writing, opinions, data, knowledge, education, intelligence, judgment, know-how, dexterity, ingenuity, belief, etc.

Fire: Vow is guided by…

Power, energy, drive, will, motivation, initiative, courage, strength, physical activity, physical drives, passion, sexuality, force, commitment, focus, intention, vitality, progress, health, fortitude, ego, pride, humor, confidence, etc.

Water: Vow is guided by…

Dreams, visions, fantasy, love, emotions, gentility, compassion, joy, empathy, devotion, aspirations, flow, tides, currents, gratitude, adaptability, flexibility, imagination, grace, humanity, kindness, charity, etc.

Earth: Vow is guided by…

Matter, foundation, sensuality, the five senses, luxury, money, fine things, sensibility, fortune, luck, groundedness, the dead, stability, even-tempered, anchoring, weight, inner strength, silence, etc.

Spirit: Vow is guided by…

Intuition, wisdom, spiritual enlightenment, insight, vision, unity, belonging, wholeness, goodness, cosmic harmony, healing, spirits, clarity, simplicity, balance, affirmation, vastness, all-encompassing, the universe.

At the end of the exercise, draw a pentagram and place the guiding words for each element at the corresponding points on the pentagram (see illustration in days 10–11 of the ninth lunation for more information about the elemental points of the pentagram). After this, journal about these questions:

• Have I ever lived my life according to a specific vow or vision? If I did, but have now stopped, why is that?

• What might my life look like if I were to try living by my sacred vow now?

• If I live by my vow, how might my life be different than it is today?

Practice Days 12–13

Rituale Quatuor Uota

Magical Purpose: Ceremony for taking the personal vow.

What you’ll need:

• Abramelin Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools, including the white-handled knife

• The pentacle you made symbolizing your vow

• The four statements representing how you will manifest your vow in the four directions

• A pillar candle representing the elemental energy of your vow: yellow for air, red for fire, blue for water, and green for earth

For this working, you will intone the words on the famous Sator Square (see illustration). The Sator spell is one of the earliest examples of a magic square. The oldest of these Sator spells was unearthed during excavations of Pompeii and dates back to the first century CE.12

The words in this magic square are said to have the following meanings:

SATOR—Of Latin origin, meaning “founder.”

AREPO—The origin of this word is unknown, and could represent a proper name. However, it bears similarity to the Latin arrepo, meaning “I creep” (to move forward slowly).

Sator Square

TENET—It is suspected that this word comes from the Latin teneo, which means “to hold”
or “to keep.”

OPERA—Derived from the Latin opus, which means “a work,” perhaps referring to magical works or deeds.

ROTAS—Derived from the Latin rota, which means “wheel.”

The individual words put together do not seem to amount to much or even hold together as a cohesive magical whole. But the Sator spell has held the popular imagination, especially for contemporary magical workers. Witches typically interpret the Sator spell as one they can use for protection. For our purposes, we will be creating protection or fortification around your new vow (although I am certain you can think of other creative ways to use this spell in future workings).

Finally, you will use another known yet likely made-up magical formulation from the ancient world. The three words that make up the spell are all forms of wordplay with the Latin rex, meaning “king.” Thus, in Wiccan magic we are invoking the Horned God in his father or protector aspect. The words are Erex, Arex, and Rymex.13

To begin, before you cast your circle, cover the magical pentacle you just created on days 10–11 with a piece of silk (or any other cloth; however, silk provides a natural psychic barrier). Cast your magic circle, using the Abramelin Incense for all blessings in the circle. Use the Abramelin Oil for consecrating yourself in the names of the Goddess and the God.

Remove the cloth from your pentacle and consecrate the image with fire and air (the incense), then water and earth (sprinkle the image very lightly with your blessed salt/water, taking care not to smudge the image). Take it to the east and draw an invoking air pentagram with this image:

Air-Invoking Pentagram

As you draw the air-invoking pentagram, slowly intone this word:

Sator (pronounced Say-tor)

Go to the south of the circle and use the image to draw a fire-invoking pentagram:

Fire-Invoking Pentagram

As you do so, intone this word:

Arepo (pronounced Are-ay-poh)

Go to the west of the circle and use the image to draw a water-invoking pentagram:

Water-Invoking Pentagram

While you do so, intone:

Tenet (pronounced Ten-et)

Take the image to the north and use it to draw an earth-invoking pentagram:

Earth-Invoking Pentagram

While doing so, intone this name:

Opera (pronounced Oh-pear-ah)

Take the image to the altar, and above the altar pentacle, use the image to draw a spirit-active-invoking pentagram:

Spirit-Active-Invoking Pentagram

While you do so, intone:

Rotas (pronounced Row-tas)

Use the Abramelin Oil to consecrate the outer perimeter of the magical image. Take the magical image to the east, hold it up, and say:

I summon thee up, by the power of air!

Bear witness, Mighty Ones, as I vow
to ________________.

(State your vow as it aligns with the element of air.)

Go to the south, hold the magical image up, and say:

I summon thee up, by the power of fire!

Bear witness, Mighty Ones, as I vow
to ________________.

(State your vow as it aligns with the element of fire.)

Go to the west, hold the magical image up, and say:

I summon thee up, by the power of water!

Bear witness, Mighty Ones, as I vow
to ________________.

(State your vow as it aligns with the element of water.)

Go to the north, hold the magical image up, and say:

I summon thee up, by the power of earth!

Bear witness, Mighty Ones, as I vow
to ________________.

(State your vow as it aligns with the element of earth.)

Go back to the altar and set the pentacle image on the altar pentacle. Hold your hands in the Mother magical pass and say:

I summon thee up, by the power of spirit!

Bear witness, Mighty Ones, as I vow
to ________________.

(State your vow as it aligns with the element of spirit.)

Consecrate your pillar candle with air/fire, then water/earth, and finally smear it with Abramelin Oil. When you are done, light the candle and place it atop the pentacle image you created. Close your eyes and imagine the pentacle glowing with energy. As you do so, say:

Hear me, Mighty Ones, as I take this vow,

Guide my actions day and night,

And bless your holy priest/ess.

Erex, Arex, Rymex!

Arex, Rymex, Erex!

Rymex, Erex, Arex!

Bless ye now what is here begun!

Leave the candle to burn on the image during cakes and wine (keeping an eye on it for safety, of course) in order to continue to magically charge the pentacle.

Following cakes and wine, close the circle. Put the magical pentacle in a place of prominence in your home so you can see it each day as a reminder of living by your sacred vow.

At the end of the rite, take time to journal:

• If I live by my own personal vow, will my life still include the people I have in it today?

• What roadblocks might I anticipate if I were to try living my life by my sacred vow?

• In anticipating roadblocks, what actions might I take to circumvent them?

Practice Days 14–15

Full Moon Ceremony

For this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your ceremony:

• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)

• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon

• Drawing Down the Moon

• Aspecting the Goddess and speaking her words

• Reading the Charge of the Goddess

• Select a meditation as your main working.

12. See Carlos Pérez-Rubín, Las Ruinas Enterradas de Pompeya y un Antiguo Ejemplar Enigmático de Epigrafía Fortuita Romana [The Sunken Ruins of Pompeii and an Age-Old Enigmatic Specimen of Roman Incidental Epigraphy], Documenta & Instrumenta (2004), 173–192, http://pendientedemigracion.ucm
.es/info/documen/articulos/art_segunda/art_rubin.pdf.

13. Paul Allan Mirecki and Marvin W. Meyer, eds., Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World (Boston, MA: Brill Academic Publications, 2002), p. 121.

[contents]

Seventh Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Practice Days 16–17

Exorcism

Magical Purpose: Learning about exorcism and putting the techniques to use.

Dion Fortune, mystic and influential figure in the revival of the Western Mystery Tradition (which includes Wicca), wrote several early works on magical practice after her time with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1919. In one of her most influential works, Psychic Self-Defense, Fortune lays out the ground rules for understanding and dealing with what she calls the “subtle forces which are the basis of psychic attack.”

Here are Fortune’s exact words:

“We have very little exact knowledge of these subtle forces ... but we have good reason to believe that in their nature, they are closely analogous to electricity. They are not inanimate forces, however, but have in their nature something that is akin to life, though of a low type.” 14

A psychic attack is when unwanted energetic vibrations enter a person or an object and negatively affect energy, mind, and body. These attacks can occur for several reasons:

• Someone has either consciously or unconsciously directed harmful, destructive, or malevolent thoughts in your direction, thus mobilizing an unwanted energetic field.

• You spend time either consciously or unconsciously mobilizing and directing unwanted, harmful energies toward others.

Here are some signs of a psychic attack in all three stages—early, middle, and late. In addition, I have listed some other reasons why you or others you know might be experiencing this difficulty. In the end, only you can tell if the symptoms are those of a psychic attack.

Possible Early Stage Signs of Psychic Attack

Differential Possibilities

Sleep disturbances that are atypical for you.

This is common. There are many reasons why people have trouble sleeping. Don’t let this worry you. Think in terms of the frequency of sleep disturbances as a sign of psychic attack. Also, if you have anxiety, depression, or a diagnosis of any other mood disorder (even a mild one), chances are you will have trouble sleeping.

Early Stage Psychic Attack and Differential Possibilities

Possible Early Stage Signs of Psychic Attack

Differential Possibilities

Nightmares.

Everyone gets nightmares. Consider the frequency of the nightmares. Also consider the circumstances of your current life. Are there precipitating life factors that might explain the nightmares, such as moving, changes, marriages, births, deaths, etc.?

Feeling depleted of energy for no apparent reason.

This may have a medical basis, even if you do not suspect one. See a doctor first.

Intrusive, negative thoughts when your life seems to be going just fine.

This is an unusual one. But remember that unconscious material is always bubbling below the surface of awareness. Sometimes working intensely with a spiritual practice (such as Wicca) can bring “unwanted” material up from the unconscious.

Suddenly changing your career, losing a job unexpectedly, or an unanticipated divorce or separation.

These things may not be as “unexpected” as you may think. Consider your past history with work and with relationships. Consider world events such as economic recession and other global factors that regularly influence work situations.

Divorce and separation are not entirely a surprise. Among adults who have been married, recent studies show that one third (33%) have experienced at least one divorce. I say this not to put the kibosh on your relationship hopes and dreams, but to introduce some statistical facts before you start worrying about psychic attack.

Chronic difficulties with concentration.

Life is distracting, especially if you live in a big city. Even if you don’t, with the Internet come innumerable distraction possibilities. Think of these first before considering psychic attack.

Panic attacks when you’ve never had one before.

It is possible to have an unforeseen panic attack with no previous history of the disorder. See a physician promptly, as there may be underlying medical considerations.

Difficulties with completing daily activities, with no apparent cause.

There may be an evolving emotional health condition such as anxiety, depression, or others.

Early Stage Psychic Attack and Differential Possibilities (continued)

Possible Middle Stage Signs of Psychic Attack

Differential Possibilities

Physical maladies that have no apparent basis in biological pathology.

Just because a doctor does not know right now what it is that is causing your symptoms does not necessarily mean you are experiencing a psychic attack. Think of chronic fatigue syndrome and how long it took the medical establishment to accept the symptom picture as that of a genuine malady. Additionally, some people convert emotional pain into actual physical ailments; thus, the etiology is not a traceable pathogen.

Unexplained headaches, dizziness, or vomiting.

See a physician right away.

Sudden and unexplainable depression.

See a physician and a behavioral health clinician right away to rule out any physical possibilities.

Feeling as though someone is watching you from the shadows, especially when you are alone.

Sometimes sensitive magical practitioners can “feel” energies moving through their home. Do not become automatically alarmed that you can sense these things, especially since you are on the Wiccan path. Energetic sensitivity is likely to increase for you, given time and magical practice.

Middle Stage Psychic Attack and Differential Possibilities

Possible Late Stage Signs of Psychic Attack

Differential Possibilities

Unexplained sounds, smells, or seeing things from the corner of your eye, especially in your home.

Check your home for animals of all kinds, plumbing problems, window problems, and structural stability issues. I once moved into a home that was “completely remodeled.” Soon after moving in, the bedroom began to smell horrible. There was no apparent reason for the stench. Finally, I asked someone to open the wall, and there we found mounds of raccoon droppings. Evidently, the home had sat vacant for months before it was remodeled rather hastily, with no one investigating the unusual house smells. Sometimes phenomena that we think are supernatural turn out to have a very natural basis.

Animals avoiding your home or you when they never did before.

Sometimes an animal may make a reactive association with you for no known reason. It is true that animals can be sensitive to energetic changes, but they are also very basic creatures that respond to operant conditioning. An animal may avoid something it associates (for its own reasons) with pain, discomfort, or fear.

Late Stage Psychic Attack and Differential Possibilities

Possible Late Stage Signs of Psychic Attack

Differential Possibilities

Previously supportive people are no longer available to you.

Have you withdrawn? Have you not been a good friend? Look at your own behavioral pattern first before jumping to belief in a psychic attack.

Feeling isolated from everyone.

Check the reality of this. It is truly rare that anyone is actually isolated. Feeling as though you are isolated is another matter altogether, and can have a basis in your personal history, your family, your culture, and your attitude toward others.

Feeling as though you want to commit suicide, but you still cannot discern any root cause for the feelings.

See a physician promptly and do not act on the destructive urge.

Late Stage Psychic Attack and Differential Possibilities (continued)

What is most important when discerning if the phenomenon you’re experiencing is due to psychic attack or other causes is the quantity and the intensity of the signs. Psychic attack can happen, and it is not as uncommon as you might think. Luckily, you will learn some techniques that can help.

Practice Days 18–19

Exorcism: Cleansing Objects and Clothing

Magical Purpose: Starting the spiritual cleansing process.

What you’ll need:

• A pendulum

• A shovel

• An area of soil somewhere near your home

While you may not be under spiritual attack at the moment, there is no harm in cleansing your home and belongings proactively.

The energies involved in a spiritual attack can “infect” a person’s home and physical belongings. The infection may not be spread across your entire home, nor will it always pertain to all of your belongings. So it will be up to you to determine what may carry energies harmful to you and what remains neutral.

Use a pendulum for the procedure of determining potentially unwanted energies. Begin by taking the pendulum outside and allowing it to dangle from your index finger and thumb. Hold the pendulum over neutral things in nature, such as rocks, tree roots, grass, leaves, etc., to get a sense of how the pendulum responds to these natural, neutral phenomena first. This will give you a baseline for pendulum responses to neutral objects and environments.

Then take the pendulum inside your dwelling and dangle it in rooms or over suspected “infected” clothing or objects. You will likely see a different pendulum response. You should interpret any pendulum response that differs from that shown in neutral, natural settings as an affirmation of the presence of unwanted energies.

Your first step is to quarantine any “spiritually infected” objects or article of clothing by first moving all such items to a room in your home that you determine (using the pendulum method) is already active with unwanted energy.

Next, using a shovel, upturn some soil near your home and lay all clothing and objects with unwanted energies on top of the soil. Allow them to sit on the freshly turned soil and in the open air and sunshine/moonlight for three days. This allows for neutralization of the objects and clothing.

Following this, launder all of your clothing and wash all items that were infected. Once your washing is complete, place the clean clothing in any area of the home that does not harbor unwanted energy. Also, place all neutralized objects in a neutral area of your home. For larger objects, like furniture, please follow the instructions on days 20–21.

Practice Days 20–21

Exorcism: Protecting Yourself
While You Sleep

Magical Purpose: Learn a magical method of ensuring that you are not attacked while sleeping.

What you’ll need:

• Your circle-casting tools

• First Pentacle of Saturn

• First Pentacle of Saturn candle (from the second lunation)

• Saturn Incense

It will be particularly important to protect the bed in which you sleep each night if you are the subject of an unwanted spiritual invasion. Of course, just as you did with your clothing and other objects, you will want to wash all of the bedding first. Cast the circle as usual, but for your circle-casting incense, use the Saturn Incense you made earlier in the year’s training.

Place the previously blessed First Pentacle of Saturn (the one on paper) under your pillow, and place the First Pentacle of Saturn pillar candle on a nightstand near your head, where you can see it at all times during the night. For objects like furniture, cast a circle around the object, then place the First Pentacle of Saturn directly on it. Light the pillar candle and place it near or on the affected object. Stay with this for a while, until you sense some vibratory change. Once you do, close the circle, extinguish the candle, and leave the pentacle on the larger object overnight.

A Word to the Wise: It is never safe to allow a candle to burn in your home while you are asleep. This is doubly unsafe given the possibility of a spiritual attack. Burn the candle only while you are awake, and extinguish it before sleeping. As an alternative to using fire, place an electronic tealight on top of the candle. This method works well, and you can obviously allow an electronic tealight to flicker throughout the night.

Even if you do not have an active spiritual/energetic disruption in your home, this is an excellent proactive step you should try tonight. You may unexpectedly discover that you sleep better.

The frequency of reestablishing the circle around your bed may vary. Over my years of practice, I have heard everything from the need to re-cast the circle twice each day (once at dawn and once at dusk), to recasting the circle only once every twenty-eight days, at the full moon. It really is up to you. Again, during this Second Degree year of training, it is important to develop your psychic senses and tune in to the subtle energetics of your home, your work, and the people around you. To that end, it will be a matter of personal preference as to the timing of your circle recast.

Practice Days 22–24

Exorcism: Out with the Bad,
In with the Good

Magical Purpose: Driving away unwanted spirits.

What you’ll need:

• Athame

• Chalice

• Purified water

• Salt

• A fresh bunch of rue (alternatives include a fresh bunch of any of the following: angelica, basil, blessed thistle, sage, or hyssop)

• Distilled vinegar

• Fresh whole onions (one for each room in which you’ve sensed unwanted energies)

• Bowls (one for each room of your home)

If an unwanted spiritual manifestation persists following proper and prudent measures, you should proceed to more direct measures of casting out the unwanted energies.

The ancients of Old Europe would drive away evil spirits with the aid of water drawn from sacred springs or wells. Some customs consisted of drinking sacred waters to drive away evil. Other ancient customs from both Ireland and Wales for seeking cures from maladies thought to be caused by bad spirits included offering pins, coins, buttons, pebbles, and other small objects to sacred waters.15

This information is important when considering Fortune’s initial recommendations for dealing with spirit attacks. She recommends first to take the afflicted person from his or her dwelling and cross a body of running water. This recommendation, likely rooted in many of the examples of Old Ways I’ve described, is effective. Fortune explains that since the spirits involved in spiritual attacks are generally of a lower-voltage nature, you can easily loose or disrupt their engagement simply by take an afflicted person across running water, which, in Fortune’s estimation, short-circuits the connection these spiritual energies have developed.

If you are like me and live in an area where a body of running water is not readily available, then there are other operations using water that can help deflect a negative spirit infestation. One is to draw a bath and bless it, as you would normally bless water for casting a circle. Add to it consecrated salt (just as you would for circle casting). Bathe in these waters for a time while meditating. Fortune describes the energy field you enter while meditating as “pure spirit,” which is intolerable to lower-voltage energies.

These many months of working with meditation practice will come in handy for you if you are the one experiencing the spiritual attack. Fortune does not make any specific recommendations for a meditation format, and neither will I. Choose any meditation format with which you feel comfortable. But after you begin meditating, make sure you engage your concentration and mindfulness for at least 20–30 minutes.

Following this, dress in the clothes you freshly laundered in the previous days’ working. Using your chalice, bless more fresh water, and to this add one small “scoop” (only a trace amount) of salt, using only the tip of your athame. Bless the salt and water, just as you do when casting a circle. Next, using an aspergillum of fresh rue, sprinkle the salted water around you in a clockwise manner.

Using your athame, draw banishing earth pentagrams in all four directions, starting in the east. While doing so, recite the following:

In the Names which are above all names,

By the power of the Great Mother and the Horned Lord,

I exorcise thee, thou seeds of evil,

I cast out from this space all that I do not seek;

I lay upon thee the spell of the Triple Goddess:

By Hecate and Hel,

By Sophia and Sekhmet,

By Inanna and Rhiannon,

And the countless names of power,

By the full moon and buckled horn,

Come, ye holy Goddess,

Cast out what is impure.

I lay upon thee the spell of the Triple God;

By Arawyn and Anubis,

By Beli and Balor,

By Osiris and Oghma,

And the countless names of power,

By the sun, hoof and horn,

Come, ye holy God,

Cast out what is impure!

Asperge the space once more. Dip the fresh rue in the saltwater and sprinkle it in all directions. Then drink the remaining water.

Practice Days 25–26

Exorcism: Finishing Touches

Magical Purpose: Using other methods to ward off harm.

What you’ll need:

• A fresh onion (one for each previously infected room)

• Distilled white vinegar

• Salt

• Small bowls or containers

According to Dion Fortune, onions have a particularly absorptive power when it comes to dealing with unwanted psychic energies. Magical workers employ the following technique using onions and vinegar following exorcism workings to absorb any remaining infectious energies.

For this technique, place one fresh onion in every room (or space, such as hallways, closets, entryways, etc.) in which you have sensed an unwanted spiritual visitation. Make sure that you split each onion in half. This technique may leave a bit of an onion smell in your home for a short while, but it is a relatively small price to pay.

Next, put ¼ cup distilled white vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt in each small bowl or container, and place these in every space where you’ve sensed an unwanted spiritual visitation.

Allow the onions and the vinegar bowls to sit for at least twelve hours, preferably overnight if you can sleep with the odors. Once the twelve hours have elapsed, collect the onions and bowls of vinegar, setting them aside for the next days’ practice.

Make sure your bedding is freshly cleaned and replaced. Finally, change the direction of your bedroom furniture for the time being. Rearranging the furniture stimulates a fresh energy in your bedroom. As you consider the placement of the bed, make sure you set things up so that when you lie down, your head points in the opposite direction of its previous position. This means that if your head was originally pointing north, now it should point south.

Know that even though you have taken these and other measures, it may still take time for unwanted spiritual influences to subside. Be patient, knowing that these procedures are helping to restore balance and spiritual healing to your home and your own energy field.

Even if you have not experienced any psychic attacks and are simply following these procedures for the sake of following the year and a day of practice, know that these measures will help to establish a magical energetic shield in your home.

Practice Days 27–28

Exorcism: Neutralize

Magical Purpose: Learn one more technique that neutralizes lingering energies.

What you’ll need:

• The onions and bowls of vinegar/salt from the previous days’ magical working

• A fire pit or barbeque

• Salt

• Water

• Chalice and athame

Today, you will destroy any remaining energies that have been absorbed by the onions and vinegar. Start by lighting a fire in either a fire pit or a barbeque. Make sure you use either many coals or plenty of wood. Place the collected onions from yesterday’s working in the fire. Let them sizzle and burn until they are charred completely.

Pour the bowls of vinegar/salt into a single larger vessel that you can transport safely without spilling. Bring this, along with the charred onions, your chalice and athame, a container of fresh water, and a small quantity of fresh salt, to where you previously upturned the soil near your home.

At the upturned soil site, dig a small hole and bury the charred onions. Over this, pour the vinegar/salt. Bury these completely. Pour water into your chalice and consecrate it, just as you would for your usual circle casting. Bless your salt in the same manner. Place three scoops of salt in the water and stir together.

Holding your athame between your two hands, use the knife tip to trace four elemental banishing pentagrams on top of the soil: one for air, fire, water, and then earth.

Finally, pour the blessed saltwater on the ground at the center of the pentagrams. Walk away and do not look back.

14. Dion Fortune, Psychic Self-Defense (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1992), p. 174.

15. See, for example, W. Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988).

[contents]

Eighth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

A Word to the Wise: Please note that there will be a Moon-Wise retreat schedule in effect at the start of the ninth lunation. Take time now to look at your schedule to find time for your participation in this important spiritual activity.

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

Now that you are starting your eighth lunation, it is likely that by now you’ve had at least one experience of boredom with some of your practices. This may be especially true on days like today, where you find yourself challenged to stand steadfast within the purifying fires of silence.

The experience of boredom is a common one shared by all. But is it necessary? Does it say something about your own practice? And is there anything you can do about it?

The experience of boredom is one particularly common to humans because of our unique cognitive capacity to compare and contrast. Psychologist Steven Hayes says that humans linguistically and relationally frame together ideas, memories, sensations, and more.

One of the most common frames that we share is that of comparison. All of us learn the relationships between such ideas as better/worse, more/less, strong/weak, etc. But through no fault of our own, the same frames that serve to inform us can become the basis for real suffering.

If you unconsciously tie together opposing ideas such as better and worse, beautiful and ugly, etc., you are primed for misery. How? Say, for example, that on a birthday or during the winter holidays when you are supposed to feel happy, you suddenly find yourself feeling the opposite, which is sad. Or that when you are supposed to be doing an activity that relaxes the body, your heart beats fast, your breathing becomes shallow, and you suddenly find yourself feeling anxious.

Thus, boredom is a comment that the mind makes as it compares silence to other experiences that you have labeled “fun,” “exciting,” “interesting,” etc. The inner comment of boredom says to you, “This is not enough,” or “I want more from this experience.” Boredom may even build until it is a light form of anxiety in the body, which can be uncomfortable.

If you are truly attuned to the moment, to the life that is unfolding in this moment, then there is no such thing as real boredom. Silence is an opportunity to openly and fully engage with what goes on around you as well as inside of you.

The question I pose to you today is: Can you be present through boredom without attempting to manage either the circumstance or the feeling? Can you bring awareness to any feelings of boredom, any secret wishes that things would be more exciting, livelier, or more stimulating? Nothing more is needed from you for this process except simple awareness.

By questioning your boredom in this way, you disrupt the gravitational pull of habitual thinking. In this way, you free up channels of magical empowerment, no matter the circumstances of your life. You can choose a response to life’s circumstances, as magical folk do, rather than allow life’s circumstances to dictate which habit pattern you’ll exhibit.

The Witch’s magical path is not about seeking the safe (and limiting) haven of habits. It is about learning how to be alive, fully and freely, as you traverse this world. And from that aliveness, unimaginable stores of magical power flow forth.

Second Immutable Axiom

Direction:

Southeast

Power:

The power of unity

Season:

Late spring

Festival:

Beltane

Theme:

The interdependence of life

Date:

May 1

Axiom:

A practitioner of the Old Ways lives with an intimate knowledge of life’s vast and inextricable interconnections.

In Vedic mythology, “Indra’s net” is a magical net that hangs over Indra’s palace on Mount Meru. In the myth, Indra’s net has a multifaceted jewel at each vertex, and each jewel is reflected in all of the other jewels. Hindus use the image of Indra’s net to describe the mystical understanding of the interconnectedness of the universe. It describes the interpenetration of the microcosm (your personal experience in life) and macrocosm (the bigger life experience, shared by all).

Indra’s net serves as a metaphor for the magical axiom spoken of in the hermetic Emerald Tablet: “That which is below corresponds to that which is above, and that which is above corresponds to that which is below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing.” In other words, all things connect to one another. (Interestingly, the connections occur throughout all time and space.) Nothing is left out. No one and nothing is truly separate or alone in this magical view.

The Wiccan sabbat of Beltane focuses on the principle of interconnectedness. On May 1, this Witches’ celebration falls directly between the spring equinox and summer solstice, acting as an interconnected link between the two seasons. No single Wiccan sabbat sits in isolation. Each links to the next and usually references the one that precedes it (if not all of the others in the Wheel of the Year in one way or another). And all eight of the Witches’ sabbats are single interlinked units serving as a model for the interconnected stages of human life: birth, youth, maturity, old age, and death.

Witches incorporate many ancient customs that symbolize the interconnectedness of things. The ancient magical folk of Great Brittan and Europe would make pilgrimages to the holy wells first visited at Imbolc, thus linking one great Goddess festival to the next.

The lighting of bonfires also played a significant role in the Beltane customs from ancient days to present. The ancients would drive herds of cattle between bonfires, making sure they were enveloped in the fire’s ash and smoke. And folks would extinguish their home fires and relight them from a village’s central bonfire.

Bonfires serve as a great illustration of interdependence. A bonfire has three linked elements: wood, fire, and ash. All three are separate states. Firewood remains as such until there is friction, heat, and flame. When firewood burns, it remains in this state until all of it is consumed. All that remains is ash. Ash cannot become firewood again, nor can it become fire. All three states appear to be separate, yet the stage of ash is dependent on the state of fire, which is reliant upon firewood. None of these elements or states exists without the others. Similarly, life’s cycles move forward in links, spiraling in one direction, with each component of the cycle depending on another.

The ancient celebrations of Beltane, which marked the beginning of the summer season in the ancient world, were important for herdsmen. Beltane was the official time to drive herd animals to the fields for pasturing. And going even further back in time, the beginning of summer marked the beginning of the hunting season, linking together the herd animals, food, and human survival.16

At Beltane, Witches use sexual imagery and action to symbolize the links between us all. In the Charge of the Goddess, particularly the version penned by Doreen Valiente, the Goddess states that all acts of love and pleasure are the Goddess’s rituals. Rather than a call to hedonism, Valiente’s well-crafted poetry is a call for each of us to consider how all things connect, and to see that through recognizing and living within these interlinking connections it is possible to attain the natural state of grace, joy, or “pleasure.”

Once you stop living as though you are isolated, as though your life is completely your own, you can finally set aside behaviors that erode the fundamental nature of life. Yes, you and I are separate entities expressing ourselves through this existence. But in a fundamental sense, you and I are also expressing the same source, the same energy. And so is the chair in which you sit. And so is the dog barking across the street. And the garbage. And the flowers. Everything.

In fact, the whole cosmos is radiant with infinite magical action when you have your inner spiritual eyes opened to the experience of interconnection. Seeing life in this way reveals the folly of living with separations, as is our custom in the Western world. In the common mind, there are separations between the natural world and the people in it, between the animals that are domestic and those that are wild, between the state of our minds and the influx of emotions, between our emotions and our behavior, between science and spiritual insight. The list of dichotomies that live only in our minds is endless. Meanwhile, reality shows us another thing. The lines are blurry. The field in which we all exist is messy.

Perhaps it is wise to listen to the words of Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet, who advised: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” In order to live life through a unified view, it is important to check your personal and culturally shaped views at the door. In opening to a unified field of life, a natural joy floods through you.

Why? Because it becomes easier to see that you are not alone, nor were you ever. You are linked to it all. Each of us is a sparkling jewel in Indra’s net, reflecting all of the others.

It is a natural expression of the divine to reach out, to seek connection in this life. And when you live in accord with this immutable magical axiom, you invoke the joy of the Gods and welcome a deluge of natural grace into your life.

Practice Days 2–4

Power of Unity Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: The Power of Unity Incense
is potent for bringing about insights and clarity of mind to see the unity in all things. Witches also use this blend to bless the altar and the participants in Beltane rituals. It is also burned during the Great Rite (ritual sexual union).

Power of Unity Incense

What you’ll need:

• Choose one of the woods that best suits your personal energies and spiritual aims.

Sacred Wood

Purposes

Birch

Grace, feminine principle, growth, development, happiness, visions, sorcery, unadorned daily work, hardiness, resilience

Rowan

The arts of all kinds, spinning, weaving, smithing, protection, spirit invocation, divination, healing

Ash

Peace, healing, enchantments, transformation, resolution, mystic understanding, death and rebirth, Mother Goddess, shamanic flight

Alder

Blending male/female principles, links to fairies, mysteries revealed, offerings to gods

Willow

Healing arts, magic, cosmic birth, spiritual awakening, inspiration, purification, potential

Hawthorn

Beauty, growth, love, sexuality, relationships, gateway to the otherworld, healing, wishes

Oak

Strength, life, depth, blessing, protection, solidity, temperance, wisdom, Provider aspects of the God energies

Holly

Growth, fertility, renewal, hope, luck, male principle

Hazel

Wisdom, maturity, knowledge of other worlds, prophecy, visions, trances, sacred knowledge, spiritual devotion

Elder

Magic, women’s mysteries, the Crone, darkness, protection, elves and unseen magical creatures

Apple

Love, kindness, beauty, youth, generosity, relationships, magic, Witchcraft, fairies, healing, women’s mysteries

Yew

Reincarnation, past lives, karma, law, speech, higher learning, mysteries

Sacred Woods and Their Purposes

A Word to the Wise: In Wicca: A Year and a Day, you learned about many of the woods listed here, along with some of their basic magical properties and planetary alignments. The current list expands upon that basic knowledge.

• 1 teaspoon of each wood you choose to use

• 3 teaspoons dried rosemary

• Handful of dried rose petals

• 10 drops meadowsweet essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the meadowsweet essential oil to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scent from the essential oil and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Power of Unity Oil

Like the incense, the Power of Unity Oil ushers in clarity of mind to see unity in all things. Witches also use this blend to anoint the altar as well as the participants in Beltane rituals. Anoint both of the willing adult participants in the Great Rite with this magical oil blend.

What you’ll need:

• 4 drops meadowsweet essential oil

• 3 drops apple essential oil

• 2 drops rosemary essential oil

• Pinch of dried rosemary

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.

Practice Days 5–7

Finding Your Sacred Trees

Magical Purpose: Making interconnections with nature’s wise old ancestors.

There are many trees sacred to the folks of Old Europe. But, as you know from your practice thus far, sacredness abounds. The trees that Druids and Pagan folk found sacred were likely so because of their observed qualities: their tendency to survive, to remain green in harsh conditions, to produce beautiful flowers, to grow wild near sacred locations, etc.

Due to weather and soil conditions, many of the trees deemed sacred to our distant magical ancestors may not be growing in our neighborhoods. This means you will have to do as Witches across the ages have, and “act locally.”

All trees express the energies of the natural environment in which they live. Some are hardy because they live in harsh terrain or climates. Some are fragrant, and some seem regal.

Today, go out into your neighborhood and find trees that appeal to you. Research them. Find out what makes them special. Is one pest-resistant? Or fire-resistant? Or maybe there’s a tree that has survived a lightning strike. When you find one that especially calls your attention, spend some time with it. Sit beneath it. Breathe in its aroma, and touch the leaves and bark.

Once you experience the tree through your senses, find a comfortable sitting position at the base of the tree, with your back against the trunk. Close your eyes and imagine that your spine fuses with the tree trunk and that your body sinks into the base of the tree. Feel your body lengthen as your head becomes the leafy or branchy crown.

As you sit in unity with the tree, ask it to reveal its powers. What are they? Ask about the planet with which it aligns. Ask about sacred colors, aromas, and sounds that are part of the tree’s energies. Listen deeply.

When you have your responses, write them down in your journal. Trees are wise old survivors of the planet, and it has been my experience that on occasion they don’t readily give up their secrets. It might be best to try this procedure more than once, and on different days.

A Word to the Wise: Please note that there are two sets of activities for you on practice days 5–7.

Practice Days 5–7

Harvesting from Your Sacred Trees

Magical Purpose: Learning how to harvest while honoring the dignity of trees.

