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The Rite Way
A Ritual for Samhain This Samhain ritual is written for a solitary practitioner, but can be adapted for more than one. In sacred space, you will be writing your own Charge of the Dark Goddess or God … or both. Because I prefer to spread out materials, I will be setting up a minimalist altar on my dining room table with a black candle; a pentacle; objects representing each of the elements; books, papers, and computer, a cup of a psychic tea blend, and pumpkin bread. To begin, cleanse your space by ringing a bell, clapping your hands, or smudging the area. Create sacred space to protect you and…
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The Rite Way
A Ritual for Lughnasadh Lughnasadh is the first of the three harvest sabbats celebrating the crops of late summer and early fall – in particular grain. Also known as Lammas, or Loaf Mass, it honors the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, both in the form of the Harvest Mother aspect of the goddess and as the sacrifice of the grain god. Grain is harvested, thrashed, milled, and baked into bread. It is also fermented to make beer, ale, mead, kefir, wine, brandy, and kombucha. Consuming these foods during this ritual honors the god of the harvest who has died that we might be nourished. For cakes and ale…
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SpellCrafting: Spells for Witches
SpellCrafting: Starting Beltane Fires Merry meet! This issue’s WitchCrafting column has ideas for making fire starters. If you’d like to take it one step further, you can craft them as a spell. Beltane themes such as burning away that which no longer serves your highest good and greatest joy, planting seeds, and nurturing goals can be incorporated when making fire starters. For instance, toilet paper tubes stuffed with dryer lint can be decorated with Beltane colors (green, soft pink, blue, yellow, red, brown), pictures of flowers in bloom, or a sigil made for a specific intention. On it you can write what you are ready to release, what you desire…
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SpellCrafting: Spells & Rituals
Attracting Love Merry meet! Valentine’s Day and the first stirrings of spring at Imbolc both can fan the heart’s embers and bring about a yearning for love. Crafting an ethical love spell requires focus and clarity, and care to not direct the spell to attract a specific person. I had felt guided to do an attraction spell using a large pink candle that I would light every night, but it was easy to ignore for months because I could not find a pink candle in a tall glass cylinder. When it appeared before me a couple of weeks ago, I knew it was time. I made a list of…