Festival of Lights

Lore:

Brigid is the Celtic Goddess of Inspiration, light, and the hearth. It is said the infant Goddess was born at the exact second of day break and rose into the sky with the sun as flames licked around her head. Her symbols include fire, cows, milk, candles, and light. Brigid is the spark of creation in all of us. She fills the empty vessel with light so that we may bring forth fruition.

Purpose:

Imbolc celebrates the initial stirrings of spring, and the return of the warmth and light to the world. It’s a perfect time for cleansing and purification! Basically time to come out of hibernation and greet the sun. As the wheel of the year turns at Imbolc the Goddess is a young mother, and the God is growing from an infant at Yule to a vigorous child.

Colors:

White (probably due to the ties to milk)

Yellow (the sun)

Tools:

Several white taper or tea light candles

Chalice filled with milk

Quarter candles

Seeds of some sort (herbs to transplant on Ostara work wonderfully)

A small pot with soil in it

Goddess and God candle

Sage Wand

Athame

Small Thing of water

Ritual:

Begin the ritual by placing the white taper or tea light candles throughout the house, and one on the altar. Once all the candles are placed turn out all the lights in the house. Pour your seeds into a bowl. Then light the sage wand and cleanse yourself, and your space. Once the space is cleansed walk deosil around the circle with your finger or athame. You can cast the circle silently or with the chant I have:

“I cast the circle round and round,

From earth to sky, and sky to ground;

Outside time, and outside space,

The circle is cast I reside between the worlds.”¹

Visualize the inside of the circle growing with white light.

Invoke the four quarters by standing at each coordinate point, light the candle after you have said the quarter invocation.

East (Air Candle): I open my mind to the East – Powers of Air, and the steady gale. Blow clean the negativity of the darkness passed. Moving breath of the Goddess may you bring fourth creativity and inspiration. Light the candle.

South (Fire Candle): I open my mind to the South – Powers of Fire, and the eternal flame. Ignite my inner passion. Sacred touch of the Goddess may you bring fourth my never ceasing inner will, and irrevocable change. Light the candle.

West (Water Candle): I open my intuition to the West – Powers of Water, and the flowing stream. Move within me. Sacred blood of the Goddess may you bring fourth my higher will, and the divine will of the Goddess. Light the candle.

North (Earth Candle): I open my Spirit to the North – Powers of Earth, and the gentle unfolding of Spring. Move around me.  Sacred womb of the Goddess may you bring fourth reverence, and compassion. Light the candle.

Once the quarters have been called proceed to the Goddess Invocation. “I dedicate myself and my ritual to Brigid Goddess of inspiration, creativity, and light. I welcome you into my circle, may your light fill me, and may it bring me replenishment in abundance. Blessed Be. Light the candle. Next close your eyes and visualize the silence and coldness of winter. Feel it all around. Open your eyes and light the taper candle on the altar. Visualize the light pulsating from the candle into your body. See your body aglow. Create a doorway in the circle and walk through your house lighting all the candles one by one. Once you get back to the center of your house or wherever your ritual is taking place close the circle, and say. “Goddess Brigid bringer of light may your divine energy spark the creativity within me, and birth inspiration to cultivate my dreams.” Take your potted plant and seeds. Pour your intentions into the seeds; see them representing your goals, your wishes, and your dreams. Once you’ve charged the seeds plant them into the pot, put your fingers into the soil. Feel it warm just as the sun warms the earth for the stirrings of spring. You too are warming the earth with your energy. Once this is complete pour a small amount of water unto the soil, and place it in a window seal after the ritual is complete.

Proceed to the cakes and ale portion of the ritual. On Imbolc I like to walk outside and pour a small amount of milk on the ground as offering to the Goddess Brigid, and thank her for once again stirring the Earth back to life from the coldness of winter. Thank and bid farewell to the quarters. At each candle say “Stay if you will go if you must in perfect love and perfect trust, So mote it be.” And extinguish the candle.

I hope everyone has a great Imbolc!

Blessed Be!

Simple Snow Magick

Love it or hate it, in many parts of the world we are now buried in it:  Snow!

Personally, I’m not a big fan of scraping ice off the windshield of the car every morning, or spending hours shoveling out the driveway, so to keep myself from becoming too bitter I have tried to look at snow from a more positive perspective.  I’ve come up with some ideas to help me appreciate the icy coldness a little bit, and I’ll share them with you.

Snow has uses, not only in nature but in your own magickal life. Where I live, the extreme cold and ice are necessary in the germination of many of our local fruit trees – pears, apples, peaches – and the melting of the snow in spring ensures healthy crops in the coming summer, by saturating the earth with water.  From a magickal perspective, you can integrate snow into your workings.

*Snow can grant wishes. Draw a symbol of your desire in the snow like the pentacle shown above, or a heart of love, a $ for money, be creative. If it resonates with meaning for you that’s what’s important. As it melts over time or is covered by more layers of snow, that is nature accepting your wish into its wintry self, and is working on manifesting it.  The symbol you drew in the snow, transforms into water just as your intent will transform into reality.

*Snow is just frozen rainwater, which means it is great for any spell that needs water, since it’s natural and not from a tap. Boil some Rosemary, Lavender and Pine needles in it, cool and drain, and spray or drip around the house as a cleansing potion. It smells nice as it simmers, too.  Do the same thing to add to your water section on your altar.  Add a drop to your own drinking water or tea (but only a little!  It could be polluted, unfortunately), to empower yourself with elemental water.