What you’ll need:

• A small amount of wine

• A 12-inch cutting from an old piece of your clothing

• Your chalice and athame

• Power of Unity Incense and Oil

• Thurible or incense burner

• Self-igniting charcoal (and something with which to light it)

• Your tree-pruning tools

You will be needing wood from your sacred tree for upcoming activities. The next days’ practice is about how Witches harvest sacred woods. Wiccan lore says that the Witch should cut wood intended for a sacred purpose from a living tree branch. This practice ensures that the limb retains the tree’s magical qualities. The practice in the upcoming days requires burning the wood, which will not be likely, given that freshly harvested wood typically contains too much moisture. However, if you collect a single branch from your sacred tree, you can add this to a larger bonfire.

There are practical branch-harvesting considerations that Witches would be wise to consider. Use proper tools, such as shears, loppers, and a pruning saw. For harvesting, choose only a smaller branch rather than a large limb. Try to find a branch that is no more than 1–2 inches thick. When making your first cut in the branch, do so just outside the branch collar, which aids the tree in sealing the wound quickly. Make the first cut on the underside of the branch, about five inches from the branch collar.

I no longer endorse using a pruning salve on the limb cut, as this may promote microorganisms and fungal growth. Trees have their own built-in healing mechanism to handle wounds.

Harvesting Sacred Woods Rite

Find a piece of clothing that you no longer need and snip out a 12-inch-long “ribbon” of the fabric. Bring this and the other tools to the tree. Look at the tables of planetary hours (in days 11–12 of the second lunation) and time this ritual so that it aligns with the planetary influence you discovered while doing your vision work with the tree in previous days.

Once at the tree site, light the Power of Unity Incense and walk around the tree four times, sunwise. Using the Power of Unity Oil, draw an invoking air pentagram on the east side of the tree trunk with your finger. On the south side of the trunk, use the oil to draw an invoking fire pentagram. Draw an invoking water pentagram with the oil on the west side of the trunk. Finally, draw an invoking earth pentagram on the north trunk side.

Go clockwise halfway around the tree until you are facing the tree from the south. While holding your athame, cross your arms over your chest in the Osiris position and say:

Thou who art good and strong

And sure,

Thou who smells of the

Rich earth,

Thou who grows from the

Pure land,

I ask for thy gifts

And thank thee for thy

Living treasures.

Set the athame down. Pour wine into the chalice and dribble a small amount over the branch you intend to cut.

Using your pruning tools, harvest the tree branch. Make an X mark with your oil near the wound, saying:

May you come to healing in time.

Cense the wound and say:

May you come to fullness in time.

Pour the remaining wine onto the ground at the tree base. Take the athame in both hands and place the blade tip into the wine-drenched soil, saying:

May you come to fruition in time.

Tie the piece of cloth snipped from your clothing around the cut branch stub. This is left as an offering, but it also ties your energy to the tree. Take the harvested tree branch and leave without saying more.

Practice Days 8–10

Bonfire Walk

Magical Purpose: A sacred rite for blessings by fire.

One of the key Beltane practices from Old Europe’s pagan past is either jumping through bonfires or walking between two of them. I have provided adjustments to this rite for city-dwelling readers. One of the key interests of the ancients in bonfire practices is to ensure that smoke from the fires engulfs anyone or anything that passes through. The ash and smoke were sacred remainders of the holy firewood being burned, and they carried the essence or spirit of the wood.

A Word to the Wise: Be exceedingly cautious when using fire in a ritual. Take care that animals and children are safely away from any fire and that you have a plan in place if the fire leaves your contained area. During a fire-walk, make sure you wear fire-retardant clothing or at least clothing that does not drape. Be sure to have sand, water or fire extinguishers, and cell phones available in the event of an emergency. If doing this activity feels unsafe, skip it and pick up with the next day’s practice.

Version I: Outdoor Ritual

What you’ll need:

• Wood from your sacred tree

• Dried wood for kindling

• Power of Unity Incense and Oil

• A lighter or matches

• Several gallon containers of water

• Shovel

• Bag of sand, gravel, or mineral soil (found at garden shops)

• Your circle-casting tools

• An altar cloth that you can spread on the ground

This rite requires you to bring many items to the outdoors. The entire rite can be a lot to manage, so this is best done with other participants, if you know of any to join you. Before you cast a circle in the outdoors:

• Know local fire restrictions. If going to a park or mountain area, you can usually obtain fire-related information from rangers, and sometimes you may need a permit for the fire. Plan ahead, if you can. If there are too many complications, you can use version II of the ritual, which can be done indoors.

• Look for posted information on signs or kiosks regarding fire danger. Be aware that in extremely dry and/or windy conditions, fire activities may not be permitted at all, nor should you attempt them.

• Create the fire pits. The pits for your fire should be nonflammable earth (it might even be best to add sand, gravel, or mineral soil to the base of the pit). Intense heat often sterilizes healthy soil, so choose your two fire-pit sites mindfully. Make the pits shallow enough to allow air circulation but deep enough to keep the fire contained. Set the two pits far enough apart so you can walk between them comfortably and safely while walking from west to east through the center of your circle.

• Clear away flammables. Make sure there are no dry leaves, twigs, pine cones, etc., that could catch fire in the immediate area. If there are, clear them away.

A Word to the Wise: Be sure you check ahead of time whether or not you can use your athame in the outdoor space without legal trouble.

You can now cast your circle, using your usual altar tools.

Be sure to cast the circle around the entire area where the rite will take place, including the two fire pits. During your consecrations with elements, use the Power of Unity Oil to consecrate yourself in the names of the Gods.

It is now time to light the fires.

• To start the fire, build a small “teepee” of dry sticks, twigs, and forest duff, and ignite it.

• Add larger pieces of wood as the fire gets underway, reserving the harvested branch from your personal sacred tree. As you light the kindling, say:

Fire, flame in the Old One’s name.

Hold the harvested branch and smear it with Power of Unity Oil from one end to the other. To increase the likelihood that it will burn, make sure the wood is thoroughly covered with oil. Once this is complete, place the harvested branch into one of the two fires. While doing this, say:

I call upon the Great Mother.

Place a small quantity of the incense in your palm and toss it into the opposite fire pit. While doing this, say:

I call upon the Horned Lord.

Grab your athame and stand before the two fires with arms folded across your chest in the Osiris position. Open your arms to the Mother magical pass position (with palms facing forward) and walk between both bonfires very slowly. As you do this, focus on the sensations on the soles of your feet as they come into contact with the earth, feeling sensations of pressure, balance, weight, etc.

After you safely pass between both fires, turn around to face them. Close your arms into the Osiris position once more and say:

Come, O come, ye Lords of Fire,

Bring forth blessings and inspire,

Health and hearth, love and peace,

By all the Gods these shall increase!

Stay with the fires now until they have burned to white ash completely. While they are burning as white embers, watch them closely for magical sigils that seem to form within the nooks and crevices. You may see a symbol only once, so be prepared with a twig so you can draw it on the ground beside you. Or you can use paper and pencil to draw it. If you’re like me, you may wait to see if the symbol repeats itself before you jot it down.

Once you have one or more symbols, hold your hands over each one and close your eyes. Ask that the meaning of the symbol be made known to you. Listen carefully to your intuition, and most importantly, remember what you have discovered.

Extinguish the fires by pouring water on them, stirring the ashes, and then applying more water. Repeat as often as needed. Ashes should be cool to the touch at this point. Using your index finger, take up some of the wet ash and draw the magical sigil(s) you saw in the fire on your body. The most powerful body locations are the forearms, forehead, and center of the chest.

Be certain that the embers are out and cold. Cover them with dry soil, and then pour more water over this before you leave.

Version II: Indoor Ritual

What you’ll need:

• Wood from your sacred tree

• Power of Unity Incense and Oil

• A deep, heat-resistant pot (such as a cauldron, a deep cooking pot, or a cast-iron pot)

• A trivet or large ceramic tile

• A lighter or matches

• Self-igniting charcoal

• Some sand, gravel, or mineral soil (found at garden shops)

• Your circle-casting tools

Cast your circle as usual, making sure to include enough space for you to jump the cauldron. During your consecrations with elements, use the Power of Unity Oil to consecrate yourself in the names of the Gods.

Place the ceramic tile or trivet (or anything that can act as a buffer between the vessel in which you light your fire and the floor, to prevent singeing). Put the cauldron on top of the tile, and place the charcoal in the base of the cauldron. Light the charcoal and heap some Power of Unity Incense over the coal. As you do so, say:

Fire, flame in the Old One’s name.

Take the harvested branch and smear it with Power of Unity Oil, then set this across the top of the cauldron so the smoke from the incense passes across it. Stand with your palms open and facing the smoke and the branch, saying:

I call upon the Great Mother and the Horned Lord.

Take your athame and stand before the smoking cauldron in the west of your circle (you are facing the east) with arms folded across your chest in the Osiris position. Open them up to the Mother magical pass position (with palms facing forward) and very carefully jump the cauldron. (Again, be sure to have a safety plan in place should you stumble and knock over the cauldron.)

After you safely jump the cauldron, turn around to face it. You’ll be facing west now. Close your arms into the Osiris position once more and say:

Come, O come, ye Lords of Fire,

Bring forth blessings and inspire,

Health and hearth, love and peace,

By all the Gods these shall increase!

Sit close to the cauldron now until all of the incense has burned to embers. Watch the embers closely for magical sigils and signs that seem to form within the nooks and crevices. You may see a symbol only once, so be prepared with paper and pencil to draw what you see. You may decide to wait for the symbol to repeat itself before you jot it down.

Once you have sketched one or more symbols, hold your hands over each one and close your eyes. Ask that the meaning of the symbol be made known to you. Listen carefully to your intuition, and most importantly, remember what you discover from your inner voice.

Extinguish the coal and the embers by pouring a small portion of the salt/water mixture from your altar over them. Using your index finger, take up some of the wet ash and draw on your body the magical sigil(s) you saw in the embers. The most magical body locations are the forearms, forehead, and center of the chest.

Practice Days 11–12

Doors as Links

Magical Purpose: Creating interconnections through doorways.

What you’ll need:

• Brightly colored flowers (about a dozen or more, if possible)

• At least 12 feet of brightly colored thread (Try a colorful needlepoint thread, which is usually thicker than typical sewing thread.)

• A long tapestry needle (usually with an elongated hole)

• Brightly colored beads (optional)

• Power of Unity Incense and Oil

Traditionally, doorways held great mystical significance to our pagan ancestors. Doorways received special attention during Beltane celebrations. The Irish felt that “fairies,” or sídhe (pronounced sheeth-uh), were most active at Beltane. In parts of Ireland and England, the sídhe were keepers of the doorways, which are interconnections between the human world and that of the Mighty Ones. There are Irish and English folk customs involving the decoration of doors and windows with brightly colored garlands, typically consisting of orange, yellow, or red flowers in recognition of them as “fairy doorways.”

Village pagan folk took steps specifically to protect themselves from the sídhe, who they feared might take their children across the doorway between the seen and unseen worlds. One remedy was to leave them food at the doorstep. According to traditional lore, sídhe favor dairy foods. Other customs for keeping the sídhe from doing harm included turning one’s clothing inside-out and carrying iron or salt in the pocket.

A Word to the Wise: Some scholars, notably anthropologist and folklorist Margaret Murray, advanced a theory about the origins of Witchcraft that included the fairies. In Murray’s view, the fairies were a race of people who were smaller and darker than their fair-skinned neighbors in the British Isles. She further noted that these people practiced and taught a folk-magic religion in Old Europe that became the target of the Christian Church during the Witch trials in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Murray suggested that the customs referred to in confessions extracted from common folk by witch-finders were actually those that dated back to pre-Christian antiquity. Murray’s ideas played a significant role in the development of Witchcraft in the 1920s. Soon after her writings appeared in 1917 and 1921, covens and “witch” groups began to sprout up in various locations in England. One such notable coven that evolved from these ideas was that of Gerald Gardner in the New Forest area.

Thread your needle with at least twelve feet of thread. Once you loop the thread through, tie the two loose ends together to form a knot. Anoint the entire thread with Power of Unity Oil.

Cut the stems off the flowers so that all that remains are the flowers and their hips. Use the needle to pierce a flower through the center of its hip. Drag the flower across the length of thread until it sits on the base knot. As you pierce the flower, say:

I string together the whole of life.

Tie another knot six inches above the flower. Pierce another flower and slide this down to rest on the second knot. Again, say:

I string together the whole of life.

Continue this process until your twelve flowers are all strung together. If you have more flowers than this, the garland will look that much more full and festive. You can also try stringing brightly colored beads between the flowers to add more color and charm. Choose magical colors of significance to your life right now. For more information on colors and their meanings, refer to the color chart from days 21–22 of the fourth lunation.

Next, light the Power of Unity Incense and consecrate your festoon in the smoldering incense. Swag the garland so that it drapes down and hangs in a place of prominence over your home’s entryway or your bedroom door.

Each time you pass beneath the flowers, use this as a reminder of your interconnection with life.

Practice Days 13–14

Magical Stillness: Preparations

Magical Purpose: Tapping solar energies to help create magical pauses.17

What you’ll need:

• A copy of the Second Pentacle of the Sun (see illustration). It would be convenient to print this pentacle from your color printer (if you own one) in yellow or gold ink. If not, you will have a chance to retrace the image with your own yellow or gold ink.

Second Pentacle of the Sun

• Yellow or gold ink

• 1 yellow votive candle

• A feather quill pen

• Sun Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

Information about the Second Pentacle of the Sun:

• Along the spokes of the central wheel, you’ll find the mystical characters of the Sun.

• Along the border, you find the names of the spiritual forces that govern the Sun’s magical force: Shemeshiel, Paimoniah, Rekhodiah, and Malkhiel. These names are of “subordinate” spiritual forces (the Key of Solomon refers to them as “angels”) to those of the Sun.

We all have magical potential, but there are factors that inhibit the growth of this potential. Have you noticed that some people seem more empowered than others? Well, what seems true is actually so. Some people’s magical workings seem to have great effect. The individuals themselves are robust and healthy. They have gravitas. The question is why.

As you’ve likely experienced by now, it is very important to create spaces of stillness for yourself periodically. But what can be even more powerful is stopping at various times throughout the day for a sacred pause of magical stillness. These sacred pauses allow small gaps to occur between whatever is happening and our tendency to revert back to our storylines. Creating a magical pause opens up the possibility for us to come in intimate contact with the present moment, which exists on another plane, far removed from the world of story.

It is important to know that “fixing” our conditioning, our habit thoughts, is a dead end. There is nothing that requires fixing. You are whole just as you are now. But to liberate yourself from the karmic effects of conditioning, all you need to do is pause and recognize. Rather than buying into your inner-churning story, take a step backward and make space around it.

When we don’t do this, we live in a little “thought bubble.” We limit our lives to relating to the thoughts and stories we have about the world, about our lives, rather than relating directly to life, to the objects, events, and sensations of our direct experience. Taking the pause starts the process of allowing us that naked contact without the buffer of mental explanation.

The procedure for the next couple days can help facilitate the magical silence. Our practice is to tap into solar energies, because pausing takes conscious effort. The Sun aligns with a variety of activities, but most important of all, it governs those of focus, intention, and conscious effort.

Even though these next couple days of practice will come and go, it will be important for you to maintain this essential magical pause practice on a daily basis.

Today’s working is about creating and charging the Second Pentacle of the Sun. Start by finding the Second Pentacle of Sun online and printing it out in yellow ink (if that is available for you). Before you print it out, be sure to match the one you find online with the one printed in this book. Or simply photocopy the one from this book.

Cast a circle in the hour of the Sun (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Place the Second Pentacle of the Sun on your altar pentacle. Light the yellow votive candle and place it atop the pentacle image. Light the Sun Incense and retrace the perimeter of your magic circle with its burning smoke. Anoint yourself at the heart chakra with Sun Oil, tracing (as best you can) the magical letters of the Sun:

Magical Letters of the Sun

Take the Second Pentacle of the Sun and bless it (lightly) with water and earth (salt/water). Try not to smudge the ink. As you bless the pentacle, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (you may also use the names of the Goddess and the God with whom you are working)

Deign to bless and consecrate this seal of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

To make whole, to subdue the mind,

And to forge a sacred unity.

Then pass the image through your fire candle’s flame quickly, so as not to ignite it. Pass it through the smoke of your smoldering Sun Incense. As you bless the image with fire and air, say:

Great Mother and Horned One, (you may also use the names of the Goddess and the God with whom you are working)

Deign to bless and consecrate this seal of Art,

That it may obtain necessary virtue through thee,

To make whole, to subdue the mind,

And to forge a sacred unity.

Using the yellow or gold ink and the feather quill, retrace the images of the Second Pentacle of the Sun on your computer-printout pentacle. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power and your intention to create daily sacred stillness.

When you are finished, place the yellow votive candle on top of the pentacle and intone the following, based on the Orphic hymns and Agrippa’s formulation of forms aligned with the Sun. Begin by intoning the names of spirits aligned with the Sun:

Eko, Eko, Vau! (pronounced Vow)

Eko, Eko, Eloh! (pronounced Ee-low)

Eko, Eko, Shemeshiel! (pronounced Sheh-meh-she-el)

Eko, Eko, Paimoniah! (pronounced Pie-moan-ee-ah)

Eko, Eko, Rekhodiah! (pronounced Reck-oh-dye-ah)

Eko, Eko, Malkhiel! (pronounced
Mal-key-el)

With your wand, draw three sunwise circles above your head, imagining that you are collecting solar energy in the wand as you do this. Then quickly point the wand over the pentacle image, imagining the solar energy entering it as you say:

Ye golden Titan, whose eternal shine

With broad survey, you illumine the divine,

Self-born, unwearied in your golden light,

Behold he comes, he who vanquishes the night:

Lord of the Seasons, with your fiery car,

Your shimmering light dances, beaming afar:

All who see your golden might,

Know you also as Father of the Night.

Agile and hearty, honored Sun,

Fiery and bright, O Horned One.

Foe to wicked, and good man’s guide,

Over all you shall preside:

Immortal flames you set and rise,

Great eye of nature and starry skies,

The world’s great Father, over all you rule,

As Lord of Justice, Lover, and Fool,

We ask that on our rites you shine,

And bless thy suppliants with magic divine!

Stand while imagining the pentacle blazing with a brilliant golden light. When you sense you have empowered the pentacle sufficiently, say the following consecration:

Gracious Goddess, Mighty Horned One,

You who rule the world,

Who guide the tides of change,

Bless this magic I set before thee;

Let your power in this act of enchantment unfurl,

Let the task be worthy of your countenance,

Let its aims be joy and peace,

Let it bring forth thy harmony;

May it come to full fruition in thy names.

So mote it be!

Close your circle after this, saying no further words at all. In disassembling the circle, start by extinguishing the yellow votive candle.

Practice Day 15

Full Moon Ceremony

During this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your ceremony:

• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)

• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon

• Drawing Down the Moon

• Aspecting the Goddess, speaking her words

• Reading the Charge of the Goddess

• A meditation or practice related to the work you covered during the past several days.

16. Sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough: The Roots of Religion and Folklore (New York: Avenel Books, 1981), pp. 254–258.

17. Traditionally, the pentacle is for restraining the solar spirits that are aligned with pride and arrogance. In our case, we are actually looking to sidestep the “pride” and “arrogance” that build up walls, keeping us involved with habit behaviors.

[contents]

Eighth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Practice Days 16–17

Magical Stillness with the
Second Pentacle of the Sun

Magical Purpose: Using magical principles to develop inner stillness and magical clarity.

What you’ll need:

• Second Pentacle of the Sun

• Power of Unity Oil

Now that you’ve prepared and charged the Second Pentacle of the Sun, it is time to put it to good use. For the next couple of days, keep the pentacle safely with you. Try not to fold it or stuff it away, as this not only shows disrespect for the object of art you’ve painstakingly created, but also psychically “chokes” your magic.

Some places you might keep the Second Pentacle of the Sun include:

• A large ziplock bag

• A mylar card storage envelope

• A plastic page protector

• A plain white envelope

Keeping the pentacle in a special holder creates a small ritual activity for you each time you are about to observe magical stillness. Also, for this activity, make sure that you have a small quantity of Power of Unity Oil.

To start this practice, choose several times during the day when you plan to observe magical stillness. Set a timer (for example, on a cell phone you carry around with you) so that you keep yourself on a schedule at first. This is only to establish the new routine, and over time you can decrease or eliminate this prompting altogether. You might also set the alarm to vibrate rather than ring, so you can maintain the practice without drawing excessive attention to yourself.

When the alarm rings, stop whatever you are doing, just for the moment. Take in the bigger picture of whatever is happening. What are the sounds, sights, and other sensations you are experiencing in this moment? Take out the Second Pentacle of the Sun and the Power of Unity Oil. Retrace the pentacle’s outer circle with the oil, focusing only on the physical sensations you experience in this moment. Put the pentacle away, then pause for another few beats.

Resume your action, or choose a new one based on your experience during the magical pause.

Practice Days 18–19

Freestyle Magical Stillness

Purpose: Using magical principles to develop stillness.

What you’ll need:

• Second Pentacle of the Sun

• Power of Unity Oil

You’ve been practicing magical stillness in a general manner by using a timer and applying stillness to whatever situation was arising in that moment. For the next two days, try the same practice without the timer, if you can. Try applying the method of stillness to specific situations. For example, begin by applying it during the day at times when you are alone. If you are typing, or looking out the window, or waiting in line somewhere, these are great times to practice.

Keep the Second Pentacle of the Sun and the Power of Unity Oil with you nearby. But remember that in more public settings you might not wish to flash the pentacle to those around you or take out the magical oil and apply it to the image. Instead, try taking your magical pause of stillness, and as soon as you are finished, close your eyes and draw an inconspicuous circle in the palm of your hand with your forefinger.

If this goes well, you can try this method in more emotionally trying circumstances. These are excellent training times to apply stillness. As you do so, explore the moment, taking in the objective details rather than the ones you find important.

As time goes by, you can begin to apply magical stillness to other, more serious situations. But it takes time and “rehearsal” with smaller, less volatile situations before you can do it cleanly, effectively, and inconspicuously.

Notice how frequently you make a constructive or intuitively fortunate change in direction, demeanor, thinking, or behavior immediately following magical stillness. It works.

Practice Days 20–21

Drawing Down the God: Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Creating herbal aids in preparation for our next magical workings.

Contemporary Wiccans frequently emphasize the Goddess, and we do so with good reason. Witchcraft is, by our own mythic accounts, a gift from the moon goddess Aradia.18 Her charge was to teach all Witches her mysteries and magics. There have been other reasons—political, social, and more—that have also been important to claiming the Wiccan religion as “the Goddess religion.”

But there also exists a vital male force that manifests through all strata of energy, from the finest ethereal, spiritual form to the physical bodies of men in the world. The Horned God is the personification of male energy. And while Wicca may place an accent on the Goddess, in general practice there is a balancing between the two energetic poles of female and male.

In previous lunations, you learned to draw down the Moon and allow the Goddess’s energy to fill your body and mind (called aspecting). Over the next several days, you’ll learn to do a similar rite that invokes the God. The rite is called Drawing Down the God, rather than Drawing Down the Sun, as one might anticipate (especially since this rite parallels the Goddess/Moon ritual). The reason that this practice has a different name is because Witches from the past believed that the Sun’s power was too mighty and fiery (and thus too dangerous) to draw into a priest’s body. Instead, they invoke the God in his earthier manifestations.

Again, while physical gender (or gender identity) can help with a “natural” alignment, either gender can (and should) invoke the God energies into the circle. This is especially true for Witches as you celebrate the solar festivals: the two solstices and two equinoxes.

The following activities are meant to incrementally prepare you for aspecting the God in his various forms. You will create an incense and oil that evokes the Horned God, which you will use later in the week.

Horned God Incense

What you’ll need:

• 3 tablespoons dried patchouli

• ¼ cup powdered oak

• 1 tablespoon crushed, powdered cloves

• 4 tablespoons frankincense tears

• 6 drops vetiver essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the essential oil to the glycerin or carrier oil. (For this recipe, you might want to adjust the level of the essential oil, as vetiver is a strongly scented oil described as “woody, smoky, herbaceous, earthy, and spicy.” As long as you have some of this essential oil in the mix, it will have the magical properties desired.) Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scent from the essential oil and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Horned God Oil

What you’ll need:

• 2 drops patchouli essential oil

• 1 drop clove essential oil

• 3 drops vetiver essential oil

• 1 frankincense tear added to the mix

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.

As further practice today, light some of the incense and dab yourself just above the pubic region with the oil. Sit in mindfulness and observe the effects the incense and oil have on your body and mind.

Take time to journal about the experiences.

Practice Days 22–23

Drawing Down the God:
Evocation of Energy

Magical Purpose: Preparations for Drawing Down the God.

What you’ll need:

• Horned God Incense and Oil

• A thurible

• Self-igniting charcoal

• Matches

A Word to the Wise: If you engage in this activity in an outdoor space, be sure to refer to and observe the fire safety rules covered in days 8–10 of this lunation.

For today’s practice, take the following evocation chant to a natural, wild setting. The traditional places to evoke the Horned God, the places where his energies run free and wild, are in forest groves, open fields, reedy areas, where moss grows on rocks, near orchards, in mountains, on the banks of shaded rivers, or near herd animals.

Of course, if you don’t have access to any of these places, you can sit right where you are, close your eyes, and imagine that you are in one of these places in nature. Really imagine the sights, sounds, smells, and textures of the landscape. Once you have a clear image, you can begin the evocation.

Light the Horned God Incense and dab some of the Horned God Oil on your pubic region. Stand facing the south and raise your arms in the Provider magical pass (see illustration, and for greater clarity on the hand positions, see Appendix G).

Begin with your hands at your sides, palms flat, facing in front of you. Bend the right arm at the elbow and raise the right hand so that the palm faces out and is level with your right cheek. The left hand remains open at the left hip. Close the little finger and ring finger of both hands, which creates the hand gesture of esotericism. This pose has some similarities with the well-known Baphomet image of the Knights Templar.19

Now read the following evocation prayer: 20

Horned One, from whom all things have begun,

O ethereal, marine, earthy, and fiery one,

Immortal; for all the world is thine,

O hoof and horn, O leaf and vine.

Come, Blessed One, whom rural haunts delight,

Come, bounding, shining, starry night;

The hours and seasons move at thy hand,

Baphomet

And round thy throne in order they stand.

Goat-footed, horned, Bacchanalian Pan,

Seed from whom the world began,

In endless dance and melody divine,

The whole of nature in thee combine,

O boon to all of humankind.

In thee a refuge Witches find,

The shepherds, streams, and goats rejoice,

Thou lovest the chase, yet offer the choice.

With dancing nymphs, you shape and bend,

And all thy works fulfill my destined end.

Drop your arms by your side and lift them again in the Inseminator magical pass (see appendix G). Begin by facing the east. Stand with your hands at your sides, palms flat and facing behind you. Bend the arms at the elbows and raise the hands so they are level with your ears. Hands should be approximately eight inches away from the ears on either side of the head. With both of your hands, extend the forefinger and little finger, and close together the remaining fingers and thumb. This forms the Witches’ “stang” (a long cane with its top branching out to symbolize the antlers of the young Horned God).21

Now say:

World’s great ruler, my life is thine,

Grand, encompassing, loved and divine,

All-fertile Horned One who wanders the night,

In fruits rejoicing and in caves delight.

The balance of nature is in thy care,

And in thy bounties all mankind share.

Lord of the Herds, thy suppliant hear,

Come, Bacchanalian Lord, ’tis time to draw near,

Upon these holy rites attend,

Thy hoof, thy horn, thy power lend.

Raise the thurible of burning Horned God Incense high above you to the east, south, west, and north. Then sit and remain aware of any sensations or feelings you may have. Take time to journal about the experience following the practice.

Practice Days 24–26

Drawing Down the God: The Rite

Magical Purpose: Drawing the divine masculine into your life.

What you’ll need:

• Horned God Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools (including wand, athame, chalice, and pentacle)

• First Pentacle of Saturn candle (the white pillar with the image of the pentacle on it from the second lunation)

• A black, fairly translucent veil

Cast your circle as usual. Once the casting is complete, light the Horned God Incense, and with it, cense the perimeter of the circle. Start in the east, walking clockwise, and finish in the east. Light the pillar candle with the First Pentacle of Saturn on it. Hold it with the image facing the outer perimeter of the circle, and again, retrace the circle with the candle.

Using the middle finger of your right hand, dab Horned God Oil on the tops of your feet, drawing an invoking earth pentagram on each.

After this, say:

Blessed be my feet,

Which have brought me in these ways.

Using the oil, draw an invoking earth pentagram on each knee, saying:

Blessed be my knees,

Which kneel at the sacred altar.

Draw an invoking earth pentagram with the oil just above the genital area, saying:

Blessed be my womb/phallus,

Without which we would not be.

Using the oil, draw an invoking earth pentagram on each breast, saying:

Blessed be my breasts,

Formed in beauty and strength.

Finally, draw an earth-invoking pentagram at your chin, saying:

Blessed be my lips,

Which shall utter the sacred names.

Place the veil over your head. Be sure that it allows you to see through it fairly clearly.

Using your wand, draw the symbol of the First Degree, touching the wand tip just above the navel, then left breast, right breast, and solar plexus again.

Hold your athame in your right hand and your wand in your left, then cross them over your chest in the Osiris position.

Recite the first evocation:

Horned One, from whom all things have begun,

O ethereal, marine, earthy, and fiery One,

Immortal; for all the world is thine,

O hoof and horn, O leaf and vine.

Come, Blessed One, whom rural haunts delight,

Come, bounding, shining, starry night;

The hours and seasons move at thy hand,

And round thy throne in order they stand.

Goat-footed, horned, Bacchanalian Pan,

Seed from whom the world began,

In endless dance and melody divine,

The whole of nature in thee combine,

O boon to all of humankind.

In thee a refuge Witches find,

The shepherds, streams, and goats rejoice,

Thou lovest the chase, yet offer the choice.

With dancing nymphs, you shape and bend,

And all thy works fulfill my destined end.

Set your wand and athame down so that they are perpendicular to your feet. Raise your hands in the Inseminator magical pass while saying:

World’s great ruler, my life is thine,

Grand, encompassing, loved and divine,

All-fertile Horned One who wanders the night,

In fruits rejoicing and in caves delight.

The balance of nature is in thy care,

And in thy bounties all mankind share.

Lord of the Herds, thy suppliant hear,

Come, Bacchanalian Lord, ’tis time to draw near,

Upon these holy rites attend,

Thy hoof, thy horn, thy power lend.

I invoke and call upon thee to descend

Into this, thy priest/ess.

Speak with my tongue, touch with my hands,

Fill the world with thy sacred utterances.

Intone the name of your patron god while standing in the Inseminator magical pass, chanting the name one syllable at a time. (For example, if your patron god’s name is Cernunnos, you’d chant each syllable slowly: Cer-nu-nnos.)

Stand in silence and allow any intuited words to emerge, if they will come. Give yourself permission to verbalize what you are seeing, feeling, hearing, or sensing. Audio-recording your aspecting session can be helpful, as you may not necessarily recall the things you said while directly channeling the God.

Following Drawing Down the God, recite the Charge of the God: 22

Hear ye the words of the Horned One,

Lord of the Underworld, life and giver of life:

I am a stag of seven tines,

I am a flood across a plain,

I am a wind on a deep lake,

I am a tear the sun lets fall,

I am a hawk above the cliff,

I am a thorn beneath the nail,

I am a wonder among flowers,

Who but I sets the cool head
aflame with smoke?

I am a spear that roars for blood,

I am a salmon in a pool,

I am a lure from the skies above,

I am a hill where poets walk,

I am a wild boar ruthless and red,

I am a breaker threatening doom,

I am a tide that drags to the open sea,

Who but I know secrets from the unhewn dolmen arch?

After this is completed, remove the veil, complete cakes and wine, and spend time grounding yourself to make sure you’re centered after aspecting the Horned God. Close the circle.

Practice Days 27–28

Ad Visionem: To Gain the Sight

Magical Purpose: Developing psychic abilities.

The following is an old Witchcraft recipe for incense that helps with developing your psychic abilities and seeing visions of the future. It can be used when doing psychic readings, and is most effective when you inhale the fumes prior to the reading.

What you’ll need:

• 1 tablespoon myrrh

• 1 tablespoon gum arabic

• ½ tablespoon gum mastic

• 2 tablespoons calamus root

• ½ tablespoon cinnamon bark

• ½ tablespoon juniper

• Handful of sandalwood powder

• 2 drops ambergris essential oil

• 3 drops patchouli essential oil

• 1 drop musk essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the essential oils to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scents from the essential oils and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it in upcoming days.

After preparing the incense, light a charcoal and sprinkle some on. Try doing a psychic reading with one of your magical tools such as tarot cards or runes. Journal about the experience:

• What did this incense invoke for you?

• In what ways might you use this magical incense?

18. Charles Godfrey Leland, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (Radford, VA: Wilder Publications, 2014), pp. 1–5.

19. In Dictionnaire de la Langue Francaise, Emile Littré asserts that the name is a Cabalistic invention that one arrives at by writing backward “Tem. Ohp. Ab,” an abbreviation of the Latin templi omnium hominum pacis abbas, which means “father of the temple of peace of all men.”

20. Adapted from the Orphic hymns. See, for example, Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow, trans., The Orphic Hymns (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013).

21. For more information about magical passes and practical exercises related to them, please see Wicca: A Year and a Day.

22. This version is an adaptation of “The Song of Amergin,” which is thought to be the oldest poem in the Irish language. Amergin is referred to as the “First Druid of the Gaels” in the Irish Book of Invasions.

[contents]

Ninth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–16

Two-Day Moon-Wise Retreat

Remember that during this lunation it would be wise to try (if you haven’t already) a two-day Moon-Wise retreat schedule (see appendix D). You can schedule your retreat at any time during this lunation.

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

Engaging in wakeful silence allows you the opportunity to observe not only what is happening in your environment but also your internal responses. One of the most damaging responses we can have as magical folk (and as human beings, in general) is our tendency to gird against our life’s experiences.

We have good reason to do so sometimes. Our history, family, culture, and more can predispose us to certain responses. Our genetic makeup and even our preference for pleasurable experiences can also cause us to pick and choose and guard against what we perceive to be undesirable and thus something to be avoided.

But unless we find ourselves in extreme circumstances, there is little reason to actively guard against life as it unfolds. As the day progresses, look for times when you clench, tighten, and withdraw. Notice when you are pulling away from other people or situations. As you feel your body sensations, try to notice your inner commentary about the person or situation as well. Nothing more is needed, except your awareness.

A Word to the Wise: If you are being abused in some way, there is more than ample reason for you to guard against the experience. Or when you have the impulse to harm yourself or others, you have good reason to guard against the experience. When we are truly tuned in to such conditions, we know that we need to seek assistance.

Third Immutable Axiom

Direction:

Southwest

Power:

The power of bounty

Season:

Midsummer

Festival:

Lughnasadh

Theme:

Freely sharing resources

Date:

August 2

Axiom:

A practitioner of the Old Ways acts with natural generosity.

Lughnasadh is an Irish Gaelic name for the festival on August 2 when we celebrate the harvesting of the first grain of the growing season. It is the first of three harvest-themed festivals in the Witch’s year. Depending on the region, Lughnasadh is sometimes also called Lammas, or “loaf-mas.”

The mythology and symbolism of Lughnasadh are clear. The grain, which generously gives us life, is “sacrificed” (reaped) to nourish us. In early European agricultural communities, Lughnasadh was the first day of harvest. It was a time when the fields would be glowing with corn or grain and the cycle of reaping would begin. Harvesting would continue until Samhain (on October 31), which was when important stores of food were put away for the dark and dangerous winter months.

The central theme and energy of Lughnasadh is that of using all the ingredients of your life and holding nothing back. Like the ripening fields, we see ourselves as a resource for ourselves and for others. The fields, trees, and vines all give of their gifts generously, and they even provide seeds for future giving.

If we follow the example of the plant world, we can see that giving is a natural state. An apple tree does not get upset because someone harvested all of its apples. It produces more and still more than that, until the season will not allow it to continue any further. But our conditioned impulse is not to give, but rather to take.

Greed as a human impulse is built upon millennia of behavioral patterns around human survival, so we shouldn’t beat ourselves up for these natural impulses. After all, to act with the generosity of, say, the apple tree goes against every cultural norm and human survival impulse. That being said, in Western cultures, we have taken these impulses to a new level. Our cultural view endorses the idea that all things (including intangibles such as time, effort, empathy, affection, attention, etc.) are “products.” These are things that we own. Or if we lack them, we are encouraged to obtain them.

We live with a burdensome sense of wanting and grasping around our resources. “There’s only so much to go around” is what we tell ourselves. This is what we have been told culturally, and we believe the message. So we limit what we share, if we share at all. And in the process, we fall out of alignment with nature, which shares what it produces unhesitatingly.

That isn’t to say that the season of plenty does not eventually come to an end. The fields of grain do not go on producing for us, even in winter. Being prudent with our resources, and not acting foolishly or carelessly or using resources unnecessarily, are sensible checks and balances to natural generosity. Plants cannot plan for their future, but we can. So wisdom is required in order to discern when we are using more than our share of resources, wasting them, or acting with grasping hands.

The third immutable axiom’s power is that of natural bounty. When we learn to use all the ingredients of our lives, we learn to give at the level of our best effort and then accept the results. Another way we express this is to live our lives so that the perfected relationship between bounty and generosity becomes apparent to everyone around us.

Practice Days 2–4

Power of Bounty Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Making a magical herbal aid to invoke the power of natural bounty.

Power of Bounty Incense

What you’ll need:

• 2 tablespoons dried fenugreek

• 3 tablespoons frankincense tears

• ¼ cup oak (powdered is preferred, but use regular sandalwood if you do not have oak available)

• 1 teaspoon dried barley, wheat, or other grain

• 5 drops heather essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients together first. Add the essential oil to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scent from the essential oil and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Power of Bounty Oil

What you’ll need:

• 3 drops frankincense essential oil

• 2 drops oak essential oil

• 2 drops heather essential oil

• Pinch of grain (barley, wheat, etc.)

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

• 1 drop green food coloring (optional)

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils. If you’d like, you may add one drop of green food coloring to add a corresponding magical energy to this blend that can bring forth bounty.

Practice Days 5–6

Practicing Natural Generosity

Magical Purpose: Aligning with the Third Immutable Axiom all day long.

During the next couple days, maintain awareness of several factors, including:

• When you are and when you are not using all of the ingredients of your life.

• When a situation calls for generosity and you meet the moment by withholding.

• When someone you are with meets the moment by withholding.

One common concern that may arise is feeling as though other people might take advantage of you as the result of practicing natural generosity. This can be especially so when it comes to the workplace. It is not uncommon for fellow workers to withhold their best efforts, their full potential, their enthusiasm, their care, or their interest in serving others. If you notice this manifesting in your own workplace, do not necessarily go out of your way to change the circumstances. Instead, change your relationship to the workplace in general. Be an agent of change, of care, of investing appropriate energy in exchange for pay, and of caring for others who are in need. Engage in this activity as a natural expression of the Gods’ energies manifesting in the world.

In doing so, you will become an influence for good, and as a matter of course, the law of threefold return will begin to fill your hand just as generously as you release nature’s bounty to others.

If you do not go to a workplace, maintain this spirit at home and in your community. Wherever you go, open to natural giving, using every ingredient of your life.

Practice Days 7–9

Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter

Magical Purpose: To acquire bounty in the form of riches, wealth, or honor.

What you’ll need:

• A printed copy of the Fourth Pentacle
of Jupiter (see illustration). It would be convenient to print this pentacle from your color printer (if you own one) in blue ink. If not, you will have a chance to retrace the image with your own blue ink.

Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter

• Blue ink (you have either already made this or purchased it)

• A feather quill pen

• 5 blue votive candles or tealights

• Jupiter Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

Information about the Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter:

• The Key of Solomon advises that this pentacle should be inscribed in silver on the day and in the hour of Jupiter, when the planet is in the sign of Cancer. That’s a bit much for us. The pentacle is to serve as a focus for our magical intention.

• At the top of the pentacle, above the magical sigil, there is the name of Iah, an ancient Egyptian moon god. Below are the names of the angels Adoniel and Bariel. The Hebrew letters that form Bariel’s name are at the top, bottom, sides, and center of a square that has four inner squares. Around the outer edge of the pentacle are the words “Wealth and Riches are in his house, and his righteousness endureth forever.”

Start by finding the Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter online and printing it out in blue ink (if that is available for you). Before you print it out, be sure to match the one you find online with the one printed in this book. Or simply photocopy the image from this book.

Cast a circle in the hour of Jupiter (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Light the five blue candles and place them at the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. Then place the final blue candle on the altar pentacle. Light the Jupiter Incense and retrace the circle with its burning smoke. Anoint yourself just above the genital area with Jupiter Oil, tracing (as best you can) the magical letters of Jupiter: 23

Using blue ink and your feather quill, retrace the images of the Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power and your intention to open space in your life for material wealth or honor to manifest. I recommend not being too specific about what form the manifestation will take, nor to give a specific timeline. Specifics such as these place constraints on the vast, interconnected workings of the universe. Just holding the intention clearly and resolutely is enough.

Magical Letters of Jupiter

Sprinkle the pentacle (carefully, so it doesn’t smudge) with blessed water and salt. Hold the pentacle over the burning Jupiter Incense and then pass it quickly (so as not to singe) through the fire candle on your altar.

Use the middle finger of your right hand to trace the outer circle of the Jupiter pentacle with Jupiter Oil. Present the Jupiter pentacle to each quarter, starting in the east and moving clockwise. At each quarter, redraw an invoking pentagram for each respective element using the Jupiter pentacle as your magical evocation tool. Thus, at the east, use the pentacle to draw an air-invoking pentagram. At the south, use it to draw a fire-invoking pentagram. In the west, draw a water-invoking pentagram. In the north, draw an earth-invoking pentagram.

Stand at the center of the circle, hold the pentacle up to the sky, and close your eyes. Intone the names of the magical beings inscribed on the pentacle, one syllable at a time:

Eko, Eko, Iah! (pronounced Ee-yah)

Eko, Eko, Adoniel! (pronounced Ah-dahn-ee-el)

Eko, Eko, Bariel! (pronounced Bar-e-el)

As you intone the magical names, imagine that the pentacle in your hands blazes with a jewel-tone blue energy. When you sense that the pentacle has charged enough, close the circle quickly and dispose of the blue candles immediately. Place the pentacle in a plastic ziplock bag (or other waterproof protector) to keep it clean, and put it under your pillow so that you rest on it throughout the night.

Keep the Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter with you at all times until some positive shift in your finances occurs or some honor or recognition is given to you. Once the pentacle produces an effect, it is important for you to burn it and bury the ashes.

Practice Days 10–11

Eight Sabbats for Today’s Witches

Magical Purpose: First steps in ritual writing: learning the link between myth and ritual.

Learning how to write your own rituals is a key practice for Wiccans. Once you understand the basic elements of ritual design and the building-block images and themes for sabbats, creating your own rituals will be fairly straightforward and will be limited only by your imagination.

Mythologist Joseph Campbell said that when you participate in any ritual, you participate in a myth. Myths and rituals are projections of the psyche’s “depth wisdom.” Rituals put you in touch with that wisdom. Campbell goes on to affirm that rituals put you in accord with your own life’s wisdom.24

Rituals are a way for mythic symbols to live and breathe. The myths and symbols of Wicca touch upon experiential truths (which are also called archetypes) common to all of humanity, such as living, dying, being born, growing to maturity, aging, and more. But the mere fact that a symbol system speaks to universal truths does not exempt it from becoming stagnant or lifeless. This can easily occur if the participants in the spiritual path are not actively engaged in reinterpreting the symbol systems again and again, so that their underlying messages can shine vividly with meaning for the life we are living right now.

One common error in living with spiritual systems is the deep desire to “concretize” the symbols and myths, attempting to turn symbol and metaphor into “fact.” We like it when things are solid and can be seen and relied upon from one year to the next. Meanwhile, the spiritual, life-sustaining messages behind the symbols can get lost in this kind of inflexibility, leaving spiritual seekers with stories and practices that make no logical sense and do not actively inform their lives.

It is important for Witches to keep in mind that spirituality is art. It isn’t science or math. Its language of symbols is meant to be fluid and poetic, as it speaks to “that which cannot be spoken.” Therefore, our next days’ practices are aimed at engaging you in this process of reinterpretation of our basic symbols and practices. It is about making them meaningful for your life right now. It may also be about making the timeless symbols immediately relevant for a spiritual community.

For the next days, you will consider the basic sabbat forms common to the British traditions. Along with them, you will discover the common symbols that you can use as building blocks for creating your own rites.

The stages of a mythic journey are the same stages of ritual. They permeate every myth and fairy tale across the globe.25 (By the way, good films, novels, and plays also follow the universal mythic structure I will present to you.) And when a myth veers from these criteria, we simply call it a tale. Tales can be amusing, but they do not inform the deep recesses of the mind, heart, or spirit. So we typically forget about them almost as soon as we hear, read, or see them.

The same can hold true for rituals that you might create. If you do not dive deep enough into your composition and ensure that the ritual has the general archetypal structure, you can bet that it will have little impact on you (or anyone else attending your rite).

Here then are the basic stages of myth and ritual: 26

• The ordinary world

• The departure

• Crossing the threshold

• The ordeal

• The return

Looking through the lens of the Witch, we can see the following alignments with our magical/spiritual paradigm:

Pentacle with the Five Elements

Pentacle with the Five Stages of Myth

The stages of myth and ritual align with the elements thusly:

Spirit: At the top of the pentacle, we see the sign of spirit. In myth, the dimension of spirit is where all journeys begin and end. On Pagan paths, spirit does not reside in some other “realm.” Instead, Witches see spirit as part of their ordinary world. Spirit may not even be recognized at the beginning of one’s journey, as it is residing in plain sight. It takes the journey to open one’s eyes enough to see that spirit is the very life we have right now.

Air: Traditionally, Witches associate air with inspiration, ideas, communication, and rational cogitation. Witches also associate this element with beginnings. Frequently a journey begins with an inspiration of some form. In myth and fairytale, a little animal or creature, or some strange new situation, might suddenly appear, and the adventure begins from there. The beginning part of a journey is the departure.

Earth: Witches think of earth as substance. It is the rocks and mountains of our path in a journey; thus it can represent the solidification of some obstacle that must be overcome. This stage is the crossing of the threshold.

Fire: We’ve likely all experienced a “trial by fire.” Fire transforms substances. It was crucial in alchemy, as it could change one substance into another. Most anything that goes through fire is changed afterward. In our mythic stages, the ordeal aligns with fire because the purpose of an ordeal in myth or ritual is to change or transform the individual.

Water: The element of water closely aligns with the moon and female energies that are cyclical. In our mythic stages, water aligns with the return, as it highlights the cyclical nature of coming back to the place where it all began. However, after the previous stages, the mythic hero has usually had his or her eyes opened enough to see, upon the return, the shining nature of spirit.

Interestingly, it seems that in aligning the stages with the elements, we find a widdershins (or counterclockwise) movement around the pentagram. This is no mistake. Going on the hero’s (or heroine’s) adventure is one that goes deep into darkness, the unknown, which is what widdershins movement is all about.

When we embark on our own inner journey into the unknown, we encounter dragons, beasts, and monsters that symbolize the repressed and forbidden material of our lives. These are what we must “slay” (or really, assimilate) in order to come out of the adventure with the elixir, the healing balm, the treasure.

In exploring mythic cycles, we’ll start with our own lives, beginning the adventure with the ordinary world.

The Ordinary World and Its Limits

In Campbell’s stages, one’s mythic journey begins when one ventures away from the known world, and there, encounters supernatural wonder.27 The hero (and heroine) of every myth is a symbol representing you and me.

As Witches, in applying the skeletal “architecture” of myth and ritual to practical ritual writing, we have to start with an intimacy and a familiarity with the limits of our ordinary lives. This isn’t always easy to do, since we are in the midst of our own “adventure” as it is going along. In order to understand the contrast between what is ordinary and what is supernatural wonder, we must start with what we know.

The ordinary world is where we experience day-to-day life. It’s the experience of work, play, making friends and enemies, paying bills, finding love, and having children. It is the place of common human experiences. But when we take up permanent residence among what is always known, we can easily become dissatisfied. Life lived without the depth that comes through encountering the supernatural wonder that lies beyond what is known becomes stagnant and unhappy over time.

Exploring the Symbols of the Ordinary World

To get our next days’ practice started, we will first observe how our own lives are mythic structures. You and I are living out a myth right now. Are you Beauty or are you the Beast? Are you the Sleeping Beauty? A Frog Prince? An ogre? As you get a sense of the mythic symbols you’re living out, you’ll develop an appreciation for how you can apply this understanding to your ritual writing.

For today’s exercise, make a list of the elements of your ordinary life on one side of a page. On the opposite side, list some imaginary events that would take you from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Try not to leap to magic and mythic beasts right off the bat. Keep it simple and realistic for now, with just a simple tweak of the ordinary activity to make it suddenly an “event.” There should be a mild form of tension in the extraordinary event that hints of something more on the way.

For example, here is a list of my ordinary events and how they might suddenly start to become extraordinary:

Ordinary Event

How It Becomes Extraordinary

Doing laundry

I suddenly discover in my partner’s pocket a strange object, or a phone number or name written on a piece of paper.

Washing the car

I run out of gas on the way to the car wash, or the car doesn’t start.

Driving to work

Someone blows me a kiss from their window.

Making dinner

The ingredients that I need are mysteriously missing from the fridge.

The main rule in doing this is that whatever happens in your event, it must continue to involve your participation. In writing ritual, we must look for ways to heighten the experience of the ordinary and make it extraordinary in the context of (against the backdrop of) daily life.

Next, take a few moments to reflect on today’s teaching, then journal about the following:

• What are some limitations I face in my own “ordinary” world?

• What extraordinary events took place in my life today (no matter how small)?

• What step might I have taken to engage the extraordinary events of my day?

Finally, consider times in your life when an ordinary event became notably extraordinary. Journal about these questions:

• What were the circumstances? What was the effect on your body and mind?

• Did you immediately know how to resolve the situation? If not, what was the rest of this adventure?

• How was it resolved? If it wasn’t resolved, what was the experience like for you mentally, emotionally, and physically (if you know)?

Practice Days 12–13

The Departure

Magical Purpose: Learning about the departure stage of the myth you’re living right now.

The stage of departure frequently begins with recognizing what you may lack in your ordinary life. This is the “herald” of the adventure. Through recognition of the herald, you come to realize that a journey outside of the ordinary circumstances of your life may be necessary. We take the journey because the antidote, the potion, the treasure, is just outside of our grasp in ordinary circumstances.

A classic example of this mythic stage occurs in “The Frog Prince,” when the princess first meets the little amphibian. In the fairy tale “Snow White,” the moment of departure is when Snow White’s stepmother (or, in earlier versions of the tale, the child’s own mother) banishes her from the kingdom.

For today, make a list of areas that represent lack for you. These areas can include the following:

• Personal characteristics that you perceive to be flawed

• Wounds (of all kinds) that you have received in your lifetime

• People or situations that seem to hold you back

After you make this list, write down what it is that would be the antidote to each flaw, wound, or situation. For example, if I were to say that a flaw of mine is anxiety, then I might identify the antidote as serenity.

The call to adventure, or “departure” phase, occurs when:

• there is a call, pressure, or temptation to alleviate the flaw.

• someone continually brings up the flaw, telling you that something must be done.

• you’ve run out of options and now you must do something very different.

Now, to apply this to your own life and experiences, answer the following:

• What is one call, pressure, or temptation you have experienced to alleviate your perceived flaw, difficulty, or wound?

• Who in your life brings up the issues, wounds, or flaws, telling you that something must be done?

• How has your flaw reduced your options? (For example, less freedom, reduced health, less happiness, communication difficulties, etc.)

Again, although you may not see the pieces coming together yet, stay with these practices and it will all make sense eventually.

Practice Days 14–15

Crossing the Threshold

Magical Purpose: Learning this stage of the mythic journey you’re living right now.

In this phase of myth and ritual, you must go someplace you’ve never gone before, do something you’ve never done, or try something new, different, or even dangerous. Classic examples of crossing the threshold in the mythic structure include when Ashputtel prays to the tree-let and her wish to attend the king’s ball comes true. In “Snow White,” the moment of crossing the threshold is when the princess must fend for herself in the dark forest. The road will take each of these characters far from their ordinary lives and experiences.

This is the stage where you commit wholeheartedly to some new experience, knowing that things may not be the same afterward. But as Campbell says, crossing the threshold is the first step into the sacred zone of the universal source.28 For Witches, this means stepping into the sacred realm of the Gods.

At this stage there are typically dangerous threshold guardians who meet the hero. These threshold guardians are commonly people who challenge us, who point out our flaws, or who tell us that we cannot get past our flaws or advance because of our weaknesses.

For today’s task, journal about the following:

• What is one very different thing you’d have to do to address your flaw (assuming that whatever you’re doing now is not really addressing the issue)?

• Who or what is the challenge to you in your “knowing”? (For example, a coworker, a boss, a random stranger on the street who makes a jarring remark, etc.)

• What steps would you have to take to meet the challenge of the threshold guardian in your life?

Practice Day 16

Full Moon Ceremony

Magical Purpose: Practicing the skills you’ve learned thus far in your year.

For this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your ceremony:

• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)

• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon

• Drawing Down the Moon

• Aspecting the Goddess and speaking her words

• Reading the Charge of the Goddess

• Complete a magical working you’ve already started, or try something new as the main portion of the ritual.

23. See Francis Barrett, The Magus (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1967). The magical letters of Jupiter, as well as all of the other magical letters found in this work, are from Francis Barrett’s The Magus, which is an almost literal, line-by-line transcription of Henry Cornelius Agrippa’s important magical masterpiece, Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

24. Joseph Campbell, The Wisdom of Joseph Campbell Audio CD, interview with Michael Toms (Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2005).

25. Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1949), p. 3.

26. I am basing these stages on the Campbell formulae. However, Christopher Vogler has written an important and accessible account of these stages. His book is intended as a writer’s reference; however, a study of Vogler’s explanations sheds important light on Campbell’s writings. See Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey (Chelsea, MI: Sheridan Books, 2007).

27. Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p. 30.

28. Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p. 81.

[contents]

Ninth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 17–28

Practice Day 17

The Ordeal

Magical Purpose: Learning about the ordeal stage of the myth you’re living right now.

During the stage of the ordeal, you’re in the thick of some new adventure, given that you were not stopped by the threshold guardians. In your landscape that you’ve typically never encountered, you have to adapt to the new rules and you may have frightening experiences. They seem frightening because they can be disorienting and stand in contrast to your ordinary life.

During this phase, you are usually tested. Heroes ordinarily run through a series of tests to prove their mettle. But frequently there is a magical aide available, such as a guardian, a guide, an ally, or a mentor who can provide you with just the right word at precisely the right time so that you can advance through the challenges.

In many ways, the ordeal changes the hero’s beliefs, ideas, or behaviors. Myths typically represent this change through the motif of death and rebirth.

In the fairy tale, think of Snow White when she is poisoned. Will she survive? Can she accept that she deserves to live or be loved?

In “Sleeping Beauty,” the princess never accepts or (in some versions) even knows that she is indeed a princess, and she blunders helplessly toward the final test: pricking her finger on the deadly spindle of a spinning wheel.

For today, answer the following in your magical journal:

• In what ways have you been tested in your life?

• Who stepped forward to act as a guide or an ally?

• Have you ever been the guide, guardian, or ally? (I find that Witches frequently have found themselves in this role across their lifetimes.)

• Have you ever entered a new school, a new job, or any new situation where you didn’t know the rules? How did this special world contrast with your ordinary world?

• What were your reactions to entering into the new situation?

• How did the new situation affect your thoughts, ideas, or behaviors? Did you change?

Practice Days 18–19

The Return

Magical Purpose: Learning about the return stage of the myth you’re living right now.

In myth and fairy tale, the phase of return is often typified by a chase, or there may be a triumphant return of the hero to the place where he or she began. In this phase, the hero has finished “slaying the dragons,” vanquishing fears, and the individual has usually come to a new realization about him- or herself.

This phase includes “taking the sword” (otherwise known as claiming a reward). Whatever insight is gained or whatever triumph has occurred has usually made the hero or heroine stronger. The hero is able to see things from a new vantage point and brings back the “elixir,” or the thing that others in his or her village need. For example, this might be some piece of information, seeds of renewal, or some other form of healing.

Think of Ashputtel, when the boon she brings is to her own life. She reveals her true nature (really to herself, though the prince could see it right away). Her nature was radiant, shining, perfect. And once she accepted herself as truly a princess, the final mythic stage could unfold, and she became the living expression of the divine. This is symbolized by her marrying the prince and thus realizing her own royalty.

For today, answer the following in your magical journal:

• Have you ever gained some insight or claimed some victory (such as getting a job, a degree, a partner, etc.), and to get this, you had to go through an ordeal? Recount this here, naming the ordeal and the reward.

• What is the experience once you have undergone an ordeal and you know the “dangers” are far behind you? Write about how you feel and how you behave following such an accomplishment.

• Does passing the ordeal mean you’ll never have to slay dragons again? If not, what does this accomplishment of returning from an ordeal mean to you?

A Word to the Wise: As I mentioned in the introduction to this book, our purpose this year is to advance beyond more basic Craft activity. Therefore, the rituals that follow assume the reader has a sufficient beginning knowledge of the sabbats, the symbols, customs, and their meanings. While I discussed sabbats in the sections pertaining to the magical axioms, these discussions built upon and assumed the reader’s foundation in sabbat basics, rather than providing a beginning orientation. The remaining information is for readers with a mastery of the basic sabbat information, as well as the more advanced information I provided in the magical axiom days. For a basic orientation to the sabbats, please see Wicca: A Year and a Day.

Practice Days 20–21

Samhain

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

We will start our ritual-reimagining practice with a look at our first Wiccan celebration of the year: Samhain. The following is a sample ritual from the British traditions for the rite. Typically, you insert the sabbat working (also called the mystery play) after you cast the circle and bless everyone with the elements, and you follow the mystery play with cakes and wine. Usually, no magic is done at the sabbat celebrations, although I have seen exceptions to this rule. In particular, I have seen healing work done for individuals who were in need of it.

Not having a magical working on a sabbat makes magical sense. It only serves to lengthen the celebration and can be psychically fatiguing. I encourage you to try it out once to see for yourself.

Samhain Mystery Play

This rite is meant for more than one person, but you can easily adapt it for solo work. In this rite, typically the priest aspects the God during the ceremony. If there is no priest, then a priestess may aspect the God.

To begin, the priest or priestess (or both, if possible), carrying a broomstick, walks slowly counterclockwise in the circle, starting and ending in the east. As the leading celebrants start the circle dance, they chant the Witches’ Rune.

The leading priest or priestess stands before the altar, and others in the circle place the veil over the priest/ess’s face. They hand the priest/ess the athame, and he or she holds it in the Osiris position while a coven member points the wand just below the priest/ess’s navel.

The coven member holding the wand then reads the following out loud:

Dread Lord of the shadows,

God of Life, giver of life,

Yet is the knowledge of thee the knowledge of death.

Open wide, I pray thee, thy gates

Through which all must pass.

Let our dear ones who have gone before

Return this night to make merry with us,

And when our time comes, as it must,

O thou, the comforter, the consoler,

The giver of rest and peace,

We will enter thy realms gladly.

And refreshed among our dear ones,

We shall be reborn again by thy grace,

And by the grace of the Great Mother.

Let it be in the same place

And the same time as our beloved ones.

And may we meet and know and remember and love them again.

The coven member then touches the tip of the wand to the priest/ess’s right breast, the left breast, and returns to just below the navel again to close the triangle.

The coven member continues reading:

Descend, we pray, into the body of thy servant and priest/ess ________ here.

Speak with her/his tongue,

Touch with her/his hands,

Kiss with his/her lips,

So that thy servants may be fulfilled.

The coven member then hands the wand to the lead priest/ess. The priest/ess then speaks whatever comes to his or her mind and heart.

Following this is cakes and wine, then the closing of the circle.

The exercise for today leads to the next days’ exercise, which is revisioning the Samhain ritual. For the next couple of days, think and journal about the following questions:

• Which phases of the ritual were aligned with the mythic phases of the ordinary world, the departure, crossing the threshold, the ordeal, and the return?

• Were any of the stages missing for you? Which ones?

Practice Days 22–23

Samhain Revised

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this celebration.

Now that you have had time to consider what from the Samhain mystery play aligned with the mythic stages and what did not, it is time for you to reimagine and rewrite the ceremony for yourself. As you develop the ceremony over the next couple of days, do research on the topic of Samhain and be sure to keep in mind all of the mythic stages. Consider these questions:

• What does the ordinary world look like?

• How do we know there is a departure?

• What will the crossing of the threshold look like?

• What is the ordeal at Samhain?

• What is the boon, treasure, or healing that can take place as the result of the rite (representing the return)?

While you are thinking about these questions and planning the ceremony, consider adding the following short list of themes and magical elements that Witches typically incorporate into their Samhain celebrations:

Themes/Symbols: Death, the Crone, the Bagabi chant,29 the God in his aspect of death, widdershins movements, the end/the beginning, darkness as friend (as opposed to something that should be feared), final harvesting, spirits, the departed ancestors (also known as the Mighty Dead), the dumb supper, silence, stillness, mystery, scrying, fortunetelling, predictions for the new year, the cauldron, rebirth, past lives, storytelling, cornstalks, pumpkins, apples

Colors: Red, black, orange, brown, purple

Herbs: Acorn, deadly nightshade, dittany of Crete, fly agaric, fumitory, henbane, mullein, oak, sage, wolfsbane

Practice Days 24–25

Winter Solstice

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Our purpose over the next days is to look at the basic Winter Solstice mystery play and consider how we might reimagine this, based on our mythic stages.

Winter Solstice Mystery Play

Place a cauldron before the altar, and light a fire either by using a very small quantity of denatured alcohol or by lighting a black candle in the cauldron. As you light the candle, say:

Fire, flame in the Old One’s name.

Straddle the broomstick, holding it with your non-dominant hand. Hold your wand in your dominant hand and point it toward the cauldron, saying:

Queen of Moon, Queen of Sun,

Queen of all and queen of none,

Queen of waters, earth, and sky,

The time once more is drawing nigh.

When the sun shall rise and vanquish night,

Darkness and tears are set aright.

Lord who shines on peak and tree,

Illumine the land, illumine me,

Illumine the waters, illumine the mind,

Be truth, be just, be strong, be kind,

Upon this night, joy rises with thee!

Io Ivohe! Blessed be!

A Word to the Wise: The chant of “Io Ivohe” originated with the Greeks and is found in chants to Dionysus.

The Witches’ Rune is chanted and all dance in a circle, deosil (sunwise), with the leading priest/ess straddling the broom.

Next, if there is more than one coven member, two members can enact the battle between the Holly King and the Ivy King, which symbolizes the battle between the light and dark of the year. (Be sure that the Ivy King wins, as the Holly King must pass with the dying of the sun.)

This is followed by cakes and wine, and the closing of the circle.

The next days’ exercise again has two parts. The first is thinking and journaling about the following questions:

• Which phases of the ritual were aligned with the mythic phases of the ordinary world, the departure, crossing the threshold, the ordeal, and the return?

• Were any of the stages missing for you? Which ones?

Practice Days 26–27

Winter Solstice Revised

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this celebration.

For today’s practice you will reimagine the basic Winter Solstice ceremony, keeping in mind all of the mythic stages.

• What does the ordinary world look like?

• How do we know there is a departure?

• What will the crossing of the threshold look like?

• What is the ordeal at Winter Solstice?

• What is the boon, treasure, or healing that can take place as a result of the rite (representing the return)?

While you are thinking about these questions and planning the ritual, consider adding the following short list of themes and magical elements that Witches typically incorporate into their Winter Solstice celebrations:

Themes/Symbols: Birth, the sun, snow, pine and evergreens, immortality, promise, rejuvenation, games, merriment, gifts are frequently exchanged, wreaths, trees, descent into darkness/emergence into light, hope/hopelessness, frivolity, sex, Yule log, singing in community.

Colors: Red, green, white, gold, silver

Herbs: Blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense, holly, ivy, mistletoe, pine, sage

Practice Day 28

Imbolc

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this celebration.

Our purpose over the next days is to look at the traditional Imbolc mystery play and consider how this may be reimagined based on the mythic stages. Here is the basic Imbolc mystery play.

Imbolc Mystery Play

This ritual begins outside of the circle. The leading priest/ess has coven members hold hands and they follow behind the leading priest/ess in a dance, moving deosil around the outside perimeter of the circle, starting and ending in the east. While doing so, the leading priest/ess holds the athame (or sword if you have one) in the right hand and the wand in the left. They are crossed in an X formation above the priest/ess’s head.

All enter the circle space from the east, and the circle is cast.

After all are consecrated, the priest/ess pours milk into a chalice that sits atop the altar pentacle. The priest/ess holds the athame over the chalice and invokes:

O Great Goddess of us all,

She of large and she of small,

Giver of life, teacher of death,

Thou who art our very breath,

Encourage our hearts this Imbolc night,

Return to us by ray of light,

By sheep and ewe, by calf and cow,

Touch the soil and speed the plough.

Dip the athame in the milk. Continue by saying:

There is no part of us not thee,

By Maiden’s voice: Blessed be!

Each coven member stands before the priest/ess, who blesses each person with the milk at the Five True Points of Fellowship 30 (namely, the feet, knees, phallus/womb, breasts, and lips), saying:

Feet: Blessed be thy feet, which have brought thee in these ways.

Knees: Blessed be thy knees, which shall kneel at the sacred altar.

Phallus/Womb: Blessed be thy phallus/womb, without which we would not be.

Lips: Blessed be thy lips, which shall utter the sacred names.

Breasts: Blessed be thy breasts, formed in strength and beauty.

After this, all stand in a circle holding their athames in their hands. The priest/ess then takes the altar’s fire candle and holds it out for the coven member on his/her left. The coven member then holds his/her athame over the candle flame and says:

Blessed flame of hearth and home,

By sylph, salamander, undine, and gnome,

Suckle the young and quicken the field,

To the Goddess’s way, we all shall yield.

The candle is then passed from the priest/ess to the coven member on the left, who then holds it for the member on his/her left to bless the next athame. This continues around the entire circle.

This activity is followed by cakes and wine, and the closing of the circle.

For today, journal about the following questions:

• Which phases of the ritual were aligned with the mythic phases of the ordinary world, the departure, crossing the threshold, the ordeal, and the return?

• Were any of the stages missing for you? Which ones?

29. You can find a copy of the Bagabi chant in the Second Degree elevation ritual, in the final two days of this year and a day.

30. This is a particularly British Traditional term, which relates to the Great Rite and to other blessings and initiations. See, for example, Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon, pp. 230–231.

[contents]

Tenth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

A day of silence is a great way to learn important life lessons. One of the most important is in allowing life to live itself out through you. You read that right. As much as the New Age teachers would like you to believe otherwise, you are not in control of the whole universe. Seasons come and go, no matter what we think of them. Rain and snow come, despite our protests. Children are born and people die, no matter how much magic we throw at some situations.

Knowing our place in the vastness of time and space, knowing that we cannot control the stars or the ultimate fate of human lives, is a good starting place. But if we narrow our view a bit to see our own lives, we can see that we’re not in charge of a lot that happens. We’re not in charge of how other people feel. And many times, we aren’t even in charge of how we feel. We aren’t in charge of the events that occur in our day. We can’t change the rising and setting of the sun or the turning of the seasons. We can’t control if someone leaves us, or if someone enters our life. It’s all just happening on its own. Life is simply playing itself out.

We have no choice but to be part of it, to put forth our best effort, to intend goodness. After all, what is the alternative? Fighting against life? Bringing anger and discord to an already fragile species, with immensely sensitive nervous systems, living in a fragile ecosystem? What would be the point of that, except to express anger for the way things are?

Anger does not result in changing life, in changing people, in changing the conditions of our existence. Living within the vastness of it all, acting on whatever needs action, not “losing” or “winning,” not giving up but also not forcing our specific effect on the world—that’s how we can live magically and powerfully. This is the important magical practice of allowing the flow of life and not impeding it.

For today’s silent practice, watch yourself to see how frequently you try to fight against the flow of life. Did someone cut you off on the freeway? Did your spouse forget to clean up the dishes? Did your dog just make howdy-doodie on the carpet? If so, watch your responses. Do you act, doing whatever is needed? Or do you go beyond immediate action and protest life’s occurrences? Does your protest serve you? To what ultimate end?

Practice Days 2–4

Imbolc Revised

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this celebration.

In the last days of the ninth lunation, we looked at the basic traditional Imbolc ritual and considered it in light of the standard mythic stages. For the next couple of days, reimagine the Imbolc ceremony, keeping in mind all of the mythic stages.

• What does the ordinary world look like?

• How do we know there is a departure?

• What will the crossing of the threshold look like?

• What is the ordeal at Imbolc?

• What is the boon, treasure, or healing that can take place as a result of the rite (representing the return)?

While you are thinking about these questions and planning the mystery play, consider adding the following short list of themes and magical elements that Witches typically incorporate into their Imbolc celebrations:

Themes/Symbols: Candles, torches, lights, wreath crowns, the Maiden, birth/rebirth, first signs of life, promise of spring, holy wells, pilgrimages, the goddess Brigid, corn dollies, youth, innocence, suckling, nourishing after a long period of hunger, blessings of animals, the protection of home, hearth fires, divination, breasts, women’s mysteries, the God aspect is frequently conspicuously missing

Colors: White, red, gold, green

Herbs: Angelica, basil, bay, benzoin, celandine, heather, myrrh

Practice Days 5–6

Spring Equinox

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Our purpose over the next days is to look at the traditional Spring Equinox mystery play and consider how this may be revised, based on mythic stages. Here then is the Spring Equinox mystery play.

Spring Equinox Mystery Play

After the circle is cast, strew flower petals around the circle, especially at each quarter, starting and ending in the east of the circle.

The priest/ess stands in the east over a cauldron (or a very deep fire-retardant cast-iron pot set before him/her). Light a fire in the cauldron. For indoor spaces, use a fuel such as denatured alcohol, or simply light four candles set deep in the pot. If lighting candles, choose four that represent the magical elements: yellow for air, red for fire, blue for water, and green for earth.

The priest/ess takes the wand in one hand and a flower in the other. He/she holds both above the flames and invokes:

We light the fire this holy day,

Before the queens and kings of fey,

Without a care within the heart,

We summon forth the Highest Art.

The coven members pass by the priest/ess. He/she dips a flower into the blessed water/salt and sprinkles each member with the water from the flower. The priest/ess takes seeds in his/her hand and holds these above the flames. With the other hand he/she holds the wand over the seeds. The priest/ess continues reading:

We invoke thee, light of life,

With wand aloft and Witches’ knife,

Be a flame, descend we pray,

By light, by life, by Holy May,

Be a guiding star above,

Kindle now the might of love,

To a foe and to a friend,

We pray thee now, O light descend,

Bless the seed and bless the earth,

Blessed be the spring’s rebirth!

The priest/ess then draws an invoking earth pentagram over the seeds. The coven members file past the priest/ess and say aloud a wish, a feeling, or a quality they would like to see come to fruition between this and the next season. They carry with them small cups of earth. As they state what they wish, the priest/ess hands each coven member a seed. The coven members then plant the seeds in the soil.

After all the seeds are planted, the coven members dance deosil, raising the cone of power, finally directing the power into their seeds/wishes.

Before cakes and wine, the coven members should leap over the cauldron “bonfire” (carefully). After the last person has leapt over the fire, the priest/ess extinguishes it quickly.

Today, journal about the following questions:

• Which phases of the ritual were aligned with the mythic phases of the ordinary world, the departure, crossing the threshold, the ordeal, and the return?

• Were any of the stages missing for you? Which ones?

Practice Days 7–9

Spring Equinox Revised

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Based on your ideas, reimagine and revise the Spring Equinox ceremony, keeping in mind all of the mythic stages.

• What does the ordinary world look like?

• How do we know there is a departure?

• What will the crossing of the threshold look like?

• What is the ordeal at Spring Equinox?

• What is the boon, treasure, or healing that can take place as a result of the rite (representing the return)?

While you are thinking about these questions and planning the mystery play, consider adding the following short list of themes and magical elements that Witches typically incorporate into their Spring Equinox celebrations:

Themes/Symbols: Bonfires, the sun, planting, sewing, wishing, renewal, freshness, beauty of the earth, promise of bounty, the goddess Ostara, eggs (and dyeing them bright spring colors), hares, baby animals, dawn, the element of air, joy, blessing, the “resurrection” of the daylight, wearing of white, sword dances, baking and cakes, the Norse goddess Freyja, balance between light and darkness (with an emphasis on the light aspects)

Colors: White, pink, yellow, all soft floral colors

Herbs: Cinquefoil, dogwood, honeysuckle, iris, jasmine, rose, all seeds, tansy, violet

Practice Days 10–11

Beltane

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Our purpose over the next days is to look at the traditional Beltane mystery play and rewrite it based on the mythic stages. Here then is the Beltane mystery play.

Beltane Mystery Play

After the circle is cast, all coven members dance around the circle deosil, astride poles, brooms, pitchforks, etc. Start and end in the east. After the last dancer comes to the east, all members hold hands and dance a spiral dance toward the center of the circle. Everyone should hold hands and spiral inward while facing the outside of the circle. When they spiral back from the center, they will be facing inward. While spiraling inward, chant:

Oh do not tell the priests of our arts

For they would call it sin,

But we will be in the woods all night

A-conjuring summer in.

And we bring good news by word of mouth,

For women, cattle, and corn,

For the sun is rising up from the south,

With oak and ash and thorn.

As coven members spiral back out from the center, they will be facing one another. As they pass, they kiss one another. Thus the dance must proceed slowly after it spirals out from the center.

Once the spiral dance has been completed, all coven members take two poppet figures (typically one male and one female poppet, but it can be male/male or female/female, depending on the members of your group or your own individual practice) and bless them with water/salt and fire/earth. The poppets are tied together facing each other. The coven members recite the May Eve chant:

Here stand we, merry Witches all

And thus to we begin,

The Beltane spell, to chant it well,

And conjure springtime in.

We have been wandering all the night

Before the dawn of day

And now returning back again,

We have brought you a branch of May.

A branch of May we have brought to you

And here all green it stands,

’Tis but a sprout, but it’s budded out,

The work of the Goddess’s hands.

The hedges and trees, they are so green

As green as emeralds rare,

For the gentle Goddess watered them

With shining dew of air.

The gates of faery open wide,

The path is beaten plain;

And however far ye may have gone,

Ye may return again.

The life of man is but a space

Just like the flowers we bring,

All brave today, and then cut down,

To bloom the next year’s spring.

The moon shines bright, the stars give light,

A little before the day,

Blessed be all, both great and small

And send you a joyful May.

The priest/ess stands in the south of the circle with the athame while another coven member drapes the veil over the priest/ess’s face. Using the wand, the coven member draws the inverted triangle, touching the wand tip to the priest/ess’s pelvic region/above the pubic area, then right breast, left breast, and back to the pelvis. The coven member holding the wand says:

I invoke thee and call upon thee,

O Mighty Mother of us all,

Bringer of all fruitfulness

By seed and root I invoke thee,

By stem and bud I invoke thee,

By leaf, flower, and fruit I invoke thee,

To descend into the body of this, thy servant

And priest/ess ________ (name of priest/ess), here.

Speak with her/his tongue,

Touch with her/his hands,

Kiss with her/his lips,

That thy servants may be fulfilled.

The coven member hands the wand to the priest/ess, who then stands with arms open in the Mother magical pass. Each coven member approaches, and the priest/ess touches her/him in the inverted triangle: below the navel, then right breast, left breast, and below the navel again. The anointing priest/ess should use the fingertips and Magical Supplication Oil for the task.

The priest/ess then aspects the Goddess, speaking whatever comes to heart and mind. Following this, the veil is removed and the priest/ess reads the Charge of the Goddess.

Cakes and wine is completed, then the circle is closed.

Today, journal about the following questions:

• Which phases of the ritual were aligned with the mythic phases of the ordinary world, the departure, crossing the threshold, the ordeal, and the return?

• Were any of the stages missing for you? Which ones?

Practice Days 12–14

Beltane Revised

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Based on the previous day’s workings, reimagine the Beltane ceremony, keeping in mind all of the mythic stages.

• What does the ordinary world look like?

• How do we know there is a departure?

• What will the crossing of the threshold look like?

• What is the ordeal at Beltane?

• What is the boon, treasure, or healing that can take place as a result of the rite (representing the return)?

While you are thinking about these questions and planning the mystery play, consider adding the following short list of themes and magical elements that Witches typically incorporate into their Beltane celebrations:

Themes/Symbols: Bonfires, the Great Rite, sex, poppets, ripening fields, fecundity, fertility, creativity, collecting Beltane morning dew, opening the gates “between the worlds” of humans and faeries, knowledge from the faerie world, decorating doorways, decoration of bushes (in particular, thorn) with ribbons, the Green Man, tree spirits, honey, oats, use of bright flowers of hawthorn, primrose, rowan, hazel, and marigold

Colors: All shades of green, deep red, woad blue, deep yellow, natural soil colors

Herbs: Almond, cinquefoil, false unicorn, frankincense, High John the Conqueror, ivy, maca root, marigold, meadowsweet, motherwort, rose, satyrion root, shatavari root, white peony, woodruff, yarrow

Practice Day 15

Full Moon Ceremony

During this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your ceremony:

• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)

• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon

• Drawing Down the Moon

• Aspecting the Goddess and speaking her words

• Reading the Charge of the Goddess

• A meditation or magical practice of your choosing. By the way, now would be a great time to fold any missed meditations or magical practices into this circle.

[contents]

Tenth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Practice Days 16–17

Summer Solstice

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Our purpose over the next days is to look at the traditional Summer Solstice mystery play and rewrite it based on the mythic stages. Here then is the Summer Solstice mystery play.

Summer Solstice Mystery Play

After the circle is cast, all coven members, using their chalices, draw water from a central water source placed in the west (could be any large container for the water). After drawing the water, members pour the water into the central cauldron. Members keep drawing and pouring until the central cauldron is at least half full. Then the leading priest/ess places flowers around the base of the cauldron and three more inside of it (representing Maiden, Mother, and Crone).

The priest/ess draws a fire-invoking pentagram over the cauldron with the athame. Then priest/ess holds the wand above the cauldron with both hands, with the tip pointed downward, saying:

Great One of heavens, power of sun,

Usher thy might, O Sacred One.

Your mighty flame no respite knows,

From whom the dark of winter arose:

Benevolent One, to thee we cry,

Forever whirling ’cross the sky;

Whose ample blaze doth turn the wheel,

To bless, to strengthen, to grow, to heal.

Ethereal, earthly, whose all-various frame,

Azure and full of forms, no power can tame.

All-seeing ancient ancestor of time,

Forever blessed, deity sublime.

Give fair woodlands, green the fields,

Bring bounty that the orchard yields.

The priest/ess then draws a second fire-invoking pentagram with the wand above the cauldron, then plunges the wand into the water, saying:

Spear to the cauldron,

Lance to the grail,

Spirit to flesh,

Sun to earth,

Magic to the world.

Each coven member approaches the priest/ess, and they kiss over the cauldron. The priest/ess then dips a bundle of rue into the cauldron waters and asperges the member with the blessed water.

When all members have been blessed, the priest/ess holds the wand and athame in an X formation above the head, saying:

Dance ye about the cauldron of Cerridwen the goddess,

And be ye blessed by the touch of this consecrated water,

Even as the sun, the Lord of Life, arises in

His strength, in the sign of the waters of life.

The priest/ess fills his/her chalice with water from the cauldron, and also takes the bundle of rue. The coven members then follow the priest/ess as they walk thrice around the circle. The priest/ess asperges the circle and anything beyond it with the cauldron water.

The coven celebrates with cakes and wine, then the circle is closed.

Today, journal about the following questions:

• Which phases of the ritual were aligned with the mythic phases of the ordinary world, the departure, crossing the threshold, the ordeal, and the return?

• Were any of the stages missing for you? Which ones?

Practice Days 18–20

Summer Solstice Revised

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Based on the previous day’s workings, reimagine the Summer Solstice ceremony, keeping in mind all of the mythic stages.

• What does the ordinary world look like?

• How do we know there is a departure?

• What will the crossing of the threshold look like?

• What is the ordeal at Summer Solstice?

• What is the boon, treasure, or healing that can take place as a result of the rite (representing the return)?

While you are thinking about these questions and planning the mystery play, consider adding the following short list of themes and magical elements that Witches typically incorporate into their Summer Solstice celebrations:

Themes/Symbols: Fire, the sun, greening fields, promise of bounty, height of power, men’s mysteries, the phallus, strength, energy, growth of crops, growth of wishes, longest day of the year, ashes from Beltane planted in the garden, stone circles, tossing stones or coins into the cauldron for luck, sunwheels made of wood and ribbons are set afire, the making of invisibility charms with ferns, communing with elves, faeries, and other nature spirits

Colors: Gold, red, yellow, orange

Colors: All shades of green, deep red, woad blue, deep yellow, natural soil colors

Herbs: Ash, angelica, chamomile, elder, fennel, fern, hemp, juniper, lavender, mistletoe, rosemary, St. John’s wort, sunflower, tormentil, verbena

Practice Days 21–23

Lughnasadh

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Our purpose over the next days is to look at the traditional Lughnasadh (also called Lammas) mystery play and rewrite it based on the mythic stages. Here then is the Lughnasadh play.

Lughnasadh Mystery Play

After the circle is cast, all coven members draw hoods over their heads. The leading priest/ess stands in the east, facing the inner circle. He/she holds a sickle high and then folds his/her arms in the Osiris position. Turning to the east, the priest/ess says:

Great Mother, all-bounteous and divine,

Whose joy is peace; to nourish corn is thine:

Goddess of seed, of fruits abundant and fair,

Harvest and threshing, are thy constant care.

The priest/ess draws an invoking air pentagram with the sickle, then goes to the south of the circle with arms crossed in the Osiris position. Once in the south, the priest/ess says:

Who dwellest in Eleusina’s seats retired,

Lovely, abundant Queen, by all desired.

Ye give to men, what nature’s wants require,

With plenteous means of bliss which awaken desire.

The priest/ess draws an invoking fire pentagram with the sickle, then goes to the west of the circle with arms crossed in the Osiris position. Once in the west, the priest/ess says:

In flora flourishing honor bright,

Queen of great Helios, bearing light:

Rejoicing in the reaper’s sickles, kind,

Whose nature is earthy, pure, refined.

The priest/ess draws an invoking water pentagram with the sickle, then goes to the north of the circle with arms crossed in the Osiris position. Once in the north, the priest/ess says:

Only-begotten, ever-producing Queen,

All flowers are thine and fields of green.

Come, bright Demeter, with summer’s rich reward,

Swelling, pregnant, from consort with the Lord.

The priest/ess draws an invoking earth pentagram with the sickle, then goes to the east of the circle with arms crossed in the Osiris position. Once in the east, the priest/ess turns to face the inner circle again.

Another coven member picks up the corn or wheat stalks and stands opposite the leading priest/ess in the west, saying:

Come, O Queen, ’tis the appointed time

And the appointed place.

I stand before thee, ripe, ready,

Engorged by summer’s plenty.

Take what is mine and eat,

For what lives must surely die.

And what dies is eaten.

And what is eaten gives life anew.

Birth, growth, death is mine,

Never-ending and divine.

The priest/ess and the coven member dance around the circle, always remaining opposite each another in the circle. As they dance, they (and others present) chant:

Dominae, Demeter!

Dominae, Demeter!

They dance faster and faster, raising the cone of power. The coven members likewise raise power through the chant.

At the height of power, the leading priest/ess holds the sickle high and makes a harvesting gesture. At that time, the coven member with the corn or wheat stalks drops to the ground. The lead priest/ess covers the “fallen” coven member with the veil, invoking:

Almighty Mother of us all

Bring the bounty of the fall,

Give us fruit and bring us grain,

Flocks and herds across the plain,

Bring us children to thy feet

Who sing aloud with Merry Meet!

By thy rosy love come forth,

From east, from south, from west, from north.

Do thou bring the grain again,

Arise, arise, thou who’s been slain.

The coven member who held the stalks arises and takes from the altar two bowls of grain (any grain of your choosing). The coven member takes these to the cauldron that sits in the west of the circle and pours in the grains.

Coven members celebrate with cakes and wine, then the circle is closed.

Today, journal about the following questions:

• Which phases of the ritual were aligned with the mythic phases of the ordinary world, the departure, crossing the threshold, the ordeal, and the return?

• Were any of the stages missing for you? Which ones?

Practice Days 24–26

Lughnasadh Revised

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Based on the previous day’s workings, reimagine the Lughnasadh ceremony, keeping in mind all of the mythic stages.

• What does the ordinary world look like?

• How do we know there is a departure?

• What will the crossing of the threshold look like?

• What is the ordeal at Lughnasadh?

• What is the boon, treasure, or healing that can take place as a result of the rite (representing the return)?

While you are thinking about these questions and planning the mystery play, consider adding the following short list of themes and magical elements that Witches typically incorporate into their Lughnasadh celebrations:

Themes/Symbols: Death and rebirth, bounty, sacrifice, life feeding on life, corn, wheat, harvest fruits, first harvest of the season, preparations for the coming winter, halfway through the summer season, feasting, ritual dances, the gods Lugh and Puck, the goddess Demeter, funeral feast (for the passing of Lugh/the grain), cutting of the first corn and burying it, pilgrimages to mountaintops, rain, John Barleycorn, loaves of bread

Colors: Green, yellow, gold, amber

Herbs: Barley, fenugreek, frankincense, heather, hollyhock, meadowsweet, mints, oats, rye, wheat

Practice Days 27–28

Autumn Equinox

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Our purpose over the next days is to look at the traditional Autumn Equinox (also called Mabon) mystery play and rewrite it based on the mythic stages. Here then is the Autumn Equinox play.

Autumn Equinox Mystery Play

After the circle is cast, all coven members draw hoods over their heads. The leading priest/ess stands facing the west with the athame and wand in the Osiris position. A coven member brings the thurible and sprinkles storax on the coals. The coven member keeps the fumes going while he/she follows the priest/ess, who is invoking Semele, mother of Dionysus. The priest/ess opens his/her arms to the western quarter and holds both the wand and athame out in double evocation. The priest/ess walks the perimeter of the magic circle, saying:

Bounteous Goddess, universal queen,

Semele, I call, of beauteous mien;

Deep-bosomed, lovely magnificence is thine,

Mother of Dionysus, joyful and divine,

From deathless counsels, secret, high,

Of Jove Saturnian, regent of sky,

Whom Persephone calls to glimpse the light,

And visit mortals from realms of night:

Be with us, attending our sacred rites,

And feast with us, thy soul delights;

Now I invoke thee, great propitious queen,

To bless our rites with countenance serene.

The officiating priest/ess lights black candles and passes one to each coven member. They hold the candles as they recite the following together:

Farewell, O sun, ever-burning light,

O Hidden God, who descends this night,

Go ye through gates of death,

To dwell enthroned, till our final breath.

O Horned Hunter of the hosts of air,

To will, to know, to be silent, to dare,

Be among us, attend thy feast,

Of sacred grain and sacred beast.

The coven members extinguish the candles, starting with the member standing in the west, who extinguishes the next member’s candle. This member then extinguishes the next candle around the circle, and so on, until all candles are darkened.

Attendees then place objects that represent the goodness of what they “reaped” during the year on the central altar. The presiding priest/ess then stands before the altar from the south and plunges the tip of his/her athame into a loaf of bread. He/she then says:

Let us give thanks to the Gods for these signs of a joyful and bounteous harvest.

The priest/ess then passes the loaf. All members take a piece of the bread, and before they eat it together, they all say:

To the Gods!

The coven members celebrate with cakes and wine, then the circle is closed.

Today, journal about the following questions:

• Which phases of the ritual were aligned with the mythic phases of the ordinary world, the departure, crossing the threshold, the ordeal, and the return?

• Were any of the stages missing for you? Which ones?

[contents]

Eleventh Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

The contemplation for the day, as you go through it observing silence, is regarding the quality of each moment you’re experiencing. You and I are living out our own unique circumstances. If you are able to step out of your opinions regarding the circumstances, even for a moment, you suddenly arrive in a new world. It is a world fresh, alive, and electrically full of potential and magic.

There is only one life you can live: it’s the one you are in right now. That insight is not meant to negate past or future lives. I say it to draw your attention to the fact that the only life you are capable of living is the one right before you, revealing itself moment by moment.

There is only one life to live. And the only time that you have is right now. You’re only able to live in the “right now” throughout the entire span of your life. And each “right now” is a brilliant, complex, unrepeatable event. It is truly an act of magic that you exist at all in this universe, is it not?

Are you living your life with appreciation, with a sense of urgency in understanding this unrepeatable magic? If you awaken to this reality of the “unrepeatable moment,” if you take time to fully absorb the magnitude of this realization, the question you inevitably encounter is: how might you actualize this realization right now?

Practice Days 2–4

Autumn Equinox Revised

Magical Purpose: Reimagining this sabbat.

Continuing with the previous day’s workings, today we will work on reimagining the Autumn Equinox ceremony, keeping in mind all of the mythic stages.

• What does the ordinary world look like?

• How do we know there is a departure?

• What will the crossing of the threshold look like?

• What is the ordeal at Autumn Equinox?

• What is the boon, treasure, or healing that can take place as a result of the rite (representing the return)?

While you are thinking about these questions and planning the mystery play, consider adding the following short list of themes and magical elements that Witches typically incorporate into their Autumn Equinox celebrations:

Themes/Symbols: The gods Bacchus and Dionysus, bread, the goddess Persephone, balance between light and darkness (with an emphasis on the darkness), the waning light, the ending of the year, the last harvest of the season, cornucopias, wine, gourds, acorns, seeds, seed pods, grains, corn, hay, pomegranates, wind, prosperity, luck, wishes, fortune

Colors: Red, yellow, brown, ochre, deep blue

Herbs: Acorn, allspice, benzoin, cloves, cinnamon, ferns, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, most woods, oakmoss, passionflower, rose, sage, sandalwood, Solomon’s seal, thistle, tobacco

Fourth Immutable Axiom

Direction:

Northwest

Power:

The power of impermanence

Season:

Mid-fall

Festival:

Samhain

Theme:

Death as advisor

Date:

October 31

Axiom:

A practitioner of the Old Ways
lives in harmony with his or her own mortality and takes action based on this knowledge.

Samhain occurs at the conclusion of the Celtic agricultural cycle and marks the new year. Tied as the Celts were to their lore of reincarnation, they knew that the end of the life-giving season of summer symbolized a period of death (winter) that was followed by the renewal of life (spring). But the Celts did not satisfy themselves with whitewashing death, passing it by, or sanitizing it in any way (as we might do today). Death and the dead were intimate and inevitable parts of living.

The events of life and death were seemingly impermanent for our pagan ancestors, which differs wildly from our typical Western views on the Great Matter. In fact, in the West we pay special attention to the day we were born and celebrate it every year. And when someone dies, we try to hurry through the circumstances, sanitize the situation as best as possible, and move on with our lives. This serves no one, including those who survive the lost loved one.

This “bum’s rush” that the dead and their families get in the modern Western world would be absolute sacrilege to our ancient pagan ancestors. The act of ignoring or desecrating rites intended to celebrate, respect, sanctify, or remember the life of a person who has died was feared in the ancient world. To do so would surely result in hauntings and malefic forces hanging over the life of one who would dare ignore the turnings of the Mighty Dead.

As opposed to our contemporary sensibilities about birthdays, in Ancient Europe there is little evidence that one’s birth was celebrated or even mentioned again after it occurred. But one’s death was thought to be momentous, and there exist treasure troves of funeral artifacts for the ancients who celebrated one’s death day at least annually. Deceased family ancestors often had their own shrines either in the home or nearby, and Samhain was a time to consult with them and to seek their wisdom.

Our pagan European ancestors clearly had much more fluid ideas about death and life than we do today. In the ancient mind, the two states intermingled freely and frequently. Samhain was a specific time during the year when the “veil” between the words of the living and the dead was particularly thin and vaporous. Thus, it was easy for the dead to join the living for feasting and consulting.

Samhain was also a time when the herds were thinned through ritualized slaughter. This was done to spare the weak from a cruel death due to the harsh winter climes of Northern Europe. It also served to provide stores of food for families and communities.

Witches traditionally associate the feast of Samhain with two specific aspects of deity: the Crone and the Lord of Death (who is also the Lord of the Underworld). Each of these aspects of deity represent the wisdom that comes with age and the knowledge of what lies just beyond that which can be seen with human eyes.

The next several days will focus on these mysteries, to bring these energies back into the mix of our lives, to challenge unhealthy notions about death, and to learn how to seek counsel from the lengthening shadow of our own death, which looms noticeably year after year.

Practice Days 5–8

Power of Impermanence Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Making magical herbal aids to invoke the energies of impermanence.

Power of Impermanence Incense

What you’ll need:

• 3 tablespoons dried rosemary

• 3 tablespoons frankincense tears

• 3 tablespoons dried (and powdered)
mandrake root

• Optional: 1 crushed/powdered acorn (if you can find this)

• 6 drops myrrh essential oil

• 4 drops patchouli essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An airtight container

Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the essential oils to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scents from the essential oils and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep the incense stored in an airtight container until you use it.

Power of Impermanence Oil

What you’ll need:

• 3 drops frankincense essential oil

• 3 drops myrrh oil

• 2 drops patchouli oil

• Pinch of mandrake root

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid

• 1 drop yellow food coloring (optional)

• 1 drop red food coloring (optional)

Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils. You may add one drop of yellow and one drop of red food coloring if you’d like to add corresponding magical energy to this blend to help summon the ancestral spirits.

Practice Days 9–10

Impermanence as Advisor

Magical Purpose: Seeking wisdom from death.

What you’ll need:

• Power of Impermanence Oil

Impermanence. The very word can make our stomachs drop. The reality of the clock ticking down on our lives is always in the background somewhere, but when it comes to our attention, we hear it loud and clear.

How do we typically handle it when death comes to our attention? We look away, of course. We whistle a happy tune. We slap another coat of white light over it and make it seem pretty. We do anything we can to avoid it.

Most of us really don’t think much about death, unless it is shoved in our faces. Even then, when someone dies, we get tongue-tied around the deceased’s family and friends. What do I say to them? What do I do? Finally you let yourself off the hook by thinking that the grieving party probably just wants to be left alone.

But all of this avoiding has essentially robbed us of a core magical power, which is the power of wisdom that arises from lingering in impermanence. Bearing in mind that we are here for only a short while, and staying linked to that awareness without blinking or turning away, is a sure-fire recipe for strengthening our magical muscles.

Maintaining and even cultivating an awareness of death can cause us to loosen up about our lives right now. It helps us put everything into perspective. It helps us sort out what is really important from whatever it is that just seems important. It can light a fire under us, motivating us to take real and powerful action. It is magic in motion.

For the next couple of days, try to maintain an awareness of death at regular intervals throughout each day. One way to do this is to set a meditation timer. Set the timer to go off every hour, or every thirty minutes if you’re able to accommodate that in your schedule. Once you hear the bell ring, anoint yourself with the Power of Impermanence Oil, then ask yourself this simple question: If I had only this moment left to live, what choice would I make right now?

The advice that comes may surprise you. It may shock you. It may cause you to rethink many of your choices. That’s good. Magic is supposed to transform you.

Be sure to journal about your experiences at the end of the day.

A Word to the Wise: There are many meditation timers that are free to you as apps for your smart phone. For example the Insight Timer by Spotlight Six Software and the Zazen Meditation Timer by Stefan Gaffga both have thousands of users. At last count, I found over 250 different free meditation timers for smart phones.

Practice Days 11–13

Communicating with Ancestors

Magical Purpose: Seeking wisdom from the ancestors.

What you’ll need:

• Power of Impermanence Oil

• Power of Impermanence Incense

• Your magic mirror

• A black pillar candle (a pillar works best for your inscriptions)

• Your circle-casting tools, including the white-handled knife, thurible, and self-igniting charcoal

• Fourth Pentacle of the Sun

If you do not already have a magic mirror, you can simply use a deep bowl of water. But make sure that the surface inside the bowl is black.31

To begin, cast your circle in the hour of the Sun on the day of the Sun, if possible, to heighten the pentacle’s power (see the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Place the magic mirror before you on your altar. On the right side of the mirror, place your thurible with a hot coal in it. Sprinkle the Power of Impermanence Incense on it.

Use your white-handled knife to inscribe the seals of the Sun’s spirits on the black candle. Here are the seals: 32

Seals of the Sun

After inscribing the candle, consecrate it with your incense and smear it with the Power of Impermanence Oil. Place the black candle on the left side of the magic mirror and atop your (previously psychically charged) Fourth Pentacle of the Sun (from the fifth lunation).

Let your eyes fall on the mirror’s surface. Breathe deeply and slowly. Now allow your gaze to shift focus from the mirror’s surface to a point that seems somewhere in the distance in the mirror’s depths.

In your mind or aloud, call forth a beloved ancestor or friend. Continue doing this until a shape or an image appears. Once the ancestor has arrived, ask him/her questions about your life as it stands now. How should you live it more fully? What is the right path for you?

Listen and take heed.

Once the visions leave, extinguish the black candle and the incense. Celebrate with cakes and wine, then close your circle.

Practice Days 14–15

Full Moon Ceremony

For this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your ceremony:

• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)

• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon

• Drawing Down the Moon

• Aspecting the Goddess and speaking her words

• Reading the Charge of the Goddess

• Select a meditation as your main working. Alternatively, you can engage in a magical working that you inadvertently skipped or intentionally skipped so as to reserve it for the full moon.

31. For instructions on making your own magic mirror, please see Wicca: A Year and a Day.

32. See Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books Of Occult Philosophy, Book II, Chap. XXII: “Of the tables of the planets, their virtues, forms, and what divine names, intelligences, and spirits are set over them.”

[contents]

Eleventh Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Practice Days 16–17

Pleasant, Unpleasant, Neutral

Magical Purpose: Learning how magic is driven by the impermanence of feelings.

What you’ll need:

• Power of Impermanence Oil and Incense

Experiences come and go, yet we don’t live like they do. We’re biologically predisposed to prefer pleasure and avoid pain. And because of this, we frequently seek to prolong pleasure and eliminate pain whenever possible, especially in Westernized countries, where we have more opportunities to do so.

But simply because biology moves us in one direction, it does not mean that the direction in which we go is in our best interest, at just about any level. For example, someone may feel pleasant sensations while smoking or drinking alcohol to excess. It may make the person feel good in the moment to eat unhealthy foods. It may feel good to never do any exercise. But the effects of these behaviors driven by the body’s natural craving for pleasure can be devastating.

How we deal with feelings, emotions, and even our interactions with other people follows these same pleasure-craving rules. Emotionally, we sense that happy and pleasant feelings are those that we should be having, while unhappy feelings are a sign that there is something wrong. These beliefs are culturally endorsed as well. In fact, there are numerous New Age paths that capitalize on our culturally reinforced fear of so-called negative emotions. These paths dedicate themselves to helping individuals subjugate (and supposedly eliminate) their undesirable emotional content, and they promise that the result will be an endless stream of bliss, joy, and the fulfillment of one’s every desire.

But it cannot be so, not without taking a significant toll emotionally, physically, and spiritually. That’s because emotions come and go in the mind and body like ocean waves. And to believe that we can control or eliminate ocean waves is ludicrous. There is no other choice for being fully human but to see the waves as they’re coming and acknowledge their presence.

Our feelings frequently drive our behaviors, and our behaviors ultimately define our destiny. Unfortunately, we have little control over the choices we make when we have little to no conscious awareness of what drives these choices. The less aware we are of the content of what’s going on emotionally under our surface awareness, the less likely it is that we will be able to act in powerful ways in our lives.

This is important to us as Witches because having limited awareness also limits our magical effectiveness. In fact, most magical folk know that there is a direct relationship between awareness and the limits we experience magically and psychically. That’s because magic is about transformation. Before we can transform anything, we have to know what we are starting with.

Today, there are several steps to our practice. Begin and end the day by lighting the Power of Impermanence Incense. As you do so, sit with your eyes closed and scan your body and mind. Find out if what you are experiencing is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Try not to judge your experience (or worse, judge yourself if you discover that you’re judging).

As you go through the day, simply make mental notes of what you are experiencing. Is it pleasant? Is it unpleasant? Or is it neutral? Set a meditation timer to ring once an hour or so throughout the day. When it rings, anoint yourself with the Power of Impermanence Oil, then close your eyes and scan your inner experience. Is it pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral?

Simply knowing this can affect the decisions you make in subtle ways and help you maintain the magical axiom of the power of impermanence.

Practice Days 18–19

Dealing with Negative Feelings

Magical Purpose: Learning to reduce the impact of “negative” emotions.

What you’ll need:

• Power of Impermanence Oil

One of the obstacles toward spiritual growth that people can commonly experience comes during the mental-noting activity. During this, there may be a recognition of so-called negative emotions, such as anger, sadness, loneliness, envy, hatred, and more. The initial recognition of these feelings and the thoughts associated with them can be distressing and frustrating for some of us along the journey of spiritual development. Many times, because of our cultural bias toward feeling happy all of the time, we sense that negativity is a sign that our spiritual development may be going in the wrong direction.

One is well advised to accept these feelings as natural and expectable. A great deal of human brain anatomy is devoted to sensing danger. That’s because for most of our history we needed to be alert to real environmental dangers: bears, snakes, poisonous spiders, wolves, and more. The development of the brain was primarily a survival function of the body. One of its primary jobs was to make sure that the body could last long enough to reproduce. So we are more tuned in, naturally, to the emotions that layer themselves upon the foundation of fear, such as sadness, emptiness, anger, and more.

Many of us spend our lives never really paying much attention to our inner emotional life—that is, until some notable emotion arises, such as extreme anger, excitement, or sadness. To make matters worse, we face social pressure to perform, buck up, fight on, and be happy. As a consequence, our very natural feelings, which are as natural as a sunset or the first snow of winter, can seem wrong and to require fixing.

Instead of letting human nature worry you, try the following. For the next couple of days, continue with the mental-noting exercise from days 16–17. However, as you encounter less desirable emotional states, engage with them more fully.

As you encounter a negative feeling, take time to sense in your body where you are holding tension. Wherever that may be, focus your attention there, in the body part, and feel yourself sink into that part of your body. Breathe deeply, and feel as though you are breathing through that part of your body that holds the tension. Stay with the feeling, watching it closely, not trying to do anything with it besides watching it.

Eventually, simply by focusing the light of awareness where it was “dark” before, the emotional state will untie and resolve itself.

In addition to this focusing technique, you can make use of the Power of Impermanence Oil. Take a dab of it and draw an earth-banishing pentagram at the place on your body where you’re holding the unresolved feeling and tension. Allow this magical banishing to serve as a point of focus for you.

Practice Days 20–21

Planetary Condensers: The Sun

Magical Purpose: Making magical tinctures containing planetary energies.

What you’ll need:

• Everclear (a high-proof, neutral ethyl alcohol) or vodka (the highest proof possible)

• A small, clean amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid

• Fresh Sun herbs (as listed later in this section)

Planetary condensers are tinctures made during the hour ruled by a specific planet using the planet’s herbs. They are indispensable for Witches’ magical workings, and we will use them in the days ahead. Planetary tinctures are said to have specific magnetic qualities. They are important boosters for any magical working, and when applied to the chakras, they can align you with specific planetary energies and influences.

Because tinctures take time to distill properly (usually anywhere from 8–28 days), it is very important that you keep to the schedule during the next days, so that you will be able to use the planetary condensers in combination with our later work with planetary squares.

To begin, in the hour of the Sun, gather together at least three of the fresh Sun herbs (as listed below). While fresh herbs are typically used for making tinctures, you may also use dried herbs effectively.

A Word to the Wise: Since you will find many references to Nicholas Culpeper in the planetary tables of correspondences, I feel it important to mention who he was and note his important written works in the fields of herbalism and astrology that many of today’s magical students consider to be classics. Culpeper lived in England in the early to mid-1600s. A skilled botanist, physician, and astrologer, Culpeper came to use his knowledge of both astrology and herbalism to treat his patients. He penned several books, including The English Physician and the Complete Herbal (which are available now as a complete set in one volume). He also wrote Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick, which focused on the practice of medical astrology.

Sun Herbs

Culpeper: Angelica, ash tree, balsam of Gilead, bugloss, butterbur, centaury, chamomile, eyebright, heliotrope, lovage, marigold, mistletoe, peony, pimpernel, rosa solis, rosemary, rue, saffron, St. John’s wort, St. Peter’s wort, tormentil, vipers, walnut

Agrippa: Agarwood, amber, ash, balm, balsam, bay, calamus, cedar, celandine, cinnamon, cloves, coleus aromaticus, dittany of Crete, frankincense, gentian, ginger, ivy, marigold, mastic, mint, moon carrot, musk, palms, peony, pepper, saffron, sweet marjoram, vervain, white turmeric, yellow honey

Fill a small glass container (that also comes with a tight-fitting lid) halfway with herbs. Fill the rest of the container with alcohol, leaving a little air space at the top. Stir with a clean spoon, then seal the container. Store this in a cool, dark, dry place.

Each day, preferably during the hour of the Sun, shake the bottle vigorously. Keep the bottle in this location until it is needed for the planetary squares magical workings later on. Typically, the condenser is left in the bottle for at least one month, but it can be steeped sufficiently in as little as eight days, especially if you are using fresh herbs to make the condenser.

After 8–28 days, again, during the hour of the Sun, strain the liquid through cheesecloth and use the herbs for compost. Continue to store the condenser in the cool, dry, dark place to maintain the magical properties.

A Word to the Wise: Never ingest a planetary condenser. Not only is the alcohol content too high and potentially poisonous, but the herbal combination you choose may be poisonous as well.

Practice Days 22–23

Planetary Condensers: The Moon

Magical Purpose: Making magical tinctures containing planetary energies.

What you’ll need:

• Everclear (a high-proof, neutral ethyl alcohol) or vodka (the highest proof possible)

• A small, clean amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid

• Fresh Moon herbs (as listed here)

To begin, in the hour of the Moon, gather together at least three of the fresh (or dried) Moon herbs.

Moon Herbs

Culpeper: Adder’s tongue, burnet saxifrage, chickweed, coleworts, columbine, fluellin, ivy, lettuce, life-everlasting, loosestrife, moonwort, poppy, privet, purslain, sea colewort, wallflowers, water lily, watercress, white roses, white saxifrage, willow, yellow water flag (iris)

Agrippa: Gum mastic, hyssop, monk’s pepper, olive tree, palm tree, rosemary

Fill a small glass container (that also comes with a tight-fitting lid) halfway with herbs. Fill the rest of the container with alcohol, leaving a little air space at the top. Stir with a clean spoon, then seal the container. Store this in a cool, dark, dry place.

Each day, preferably during the hour of the Moon, shake the bottle vigorously. Keep the bottle in this location until it is needed for the planetary squares magical workings later on. Typically, the condenser is left in the bottle for at least one month, but it can be steeped sufficiently in as little as eight days, especially if you are using fresh herbs to make the condenser.

After 8–28 days, again, during the hour of the Moon, strain the liquid through cheesecloth and use the herbs for compost. Continue to store the condenser in the cool, dry, dark place to maintain the magical properties.

Practice Days 24–25

Planetary Condensers: Venus

Magical Purpose: Making magical tinctures containing planetary energies.

What you’ll need:

• Everclear (a high-proof, neutral ethyl alcohol) or vodka (the highest proof possible)

• A small, clean amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid

• Fresh Venus herbs (as listed here)

To begin, in the hour of Venus, gather together at least three of the fresh (or dried) Venus herbs.

Venus Herbs

Culpeper: Apple (wood and fruit), arugula, birch, bishop’s weed, black alder, blite, bruisewort, bugle, burdock, catmint, cherry, chickweed, clary sage, coltsfoot, cowslips, daisies, devil’s-bit scabious, elder, featherfew, figwort, filipendula, foxglove, goldenrod, ground ivy, lady’s bedstraw, lady’s mantle, marshmallow, mints, motherwort, mugwort, peach, pear, pennyroyal, plum, primrose, ragwort, self-heal, sorrel, vervain, violets, vulvaria, white nettle, wild tansy, wood sage, wood sanicle, yarrow

Agrippa: Ambergris, coriander, figs, ladanum (a soft blackish-brown resin from various rock roses), maidenhair, musk, myrtle tree, pears, pomegranates, sandalwood, thyme, Tudor rose, valerian, vervain, violet

Fill a small glass container (that also comes with a tight-fitting lid) halfway with herbs. Fill the rest of the container with alcohol, leaving a little air space at the top. Stir with a clean spoon, then seal the container. Store this in a cool, dark, dry place.

Each day, preferably during the hour of Venus, shake the bottle vigorously. Keep the bottle in this location until it is needed for the planetary squares magical workings later on. Typically, the condenser is left in the bottle for at least one month, but it can be steeped sufficiently in as little as eight days, especially if you are using fresh herbs to make the condenser.

After 8–28 days, again, during the hour of Venus, strain the liquid through cheesecloth and use the herbs for compost. Continue to store the condenser in the cool, dry, dark place to maintain the magical properties.

Practice Days 26–28

Planetary Condensers: Mars

Magical Purpose: Making magical tinctures containing planetary energies.

What you’ll need:

• Everclear (a high-proof, neutral ethyl alcohol) or vodka (the highest proof possible)

• A small, clean amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid

• Fresh Mars herbs (as listed here)

To begin, in the hour of Mars, gather together at least three of the fresh (or dried) Mars herbs.

Mars Herbs

Culpeper: Barberry, bloodwort, bramble bush, briony, brooklime, broom, broomrape, butcher’s broom, cotton thistle, cranesbill, crowfoot, cuckoo-pint, dyer’s weed, flax weed, garlic, hawthorn, hazelwort, hedge mustard, holy thistle, hops, horseradish, masterwort, mettles, mustard, onion, orange gorse, pepperwort, radish, rhubarb, sweet basil, thistles, tobacco, wormwood

Agrippa: Armoniack (the aromatic gum resin of a Southwest Asian herb dorema ammoniacum), cartabana, cranesbill, escallonias, euphorbia, garlic, hellebore, laurel, leeks, nettles, onions, pepper, radish, scammony, wolfsbane

Fill a small glass container (that also comes with a tight-fitting lid) halfway with herbs. Fill the rest of the container with alcohol, leaving a little air space at the top. Stir with a clean spoon, then seal the container. Store this in a cool, dark, dry place.

Each day, preferably during the hour of Mars, shake the bottle vigorously. Keep the bottle in this location until it is needed for the planetary squares magical workings later on. Typically, the condenser is left in the bottle for at least one month, but it can be steeped sufficiently in as little as eight days, especially if you are using fresh herbs to make the condenser.

After 8–28 days, again, during the hour of Mars, strain the liquid through cheesecloth and use the herbs for compost. Continue to store the condenser in the cool, dry, dark place to maintain the magical properties.

[contents]

Twelfth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

Two-Day Moon-Wise Retreat

This lunation is your final opportunity to work within the structure of your second year and a day to experience the benefits of a spiritual retreat. See Appendix D for a recommended Moon-Wise retreat schedule.

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

Some time ago I was involved in a spiritual community that I found grating on the nerves. Many of the participants were exasperating to me. They developed in-groups and out-groups. People did not seem particularly friendly. The group leader seemed too detached and sometimes critical. People acted out blatant agendas.

Many things about the experience were irritating. But soon it dawned on me that what I was experiencing, including the irritation and the annoyance, was a projection of my own inner life. I had many ideas about how people should be in a community. I had expectations that no one seemed to live up to. But these expectations and my responses were my own invention.

That was when I discovered the practice of “living in the yes.” After realizing that my perspectives were my own (and no one else’s), I began to say yes, silently, in response to each situation that felt uncomfortable to me. It was not easy to do at first, but over time I noticed a change in my demeanor. I noticed that by saying yes to my inner experience, yes to the irritation, frustration, and the accompanying sense of helplessness, I suddenly began to feel a sense of ease. I noticed that the only community drama was the one in my own mind, and I was able to laugh about it.

Learning to say yes to our experiences is not an invitation to act on feelings of hostility, anger, or anything else that may harm others. It is also not agreeing with abuse, which requires a sensible response. But saying yes to the experiences we have internally, emotionally, is a way of softening the impact of these life experiences.

During your day of silence today, try saying yes to your inner life as the day progresses, and see if this practice makes an energetic difference for you.

Be sure to journal about the experience at the end of the day.

Practice Days 2–4

Planetary Condensers: Mercury

Magical Purpose: Making magical tinctures containing planetary energies.

What you’ll need:

• Everclear (a high-proof, neutral ethyl alcohol) or vodka (the highest proof possible)

• A small, clean amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid

• Fresh Mercury herbs (as listed here)

To begin, in the hour of Mercury, gather together at least three of the fresh (or dried) Mercury herbs.

Mercury Herbs

Culpeper: Calamintha, caraway, carrots, cow parsnip, dill, fennel, fern, germander, ground pine, hazelnut, hog’s fennel, honeysuckle, horehound, horse-heal, hound’s tongue, lavender, liquorice, maidenhair, meadow treefoil, moneywort, mulberry, oats, parsley, pellitory, restharrow, scabiosa, smallage, southernwood, St. Peter’s herb, sweet clover, sweet marjoram, valerian, wall rue, winter savory

Agrippa: Five-leaved grass, fumitory, hazel, marjoram, mercury herb, parsley, pimpernel

Fill a small glass container (that also comes with a tight-fitting lid) halfway with herbs. Fill the rest of the container with alcohol, leaving a little air space at the top. Stir with a clean spoon, then seal the container. Store this in a cool, dark, dry place.

Each day, preferably during the hour of Mercury, shake the bottle vigorously. Keep the bottle in this location until it is needed for the planetary squares magical workings later on. Typically, the condenser is left in the bottle for at least one month, but it can be steeped sufficiently in as little as eight days, especially if you are using fresh herbs to make the condenser.

After 8–28 days, again, during the hour of Mercury, strain the liquid through cheesecloth and use the herbs for compost. Continue to store the condenser in the cool, dry, dark place to maintain the magical properties.

Practice Days 5–6

Planetary Condensers: Jupiter

Magical Purpose: Making magical tinctures containing planetary energies.

What you’ll need:

• Everclear (a high-proof, neutral ethyl alcohol) or vodka (the highest proof possible)

• A small, clean amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid

• Fresh Jupiter herbs (as listed here)

To begin, in the hour of Jupiter, gather together at least three of the fresh (or dried) Jupiter herbs.

Jupiter Herbs

Culpeper: Agrimony, asparagus, avens, bay, bilberry, bloodwort, borage, bugloss, chervil, chicory, cinquefoil, cochlearia, costmary, dandelion, docks, dog grass, endive, garlic mustard, hart’s-tongue fern, herb of Macedonia, houseleek, hyssop, liverwort, lungwort, milk thistle, oak, red roses, sage, sweet cicely, sweet maudlin, water betony, white beets, wood betony

Agrippa: Almond, apple, ash, barley, basil, beech tree, bugloss, corn, darnell, dogwood, filberts, hazel, henbane, holm tree, horse-heal, horse chestnut, kelp, licorice, mace, mastic, mints, mirabilis, oak, olive tree, pear, peony root, pineapple, pistachios, plum, poplar, raisins, rhubarb, rowan, spike, storax, violet, wheat, white fig tree, wild cherry

Fill a small glass container (that also comes with a tight-fitting lid) halfway with herbs. Fill the rest of the container with alcohol, leaving a little air space at the top. Stir with a clean spoon, then seal the container. Store this in a cool, dark, dry place.

Each day, preferably during the hour of Jupiter, shake the bottle vigorously. Keep the bottle in this location until it is needed for the planetary squares magical workings later on. Typically, the condenser is left in the bottle for at least one month, but it can be steeped sufficiently in as little as eight days, especially if you are using fresh herbs to make the condenser.

After 8–28 days, again, during the hour of Jupiter, strain the liquid through cheesecloth and use the herbs for compost. Continue to store the condenser in the cool, dry, dark place to maintain the magical properties.

Practice Days 7–8

Planetary Condensers: Saturn

Magical Purpose: Making magical tinctures containing planetary energies.

What you’ll need:

• Everclear (a high-proof, neutral ethyl alcohol) or vodka (the highest proof possible)

• A small, clean amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid

• Fresh Saturn herbs (as listed here)

To begin, in the hour of Saturn, gather together at least three of the fresh (or dried) Saturn herbs.

Saturn Herbs

Culpeper: Asplenium, barley, beech, bird’s foot, blackthorn, blue bottles, buckshorn, caucasian crosswort, cleavers, clown’s woundwort, comfrey, cottonweed, darnel, deadly nightshade, dodder, elm tree, fleawort, fumitory, goutweed, hawkweed, hemlock, hemp, henbane, horsetail, knapweed, knotgrass, medlar tree, melancholy thistle, moss, mullein, neottia, pilewort, polypodium, poplar, quince, red beets, rushes, sciatica cresses, snakeweed, Solomon’s seal, stinking gladwin, tamaris tree, tansy mustard, throughwax, tutsan, wintergreen, woad

Agrippa: Benzoin, black fig tree, cumin, cypress tree, daffodil, dragon’s wort, hellebore, mandrake, opium, pine tree, rue

Fill a small glass container (that also comes with a tight-fitting lid) halfway with herbs. Fill the rest of the container with alcohol, leaving a little air space at the top. Stir with a clean spoon, then seal the container. Store this in a cool, dark, dry place.

Each day, preferably during the hour of Saturn, shake the bottle vigorously. Keep the bottle in this location until it is needed for the planetary squares magical workings later on. Typically, the condenser is left in the bottle for at least one month, but it can be steeped sufficiently in as little as eight days, especially if you are using fresh herbs to make the condenser.

After 8–28 days, again, during the hour of Saturn, strain the liquid through cheesecloth and use the herbs for compost. Continue to store the condenser in the cool, dry, dark place to maintain the magical properties.

Practice Days 9–10

The Five True Points of Fellowship: Feet

Magical Purpose: Learning to live by the principles of the Five True Points of Fellowship.

The Five True Points of Fellowship represent the five points of physical contact realized during the Witches’ Great Rite. They also represent spiritual principles that align with the four elemental energies, as well as the fifth, which is spirit.

When studying the Five True Points of Fellowship, one cannot help but be struck by the word True. It is a rare word indeed in Wiccan parlance, since we value understanding things in terms of their relativity. Truth sounds so absolute. But exploring this term helps develop magical insight.

The Five True Points of Fellowship

In our spiritual practice, what is true? Truth is what you can regard as universally valid. It refers to the unconditional reality that goes beyond personal, conditioned limitations. Truth is the concrete manifestation of the God and the Goddess as you experience them through your sense faculties.

All things are manifestations of the Five True Points of Fellowship. You are made of them, you eat them, you sleep in them, you kiss them, you excrete them, you yell at them, you cry over them; there is nothing you can do to cut yourself off from them.

This realization has the power to mobilize. It makes clear that the elemental energies are not just “representational” forces, but rather are True Points, which are universally valid, experiential realities that invite us to proactively engage in meaningful and powerful ways.

In your first year of magical practice, you learned the symbolic, representational qualities of the Five True Points of Fellowship, which are the elements of air, fire, water, earth, and spirit. But in your second year, it becomes important to move beyond symbolic representations and engage with the elemental forces as guiding truths, or life principles.

I call these guiding elemental principles the perfections. The word perfection can sometimes raise an eyebrow or two with Witches because the word initially brings to mind the culturally circumscribed reference point with its connotation of “imperfection.” However, in Wicca the word perfection has nothing to do with our usual way of thinking about the word. For Witches, perfection means “things as they are.”

However, although everything exists as this perfection, it requires effort on our part to live in accord with the guiding principles of the elemental perfections.

Over the next several days, we will explore the elemental energies in terms of their perfections in order to live in accord with the Five True Points of Fellowship.

The First True Point of Fellowship:
The Perfection of Understanding

In your practice thus far, you’ve learned that the element of earth represents grounding. It is where you stand. But earth as a guiding principle goes further, advising that all things must take root in perfect understanding.

Remembering that perfection means things as they are right now, we can extend that meaning to your perception of the current moment. Do you perceive your life’s experiences based on your conditioning? Or are you able to set that aside and perceive plainly, based on what “is”?

Without the Perfection of Understanding, which represents clear perceiving, it is easy to act in ways that lack power. Without clear perception, motivations become complicated. Words lack the ring of truth. Efforts become self-serving, misguided, or even harmful. Therefore, the Perfection of Understanding stands as the basis (the element of earth) of integrated, empowering behavior, speech, and thinking.

Perfection of Understanding means to see and understand things as they truly are. And when you get right down to it, a “plain” or relatively unbiased understanding of what is occurring in life begins with unbiased seeing and understanding of yourself.

The idea that there may be a process to see things “as is” clues us in to acknowledging that because of human conditioning, people typically have their own version of the universal, shared reality. Meanwhile, the universal event of reality occurs, and it goes along no matter how anyone engages with it.

Trouble arises, however, when one’s conditioned version of life is not in accord with universal reality. Living with clarity of mind, as free from personal bias as possible, allows greater unity with the universal reality, which is life “as is.”

Acknowledging the “lenses” (or conditioning) though which you view your immediate circumstances is the key practice to undoing the power they hold over your ability to live in greater unity with life as is.

The Perfection of Understanding requires an active process of deconstructing the conditions of your life, which frees up a greater capacity to tune in to what is happening right now.33

Practice: Discovering the Lenses

Take time today to list some of the potential lenses through which you view your life’s experiences. One good way to expose some of your lenses is by recalling an argument or disagreement you had in the past. Disagreements are usually two conditioned minds chafing against each another. But knowing this can help you to analyze your own conditioning. As you recall the details of a disagreement, take time to answer the following:

• What were some of the lenses that immediately come to mind that may have influenced your view of the situation?

• Think about the lenses of culture, gender, family, your past relationships, education, parenting, socioeconomic status, health, and behavioral modeling that you’ve witnessed in the past. Write about how each of these may have come into play during the disagreement.

• Now think about how you approached your day today. How have the lenses you identified caused you to view the day’s events? How did your understanding play itself out as action?

Practice Days 11–13

The Five True Points of Fellowship: Feet

Magical Purpose: Practicing absolute earth; the Perfection of Understanding.

Over the last couple of days you examined the conditioning that has influenced your views and actions. Today you will learn some techniques for coming in direct contact with the raw mystical energies of life “as is.”

Practice: Blessed Be My Feet

What you’ll need:

• Supplication Oil (optional)

The feet represent the First True Point of Fellowship because they align with the element of earth. Today, as you go through the day and begin to notice how your inner narrative is influencing your views and your behavior, stop what you are doing and connect directly with the First True Point of Fellowship (the feet and grounding) by saying:

Blessed be my feet, which have brought me in these ways.

After you say this, anoint yourself with Supplication Oil at the feet, drawing an earth-invoking pentagram on each foot. (If you are at work or some other location where you cannot reasonably anoint the feet with oil, simply draw the pentagrams without oil, using your index finger.)

After you do this, mentally suspend your narrative. Focus only on your feet and the sensations you feel there. Stand for a moment and breathe in and out, as though the breath comes in and out of the feet. Experience whatever is happening in your feet on the most basic sensory level (before you even have a chance to label it with your inner narrative). Your experience at this basic level should be things like: solid, heavy, hot, cold, pain, comfort, etc. Give a quick sensory acknowledgment, cataloging whatever is happening in the feet alone.

At the end of the day, journal about your experiences.

• Did grounding in this way help clear your perceiving?

• If you were able to perceive differently, did this result in a different mood, attitude, or action?

Practice Days 14–15

Full Moon Ceremony

For this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your ceremony:

• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)

• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon

• Drawing Down the Moon

• Aspecting the Goddess and speaking her words

• Reading the Charge of the Goddess

• Select a meditation as your main working. Alternatively, you can engage in a magical working that you inadvertently skipped or intentionally skipped so as to reserve it for the full moon.

33. Lynne E. Angus, and John McLeod, eds., The Handbook of Narrative and Psychotherapy: Practice, Theory, and Research (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2004), pp. 87–101.

[contents]

Twelfth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

Practice Days 16–17

The Five True Points of Fellowship: Knees

Magical Purpose: Practicing the Perfection of Effort.

The second of the Five True Points of Fellowship are the knees, which correspond with the element of fire. Fire represents our efforts. Knees are what put our legs and whole bodies in motion, in action. Thus they align with the sign of fire. But moving from the perfected understanding (feet) to perfected action or effort (knees) is where things can sometimes go awry.

As Witches, we should carefully take stock of when we are putting our bodies in motion and understand what underlies our activity. Are we taking action for ourselves only? Do our actions go with or against the whole of life? Do our actions follow a careful appraisal of the moment’s full set of needs? Or are we reacting to life’s circumstances—no matter what they are—with knee-jerk behaviors that stem from strong emotions?

Once fear or grasping enter the mix, you should know right away that you’ve lost contact with the Perfection of Effort. Once you’ve lost this contact, murky, obscured, erroneously motivated, or otherwise off-base efforts ensue. These efforts lack true witchy power.

The Perfection of Effort prompts a deep contemplation of where you place your efforts and actions. Are you desperately clinging to a relationship? Are you trying to force some particular end result? Are you trying to get away from something you don’t prefer?

The Perfection of Effort guides action to be in accord with the needs and requisites of the moment. Perfected Effort should be immediate, useful, and free from the taint of some hidden or personal design.

When a child is in immediate danger, what do we do? When someone is about to unwittingly step into oncoming traffic, what do we do? We know the answer on both accounts, because the action response arises from perfection, or alignment with the requisites of the moment.

The Perfection of Effort is action that is immediate and knows its own purpose, even when we do not fully grasp its meaning through the critical mind.

Practice 1: Blessed Be Thy Knees

What you’ll need:

• Supplication Oil (optional)

Today, as you go about your day, focus your awareness on your actions. Are they immediate, like sparks from a flint? Do your actions seem to be full of life? Are your actions addressing the needs of the moment? If you catch yourself not putting forth Perfected Effort, say:

Blessed be my knees, which kneel at the sacred altar.

After you say this, anoint yourself with Supplication Oil at the knees, drawing a fire-invoking pentagram on each knee. (Again, if you are at work or some other location where you cannot reasonably anoint the knees, simply draw the pentagrams without oil, using your index finger.)

Now you should attend to whatever is happening in the moment and take action based on whatever the moment requires.

Practice Days 18–19

The Five True Points of Fellowship: Knees

Magical Purpose: Practicing the Perfection of Effort.

While the last couple of days’ practice may have been challenging, this may really take you out of your comfort zone. Again, the purpose of these practices is to develop greater alignment with the needs expressed in objective, universal reality (which is the God and the Goddess manifesting as the moment you’re in right now). By aligning in this way, you align with deity, and your magical effect in the world strengthens.

Practice 2: Grand-Scale Effort

The Perfection of Effort does indeed begin with examining one’s own personal motives and the influences that drive action. But ultimately, as Witches, it is important to help foster change (which is itself magic) on a larger scale. By doing so, there is a context for magic to incubate and expand to reverberate at a universal level. One important way to do this is to take your Perfected Effort to the community at large.

There are many opportunities in your own community to express the Perfection of Effort. For example, you might find ways to volunteer. Help a neighbor who needs assistance. Find some cause that requires effort and attention. Teach others your spiritual crafts and disciplines. These are only a few examples. Only you will know how to act like the sparks from a flint and expand this practice into the larger community, perfecting action on a grand scale.

For the next couple of days, try this activity. Watch what happens to your mind and body as you engage in fostering grand-scale Perfected Effort. Does it make you cringe or cry? Does it cause you to experience greater empowerment? Take mental notes, but refrain from judging your personal experience.

A Word to the Wise: Try not to allow your personal reaction to doing this practice to become a point of self-judgment. This is only one way to examine Perfected Effort and your spiritual alignments. It does not indicate how spiritual or “advanced” you are. Letting yourself slip into judgment takes you right out of alignment with the universal reality expressing itself right now. Let things be as they are, but take note of whatever has occurred for you. Simple awareness alone creates great change.

Practice Days 20–21

The Five True Points of Fellowship: Breasts

Magical Purpose: Learning about the Perfection of Benevolence.

When first contemplating the symbolism of water, you encounter themes such as flow, tides, and emotions. When you live your life by undisciplined and gushing emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear, you encounter powerlessness, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness.

However, within the repertoire of emotions, there is one practice aligned with the element of water and emotion that, if cultivated, leads to greater empowerment and alignment with the tides of universal life. This practice is empathy, otherwise known as the Perfection of Benevolence.

Many serious occult students may already be aware of the significance of benevolence (or, as it is sometimes called, “compassion”) as an important universal quality that one ultimately achieves through the practices of both Perfected Understanding and Perfected Effort.

But students new to the Western Mystery Traditions can find the term “benevolence” perplexing and even a bit off-putting. This is because while the initial impetus to engage with the magical traditions (such as Witchcraft) can vary from person to person, generally speaking, people explore these paths for self-empowerment and spiritual self-development.

This initial incentive, however, does not sustain itself over the long course of one’s magical career. That isn’t because the initial impetus is somehow “wrong.” But as practitioners mature on their paths, they begin to see a bigger picture than simply their own development taking place. They understand that they are not practicing only for themselves. Once we are able to fully grasp that we are living expressions of the universe, then it becomes clear that we are practicing our arts for the universe. Our magical development is for everyone.

This perceptual shift can be either sudden or gradual, but it develops as naturally as a hole that is worn in a carpet by walking over it again and again. Eventually the carpet fibers break down and you get to see what’s beneath. Similarly, magical action through Witchcraft practices eventually breaks down the conditioning that initially guides one’s first steps on the path.

The spiritual action lying just below the “carpet” of our initial practice is that of our human, relational commonality. Understanding that we are all “of the same stuff” eventually plays itself out in our efforts. We start to shift from effort based in serving individual needs to that which serves the general or common needs. This is the Perfection of Benevolence.

One problem you may face comes from the term benevolence, because it can stir up images of being a do-gooder, curbing your authenticity in favor of a contrived version of yourself, or just being a so-called white-lighter (which seems to be annoying and exasperating for just about everyone). But in Witchcraft, such ideas about benevolence and compassion are inaccurate, and you would be well advised to set them aside.

To understand the occult meaning of the term benevolence, we turn, yet again, to the familiar image of Baphomet, made famous by the nineteenth-century occultist Eliphas Levi. Occult scholars have speculated about the name Baphomet, and have a variety of understandings of the name. One very interesting one comes from Dictionnaire de la Langue Française, in which Emile Littré asserts that the name is a Cabalistic invention that one arrives at by writing backward “Tem. Ohp. Ab,” an abbreviation of the Latin templi omnium hominum pacis abbas, which means “father of the temple of peace of all men.”

Levi’s image itself is laden with symbolism, not the least of which is a pair of breasts on the “Sabbatic Goat.” Breasts are a universal symbol for nurturing, giving, and care. But because Baphomet is a deity, his giving and care are not for specific individuals with specific aims, but for the entire universe. This is the model for the Perfection of Benevolence.

Leaving aside occult meanings, we can turn to the simplicity of nature for our understanding of benevolence. Think of a flower. Do its petals open so it can be lovely? No, they do so because it is the unfolding of the flower’s own nature. We can apply this same idea to anything we see in the natural world, such as a sunrise, an ant scurrying to its home, a seasonal change, or a tree bearing fruit; each of these is simply expressing its own nature. In the process of this, all things in the natural world are in service to the whole. Serving the whole and caring at a universal level are our guides for the Perfection of Benevolence.

Once you are in alignment with nature, the power of deity flows through you effortlessly and you do not need to act with benevolence, because you are benevolence itself.

Practicing the Perfection of Benevolence:
Noticing Whom Your Actions Serve

What you’ll need:

• Paper and pen

Over the next couple of days, go about your business as usual, but focus your awareness on your actions. Do not try to inhibit or influence your actions in any way. Simply observe them.

Draw two lines on your paper, creating three equal sections. In the first section, list actions you take that seem to be based in self-concern. In the next section, list actions that seem to be based in neither self-concern nor concern for others. These are neutral actions, like walking down a sidewalk or going to the bathroom. In the third section, list any actions you take that seem to manifest for the benefit of someone else, the environment, an animal, a friend, or the earth itself.

At the end of each day, look at what you’ve done and simply note where the balance of your activity resides. Again, be very careful not to allow this exercise to become a point of self-criticism. The purpose of this first-stage activity is merely to bring awareness to behavior. That’s all.

Practice Days 22–23

Blessed Be Thy Breasts

Magical Purpose: Practicing the Perfection of Benevolence.

What you’ll need:

• Supplication Oil (optional)

Today, as you go about your day, focus your awareness on your actions. Do not try to inhibit what you do or influence your actions in any way. Simply observe them. When an action seems to arise solely from a personal need, connect with the Third True Point of Fellowship (the breasts and compassion) by saying:

Blessed be my breasts, formed in beauty and in strength.

After you say this, anoint yourself with Supplication Oil at the center of the chest, drawing a water-invoking pentagram. (Again, if you are at work or some other location where you cannot reasonably anoint your heart chakra with oil, simply draw the pentagram without oil, using your index finger.)

Next, shift the action slightly so that either it is neutral or it serves in some general way.

Journal about the experience at the end of the day:

• Did shifting action from self-need to either neutral or others’ needs bother you?

• What was your body’s response to the practice?

• How might you see this practice as helpful for you in your life? Or not helpful?

Practice Days 24–25

The Five True Points of Fellowship: Lips

Magical Purpose: Discovering the Perfection of Speech.

Air is the energetic/magical symbol for communication, speech, and thought. The guiding principle of air corresponds with the Fourth True Point of Fellowship, which is the Perfection of Speech.

There is such a thing as skillful speech, and we know it when we come across it. We seem to be drawn to people who seem to know exactly what to say at exactly the right time. Skillful speech isn’t necessarily a natural gift, either. It is a product of concentration, awareness, self-restraint, and each of the other elemental perfections we’ve practiced up to now.

Let’s face it: most of us use words haphazardly in our lives, and we sometimes end up creating harm through them. In fact, we are more likely to create harm through language than through any other mode. Remembering that the Five True Points of Fellowship are signposts, perfections of the elemental forces that always point toward the Wiccan Rede of “harm none,” we take note that the Perfection of Speech manifests as communication that does not cause division. The Perfection of Speech is about using language to foster greater harmony.

The Fourth True Point of Fellowship has five guidelines that one should consider when cultivating the Perfection of Speech:

1. Timing: Some things need to be said, but it is important that you assess whether or not this is the right time to say whatever it is you have to say.

2. Just the Facts: When we speak from our own experience, typically we can focus on facts. But when we venture into opinion or conjecture, we fall off the path and stray into communication that can cause division.

3. Be Gentle: You never know where the listener might be in her or his head, so focusing on a gentle, non-threatening approach to your words is consistent with harming none.

4. Who Benefits? In order to avoid harming, it is important to take into account whether or not the listener might be able to benefit from what you have to say. Is the listener equipped to receive your message? If not, it may not be time for your words.

5. What’s Required: Think about whether the moment requires your words or if an action would be better suited to the situation. If it is time to speak, say only what is necessary and no more.

Perfection of Speech Right Now

During the next couple of days, focus your attention on your communication. In particular, before you say anything at all, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I communicating something at the right time?

• Am I speaking about known facts, or is some of what I am about to say based on conjecture or opinion?

• Am I about to speak gently or harshly?

• Will my words be beneficial in some way?

• Does the situation require words, or are powerful actions a better response?

Practice Days 26–28

Blessed Be Thy Lips

Magical Purpose: Practicing the Perfection of Speech.

For the next several days, focus your awareness on your communication. During actual conversations, when your speech seems to have gone astray from the Fourth True Point of Fellowship, find a way to politely halt your communication altogether. Then say to yourself:

Blessed be my lips, which shall utter the sacred names.

After you say this, use your thumb to discreetly draw an air-invoking pentagram over your lips. Most people will not know what you’re doing, but they will benefit from your refraining from a potentially harmful interaction.

After this, shift your communication so that it meets the five criteria for the Perfection of Speech.

[contents]

Thirteenth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle

Days 1–15

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

A key to the Perfection of Speech is deep listening. It is an incredibly powerful gift to give someone your whole-body-listening attention. Of course, you want to make sure that you’re not coming across as too intense, but maintaining full awareness while listening allows a speaker to feel fully heard. It is a healing practice for both you and the speaker.

Today, as you observe silence, practice listening to what others have to say in this deep manner.

Practice Days 2–3

Magic Squares: Creating Your Sigil, Part 1

Magical Purpose: Making a magical symbol that contains your personal energies.

A sigil is an inscribed image that holds magical power. The use and creation of the sigil was at its height during the Renaissance period. One of the most influential magical practices coming from Agrippa and the Renaissance period is the use of magic squares (also called kamea in Hebrew, which means “talisman”) as the foundation for creating magical sigils. A magic square is a square that is divided into smaller squares, each containing a number. The figures in each vertical, horizontal, and diagonal row of the magic square add up to the same value.

In his Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Agrippa put forward seven magic squares that he aligned with the seven then-known astrological planets: the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. (There are obviously more than seven celestial bodies, but these were the ones that ancient astrologers could readily see with the naked eye.)

For the next days, we’ll be working with sigils and the planetary kameas, all of which are important for your magical work now and in the future. The first step is discovering the sigil that relates to your personal energy system, which is your personal power. This personal sigil is like your magical thumbprint. It will be different for each person, as each design aligns itself to the kamea that corresponds to a person’s unique energy system.

Making the sigil of power is an important task, because every spell, every candle, and every tool will benefit from the magical control you’ll exert by inscribing on them this “magical DNA.”

The method for creating the sigil combines ancient astrology, numerology, and Agrippa’s planetary kameas. The first step is to find the sign the Moon was in when you were born. This is your Moon sign. For this, you’ll need to know your date, exact time, and city of birth. There are many free online Moon sign calculators that can help you determine which sign the Moon was in when you were born.

A Word to the Wise: The reason that we base our calculations on the Moon is because not only in Wicca but also in traditional astrology, the Moon governs magical activity. Knowing the exact sign that the Moon was traveling through at the time of your birth lets you know your unique magical abilities and affinities.

Once you know your Moon sign, you then must know the planetary ruler of the sign. Here is a chart that gives the planetary rulers of each sign in ancient astrology:

Planetary Glyph

Planet

Sign(s) It Governs

Sun

Leo

Moon

Cancer

Mercury

Gemini, Virgo

Venus

Libra, Taurus

Mars

Aries, Scorpio

Jupiter

Sagittarius, Pisces

Saturn

Capricorn, Aquarius

Planetary Rulers

The planet that rules your Moon sign tells you which planetary kamea is attuned to your magical system. It also tells you the powers that come naturally to you. The planetary kameas are shown here. Take a look at the one that is specific to your energy system.

Today, if you have a computer, find your kamea for free by searching “Agrippa magic squares” in any search engine. Copy and paste the proper image (check the numbers carefully to match those on the pages of this book) onto a blank piece of paper. If you have any technical expertise with graphic editing, you can add extra oomph to your magic square by adding the appropriate color combinations. Please note that it isn’t a necessity to color the magic square. The square will work just fine in black and white, although color can add a vibrational kick:

Saturn: White numbers, black background

Jupiter: Orange/bronze numbers, blue background

Mars: Green numbers, red background

Sun: Red numbers, yellow background

Venus: Yellow numbers, forest green background

Mercury: Purple numbers, light yellow background

Moon: Yellow numbers, dark blue background

Here are the magic squares:

Practice Days 4–5

Magic Squares:
Creating Your Sigil, Part 2

Magical Purpose: Making a magical symbol that contains your personal energies.

Now that you know which planetary square is aligned with your personal Moon sign, you will plot your magical name (translating it into numbers) onto your corresponding planetary square. Use this alpha-numeric chart to help translate your magical name into numbers:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Alpha-Numeric Chart

Let’s look at the magical name “Juno” and see how this works. We will assume for this example that Juno’s Moon sign is aligned with Saturn’s planetary kamea. I will first translate each letter of Juno’s magical name into a number. Looking at the alpha-numeric chart, I see that J is a 1, U is a 3, N is 5, and O is 6. So I now have this alpha-numeric “map” of the name Juno to guide me:

J

U

N

O

1

3

5

6

Using the planetary kamea for Saturn, I will draw lines from one number to the next, starting the whole process by putting a small circle on the very first number in the square. The first letter in Juno is 1, so I put the small circle in the square with the number 1 in it, like this:

Next I draw a straight line from 1 to the next letter/number in Juno. The next letter is U, which is 3:

I continue this process until I go through all of the letters/numbers of the name Juno, which are 1, 3, 5 and 6:

The final step is to make a small hash mark to indicate where the sigil stops in the square containing the final letter/number, which is 6:

Minus the planetary kamea itself, this is the final image, the sigil that represents you in your magical work. Take time today to inscribe your own sigil onto magical tools or other items that have magical significance for you.

Practice Days 6–7

Magic Squares: The Sun

Magical Purpose: Creating magic with the solar magic square.

What you’ll need:

• A yellow candle

• Sun magical condenser

• Kamea of the Sun

• Your circle-casting tools

• Sun Incense and Oil

• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

• Plain white computer printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Before working with the Sun’s kamea, we must first understand what the Sun governs, so that we may choose a magical working that aligns with solar powers.

Under the Sun’s Influence

Authority, dignity, energy, father, health, high office, husband, identity, leadership, masculine principle, men, principles, progress, rank, success, titles, vitality, whatever you want to “shine.”

Since we will be practicing the same image-transfer process you used earlier in the book, I have provided a review of the steps for you in brief:

• Locate the Sun’s kamea online.

• Tape tissue paper to regular printer paper and print the kamea on the tissue in black ink (since you are already using a yellow candle). Size the kamea properly to fit your pillar candle.

• Cut out the kamea and trim the image close to the borders.

• Select an area of magical interest to you that aligns with the Sun’s energies.

• Distill your intent/focus into a single word.

• Translate that word into numerals using the alpha-numeric chart.

• Plot the numbers on the Sun’s kamea in yellow ink to make a sigil.

• Take the trimmed kamea with the inscribed sigil and place it image-outward on the candle surface. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. Use a blow dryer on the hottest setting to melt the image onto the candle surface.

• If you do not have a computer printer, hand-draw the kamea and the sigil using yellow ink on regular white paper. You will learn where to place the kamea for this working later on. For now, simply copy it and retrace it with your yellow ink.

Sun’s Kamea

In the hour of the Sun, cast a magic circle (see the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation).

If you have not used a printer for this procedure, use your white-handled knife to inscribe the Sun sigil on the side of your yellow candle.

At the bottom of the candle, inscribe your personal sigil. Anoint the candle with Sun Oil, starting at the bottom of the candle and working up to the top. Now do the same thing using your Sun planetary condenser. Light Sun Incense and place this on your altar. Hold the candle in your hands and visualize the final result of your magical working. Imagine that the visualization transfers to the candle. Stand the candle near the incense and light it. If you have hand-printed the kamea, place the candle atop the kamea you’ve drawn.

Close your circle.

Practice Days 8–9

Magic Squares: The Moon

Magical Purpose: Creating magic with the lunar magic square.

What you’ll need:

• A white pillar candle

• Moon magical condenser

• Kamea of the Moon

• Your circle-casting tools

• Moon Incense and Oil (recipes follow)

• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

• Plain white computer printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Before working with the lunar kamea, we must first understand what the Moon governs, so that we may choose a magical working that aligns with lunar powers.

Under the Moon’s Influence

Brewing, desires, feelings, female principle, fluctuations, growth and fertility, habit patterns, instincts, liquids of all kinds, magic, magnetism, moods, mother, needs, nursing, personal interests, phases, receptivity, reflexes, sailing, tides, trade and commerce, unconscious processes, wife, women in general.

Follow the same procedures you followed for transferring the Sun’s kamea to the pillar candle. Here are the steps in brief:

• Locate the Moon kamea online.

• Tape tissue paper to regular printer paper and print the kamea on the tissue in black ink. Size the kamea properly to fit your pillar candle.

• Cut out the kamea and trim the image close to the borders.

• Select an area of magical interest to you that aligns with the Moon’s energies.

• Distill your intent/focus into a single word.

• Translate that word into numerals using the alpha-numeric chart.

• Plot the numbers on the Moon kamea in silver ink to make a sigil.

• Take the trimmed kamea with the inscribed sigil and place it image-outward on the candle surface. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. Use a blow dryer on the hottest setting to melt the image onto the candle surface.

• If you do not have a computer printer, hand-draw the kamea and the sigil using silver ink on regular white paper.

Moon’s Kamea

Moon Incense

What you’ll need:

• 1 tablespoon gum mastic

• 1 tablespoon dried poppy

• 1 tablespoon dried willow bark

• 3 tablespoons dried sandalwood powder

• 7 drops water lily essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin

• A container with a tight-fitting lid

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the essential oil into the glycerin, then add this to the dry ingredients. Mix until fluffy-looking. Store in a container with a tight-fitting lid.

Moon Oil

What you’ll need:

• 7 drops water lily essential oil

• 3 drops rose essential oil

• 2 drops poppy essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin

• A clean, airtight glass bottle with a tight-
fitting lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in a clean, airtight glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid.

In the hour of the Moon, cast a magic circle (see the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation).

If you have not used a printer for this procedure, use your white-handled knife to inscribe the Moon sigil on the side of your yellow candle.

At the bottom of the candle, inscribe your personal sigil. Anoint the candle with Moon Oil, starting at the bottom of the candle and working up to the top. Now do the same thing using your Moon planetary condenser. Light Moon Incense and place this on your altar. Hold the candle in your hands and visualize the final result of your magical working. Imagine that the visualization transfers to the candle. Stand the candle near the incense and light it. If you have hand-printed the kamea, place the candle atop the kamea you’ve drawn.

Close your circle.

Practice Days 10–11

Magic Squares: Venus

Magical Purpose: Creating magic with the Venus magic square.

What you’ll need:

• A green pillar candle

• Venus magical condenser

• Kamea of Venus

• Your circle-casting tools

• Venus Incense and Oil (recipes follow)

• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

• Plain white computer printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Before working with Venus’s kamea, we must first understand what Venus governs, so that we may choose a magical working that aligns with Venusian powers.

Under Venus’s Influence

Aesthetics, appreciation, art, beauty, charm, color, culture, dance, disposition, drama, emotions, good taste, harmony, jewelry, love, luxury, marriage and unions, moral character, music, painting, partners, pleasure, poetry, possessions, sensuality, sentimentality, singing, social endeavors, sweets/sugar, tenderness.

Follow the same procedures you used for transferring the Sun and Moon kameas to the pillar candle. Here are the steps in brief:

• Locate the Venus kamea online.

• Tape tissue paper to regular printer paper and print the kamea on the tissue in black ink. Size the kamea properly to fit your pillar candle.

• Cut out the kamea and trim the image close to the borders.

• Select an area of magical interest to you that aligns with Venus’s energies.

• Distill your intent/focus into a single word.

• Translate that word into numerals using the alpha-numeric chart.

• Plot the numbers on the Venus kamea in green ink to make a sigil.

• Take the trimmed kamea with the inscribed sigil and place it image-outward on the candle surface. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. Use a blow dryer on the hottest setting to melt the image onto the candle surface.

• If you do not have a computer printer, hand-draw the kamea and the sigil using green ink on regular white paper.

Venus’s Kamea

Venus Incense

What you’ll need:

• 1 tablespoon dried elder

• 1 tablespoon dried peppermint

• 1 tablespoon dried yarrow

• 3 tablespoons dried sandalwood powder

• 8 drops apple essential oil

• 1 drop musk essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin

• A container with a tight-fitting lid

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the essential oils into the glycerin, then add this to the dry ingredients. Mix until fluffy-looking. Store in a container with a tight-fitting lid.

Venus Oil

What you’ll need:

• 8 drops apple essential oil

• 2 drops musk essential oil

• 3 drops pear essential oil

• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin

• A clean, airtight glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid

Mix the ingredients together and store in a clean, airtight glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid.

In the hour of Venus, cast a magic circle (see the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation).

If you have not used a printer for this procedure, use your white-handled knife to inscribe your Venus sigil on the side of your green candle.

At the bottom of the candle, inscribe your personal sigil. Anoint the candle with Venus Oil, starting at the bottom of the candle and working up to the top. Now do the same thing using your Venus planetary condenser. Light Venus Incense and place this on your altar. Hold the candle in your hands and visualize the final result of your magical working. Imagine that the visualization transfers to the candle. Stand the candle near the incense and light it. If you have hand-printed the kamea, place the candle atop the kamea you’ve hand-printed.

Close your circle.

Practice Days 12–13

Magic Squares: Mars

Magical Purpose: Creating magic with the Mars magic square.

What you’ll need:

• A red pillar candle

• Mars magical condenser

• Kamea of Mars

• Your circle-casting tools

• Mars Incense and Oil

• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

• Plain white computer printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Before working with Mars’s kamea, we must first understand what Mars governs, so that we may choose a magical working that aligns with Martian powers.

Under Mars’s Influence

Accidents, ambition, animal nature, animals in general, burns, competition, construction, courage, cuts, death, desire, domination, disruptive events, force, healing, heat, inflammation, iron and steel, power, scalds, sexuality, strength, strife, sudden events, surgery, tools, violence, war, weapons, work, wounds.

Follow the same procedures you’ve been using for image transfers to candles. Here are the steps in brief:

• Locate the Mars kamea online.

• Tape tissue paper to regular printer paper and print the kamea on the tissue in black ink. Size the kamea properly to fit your pillar candle.

• Cut out the kamea and trim the image close to the borders.

• Select an area of magical interest to you that aligns with Mars’s energies.

• Distill your intent/focus into a single word.

• Translate that word into numerals using the alpha-numeric chart.

• Plot the numbers on the Mars kamea in red ink to make a sigil.

• Take the trimmed kamea with the inscribed sigil and place it image-outward on the candle surface. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. Use a blow dryer on the hottest setting to melt the image onto the candle surface.

• If you do not have a computer printer, hand-draw the kamea and the sigil using red ink on regular white paper.

Mars’s Kamea

In the hour of Mars, cast a magic circle (see the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation).

If you have not used a printer for this procedure, use your white-handled knife to inscribe your Mars sigil on the side of your red candle.

At the bottom of the candle, inscribe your personal sigil. Anoint the candle with Mars Oil, starting at the bottom of the candle and working up to the top. Now do the same thing using your Mars planetary condenser. Light Mars Incense and place this on your altar. Hold the candle in your hands and visualize the final result of your magical working. Imagine that the visualization transfers to the candle. Stand the candle near the incense and light it. If you have hand-printed the kamea, place the candle atop the kamea you’ve hand-printed.

Close your circle.

Practice Days 14–15

Full Moon Ceremony

For this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your ceremony:

• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)

• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon

• Drawing Down the Moon

• Aspecting the Goddess and speaking her words

• Reading the Charge of the Goddess

• Select a meditation as your main working. Alternatively, you can engage in a magical working that you inadvertently skipped or intentionally skipped so as to reserve it for the full moon.

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Thirteenth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle

Days 16–28

A Word to the Wise: Remember that you are now working in a waning moon cycle. All of your magical workings should be focused on diminishing, ending, reducing, or making things go away. Consider how to compose your magical planetary workings in light of this.

Practice Days 16–17

Magic Squares: Mercury

Magical Purpose: Creating magic with the Mercury magic square.

What you’ll need:

• A purple pillar candle

• Mercury magical condenser

• Kamea of Mercury

• Your circle-casting tools

• Mercury Incense and Oil

• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

• Regular printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Before working with Mercury’s kamea, we must first understand what Mercury governs, so that we may choose a magical working that aligns with its powers.

Under Mercury’s Influence

Awareness, bookkeeping, children, communication, consciousness, dexterity, family, intellect, letters/emails, logic, neighborhood, opinions and perceptions, quick changes, quick tongue, quick wit, rational thought, reason, speaking, transmission, travel, volatility, words, writing.

Follow the same procedures you’ve been using for image transfers to candles. Here are the steps in brief:

• Locate the Mercury kamea online.

• Tape tissue paper to regular printer paper and print the kamea on the tissue in black ink. Size the kamea properly to fit your pillar candle.

• Cut out the kamea and trim the image close to the borders.

• Select an area of magical interest to you that aligns with Mercury’s energies.

• Distill your intent/focus into a single word.

• Translate that word into numerals using the alpha-numeric chart.

• Plot the numbers on the Mercury kamea in purple ink (or another mixed color that feels appropriate to your working) to make a sigil.

• Take the trimmed kamea with the inscribed sigil and place it image-outward on the candle surface. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. Use a blow dryer on the hottest setting to melt the image onto the candle surface.

• If you do not have a computer printer, hand-draw the kamea and the sigil using purple ink (or your mixed color ink) on regular white paper.

Mercury’s Kamea

In the hour of Mercury, cast a magic circle (see the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation).

If you have not used a printer for this procedure, use your white-handled knife to inscribe your Mercury sigil on the side of your purple candle.

At the bottom of the candle, inscribe your personal sigil. Anoint the candle with Mercury Oil, starting at the bottom of the candle and working up to the top. Now do the same thing using your Mercury planetary condenser. Light Mercury Incense and place this on your altar. Hold the candle in your hands and visualize the final result of your magical working. Imagine that the visualization transfers to the candle. Stand the candle near the incense and light it. If you have hand-printed the kamea, place the candle atop the kamea you’ve hand-printed.

Close your circle.

Practice Days 18–19

Magic Squares: Jupiter

Magical Purpose: Creating magic with the Jupiter magic square.

What you’ll need:

• A blue pillar candle

• Jupiter magical condenser

• Kamea of Jupiter

• Your circle-casting tools

• Jupiter Incense and Oil

• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

• Plain white computer printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Before working with Jupiter’s kamea, we must first understand what Jupiter governs, so that we may choose a magical working that aligns with its powers.

Under Jupiter’s Influence

Aspirations, big business, building, development, expansion, fondness for animals, good fortune, growth, health, higher education, higher mind, hunting, increase, indulgence, judgment, leisure time, long-distance travel, luck, morality, optimism, pets, prosperity, riches, sports, wealth.

Follow the same procedures you’ve been using for image transfers to candles. Here are the steps in brief:

• Locate the Jupiter kamea online.

• Tape tissue paper to regular printer paper and print the kamea on the tissue in black ink. Size the kamea properly to fit your pillar candle.

• Cut out the kamea and trim the image close to the borders.

• Select an area of magical interest to you that aligns with Jupiter’s energies.

• Distill your intent/focus into a single word.

• Translate that word into numerals using the alpha-numeric chart.

• Plot the numbers on the Jupiter kamea in blue ink to make a sigil.

• Take the trimmed kamea with the inscribed sigil and place it image-outward on the candle surface. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. Use a blow dryer on the hottest setting to melt the image onto the candle surface.

• If you do not have a computer printer, hand-draw the kamea and the sigil using blue ink on regular white paper.

In the hour of Jupiter, cast a magic circle (see the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation).

Jupiter’s Kamea

If you have not used a printer for this procedure, use your white-handled knife to inscribe your Jupiter sigil on the side of your blue candle.

At the bottom of the candle, inscribe your personal sigil. Anoint the candle with Jupiter Oil, starting at the bottom of the candle and working up to the top. Now do the same thing using your Jupiter planetary condenser. Light Jupiter Incense and place this on your altar. Hold the candle in your hands and visualize the final result of your magical working. Imagine that the visualization transfers to the candle. Stand the candle near the incense and light it. If you have hand-printed the kamea, place the candle atop your hand-printed kamea.

Close your circle.

Practice Days 20–21

Magic Squares: Saturn

Magical Purpose: Creating magic with the Saturn magic square.

What you’ll need:

• A black pillar candle

• Saturn magical condenser

• Kamea of Saturn

• Your circle-casting tools

• Saturn Incense and Oil

• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

• Plain white computer printer paper

• A computer printer

• A blow dryer

• Scissors

• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Before working with Saturn’s kamea, we must first understand what Saturn governs, so that we may choose a magical working that aligns with its powers.

Under Saturn’s Influence

Ambition, burdens, capacity for career, commitments, conformity, contraction, conventionality, correction, death, debts, depth, discipline, duty, facts, habits, law, limitations, long-lasting effects, obligations, older persons, organization, orthodoxy, patience, reality, responsibility, restraint, science, self-control, solidification, sorrows and delays, structure, theories, timing, tradition, truth, use of time, wisdom.

Follow the same procedures you’ve been using for image transfers to candles. Here are the steps in brief:

• Locate the Saturn kamea online.

• Tape tissue paper to regular printer paper and print the kamea on the tissue in black ink. Size the kamea properly to fit your pillar candle.

• Cut out the kamea and trim the image close to the borders.

• Select an area of magical interest to you that aligns with Saturn’s energies.

• Distill your intent/focus into a single word.

• Translate that word into numerals using the alpha-numeric chart.

• Plot the numbers on the Saturn kamea in black ink to make a sigil.

• Take the trimmed kamea with the inscribed sigil and place it image-outward on the candle surface. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. Use a blow dryer on the hottest setting to melt the image onto the candle surface.

• If you do not have a computer printer, hand-draw the kamea and the sigil using black ink on regular white paper.

Saturn’s Kamea

In the hour of Saturn, cast a magic circle (see the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation).

If you have not used a printer for this procedure, use your white-handled knife to inscribe your Saturn sigil on the side of your black candle.

At the bottom of the candle, inscribe your personal sigil. Anoint the candle with Saturn Oil, starting at the bottom of the candle and working up to the top. Now do the same thing using your Saturn planetary condenser. Light Saturn Incense and place this on your altar. Hold the candle in your hands and visualize the final result of your magical working. Imagine that the visualization transfers to the candle. Stand the candle near the incense and light it. If you have hand-printed the kamea, place the candle atop your hand-printed kamea.

Close your circle.

Practice Days 22–23

Second Degree Preparations:
Initiatory Incense and Oil

Magical Purpose: Making the magical incense and oil preferred for the Second Degree elevation ritual.

Second Degree Incense

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon frankincense tears

• 1 teaspoon balm of Gilead resin (powdered)

• 1 teaspoon galbanum resin (powdered)

• 1 teaspoon storax (powdered)

• 2 teaspoons cedar, dried and powdered

• 1 teaspoon aloe powder

• A glass container with a tight-fitting lid

The magical texts of Abramelin have served to inform this recipe. This incense is meant to increase magical potency, which will serve you well during your Second Degree elevation ritual. Even if you decide not to go through the Second Degree initiation rite, you can use this incense for any magical working where you would like to intensify and speed up the effects.

Simply mix the resins, woods, and powders together and place them in a glass container with a tight-fitting lid to preserve the aromas and magical properties of the dried ingredients.

Second Degree Oil

What you’ll need:

• 3 drops frankincense essential oil

• 3 drops balm of Gilead essential oil

• 3 drops galbanum essential oil

• 1 drop storax essential oil

• 1 drop cedar essential oil

Again, this recipe is inspired by the texts of Abramelin. This oil is meant to increase magical potency and speed up magical effects.

Practice Days 24–25

Second Degree Preparations:
Making the Bitters

Magical Purpose: Making the magical bitters for your Second Degree elevation ritual.

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon each of dried angelica root, burdock root, citrus peel, mugwort, and orris root (5 teaspoons in all)

• 1⁄8 cup high-proof vodka or Everclear (if
you are alcohol-free, you can skip this preservative)

• ½ cup purified water

• A pan for boiling the water

• A clean teacup or coffee mug

• A separate plate that can cover the mug

• A clean jar with a tight-fitting lid

Part of the Second Degree elevation ritual is drinking from the “cup of death,” which you symbolize by drinking a sweetened drink that has been infused with herbal “bitters.”

Bitters have a long history of curing ailments and flavoring drinks. They are aromatic herbs and spices infused or tinctured in vodka, Everclear, or other neutral, high-proof alcohol. Bitters are not intended to be consumed in large quantities. It is important to know this, so you do not attempt to drink an entire cup of them for the elevation ritual. You will consume only 1 to 2 tablespoons of the bitters during the ritual.

To begin, boil the purified water. Pour the water into a large mug that contains the dried herbs. Cover the mug with a dish and let the herbs steep in the water for at least 10–15 minutes.

Pour the vodka or Everclear into the clean jar. Strain the herbs from the herb-infused water, and pour the herbal water into the bottle with the alcohol. Seal this tightly. On the night of your initiation, prepare your chalice with a sweet juice, such as pomegranate or apple. To this, add at least 2 tablespoons (depending on the size of your chalice—1 tablespoon may be enough) of the bitters.

Practice Days 26–27

Second Degree Preparations:
Living by the Great Vow

Magical Purpose: Choosing to take up a vow inspired by the Gods.

Earlier in the year (during the seventh lunation), you crafted a personal vow that you might live by. This vow was intended to guide your spiritual development and magical practice. As you move toward the Second Degree initiation, it is time to turn your view from your personal vow to the Great Vow. One’s Great Vow is the promise to the Gods one makes near the time of one’s Second Degree elevation.

Typically, the Great Vow is one that holds you to a higher standard in the Wiccan community. No longer are you doing your magical practice solely for yourself and your personal development. The Second Degree indicates a certain degree of mastery of the Craft, and thus it indicates a time of sharing your magical prowess with the broader community.

The Great Vow is a personal commitment you make with the Gods, and it is directed toward any number of activities designed to serve. Here are some ideas of what your Great Vow might be:

Air: Sharing knowledge, training, teaching, guiding, mentoring, raising public awareness about the Craft, speaking on behalf of your community on the radio or television, spiritual research, creating Wiccan chat groups, posting your experiences on the Web

Fire: Building community, leading, creating spiritual events, leading sweat lodges, leading bonfire ceremonies, house cleansings, political activism, creating Wiccan men’s groups/circles, making magical tools

Water: Promoting wisdom, performing exorcisms, divinations, listening to others deeply, being empathetic, spirit mediumship for others, creating Wiccan women’s groups/circles

Earth: Energetic healing of others, counseling, providing rites of passage as requested, public rituals, ecological involvement, Earth stewardship, herbalism, holistic healing arts

There are many other ways this Great Vow can manifest. These are only a few examples.

The Gods never ask that you provide all of your skills to the community at all times. But in my experience with initiates over the years, I have found that deity typically earmarks your best-developed skill for community use. It is the Gods themselves who request your offering of a specialty service. And whatever activity you promise in your Great Vow, it is expected that you guide your daily practice by incorporating the vow into each day.

Even if you do not plan to engage in the Second Degree elevation ritual, going through the following guided imagery meditation can help clarify what the Gods consider your gifts and what may be important for you to consider as a community offering as you wind up your Second Degree year and a day.

Start today’s working by lighting the Second Degree Incense and dabbing your third eye (between the brows) with Second Degree Oil. Lie on the floor on your back with your arms in the Mother position (arms away from the body by at least twelve inches on both side, palms upturned—see Appendix G).

Great Vow Guided Imagery

Close your eyes and imagine that you are standing at the edge of a magic circle in a great magical temple. Great golden burning pans with smoldering incense arising from them flank the entrance to the temple and to the circle itself. Many candles adorn the outer circle and give off a warm yellow radiance.

As you enter the chamber, you see a shaft of bright light pour into the very center of the circle. A robed and hooded attendant comes and cuts a hole in the magic circle for you to enter. You step forward and approach the beam of light. As you do, you see the light grow. The light bends and forms, eventually taking the shape of your patron god or goddess.

The deity stands silently regarding you, awaiting your question. Approach and ask, “What is my Great Vow to you?” Listen for the response. Once you know your answer, the deity will transform back into a beam of light that eventually disappears altogether.

Once this god or goddess has left, open your eyes and write down the Great Vow that the deity has requested of you. Take time to answer the following questions:

• Based on what the deity requested of me, what is considered my greatest talent?

• Do I consider this area one of strength for me? Or is this an area that might require ongoing development?

• How might my life look if I were to offer this gift as part of a vow?

• Is living by this vow important to me? Why or why not?

Practice Day 28

The Sigil of the Second Degree

Magical Purpose: Learning the Second Degree sigil and sensing its subtle influence.

The Second Degree in Wicca is the God Degree. As such, the sign for blessing is the inverted pentagram, which symbolizes the Witches’ God’s horns. Some people experience uneasiness around the inverted pentagram. They worry that by simply having that symbol in their vicinity, or seeing it, they are inviting energies that may be difficult to control, or perhaps even “evil.”

I don’t want to dissuade anyone from feeling a particular way about this subject. Instead, I’d like you to take a moment to journal about your thoughts, feelings, and/or concerns about using the inverted pentagram in a ritual context. For readers who are perhaps puzzled by what I’m referring to here, here are both the typical and inverted pentagrams:

The Pentagram and Inverted Pentagram with Elemental Correspondences

Even some seasoned magical practitioners balk at using the inverted pentagram because, they reason, it represents the principle of “matter over spirit.” In the typical pentagram, the topmost point of the pentagram represents spirit, so this symbol might be saying “spirit above all else.” When the pentacle point of spirit is placed “below” those of the elements, the symbol seems to indicate a reversal of this natural order.

Meanwhile, in traditional Wiccan terms, the inverted pentagram is intended to represent the descent of spirit into the material world.34 In order for spirit to descend into your personal world (which is your day-to-day life), it is important to seek divine balance through invoking both the Goddess and the God in your routine activities.

Unfortunately, over the millennia, and especially in the past decades, an onslaught of television, film, and popular fiction have come together to create a collective fear about the pentagram in general, and most especially about the inverted version. One typically finds our symbol of sacredness incorporated into horror movies and over-the-top, campy, 1970s-style album covers. A holy symbol of our faith, of the divine masculine, has been hijacked by the popular media for shock appeal. And by association, it has come to be lumped together with the concept of the Christian devil.

However, remember that symbols are meant to communicate information through image only. And while some symbols indicate information on a larger scale, remember that these same symbols get filtered through the personal perceptual processes too. And as you’ve learned many times during this year and a day, your personal perceptions are frequently based on context. This means the context of culture, family, beliefs, personal fears, gender, etc., all play a part in how you interpret and respond to information such as symbols.

For example, if a bluebird generally symbolized happiness in our culture, but you had a negative association with the color blue, or with birds, then a bluebird might not exactly mean happiness for you. So it goes with the inverted pentagram. Even though it may exist by itself as a powerful symbol of the male principle in magic and spiritual development, because of many factors you may hold to certain biases, which detract from the energetic influence of this cosmic symbol.

In thinking about the inverted pentagram, spend time journaling about the following questions:

• Do I have some gut-level reaction to the inverted pentagram? If so, what is it?

• What are some of the influences in my life that may be contributing to my reaction?

• Is my reaction warranted? Why or why not?

• How might holding to my reactions affect the outcomes of my magical work, in general terms?

The divine masculine power, as depicted by the inverted pentagram, is active. It manifests in conscious efforts (unlike our work of examining unconscious processes while working under the Goddess’s energies). The Second Degree is presided over by the divine masculine principle, and it represents a time of study, active practice, thinking, analyzing, and getting active with what you’ve intuited and felt—putting the Great Vow into action.

In today’s practice, try anointing yourself or a fellow Second Degree student with Second Degree Oil, drawing the inverted pentagram:

Start by touching the pelvis, just below the navel, then anoint the left breast. From there, touch the palm of the right hand, the palm of the left hand, the right breast, and end by anointing just below the navel.

Second Degree Blessing

Once you’ve blessed yourself with the inverted pentagram, spend some silent time sensing how this symbol creates energetic changes for you. How does it make you feel? Does it punctuate any sensation or invite a particular way of thinking? Take time to journal about the experience.

34. Lon Milo DuQuette, The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of Rituals of Thelema (Boston, MA: Weiser Books, 2003), p. 93.

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Waxing Moon Cycle

Final Days 1–2

Practice Day 1

Day of Silence

Today is the final day of silence for your Second Degree year and a day. While you observe silence, focus your attention on whatever it is that creates feelings of gratitude for you. Stay focused on those aspects of your life for the entirety of the day, acting from this sense of appreciation. Take time to journal about the experience at the end of the day.

A Word to the Wise: There are two versions of the final day in your Second Degree year and a day. The first version is the Second Degree elevation ritual itself. The next version is an alternative closing ritual for those readers who decide not to take the Second Degree elevation at this time. Choose whichever feels appropriate to you.

Practice Day 2

Second Degree Elevation Ritual

Magical Purpose: Taking the Second Degree initiation in the Craft of the Wise.

Your year and a day of magical practice is nearly complete. An important step now is taking the Second Degree initiation. I present two versions of the rite. The first is for solitary Witches, and the second is for two or more in a group.

Second Degree Elevation Ritual:
Self-Initiation Version

What you’ll need:

• Your circle-casting tools

• A bell

• Second Degree Oil

• A small portion of juice (usually something red)

• Red cord

• Bitters (which you made in the thirteenth lunation)

• Cakes and wine

Cast your circle as usual. As you did in the First Degree ritual, cut the circle in the east, placing your athame on the floor with the blade “holding” the cut. Hold your arms in the Mother magical pass and say:

I, ___________ (your magical name),

Who have been initiated into the
Mysteries,

Stand at a place that is not a place,

In a time that is not a time;

Between the worlds I stand.

Through effort, diligence, and vow, mindful

Of the ways of men and the Mighty Ones,

I have summoned the deeper secrets of the Arts,

Have walked hand in hand with the Gods,

And have lived in accord with the great tides of nature.

I now seek initiation into the Second Degree.

Assume all three magical passes in sequence (see appendix G). Generally speaking, for women, the sequence is Maiden, Mother, and Crone. For men, the sequence is Inseminator, Provider, and Sage. However, choose the magical passes (either those of the Goddess or the God) that fit your own energetic/gender/sexual identification.

Stand in the Crone/Sage position and bow from the waist. Stand with arms crossed across the chest and say:

With perfect love and perfect trust,

I enter here as Witches must,

To pass unto this sacred realm,

A grove of oak and winged elm,

For perfect love the Way commands,

On perfect trust, the Goddess stands,

Upon these two our magic rests,

At feet, and knees, and womb, and breasts,

And at my lips I speak the spell,

Of love and trust, I chant it well!

Enter the circle and close the gap with your athame (as you did in the First Degree ceremony).

Standing in the east of the circle, face outward. Hold your hands in the Mother magical pass and say:

I call forth the blessings of the Gods,

Upon this, my sacred journey!

Hear me, O Horned One,

Come to me, lovely Goddess.

Lend thy grace, thy strength, and thy wisdom

To I who stand before you.

Draw an invoking air pentagram with the athame and say:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, I, ______ (your magical name),

Have entered the circle of Art,

Prepared to invoke the Second Degree

Of attainment in the Craft of the Wise.

Continue with this at the south, drawing an invoking fire pentagram, and say:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, I, ______ (your magical name),

Have entered the circle of Art,

Prepared to invoke the Second Degree

Of attainment in the Craft of the Wise.

Go to the west, draw an invoking water pentagram, and say:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, I, ______ (your magical name),

Have entered the circle of Art,

Prepared to invoke the Second Degree

Of attainment in the Craft of the Wise.

Go to the north, draw an invoking earth pentagram, and say:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, I, ______ (your magical name),

Have entered the circle of Art,

Prepared to invoke the Second Degree

Of attainment in the Craft of the Wise.

Go to the east, and close your arms in the Osiris position (still holding the athame) and bow to the Mighty Ones presiding over the eastern quarter.

Go to the altar and pick up the bell. Begin walking around the interior edge of the circle (deosil/clockwise) and chant the Bagabi incantation.35 While you speak it, ring the bell once at the end of each line:

Bagabi laca bachabe

Lamac cahi achabe

Karrelyos

Lamac lamec bachalyas

Cabahagy sabalyos

Baryolas

Lagozatha cabyolas

Harrahya!

Palas aron ozinomas

Baske bano tudan donas

Geheamed cla orlay

Berec he pantaras tay.

Time the chant so that you speak it while circumambulating the space twice, to represent the Second Degree of initiation.

After this, kneel before the altar (at the south part of the altar, facing north). Say:

To attain to this sublime Degree

It is necessary to honor the Mighty Ones

Each in their turn.

Strike the bell three times and say:

Three

Go to the east, set the bell aside, and make three full prostrations (full-body bow, down to your knees, forehead upon the floor, then standing back up between each bow) toward the altar. Then strike the bell seven times and say:

Seven

Go to the south and make seven full prostrations toward the altar. Then strike the bell nine times and say:

Nine

Go to the west of the circle and make nine full prostrations toward the altar. Then strike the bell twenty-one times and say:

Twenty-one

Go to the north of the circle and make twenty-one full prostrations toward the altar.

A Word to the Wise: Making the full number of prostrations is important to the ritual as a demonstration of your willingness to “suffer to learn.” It also serves as a veneration of the source of magical power, which is the Goddess and the God, the elemental powers, the Mighty Dead (your ancestors), and you. While this process is important, there may be readers who cannot physically engage in this activity within the rite. The alternative is to face the altar from each quarter, fold your arms in the Crone/Sage magical pass, and make half-bows, simply bending from the waist.

Go back to the south of the circle, facing north before the altar. Hold your arms open in the Mother magical pass and say:

I, ________ (magical name), vow before the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters, the Kings of the Elements, before the Mighty Dead, and before the Great Mother and Horned Lord, that I shall never reveal any of the secrets of the Art, except it be to a worthy person, who has been prepared as am I by study and by living the Ways of the Wise. I swear that I shall not reveal any of the magics taught to me, except be it in the center of a magic circle such as I am now in. And I devote my life to the service of the Gods, and to my brothers and sisters of the Art. Ever mindful shall I be of my word and deed. Ever present will I be
as a guardian of nature. And may my weapons be as dead wood, as flotsam at the bottom of an endless, churning sea; may my magic come to naught if I break this, my solemn oath.

Kneel down with your right knee on the floor. Place your left hand on your left knee and your right hand on the crown of your head. Say:

Here within this sacred space,

I ask the Gods to lend their grace.

I grant to them between my hold,

What Lord and Lady seek of old:

That lance and cauldron, sun and moon,

And Mighty Ones bestow the boon,

That earth and sky unite in me,

O hear my heart, and blessed be!

While you kneel, visualize a taproot dropping from the base of your spine into the earth. Allow it to go deeper, until it reaches the white-hot center. Take deep, slow breaths, and as you inhale, imagine that you draw this energy up the taproot. Envision the energy filling you from head to toe. As soon as you feel as though you are filled with this energy, imagine that the root draws back up into your body.

Stand before the altar in the Mother magical pass. Take some Second Degree Oil and dab yourself in the sign of the Second Degree, which is the inverted pentagram (see illustration).

Start at the area just below the navel. Touch this area with oil, then consecrate the left breast with oil. Consecrate the right hand with oil, then the left hand. Touch the right breast with oil, and return to the spot below the navel.

Second Degree Blessing

As you finish, say:

I am consecrated with oil.

Consecrate each of these pentacle points on the body again, this time with wine. When you are finished, say:

I am consecrated with wine.

Kiss the tips of your fingers, and consecrate each of these pentacle points on the body with a kiss each time. When you are finished, say:

I am consecrated with a kiss.

In thine eyes, I am high priest/ess and Witch!

Pick up your red cord, and bless it with fire and air, water and earth. Bless it with Second Degree Oil. Tie it around your waist, then open your arms to the Mother magical pass and say:

Ever be it known the law of threefold return:

That in the Ways of the Wise

Thou must ever return threefold.

When given three, I shall return nine,

When given seven, I shall return twenty-one,

When given nine, I shall return twenty-seven,

When given twenty-one, I shall return sixty-three.

This law I shall obey.

Now close your arms to the Crone/Sage magical pass and bow toward the altar, saying:

So mote it be.

Take the bell in hand and face the south of the circle. Say:

Now it is time to renew the mysteries of death and rebirth, for in them, my brothers and sisters of the Art know and learn and love.

Hold your arms up toward the night sky and say:

In times before our own, the Great Mother, Queen of Heaven, lived in the glory of day and had not yet known the ways of darkness. She had never come
to the feet of the Horned Lord; he of the underworld, Dread Lord of Shadows. And yet, there was longing within her that she could not herself name. She withdrew from her temples, from her pastures and fields, to pass through the Dread Lord’s gates, seven all told.

Drop your arms to the Mother magical pass and say:

And when she came to the first gate,
the guardians there said, “Strip off thy crown, for none may enter here in the glory of day.”

Ring the bell once. Say:

And when she came to the second gate, the guardians said, “Strip off the amber beads that encircle thy neck, for none may enter here and utter the sacred names.”

Ring the bell twice. Say:

And when she came to the third gate, the guardians said, “Strip off thy breastplate, for none may enter here with a heart that stirs with life.”

Ring the bell three times. Say:

And when she came to the fourth gate, the guardians said, “Strip off thy wide-jeweled belt, for none may enter here with knowing of either male or female.”

Ring the bell four times. Say:

And when she came to the fifth gate, the guardians said, “Drop thy chalice and blade, for none may enter here with the weapons of magic.”

Ring the bell five times. Say:

And when she came to the sixth gate,
the guardians said, “Strip off thy silver armbands, for none may enter here in strength or beauty.”

Ring the bell six times. Say:

And when she came to the seventh gate, the guardians said, “Strip off thy robes, for none may enter here cloaked in the mantle of the living.”

Ring the bell seven times.

Take off your robes and jewels and place them on the altar along with your athame and the bell. Stand in the Crone/Sage magical pass, saying:

And when she stood before the Great Lord of Death, she said:

“I am going to die, like others who have come this way; I cannot elude what is inevitable. None will walk by my side as I enter these dread domains. Why does thou place thy cold hand upon all so that it may wither and pass?”

But the Dread Lord would not speak except to bow at the place of her standing and say:

“Blessed be thy feet, which have brought thee in these ways.”

And the Great Lady succumbed to Death and laid upon the great stone altar. But moved by seeing her so, the Dread Lord regretted that he had summoned her, for none may enter these domains and return unchanged.

He kissed her knees, saying, “Blessed be thy knees, which shall kneel at the sacred altar.” He kissed her womb and said, “Blessed be thy womb, without which we would not be.” He kissed her breasts and said, “Blessed be thy breasts, perfect in their strength and beauty.” He kissed her lips and said, “Blessed be thy lips, which shall utter the names of sacredness.”

And when she awakened, she was with full knowledge of death and rebirth.

Stand in the Crone/Sage position again, saying:

And he taught her the magics and brought her to the seventh gate. There he returned her sacred robes, saying, “Robe thyself in the knowledge of life and death.”

Put your robe back on. Take the bell and ring it seven times. Say:

And at the sixth gate, he returned her silver armbands, saying, “Place these upon thy wrists, with strength that comes from within.”

Ring the bell six times. Say:

And at the fifth gate, he returned her chalice and blade, saying, “Place these within thy hands, for magic must be attained within the great balance.”

Ring the bell five times. Say:

And at the fourth gate, he returned her wide-jeweled belt, saying, “Place this upon thy waist, knowing that within sacred union all things come into being.”

Ring the bell four times. Say:

And at the third gate, he returned her breastplate, saying, “Place this upon thy heart, for love controls all magic.”

Ring the bell three times. Say:

And at the second gate, he returned her amber necklet, saying, “Place this upon thy throat, and utter the sacred names.”

Ring the bell twice. Say:

And at the first gate, he returned her moon crown, saying, “Place this upon thy head, and wander again among thy Hidden Children. Teach them to walk between the worlds. For seed becomes root, becomes stem, becomes bud; and bud becomes seed once more. No thing truly dies.”

Ring the bell once.

Fill your chalice with juice and 1–2 tablespoons of bitters. Hold the chalice up to each of the four quarters. Say:

The Dark Lord asks if I fear death.

To him, I reply as our Great Mother has taught:

“No, I do not. For seed becomes root, becomes stem, becomes bud; and bud becomes seed once more. No thing truly dies.”

Therefore, I drink deeply from the Dark Lord’s cup.

Drink the cup of bitters. Place the cup on the altar, and close your arms in the Crone/Sage magical pass, saying:

No mortal who drinks from this cup

Remains bound by illusion.

Go to each of the four quarters, starting in the east, proclaiming:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones

Of the ______ (east, south, west, north),

I, ___________ (magical name), hath been

Duly consecrated high priest/ess and Witch.

Celebrate with cakes and wine, then close the circle.

Second Degree Elevation Ritual:
Group/Coven Version

What you’ll need:

• Your circle-casting tools

• A bell

• Second Degree Oil

• A small portion of juice (usually something red)

• Red cord

• Bitters

• Cakes and wine

A priest/ess casts the circle as usual, while the Second Degree postulant stands outside of the magic circle. The initiating priest/ess cuts the circle in the east, placing the athame on the floor with the blade “holding” the cut. The priest/ess hold her arms in the Mother magical pass and says:

You, ___________ (postulant’s magical name),

Who have been initiated into the Mysteries,

Stand at a place that is not a place,

In a time that is not a time;

Between the worlds you stand.

Through effort, diligence, and vow, mindful

Of the ways of men and the Mighty Ones,

You have summoned the deeper secrets of the Arts,

Have walked hand in hand with the Gods,

And have lived in accord with the great tides of nature.

What is it you seek?

The postulant says:

I seek initiation into the Second Degree.

The postulant assumes all three magical passes in sequence (see appendix G). Generally speaking, for women, the sequence is Maiden, Mother, and Crone. For men, the sequence is Inseminator, Provider, and Sage. However, choose the magical passes (either those of the Goddess or the God) that fit your own energetic/gender identification.

The postulant then stands in the Crone/Sage position and bows from the waist. He/she stands with arms crossed across the chest and says:

With perfect love and perfect trust,

I enter here as Witches must,

To pass unto this sacred realm,

A grove of oak and winged elm,

For perfect love the Way commands,

On perfect trust, the Goddess stands,

Upon these two our magic rests,

At feet, and knees, and womb, and breasts,

And at my lips I speak the spell,

Of love and trust, I chant it well!

The initiating priest/ess stands aside while the postulant enters the magic circle. The priest/ess then closes the gap with the athame (as was done in the First Degree ceremony).

The postulant stands with the initiating priest/ess in the east of the circle, facing outward. The initiating priest/ess holds his/her hands in the Mother magical pass and says:

I call forth the blessings of the Gods,

Upon this, your sacred journey!

Hear me, O Horned One,

Come, O lovely Goddess.

Lend thy grace, thy strength, and thy wisdom

To ____________ (postulant’s magical name),

Who stands before you.

The initiating priest/ess draws an air-invoking pentagram with the athame and says:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, ______ (postulant’s magical name)

Has entered the circle of Art,

Prepared to invoke the Second Degree

Of attainment in the Craft of the Wise.

The initiating priest/ess walks with the postulant to the south, draws a fire-invoking pentagram, and says:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, ______ (postulant’s magical name)

Has entered the circle of Art,

Prepared to invoke the Second Degree

Of attainment in the Craft of the Wise.

The initiating priest/ess walks with the postulant to the west, draws a water-invoking pentagram, and says:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, ______ (postulant’s magical name)

Has entered the circle of Art,

Prepared to invoke the Second Degree

Of attainment in the Craft of the Wise.

The initiating priest/ess walks with the postulant to the north, draws an earth-invoking pentagram, and says:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones, ______ (postulant’s magical name)

Has entered the circle of Art,

Prepared to invoke the Second Degree

Of attainment in the Craft of the Wise.

Finally, both the initiating priest/ess and the postulant return to the east, and close their arms in the Osiris position (the priest/ess is still holding the athame) and bow to the quarter.

The initiating priest/ess goes to the altar and takes the bell. The postulant begins walking around the interior edge of the circle (deosil/clockwise) and chants the Bagabi incantation. While the postulant speaks, the priest/ess rings the bell once at the end of each line:

Bagabi laca bachabe

Lamac cahi achabe

Karrelyos

Lamac lamec bachalyas

Cabahagy sabalyos

Baryolas

Lagozatha cabyolas

Harrahya!

Palas aron ozinomas

Baske bano tudan donas

Geheamed cla orlay

Berec he pantaras tay.

The postulant should circumambulate the space twice, to represent the Second Degree of initiation.

After this, the postulant kneels before the altar (at the south part of the altar, facing north). The initiating priest/ess stands with arms upraised over the postulant and says:

To attain to this sublime Degree

It is necessary to honor the Mighty Ones

Each in their turn.

The postulant stands now and faces the altar. The initiating priest/ess strikes the bell three times and says:

Three

The postulant goes to the east in the circle and makes three full prostrations (full-body bow, down to your knees, forehead upon the floor, then standing back up between each bow) toward the east. The initiating priest/ess strikes the bell seven times and says:

Seven

The postulant goes to the south and makes seven full prostrations toward the south. The initiating priest/ess strikes the bell nine times and says:

Nine

The postulant goes to the west of the circle and makes nine full prostrations toward the west. The initiating priest/ess strikes the bell twenty-one times and says:

Twenty-one

The postulant goes to the north of the circle and makes twenty-one full prostrations toward the north.

A Word to the Wise: Making the full number of prostrations is important to the ritual as a demonstration of your willingness to “suffer to learn.” It also serves as a veneration of the source of magical power, which is the Goddess and the God, the elemental powers, the Mighty Dead (your ancestors), and you. While this process is important, there may be readers who cannot physically engage in this activity within the rite. The alternative is to face the altar from each quarter, fold your arms in the Crone/Sage magical pass, and make half-bows, simply bending from the waist.

The postulant then returns to kneel at the altar. The initiating priest/ess should prompt the postulant to recite the following vow, giving him/her each line, or portions of lines small enough that they can be immediately recalled and recited by the postulant. The postulant says, after the initiating priest/ess:

I, ________ (magical name), vow before the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters, the Kings of the Elements, before the Mighty Dead, and before the Great Mother and Horned Lord, that I shall never reveal any of the secrets of the
Art, except it be to a worthy person, who has been prepared as am I by study and by living the Ways of the Wise. I swear that I shall not reveal any of the magics taught to me, except be it in the center of a magic circle such as I am now in. And I devote my life to the service of the Gods, and to my brothers and sisters of the Art. Ever mindful shall I be of my word and deed. Ever present will I be
as a guardian of nature. And may my weapons be as dead wood, as flotsam at the bottom of an endless, churning sea; may my magic come to naught if I break this, my solemn oath.

The postulant kneels down with his/her right knee on the floor. He/she places the left hand on the left knee and the right hand on the crown of the head. The postulant says (again, the initiating priest/ess assists the postulant by giving the words line by line or as needed):

Here within this sacred space,

I ask the Gods to lend their grace.

I grant to them between my hold,

What Lord and Lady seek of old:

That lance and cauldron, sun and moon,

And Mighty Ones bestow the boon,

That earth and sky unite in me,

O hear my heart, and blessed be!

While the postulant kneels, the initiating priest/ess guides him/her to visualize the following:

Close your eyes and see a taproot dropping from the base of your spine into the earth. Allow the taproot to go deeper, until it reaches the white-hot center. Take deep, slow breaths, and as you inhale, imagine that you draw this energy up the taproot. Envision the energy filling you from head to toe. As soon as you feel as though you are filled with this energy, imagine that the root draws back up into your body.

Once the postulant opens his/her eyes, the initiating priest/ess has him/her stand in the Mother magical pass. Using Second Degree Oil, the priest/ess dabs the postulant in the sign of the Second Degree, which is the inverted pentagram (see illustration).

Start at the center point, just above the navel. Touch this with oil, then consecrate the left breast with oil. Consecrate the right hand with oil, then the left hand. Touch the right breast with oil, and return to the spot just below the navel (creating the inverted pentagram).

As the initiating priest/ess finishes, he/she says:

I consecrate thee with oil.

Second Degree Blessing

The initiating priest/ess consecrates the postulant on each of these pentacle points on the body again, this time with wine. When finished, the priest/ess says:

I consecrate thee with wine.

The initiating priest/ess kisses the initiate at each of the pentacle points. When finished, the priest/ess says:

I consecrate thee with a kiss,

High priest/ess and Witch!

The postulant picks up the red cord on the altar and blesses it with fire and air, water and earth. The postulant also blesses it with Second Degree Oil. The postulant then ties the cord around his/her own waist.

The priest/ess opens his/her arms to the Mother magical pass and says:

Ever be it known the law of threefold return:

That in the Ways of the Wise

Thou must ever return threefold.

When given three, you shall return nine,

When given seven, you shall return twenty-one,

When given nine, you shall return twenty-seven,

When given twenty-one, you shall return sixty-three.

The postulant then says:

This law I shall obey.

Now both the initiating priest/ess and the postulant close their arms to the Crone/Sage magical pass and bow to one another, saying:

So mote it be.

The postulant takes the bell in hand and faces the south of the circle. The initiating priest/ess then faces the postulant, saying:

Now it is time to renew the mysteries
of death and rebirth, for in them, my brothers and sisters of the Art know
and learn and love.

The priest/ess holds up his/her arms toward the night sky and says:

In times before our own, the Great Mother, Queen of Heaven, lived in the glory of day and had not yet known the ways of darkness. She had never come to the feet of the Horned Lord; he of the underworld, Dread Lord of Shadows. And yet, there was longing within her that she could not herself name. She withdrew from her temples, from her pastures and fields, to pass through the Dread Lord’s gates, seven all told.

The priest/ess drops his/her arms to the Mother magical pass and says:

And when she came to the first gate,
the guardians there said, “Strip off thy crown, for none may enter here in the glory of day.”

The postulant rings the bell once. Then the initiating priest/ess says:

And when she came to the second gate, the guardians said, “Strip off the amber beads that encircle thy neck, for none may enter here and utter the sacred names.”

The postulant rings the bell twice. Then the initiating priest/ess says:

And when she came to the third gate, the guardians said, “Strip off thy breastplate, for none may enter here with a heart that stirs with life.”

The postulant rings the bell three times. Then the initiating priest/ess says:

And when she came to the fourth gate, the guardians said, “Strip off thy wide-jeweled belt, for none may enter here with knowing of either male or female.”

The postulant rings the bell four times. Then the initiating priest/ess says:

And when she came to the fifth gate, the guardians said, “Drop thy chalice and blade, for none may enter here with the weapons of magic.”

The postulant rings the bell five times. Then the initiating priest/ess says:

And when she came to the sixth gate,
the guardians said, “Strip off thy silver armbands, for none may enter here in strength or beauty.”

The postulant rings the bell six times. Then the initiating priest/ess says:

And when she came to the seventh gate, the guardians said, “Strip off thy robes, for none may enter here cloaked in the mantle of the living.”

The postulant rings the bell seven times.

Then the postulant sets aside the bell and takes off all robes and jewels and places them on the altar along with the athame. The initiating priest/ess stands in the south of the circle, facing in now. The priest/ess stands before the postulant in the Crone/Sage magical pass, saying:

And when she stood before the Great Lord of Death, she said:

The postulant says:

“I am going to die, like others who have come this way; I cannot elude what is inevitable. None will walk by my side as
I enter these dread domains. Why does thou place thy cold hand upon all so that it may wither and pass?”

The initiating priest/ess says:

But the Dread Lord would not speak except to bow at the place of her standing and say:

“Blessed be thy feet, which have brought thee in these ways.”

The initiating priest/ess kneels before the postulant and kisses the tops of his/her feet.

And the Great Lady succumbed to Death and laid upon the great stone altar.

The postulant then lies on the floor with arms crossed in the Crone/Sage magical pass. The priest/ess then says:

But moved by seeing her so, the Dread Lord regretted that he had summoned her, for none may enter these domains and return unchanged.

He kissed her knees, saying, “Blessed be thy knees, which shall kneel at the sacred altar.”

The initiating priest/ess kisses the postulant’s knees. The priest/ess then says:

He kissed her womb and said, “Blessed be thy womb, without which we would not be.”

The initiating priest/ess kisses the postulant in the pelvic area above the genitals. The priest/ess then says:

He kissed her breasts and said, “Blessed be thy breasts, perfect in their strength and beauty.”

The initiating priest/ess kisses the postulant’s breasts. The priest/ess then says:

He kissed her lips and said, “Blessed be thy lips, which shall utter the names of sacredness.”

The initiating priest/ess kisses the postulant’s lips. The priest/ess then helps the postulant to stand facing the south again, and tells the initiate to open his/her arms in the Mother magical pass. The priest/ess says:

And when she awakened, it was with full knowledge of death and rebirth. And he taught her the magics and brought her to the seventh gate.

The priest/ess then takes the postulant’s robe and hands it to him/her, saying:

There he returned her sacred robes, saying, “Robe thyself in the knowledge of life and death.”

The postulant puts the robe back on and takes the bell from the altar. The postulant then rings the bell seven times. The priest/ess then says:

And at the sixth gate, he returned her silver armbands, saying, “Place these upon thy wrists, with strength that comes from within.”

The priest/ess gives the postulant his/her Witch jewels. The postulant puts them on and then rings the bell six times. The initiating priest/ess says:

And at the fifth gate, he returned her chalice and blade, saying, “Place these within thy hands, for magic must be attained within the great balance.”

The postulant sets the bell aside. The priest/ess then hands the postulant the athame. The postulant then goes to east, south, west, and north, drawing the invoking pentagram proper for each element. The priest/ess hands the postulant his/her cup with wine/juice in it. The postulant drinks from the cup. The postulant sets down the cup, picks up the bell, and rings it five times. The initiating priest/ess then says:

And at the fourth gate, he returned her wide-jeweled belt, saying, “Place this upon thy waist, knowing that within sacred union all things come into being.”

The priest/ess hands the postulant his/her red cords. The postulant ties the cord around his/her waist, picks up the bell, and rings it four times. The priest/ess then says:

And at the third gate, he returned her breastplate, saying, “Place this upon
thy heart, for love controls all magic.”

The postulant rings the bell three times. The priest/ess then says:

And at the second gate, he returned her amber necklet, saying, “Place this upon thy throat, and utter the sacred names.”

The postulant rings the bell twice. The priest/ess then places his/her hands atop the postulant’s head and says:

And at the first gate, he returned her crown, saying, “Place this upon thy head, and wander again among thy Hidden Children. Teach them to walk between the worlds. For seed becomes root, becomes stem, becomes bud; and bud becomes seed once more. No thing truly dies.”

The postulant rings the bell once.

The priest/ess fills the postulant’s chalice with juice and 1–2 tablespoons of bitters. The postulant holds the chalice up to each of the four quarters. The priest/ess says:

The Dark Lord asks if you fear death.

The postulant replies:

To him, I reply as our Great Mother has taught:

“No, I do not. For seed becomes root, becomes stem, becomes bud; and bud becomes seed once more. No thing truly dies.”

Therefore, I drink deeply from the Dark Lord’s cup.

The postulant drinks the cup of bitters and then places the cup on the altar. The postulant then closes his/her arms in the Crone/Sage magical pass, saying:

No mortal who drinks from this cup

Remains bound by illusion.

The priest/ess takes the postulant to each of the four quarters, starting in the east. The initiating priest/ess then proclaims:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones

Of the ______ (east, south, west, north),

I, ___________ (magical name), hath been

Duly consecrated high priest/ess and Witch.

Celebrate with cakes and wine, then close the circle.

Alternative Practice Day 2

The Witches’ Ladder/Closing Ritual

Magical Purpose: Alternative to the Second Degree elevation ritual.

What you’ll need:

• Paper and pen

• 3 feet of colorful cord (or a very thin strip of leather)

• Several colorful beads and trinkets to string on the cord

• Several feathers to tie into the cord

• Other objects of power, such as dried herbs, sticks from sacred trees, bells, etc.

• Abramelin Incense and Oil

• Your circle-casting tools

As discussed earlier in the year (in the fourth lunation), the Witches’ ladder is an old custom. But the actual historical purpose of the ladder is still unknown, though folklorists have put forth several ideas. For our purposes, the Witches’ ladder will be a symbol of our year and a day of practice. The purpose is to literally tie together artifacts and symbols that represent the various workings throughout the year of study.

To begin, make a list of the activities that seemed most important to you during this Second Degree year and a day. Write these down on a sheet of paper on the left side of the page. On the right side, write down the names of some small objects that can serve as symbols of these important practices. Some ideas include bells, herb bundles, feathers, twigs, bones, crystals, Peruvian worry dolls, small scrolls with sacred words, etc. The list is endless, so be creative.

Collect these items and string them onto your cord. Start by tying a knot at least three inches above the bottom-most end of the cord. String a bead (perhaps having a color that represents some important aspect of the training) and allow it to rest on the bottom knot. Above that, tie in your first object of power. Then string another bead (or two or more) above that. Continue alternating between beads and trinkets until you get to the top of the ladder. Finish it with a knot.

Cast a circle. Wrap the Witches’ ladder around your wand. Take it to the east of the circle and, with the wrapped wand, draw an air-invoking pentagram.

Next, lay the ladder across your right arm (or the arm that you use to hold your athame). Take up your athame, and in the south, draw a fire-invoking pentagram.

Take the ladder and either lay it inside of your cup or, if the cup is too small to hold the ladder, lay it inside of your cauldron. Take the cup or cauldron (whichever you’ve used) to the west of the circle, hold it up, and and use it draw a water-invoking pentagram.

Lay the ladder on your altar pentacle. Take it to the north, and while holding the ladder atop the altar pentacle, draw an earth-invoking pentagram.

Place the altar pentacle and the Witches’ ladder on the altar. Take up your wand and athame, crossing them in an X formation above your head, and invoke:

I invoke thee, fortune, with propitious mind,

And rich abundance, to my spells inclined;

Gracious and gentle ___________ (your patron goddess),

Mighty One,

Imperial ___________ (your patron god),

Holy forebear of the sun;

Mankind’s unconquered, endless praise is thine,

Enthroned in magic, thy power divine!

In thee, our various mortal lives are found,

Health, and wealth, and honors abound;

Be present, Most Ancient, to thy votary kind,

And give thy blessings with benignant mind.

Bless the Witches’ ladder with water/earth and fire/air (for fire/air, use the Abramelin Incense), and finally anoint the ladder with Abramelin Oil. Stand in the Crone/Sage magical pass and invoke the binding spell:

Adjuva nos numen potens

Aliquam at ante sacram circulum

Da nobis magicae

Ave Diana, qui dedit nobis frugum

Dicam tibi de silva

Da gloriam victoriam et triumphum!

Benedictiones!

Translation from Latin:

Help us, mighty Goddess,

Be in our circle,

Give us magic,

Hail Diana, who gives us the crops,

We call you from the forest,

Give us glory, victory, and triumph!

Blessings! 36

Celebrate with cakes and wine, then close the circle.

35. Scholars suggest that the Bagabi chant was written in a long-dead version of the Basque language. There are several versions of the Bagabi chant that circulate within the Wiccan community, and with this distribution, the chant has acquired some changes. The oldest verified version of the text comes from a manuscript by the thirteenth-century troubadour Rutebeuf, which is now part of the permanent collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. See also Wicca: A Year and a Day, p. 59.

36. This is a variation of the “Enos, Arida, Juvate” spell from the Gardnerian Book of Shadows.

[contents]

Appendix A

Casting the Circle

Here are the instructions for casting a circle. For more information on circle casting, please see Wicca: A Year and a Day.

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup water

• 2 teaspoons dried hyssop

• Dish of salt

• Bowl of water

• Fire candle to sit on the altar

• Consecration Incense

• 4 quarter candles (one yellow, one red, one blue, one green)

• Self-lighting charcoal

• Thurible (incense burner)

• Consecrated athame, wand, chalice, and pentacle

• Aspergillum (This is usually a bundle of either fresh or dried herbs that Witches use to disperse the blessed salt and water. The best herb choice is either rosemary or hyssop. You can find fresh rosemary in many grocery stores in the produce section.)

• Consecration Oil

• Simple sweet cakes (muffins, scones, sweet breads)

• Wine (or fruit juice, as an alternative)

• Libation bowl

Prior to beginning the circle-casting ritual, heat a cup of water. In the hot water, steep 2 teaspoons dried hyssop. Sprinkle this infusion all over your body to energetically (vibrationally) cleanse it. You can also choose to bathe in a bathtub full of the hyssop infusion. Now is the time to light the self-igniting charcoal in your incense burner.

When you are finished with ritual cleansing, put on your robe or other magical garb. You may also choose to engage in this rite skyclad (ritually disrobed).

Set all of your magical tools on the central altar (I provide a sample layout in the first lunation). Lay out the quarter candles at each of the four compass points (yellow in the east, red in the south, blue in the west, and green in the north of your space) and light them.

Stand in the eastern quarter of your circle facing the circle’s perimeter. Hold your arms in either the Mother magical pass (if that feels right for you and your group) or the Provider magical pass, and say:

I awaken the power to know!

Repeat this at the southern edge of your circle, saying:

I awaken the power to will!

Repeat this while standing and facing the western quarter while saying:

I awaken the power to dare!

Repeat this in the north, saying:

I awaken the power to be silent!

Return to the central altar and say:

The powers of the elements have been summoned, and the circle binds them as one.

Bless the elements of water and earth. Hold your athame over your bowl of water and say:

I consecrate thee, O creature of water,

In the names of the Great Mother and the Horned Lord.

Hold your athame over the dish of salt, saying:

I consecrate thee, O creature of earth,

In the names of the Great Mother and the Horned Lord.

Use your athame to place three scoops of the salt into the water and say:

Water and earth, I cast thee ’round,

By thy essence, life be bound.

Flowing vision, holy birth,

Blessed be by water and earth.

Take the bundle of herbs (your aspergillum) and your bowl of water to the eastern perimeter of your circle. Walk the perimeter clockwise, using the herb bundle to sprinkle your salt/water mixture. When you return to the east, bless yourself with the water and salt mixture.

A Word to the Wise: When you bless yourself with any of the elements or with Consecration Oil, you should do so in the sign of your degree. If you have elected to go through the First Degree initiation, bless yourself in that sign. In this first instance, dab the water and salt mixture first at the point just below the navel, then the left breast, the right breast, and back to the first contact point. If you elect to complete the Second Degree, then bless yourself in that sign. First touch below the navel, then left breast, right hand, left hand, right breast, and finally touch the initial contact point just below the navel. If you have chosen to take none of the initiations, bless yourself at each of the seven chakra points.

While doing so, say:

I am blessed with the elements of water and earth.

If you want to bless someone within your circle, do so in the sign of their degree while saying:

You are blessed with the elements of water and earth.

Bless the elements of fire and air. Hold your athame above the lit red candle, saying:

I consecrate thee, O creature of fire,

In the names of the Great Mother and the Horned Lord.

Hold your athame above the incense container or dig the tip of the athame into the incense, saying:

I consecrate thee, O creature of air,

In the names of the Great Mother and the Horned Lord.

Scoop some of the loose incense over the lit charcoal. Once it begins to smolder, say:

Fire and air, I cast thee ’round,

By thy essence, life be bound.

Knowledge of thy true desire,

Blessed be by air and fire.

Take the incense to the eastern edge of the circle. Hold up the incense burner in an offering gesture and walk clockwise around the perimeter. Once you return to the east, bless yourself with fire and air (use the incense burner with incense in it, since the lit charcoal and the incense together represent the blended elements of fire and air), saying:

I am blessed with the elements of fire and air.

(As mentioned earlier, be sure to bless yourself in the sign of your degree. Or bless yourself along the seven chakras.)

If you want to bless someone within your circle, fan some of the incense across the person in the sign of their degree, saying:

You are blessed with the elements of fire and air.

Bless yourself in the names of the God and the Goddess with Consecration Oil. In this part of the ritual, you can feel free to insert the names of specific deities with whom you may be working where I have written “Great Mother” and “Horned Lord.” If you are not working with specific deity names, simply recite the text given here.

Dab a bit of your Consecration Oil onto your forehead or your heart with your middle finger, drawing a small earth-invoking pentagram. While doing so, say:

I am consecrated in the names of (the Great Mother) and (the Horned Lord).

Bless the other attendees of your circle similarly.

Go to the eastern edge of your circle, point your athame outward, walk clockwise, and say:

I summon the circle, the circle I summon.

Power, peace, and protection will come in

And bind to the womb of our spiritual birth,

Through air, fire, water, and earth!

Return to the east. Facing the circle’s perimeter, draw an invoking air pentagram, saying:

I summon, stir, and call thee up,

Mighty Ones of the East, Powers of Air,

To witness my (our) rites and to seal this circle!

Continue to the southern quarter. Face the perimeter and draw an invoking fire pentagram while saying:

I summon, stir, and call thee up,

Mighty Ones of the South, Powers of Fire,

To witness my (our) rites and to seal this circle!

Continue to the western quarter. Draw an invoking water pentagram and say:

I summon, stir, and call thee up,

Mighty Ones of the West, Powers of Water,

To witness my (our) rites and to seal this circle!

Continue to the northern quarter. Draw an invoking earth pentagram and say:

I summon, stir, and call thee up,

Mighty Ones of the North, Powers of Earth,

To witness my (our) rites and to seal this circle!

Stand at your central altar, facing the south. Hold your hands in the “triangle of manifestation” position, which is with your hands open-palmed, thumbs touching and index fingers touching. This creates a triangle shape, with your touching thumbs as the triangle base and your index fingers forming the triangle sides. Hold your hands in this position above your head and say:

You who have been from beginning to end,

My (our) rites and mysteries now attend.

Most ancient of Maidens, Mothers, and Crones,

Lord of the Hoof, of Antlers and Bones.

Where earth meets sun, and wind meets sea,

I (we) summon you forth, so mote it be!

If you have a magical working, initiation, or sabbat/esbat celebration, this is where you would practice it. At the conclusion of your magic or celebration, you would proceed to the final two stages of the ceremony, starting with cakes and wine.

Circle Closing, Part I

Cakes and Wine

To begin, pour some wine (or other sweet nectar beverage) into your chalice and set it on the altar. Hold your athame with the blade pointed to the sky and say:

Now we’ll feast in the Old Ones’ names,

Then fetch thy besom and hie thee hame.

To the north, to the west,

To the south, to the east,

Blessed be the sacred feast!

Now turn the point of the athame down and hold it just above the wine-filled chalice and say:

Gracious Goddess, lend thy hand,

Gentle lady of the land,

From seed to leaf, from bud to vine,

Mystic Mother, bless this wine.

Dip the blade of the athame into the cup and say:

Blade and vessel so combined,

The lovers’ limbs are thus entwined.

Blend and merge, divine duet,

Where the blade and cup have met!

Next, place the cakes upon your pentacle and touch the tip of the athame to each, saying:

Lord of living, lord of dead,

King of field and grain and bread,

Of this life we must partake,

Horned Hunter, bless this cake.

Pass cakes to each group member, saying:

May you never hunger.

Pass the chalice around for each member to drink, or fill each participant’s chalice with sacred drink, saying:

May you never thirst.

Place a small portion of your food and drink in the libation bowl as an offering to the deities present. This is the time for everyone to dig in and enjoy the food. At some events, there may be supplemental goodies prepared and stored below the altar, so there is enough food and drink for everyone to enjoy.

The celebration of cakes and wine is a time to review what happened during the ritual, to commune with your fellow practitioners (if any others have joined you), or to congratulate any new initiates. During the winter months, particularly around the time of Winter Solstice, cakes and wine can also be a time for merriment, games, and laughter.

However, you want to be mindful that you are still occupying sacred space while you are enjoying the closing ceremony of cakes and wine. Being mindful helps us to balance mirth and reverence.

When everyone feels satisfied, the facilitating priestess or priest (typically this is the priestess, if there is a male and female pair casting the circle) who has presided over the casting of the circle calls the circle banishing, which is the conclusion of the ceremony.

Circle Closing, Part II

Banishing

After everyone has eaten, the facilitating priest/ess stands at the center of the circle facing south and says:

Witches all, our rites conclude

In merriment, the earth renewed.

The cock doth crow the end of night,

We thank the Gods who’ve joined our rite.

(Pause in silence. During this, all participants mentally thank the Gods for attending and bid them farewell.) Then the priest/ess continues:

To all, I charge thee, lock away,

Our magics and our mystery play.

Then raise a toast, a hearty draught,

To bid the Gods preserve the Craft!

Take the athame to the eastern perimeter of the circle and face outward. Draw a banishing air pentagram, saying:

Hail, ye Mighty Ones of the East!

I (we) thank thee for attending,

And ere ye depart for your lovely realms,

I (we) say hail and farewell!

Take your athame to the southern perimeter of the circle and face outward. Draw a banishing fire pentagram, saying:

Hail, ye Mighty Ones of the South!

I (we) thank thee for attending,

And ere ye depart for your lovely realms,

I (we) say hail and farewell!

Take your athame to the western perimeter of the circle and face outward. Draw a banishing water pentagram, saying:

Hail, ye Mighty Ones of the West!

I (we) thank thee for attending,

And ere ye depart for your lovely realms,

I (we) say hail and farewell!

Take your athame to the northern perimeter of the circle and face outward. Draw a banishing earth pentagram, saying:

Hail, ye Mighty Ones of the North!

I (we) thank thee for attending,

And ere ye depart for your lovely realms,

I (we) say hail and farewell!

Return to face the east. Hold the athame out and begin to walk widdershins (counterclockwise) around the perimeter of the circle, saying:

Earth will crumble our circle,

Water will cause it to fall,

Fire will burn what’s left in the urn,

And the winds will scatter them all!

Return to the east, face inward, toward the altar, and say:

The circle is open but unbroken. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again!

This concludes the ritual. Quickly and silently store away all ritual tools. Flush ritual salt, water, and used incense in running water. Empty the libation bowl on the bare earth.

[contents]

Appendix B

Dedication Rite

This is a dedication rite you can use if the idea of initiation does not feel appropriate to your current path.

What you’ll need:

• Circle-casting tools (see Appendix A)

• Any essential oil that evokes a sense of your journey

• Cauldron

• White pillar candle

• Small amount of denatured alcohol

Cast a magic circle (see Appendix A). Stand with your anointing essential oil, facing the east of the circle, and say:

I call upon thee,

Mighty Ones of the East,

Powers of Air,

Hear me, as I dedicate myself

To the Craft of the Wise.

Anoint your temples with the essential oil, drawing earth-invoking pentagrams (see Appendix E). Say:

Blessed be my lips, which shall utter the sacred names!

Stand facing the south and say:

I call upon thee,

Mighty Ones of the South,

Powers of Fire,

Hear me as I dedicate myself

To the Craft of the Wise.

Anoint yourself with essential oil atop each knee with an earth-invoking pentagram, saying:

Blessed be my knees, which shall kneel at the sacred altar.

Face the west of the circle and say:

I call upon thee,

Mighty Ones of the West,

Powers of Water,

Hear me as I dedicate myself

To the Craft of the Wise.

Anoint yourself at your heart chakra, drawing an earth-invoking pentagram and saying:

Blessed be my breasts, formed in beauty and strength.

Face the north of the circle and say:

I call upon thee,

Mighty Ones of the North,

Powers of Earth,

Hear me as I dedicate myself

To the Craft of the Wise.

Anoint the top of each foot, drawing earth-invoking pentagrams and saying:

Blessed be my feet, which have brought me in these ways.

Go back to the altar and light the white pillar candle. Take it with you to the east of the circle along with your white-handled knife. Facing the east, say:

The Gods have called me to this path. Blessed be my ears, which hear their sacred words.

Use the knife to draw the alchemical sigil for air on the side of the candle:

Air

Go to the south of the circle and say:

The Gods have called me to this path. Blessed be my actions, which spark the flames of magic.

Use the knife to draw the alchemical sigil for fire on the candle:

Fire

Go to the west and say:

The Gods have called me to this path. Blessed be my heart, which flows to the source of the divine.

Use the knife to draw the alchemical sigil for water on the candle:

Water

Go to the north and say:

The Gods have called me to this path. Blessed be this vessel, down upon which the Gods are drawn.

Use the knife to draw the alchemical sigil for earth on the candle:

Earth

Place the candle on the altar and stand before it in the Maiden magical pass (for women) or the Provider magical pass (for men), saying:

I summon now the Holy Rede:

Mercury, Hades, Hecate’s seed,

Harming none, I do my will,

Desire’s end, I shall fulfill;

Knowing every seed I plant,

Will nourish then this dedicant,

In triple as the law descends,

To heal, to wound, to make amends.

Freely do I pledge my life,

By cords and censor, wand and knife.

The Gods shall teach me to be wise,

The earth in union with the skies,

By west and east, by south and north,

I walk the ways, I journey forth!

Pour a very small amount of denatured alcohol into the cauldron and light it with a match (stand clear, as this may puff flames upward).

Hold your hands over the fire and say:

As once was done in Cerridwen’s name,

I set the cauldron womb aflame,

And summon from its depths the Way,

And conjure well the Grand Assay.

By moon and sun, by blessings three,

My path awaits, so mote it be!

Go to the east, south, west, and north. At each quarter, stand in the Crone/Sage magical pass and say:

Hear, ye Mighty Ones,

Kings of the Elements,

Before ye stands ______________ (your magical name),

A dedicant in the Craft of the Wise.

Finish with cakes and wine, then close the circle.

[contents]

Appendix C

Supplies for the Thirteen Lunations

First Lunation

8 ounces olive oil

1 ounce powdered frankincense

2 ounces powdered dragon’s blood resin

2 ounces dried dittany of Crete

A pan for heating herbs in oil

5 ounces sandalwood powder

1 ounce benzoin powder

1 ounce myrrh tears

10 ounces vegetable glycerin (most health food stores carry this)

A wooden spoon

A large mixing bowl you can dedicate to making incense

Tarot cards

Pad of paper and a pen

A journal or a notebook for jotting down your thoughts and experiences

1 teaspoon of each of the following: dried mugwort, hyssop, and chamomile

1 red “fire” candle

Salt (and a dish for it)

Self-igniting charcoal

1 white taper candle

A pot for boiling water and infusing herbs

A wire-mesh sieve (for straining out dried herbs from infusions) or coffee filters

2 ounces dried hyssop

3 pillar candles: one black, one white, one red (Pick candles that can burn for at least an hour or two.)

Another red taper candle (that can burn for two hours)

Red wine, any variety (not to be consumed)

2 small dishes, one to hold salt and the other for water

4 colored votive candles, one representing each quarter: yellow, red, blue, and green

Candle holders for the votives

A ball of twine

A white cord (enough to encircle your mid-section twice and still enough left to tie in a knot with the ends dangling at least six inches)

Blindfold

Glucose lancet

Thurible or fireproof dish to burn a small item

Cauldron or deep, fireproof pot designated for no other purpose except to serve as your cauldron

A medium-size ceramic bowl to hold your libations

1 ounce dried patchouli leaves

1 ounce ground cinnamon bark

1 ounce patchouli essential oil

1 ounce musk essential oil

1 ounce carnation essential oil

1 ounce dried periwinkle

2 ounces dried mugwort

1 ounce dried patchouli

1 ounce amber essential oil

2 one-ounce amber bottles with tight-fitting lids for magical oils

4 jars with tight-fitting lids for storage of dry incense

Second Lunation

3 ounces powdered sandalwood

½ ounce white balsam

1 ounce cedar bark, either powdered or chips

1 ounce cassia, powdered

1 ounce jasmine essential oil

1 ounce lemongrass essential oil

½ ounce rose essential oil (Rose essential oil can be expensive. It is fine to get a good-quality “lower-grade” rose oil as well.)

Mixing bowl and spoon for combining herbs and oils

10 ounces vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

½ ounce dried white sage

Black ink (the kind you can store in an inkwell or other small container)

A feather quill pen

1 white pillar candle

1 ounce dried Solomon’s seal

½ teaspoon poppy seed

¼ teaspoon dried elm

White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

Plain white printer paper

A blow dryer

Scissors

2 one-ounce amber bottles with tight-fitting lids for magical oils

2 jars with tight-fitting lids for storage of dry incense

Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

8 small black votive candles

Self-igniting coals

A pot designated for melting wax

Third Lunation

2 ounces powdered pine bark

1 ounce cypress bark, either powdered or chips

1 ounce mastic gum

1 ounce dried juniper

1 ounce dragon’s blood essential oil

4 ounces vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

1 ounce cinnamon essential oil

1 ounce clove essential oil

1 ounce pine essential oil

Pinch of dried basil

3 one-ounce amber bottles with tight-fitting lids for magical oils

3 jars with tight-fitting lids for storage of dry incense

6 small jars with tight-fitting lids for magical ink storage

1 ounce powdered oak (or substitute powdered sandalwood)

1 ounce myrrh, either powdered or in tears

1 teaspoon dried cinquefoil

1 teaspoon dried white sage

2 ounces myrrh essential oil

1 ounce sage essential oil (Be sure that you are not allergic to this essential oil. If you are, omit this ingredient.)

Regular pen and some blank paper

1 ounce sandalwood essential oil

A small food processor or handheld mixer

Liquid bluing

Denatured alcohol

Iodine

Corn syrup

Salt

Lamp black (typically sold in art supply stores)

2 ounces gum arabic

1 ounce powdered dragon’s blood resin

1 ounce dried logwood

Isopropyl rubbing alcohol, at least 90%

2 teaspoons ground, powdered turmeric

A marble (for mixing)

Cheesecloth or coffee filter

White vinegar

1 cup blackberries

Mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or coffee filters

6 blue votive candles or tealights

1 blue pillar candle

Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

Plain white paper for a computer printer

White tissue paper (the kind for wrapping gifts)

Scissors

Self-igniting coals

Cinnamon essential oil (optional)

Myrrh essential oil (optional)

Cucumber essential oil (optional)

Lemongrass essential oil (optional)

Fourth Lunation

2 ounces powdered sandalwood

¼ cup powdered mesquite, elm, alder, or willow

1 teaspoon orris root (Try to find powdered. If not, grind up some orris root bits in a food processer as finely as possible.)

Rose essential oil

1 ounce gardenia essential oil

1 ounce iris essential oil

6 ounces vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

1 ounce orris root essential oil

Pinch of dried rose petals

1 ounce powdered cedar

1 tablespoon dried fennel

1 tablespoon dried cassia

1 tablespoon dried mandrake

1 ounce lily of the valley essential oil

1 ounce meadowsweet essential oil

2 ounces cedar essential oil

Purple ink (made in previous lunation)

4 purple votive candles or tealights

A black, fairly translucent veil that drapes to the length of your waist

½ ounce dragon’s blood resin, powdered

½ ounce benzoin resin (powdered preferred)

1 ounce frankincense essential oil

1 ounce geranium essential oil

Red ink (made earlier)

Feather quill pen

3 thin lengths of cord made of natural materials (your choice of color)

1 ounce gum mastic

1 teaspoon sweet rush root

1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon

1 teaspoon dried juniper

3 colored beading threads to braid

Self-igniting coals

9 colored beads (optional)

6 one-ounce amber bottles with tight-fitting lids for magical oils

7 jars with tight-fitting lids for storage of dry incense

Fifth Lunation

1 ounce powdered pine

1 ounce dried patchouli

½ ounce mandrake root (Try to find powdered. If not, grind up some mandrake root bits in a food processer to get them as fine as possible.)

1 ounce violet essential oil

3 ounces vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

1 ounce pine essential oil

Patchouli essential oil (already procured)

Frankincense essential oil (already procured)

Myrrh essential oil (already procured)

Pages of plain white paper (computer-printer size)

A feather quill pen

½ ounce frankincense

½ ounce ground cinnamon

½ ounce copal

1 ounce copal essential oil

1 ounce bay leaf essential oil

1 yellow votive candle

1 ounce calamus essential oil

1 ounce cassia essential oil

1 ounce cinnamon essential oil

1 small quartz crystal

A bunch of fresh bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried mullein

1 teaspoon dried wild smallage

1 teaspoon sagapenum (a resin)

1 teaspoon sandalwood, powdered

1 teaspoon dried mugwort

Self-igniting coals

4 one-ounce amber bottles with tight-fitting lids for magical oils

4 jars with tight-fitting lids for storage of dry incense

Sixth Lunation

½ ounce dragon’s blood resin, powdered

1 ounce frankincense tears

1 ounce red sandalwood (preferred, but use regular sandalwood if you have it on hand)

1 ounce dried white sage

1 ounce heather essential oil

2 ounces vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

1 ounce lemon essential oil

Self-igniting coals

Paper and pen for writing your thoughts, or a journal

1 one-ounce amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid for magical oils

1 jar with a tight-fitting lid for storage of dry incense

Seventh Lunation

Self-igniting coals

1 bottle of your favorite essential oil (you’ll only need a few drops)

Pen, a pencil, and plain white printer paper

All of your colored inks (previously made)

A quill pen

1 pillar candle (it will be one of the elemental colors, but it depends on your energy system)

A pendulum

A shovel (could be just a hand shovel or garden trowel)

Salt

A quantity of purified water

A fresh bunch of rue

Distilled vinegar

Fresh whole onions (you will likely need several)

Bowls large enough to hold a few ingredients

An outdoor fire pit or barbeque

Eighth Lunation

1 teaspoon of several sacred woods of your choice

3 teaspoons dried rosemary

Handful of dried rose petals

Meadowsweet essential oil (already procured)

5 ounces vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

¼ ounce apple essential oil

¼ ounce rosemary essential oil

Pinch of dried rosemary

Self-igniting coals

Wood from your sacred tree

Dried wood for kindling

A 12-inch cutting from a piece of your old clothing

Bag of sand, gravel, or mineral soil (found at garden shops)

Several gallons of water

A shovel

An altar cloth that you can spread on the ground

A deep, heat-resistant pot, such as a cauldron, a deep cooking pot, or a cast-iron pot

A trivet or large ceramic tile

Brightly colored flowers (about a dozen or more, if possible)

Brightly colored thread (Try a colorful needlepoint thread, which is usually thicker than typical sewing thread.)

A long tapestry needle (usually with an elongated hole)

Gold-colored ink

A feather quill pen

1 yellow votive candle

A large ziplock bag, mylar card storage envelope, plastic page protector, or large plain white envelope

½ ounce dried patchouli

1 ounce powdered oak

1 tablespoon crushed, powdered cloves

1 ounce frankincense tears

Clove essential oil (previously procured)

½ ounce vetiver essential oil

½ ounce myrrh

½ ounce gum arabic

½ ounce gum mastic

2 tablespoons calamus root

½ tablespoon cinnamon bark

½ tablespoon juniper

1 ounce sandalwood powder

½ ounce ambergris essential oil

Patchouli essential oil (previously procured)

Musk essential oil (previously procured)

Vegetable glycerin

3 one-ounce amber bottles with tight-fitting lids for magical oils

3 jars with tight-fitting lids for storage of dry incense

Ninth Lunation

2 tablespoons dried fenugreek

3 tablespoons frankincense tears (previously procured)

Powdered oak (previously procured; powdered is preferred, but use regular sandalwood if you do not have oak available)

1 teaspoon dried barley, wheat, or other grain

Heather essential oil (previously procured)

Frankincense essential oil (previously procured)

2 ounces vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

½ ounce oak essential oil

5 blue votive candles or tealights

A feather quill pen

1 one-ounce amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid for magical oil

1 jar with a tight-fitting lid for storage of dry incense

Tenth Lunation

You already possess most of the needed items for this lunation. You may need to procure some herbs and oils; which ones and the quantities will depend on you.

Eleventh Lunation

3 tablespoons dried rosemary

3 tablespoons frankincense tears (already procured)

3 tablespoons dried (and powdered) mandrake root

Powdered/crushed dried acorn (optional)

Myrrh essential oil (already procured)

Patchouli essential oil (already procured)

Frankincense essential oil (already procured)

2 ounces vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil

1 black pillar candle

Self-igniting charcoal (already procured)

Everclear (a high-proof, neutral ethyl alcohol) or vodka (the highest proof possible)

1 one-ounce amber bottle with a tight-fitting lid for magical oils

1 jar with a tight-fitting lid for storage of dry incense

7 separate jars or bottles with tight-fitting lids for storage of herbal condensers

Fresh herbs (your choice from the list) as described in the directions for each planetary condenser

Cheesecloth

Twelfth Lunation

Selected fresh herbs of planetary condensers

Everclear or vodka

Cheesecloth

Pen and blank paper for writing

Thirteenth Lunation

1 yellow candle

White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)

Plain white computer printer paper

Yellow ink (already procured)

A feather quill pen

A blow dryer

Scissors

A roll of wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)

1 white pillar candle

Silver ink (from a craft store)

1 tablespoon gum mastic

1 tablespoon dried poppy

1 tablespoon dried willow bark

2 ounces dried sandalwood powder

½ ounce water lily essential oil

3 ounces vegetable glycerin

½ ounce poppy essential oil

1 green pillar candle

Green ink (already procured)

1 tablespoon dried elder

1 tablespoon dried peppermint

1 tablespoon dried yarrow

½ ounce apple essential oil

½ ounce pear essential oil

1 red pillar candle

Red ink (already procured)

1 purple pillar candle

Purple ink (already procured)

1 blue pillar candle

Blue ink (already procured)

1 black pillar candle

Black ink (already procured)

½ ounce frankincense tears

1 teaspoon balm of Gilead resin, powdered

1 teaspoon galbanum resin, powdered

½ ounce storax, powdered

2 teaspoons cedar, dried and powdered

1 teaspoon aloe powder

½ ounce balm of Gilead essential oil

½ ounce galbanum essential oil

½ ounce storax essential oil

1 teaspoon each of dried angelica root, burdock root, citrus peel, mugwort, and orris root (5 teaspoons in all)

3 one-ounce amber bottles with tight-fitting lids for magical oils

4 jars with tight-fitting lids for storage of dry incense

[contents]

Appendix D

Two-Day Moon-Wise Retreat
and Schedule Explanation

7:00 am Wake-up

7:15–7:45 Seated meditation

7:45–8:00 Walking meditation (sun-walking or moon-walking)

8:00–8:30 Breakfast

8:30–9:00 Clean-up/Caretaking practice

9:00–9:30 Morning service/Observances

9:30–10:00 Seated meditation

10:00–11:00 Study

11:00–12:00 Rest practice

12:00–12:30 Noon service/Observances

12:30–1:00 Lunch

1:00–1:30 Clean-up/Caretaking practice

1:30–3:30 Community service

3:30–4:30 Rest practice

4:30–5:00 Seated meditation

5:00–5:30 Evening service/Observances

5:30–6:30 Supper/Clean-up

6:30–7:00 Short study period

7:00–9:00 Circle/Ritual/Clean-up

9:30 pm Lights out

Schedule Explanation

Wake-Up: After you awaken, there is a time delay of fifteen minutes before you engage in your first retreat activity.

Seated Meditation: During periods of meditation, use the various techniques discussed earlier in this book, such as counting breaths, labeling thoughts, visualization, and more. My recommendation is to use this time to clear your mind, focus your inner eye on your internal processes, and become mindful of your interior content (which includes thoughts, ideas, perseverations, judgments, and emotions).

Walking Meditation: Moon-walking has nothing to do with Michael Jackson or wearing sequined gloves. It is essentially walking very slowly, taking half-foot-length strides. The inner focus is on the sensations on the bottom of your feet, maintaining awareness of pressure, balance, weight, and more. Sun-walking is another walking meditation, where you take full-length strides and walk at a brisk pace. The inner focus is on body position, sensations of air as you move through space, and balance. Whenever your mind goes to other interests or concerns, simply return to the sensation level but do not stop your strides. For an expanded definition of these walking-meditation styles, please see Wicca: A Year and a Day.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper: Meals during retreat periods should be kept simple and earth-based. This means that if it grows on the earth or lives on the earth, it is fine for consumption. I recommend avoiding consuming foods that involve extensive human processing during Moon-Wise retreats. The goal here is to maintain simplicity and to avoid foods that may interfere with the day’s practices. For example, foods with processed sugars and carbohydrates can cause you to feel sleepy rather than awake. Fostering wakefulness is the point of the retreat.

Also, I recommend eating “just enough.” That varies from person to person. But again, overstuffing or under-eating may cause either sleepiness or mental fatigue. Observe your eating and the sensations related to eating. Use the time to be mindful of how full you are becoming while you chew and swallow. Stop when you feel that your body has had enough nourishment.

Clean-Up/Caretaking Practice: Again, use this time to be mindful of your body in space. Feel each sensation and focus your awareness on the activity of cleaning up, rather than allowing your mind to wander. In addition to cleaning up, there may be other caretaking activities that are necessary for the smooth functioning of your life. Bathing, eliminating, watering plants, simple gardening or weeding, sweeping, raking, mowing, cleaning up trash or clutter, and more. You know what needs to be done. Do it without thinking too much about it or labeling the activity as preferred or nonpreferred.

Morning/Noon/Evening Services: At these times, use your intuition to devise small rituals and observances that honor the deities with whom you are working. Cut a few flowers for them. Burn candles or incense in their honor. Use your intuition to intone sounds or words that will honor or invoke their presence to bless the activities you undertake during the retreat day.

Study: Use this time to read more from the text of this book or other books that inform your spiritual practice at this time.

Rest Practice: Use this time wisely. You’ll need a little downtime after all of this concentrated effort, but this time should be spent with simple activities that do not distract you from the energy build-up process in which you are engaged. Simple necessary tasks, such as paying a bill, reading books or materials related to your studies, or taking a walk in nature, can be fine as long as these activities do not become a distraction from your purpose. Here is what to avoid during retreat time in general, but during rest practice specifically:

• Answering phone calls, texts, or tweets, or engaging in other social activities

• Talking on the phone, unless necessary; if necessary, keep communication to a minimum

• Going online, except to research topics related to any of your spiritual studies

• Watching television, movies, or videos

• Eating excessively

• Consuming alcoholic beverages or using other substances that are not medically necessary

• Talking to others, even to express, debate, consider, or refute “spiritual” matters

Remember that one purpose of the retreat is to help establish new patterns of thought and behavior. These new patterns can affect your whole life as well as your magic. The activities just listed can easily elicit habit behaviors and dilute your concentrated efforts.

Community Service: This category of spiritual practice may be new to some in the Craft, particularly those readers who have never worked within a coven structure. Remembering that the Second Degree year and a day is not solely about your individual magical/spiritual attainment, but about finding your place as a practitioner within the whole of society, the importance of this practice becomes clear.

The Second Degree of study is a time to prepare for your place within the larger community. At the time of the Second Degree initiation, one becomes a “High Priestess” or “High Priest.” This means the individual finds him- or herself in a position to serve others, usually based on a personal commitment to the Gods. This service could include just about any community activity, such as teaching others about the Craft, writing, or forming your own coven or study group. Many are called to social or ecological activism, even on a small scale, by organizing park, beach, or forest clean-ups, educating children about the environment, and more.

Community service does not necessarily entail picking up trash near the side of the road or helping in retirement homes, although such activities are encouraged if they speak to you. Community service along the Wiccan path is about recognizing what talents you have to offer to others and making them available without requiring remuneration.

If you have nothing you can think of to do right off the bat, then use your community-service time to explore what you might do. Reach out and begin to make plans for your community involvement. Community service reduces egoic thinking and behavior patterns, it allows life to unfold through selfless activity, and it’s ultimately a kick in the ass to karma, taking away many of its sharp edges and softening its effect on our lives.

Circle/Ritual/Clean-Up: On each day of your retreat, you will conduct a ceremony. Use the activities in this book to serve as inspiration for your own circle working. As mentioned earlier in this book, spending time in the magic circle is one of the most important activities of your Second Degree year and a day, as it acclimates you to ritual structure and helps to create magical/energetic momentum for future workings.

Lights Out: From 9:30 pm to 5:30 am is eight hours of sleep, which is generally considered ample rest for the body. However, you may need additional time. The “official” wake-up time is 7:00 am. If you find that you have awakened early, you can use that time for simple personal matters, such as bathing, grooming, and returning important phone calls, as necessary.

[contents]

Appendix E

Invoking and Banishing Pentagrams

Invoking

Banishing

Air

Air

Fire

Fire

Water

Water

Invoking

Banishing

Earth

Earth

Spirit Active

Spirit Active

[contents]

Appendix F

Necessary Magical Tools and Alternatives

Element

Tool

Description

Air

Wand

The wand is usually a length of wood (traditionally willow for a woman’s wand and oak for a man’s wand) that a Witch uses to summon spiritual energies. Witches also use the wand in lunar rituals and in rituals that involve drawing down the Goddess or God into a priest or priestess. Witches sometimes “load” the wand by carving out a hole in the top and the bottom and filling these holes with specific air-aligned herbs and magical stones.

Fire

Athame

The athame is a double-edged, dark-handled knife. Witches use the athame as their main tool to cast and to summon magical energies. Traditionally, a Witch might magnetize the steel blade of the athame using a lodestone. Magical folk believe that this practice ensures that the athame will draw to it whatever a Witch desires. You should only use the athame for ritual purposes and never for mundane activities, including the cutting of herbs. (Herb harvesting is best done with the boline. Witches typically use the white-handled knife for mundane tasks such as cutting cords, scraping candle wax from surfaces, and sometimes for inscribing candles during a ceremony.)

Water

Chalice

The chalice is traditionally a stemmed cup. The chalice can be of any material; however, since the chalice aligns with the energies of the Goddess, Witches give preference to cups made of silver (or silver metals). Witches use the cup in making potions and in fertility rites.

Earth

Pentacle

The pentacle is a disk that has a five-pointed star engraved upon it. The disk can be made of any “earthy” material. Traditionally, Witches make the pentacle from wood, wax, clay, or copper. The pentacle is a tool of fertility rites and blessing rites and of summoning the Goddess.

Air

Boline

The boline is small knife with a sickle-shaped blade. Witches use this tool to harvest ritual/magical herbs. While there is no specific instruction to use a boline to harvest herbs during this year and a day, this can be a useful tool to have.

Element

Tool

Description

Fire

White-Handled Knife

The white-handled knife is usually a single-edged knife with a white (or light-colored) handle. Witches use the white-handled knife to chop herbs, to inscribe candles, and to serve as a tool for all mundane purposes within a magic circle.

Air

Bell

Witches use the bell to start and finish ceremonies, and also to summon energies and entities. They also use the bell in initiatory rites.

Fire

Sword

Magical swords are usually double-edged. They are only used in ritual. The sword represents a coven’s collective link to fire and the collective will. This tool is used in summoning the God and in casting a coven’s magic circle.

Fire

Thurible

The thurible is a metallic dish or bowl that Witches use to burn incense, herbs, and other small ritual items. The thurible is usually made of iron.

Water

Scourge

Usually British Traditional Wiccans are the only ones who use the scourge in initiatory rites. They use this tool to purify an initiate’s chakra system by stimulating the root chakra. None of the rituals in this volume require the use of a scourge, but you might make one if you simply want to try it out as a magical tool. (See the fourth lunation for a more detailed description of this tool and its history and uses.)

Water

Cauldron

The cauldron is usually a deep-set iron pot that Witches use in a ritual context. The cauldron represents a coven’s collective link to water and their collective power to dare. It also represents the Goddess’s womb. There are a few rituals that call for a cauldron during this year and a day of study. If you do not have one, you can always use any deep, heat-resistant pot that you have in the kitchen. I would recommend that you reserve the pot you use as a substitute for the cauldron for only magical workings after you use it the first time. It can be a magical distraction if you’re using the same pot for cooking and for spellcasting.

Element

Tool

Description

Earth

Cords

Witches use the cords to cinch their robes. They also use the cords in initiatory rites. In various traditions of Witchcraft, the cord color that a Witch wears can represent his or her level of attainment, or “degree,” within a system of study. In British Traditional practice, the white cord represents the First Degree, while the red cord represents the Second Degree. Cords also symbolize the umbilical cord and therefore represent an individual Witch’s connection to earth and/or to a spiritual community.

Spirit

Book of Shadows

A Book of Shadows traditionally is a handwritten book that contains the spellwork and rituals that relate to some particular Wiccan tradition. Each tradition has its own Book of Shadows. Some Witches develop their own. Witches call a personal (non-traditional) book of spells and rituals a grimoire. While this year and a day of study does not require a grimoire or Book of Shadows, you may wish to begin creating one for your own reference and magical use.

Alternatives to the Traditional Tools

It is common for Witches of all degrees in the Craft to own the magical tools. If procuring these becomes financially burdensome, you can try using the “natural” tool alternatives as described here.

Element

Tool

Alternative

Air

Wand

Outstretched arm with index finger extended

Fire

Athame

Outstretched hand with index and middle fingers side by side

Water

Cup

Hands held together to form a natural “bowl”

Earth

Pentacle

The whole body, particularly when the arms and legs are outstretched to accentuate the “five points,” which include the extremities and the head

[contents]

Appendix G

The Six Magical Passes

Witches can use the following magical passes to invoke the three aspects of Goddess and God energies into their magical workings. Many times Witches use the passes for ritual work such as Drawing Down the Moon or Drawing Down the God, especially when the goal is to invoke a specific aspect of deity.

The Goddess Three

Maiden

Mother

Crone

The God Three

Inseminator

Provider

Sage

[contents]

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[contents]

Wicca: A Year and a Day

366 Days of Spiritual Practice in the Craft of the Wise

Timothy Roderick

There are no shortcuts to becoming a Witch. Traditionally, students take a year and a day to prepare for their initiation into the Craft. Based on this age-old custom, Wicca: A Year and A Day is a one-of-a-kind introductory guide that presents 366 days of training in the Craft of the Wise.

Ideal for solitary practitioners, this intensive study course teaches core Witchcraft tenets and practices: becoming attuned to the wonders of nature and the turning of the seasons, working with natural sacred energies, performing divinations and casting spells. You’ll learn how to develop the inner discipline of seers and sages through meditation and visualization exercises. Other Witchcraft essentials covered in this guidebook’s daily lessons include:

• Wiccan theology

• Witch lore

• sabbats and esbats

• Wiccan deities

• circle work

• magic mirror scrying

• magical tools

• healing work

• magical correspondences

• Tarot

• runes

• numerology

• herbs

978-0-7387-0621-4, 408 pp., 8 x 10

To order, call 1-877-NEW-WRLD

Prices subject to change without notice

Order at Llewellyn.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Everyday Witchcraft

Making Time for Spirit in a Too-Busy World

Deborah Blake

Walk your personal Pagan path with grace and wisdom, integrating a spiritual practice into your life in just a few minutes per week. Simple, fun, and easy to follow, Everyday Witchcraft shows that, no matter how busy or hectic life is, even small acts can add meaning and depth to your life.

This remarkable book is filled with creative ideas and a variety of quick yet significant ways to connect with the rhythms of nature each day, not just on sabbats or the full moon. Make your home into a magickal place, work with the God and Goddess on a regular basis, and discover the magickal power of animals. From five-minute rituals and “hibernation vacations” to mini daily divinations, you can easily make the wisdom and practice of Witchcraft an enriching part of everyday life.

978-0-7387-4218-2, 240 pp., 6 x 9

To order, call 1-877-NEW-WRLD

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Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences

A Comprehensive & Cross-Referenced Resource for Pagans & Wiccans

Sandra Kynes

Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences is a clear, straightforward companion for Pagan and Wiccan ritual and spellwork. Entries are cross-referenced, indexed, and organized by categories and subcategories, making it easy to find what you need.

This comprehensive reference provides a fascinating look at why correspondences are more than just lists of objects to focus intent on—they are fundamental to how we think. When we use correspondences, we weave together our ideas, beliefs, and energy, creating deeper meaning in our rituals and spellwork as we unite our individuality with a larger purpose.

The use of correspondences embodies both physical and symbolic energy and provides the means for uniting the seen and unseen worlds. Packed with content yet easy to use, Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences covers traditional correspondences and also provides instruction for forging new ones that hold special meaning for you.

Plants • Minerals • Animals • Deities • Zodiac • Moon Phases • Days and Times • Ogham • Runes • Tarot • Elements • Numbers • Chakras • Colors • And More

978-0-7387-3253-4, 552 pp., 8 x 10

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Mixing Essential Oils for Magic

Aromatic Alchemy for Personal Blends

Sandra Kynes

Choose the best essential oils for your creative and magical mixing with this straightforward, hands-on guide. Through step-by-step instruction on how to measure, mix, and assess blends, you’ll move beyond following others’ recipes and into creating your own oil combinations.

Mixing Essential Oils for Magic offers everything you need to understand not only how to blend but also why specific blends work together. Learn how to mix oils by botanical family, scent group, and perfume note. Discover an encyclopedic listing of essential and carrier oil profiles, as well as thorough cross-references for the oils and their magical associations. With guidance on the historical and present-day uses of essential oils, you’ll make personal blending an integral part of your spiritual and magical practices.

978-0-7387-3654-9, 336 pp., 71⁄2 x 91⁄8

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The Book of Crystal Spells

Magical Uses for Stones, Crystals, Minerals ... and Even Sand

Ember Grant

Discover dozens of spells that you can use for health, love, home and garden, problem solving, dreams, astral travel, and much more. With hands-on spells, rituals, grids, and other magical methods, The Book of Crystal Spells is a practical and in-depth guide to using stones in creative ways.

• Find tips on cleansing and charging your stones

• Learn to craft magical jewelry, amulets, and talismans

• Incorporate numerology, meditations, elixirs, and crystal grids in your spellwork

• Expand your magic practice by using glass, sand, metals, quartz crystal points, and more

Increase your knowledge of crystal spells with accessible exercises and extensive appendices and correspondences. Whether a beginner or an expert, take your magic to a higher level with the magic of stones, which gives you access to the energetic connection between you and the universe.

978-0-7387-3030-1, 264 pp., 6 x 9

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