*Add a handful of snow to your bathwater to cool the emotions, whether for anger, depression or crazy love madness that you can’t get out of your head.

Other than that, think of snow as a big, cozy soft white quilt that has been laid over the land, keeping it snug and cozy while it sleeps. And remember, winter makes us appreciate the spring just that much more.

Blessed be!

K. White Moon

www.WhiteMoonWitchcraft.etsy.com

http://whitemoonwitchcraft.blogspot.com

The young boy loved camping, particularly the fire building parts.  Tonight they were deep in the woods, staying under the stars in tents with families from the circle.  The adults knew that he loved fire making and had asked him to tend the ritual bonfire.  All during the ritual he’d been seeing shadows coming and going from the edge of the circle.  The Old Gods seemed to be out tonight, but that wasn’t something he worried about.  That stuff was for his mom.  He just liked the camping.  The circle was just opened and he turned to go get some more wood for the fire.  There, staring back at him from under a tree was a rattlesnake.  He stepped back, but the adults knew, the Old Gods really were out tonight.

Coincidence, fate, happenstance, or synchronicity, it seems to haunt us.  Things we do in magic or ritual seem somehow connected to other things that happen, shall we say, “in the real world.”   We achieve something we really want, but we lose our favorite ring within minutes of learning of our achievement.  We scry and find our predictions match perfectly with those of another worker who worked the scrying two days ago, a hundred miles away.

All of these things can easily be dismissed as simple coincidence.   Look at it this way: it is very improbable that you will finish a ritual and then see a rattlesnake outside the circle.  How many times has that happened?  But there are an infinite number of things that could occur, you just happen to be seeing the one that did occur.  You could have seen a deer, a badger, a friend, or a shooting star.  You didn’t, you saw a rattlesnake.   You are what creates the implausibility in the events, through your interpretation and attribution of meaning to them.  You connect the rattlesnake with the shadows, with the circle, and with the fact that Cernunnos was just called.  Had you simply been hiking it would have been just a spot of excitement.

This idea that we create relationships between objects and ideas in the world was terms “synchronicity” by Jung.  By giving meaning to these relationships we create a “cause and effect” relationship that is similar to, but certainly different than the cause and effect relationship of physics.  We interpret the universe and tie it together in a great story.  The story spans our lives and incorporates the past and the stories of others.  It is our ability to give things meaning that makes us different from anything else in the universe.  And those meanings bind us to the world and to each other.

For Pagan’s the idea of coincidence is always open for debate.  It can be coincidence, or it can be a meaningful part of our lives.  In a magical or ritual context there are no coincidences.  Through ritual the magical act assigns meaning to any coincidence that we notice.   Thus magic is another way in which we give things meanings that they would otherwise not have, and tie together disparate things across time and space.  Stories do this, but so does our magic or ritual.

Magical narrative banishes the coincidental and replaces it with relationships.  Success or failure is related to our will, our knowledge of magic, and the Gods and Goddesses.  A future occurrence is related to our past action in ritual.  Our knowing what we have done binds things together makes our magic, and prayer, “work.”  Without that knowledge, there would be no relationship, and any synchronistic occurrences would go unobserved.

One of the principles of magic that I really believe in is “magic spoken is magic spoiled.”  If you talk about your spell, then it will not come about.  In my opinion there are two reasons for this.  First, it is a good rule that some clever High Priestess probably made up back in the day to keep her charges from bragging around about all their powers and maybe bringing down trouble on the coven.   If you talk about what you have done, the spell can be avoided one way or another.  Someone could counter it, or they could come and drag you away.

But speaking of the spell also divides knowledge of the working between the worker and those who they tell.  Dividing the attention to the spell creates multiple meanings and dilutes the original meaning and attention of the worker.  If only you know of your work, the consequences and connections you make allow you to create your own magical narrative.  They allow you to see what is happening in the world through the story you have created in your spell.

Telling someone else is like inviting your relatives over for dinner.  Everyone will have an opinion, and often will feel free to provide those opinions.  The more opinions you get, the more observation you have, the more dilute and disrupted your attention becomes.  It is the same effect that some people who lack self-confidence feel when they are about to try something risky that puts them out for public judgment.  Any sense of judgment, or criticism, particularly from those who are close to them can have a negative effect on their performance.  It hits them right where it hurts, in their self-confidence.

Spells work in much the same way.  Your confidence as a practitioner, the belief or faith that you have, and your ability to construct a meaningful working all come together to make the magical working effective.  The more kibitzing that you get the more likely it is that you, and your working will get disrupted.

We can also extend this creation of narrative into other practices.  Ritual provides a way to connect disparate objects and concepts through implied meaning.  The creation of sacred space by casting the circle is a way to create a magical and religious narrative through time, space, and our collective relationships.  Because the circle casting is something we have done in all our rituals, it connects us meaningfully through time.  We have come to accept that once the circle is cast we are in sacred space.  (The idea of the magical circle goes back at least to the Greeks, so it is quite a time narrative that we create when we cast!)

These associations and meanings that we give things create a sacred space between us, because they are shared narratives amongst those in circle, and within ourselves.  We react to the narrative of the circle, the story we tell ourselves about what is happening, and it changes us.  We become more centered, more thoughtful, more magical.  Work in circle long enough and a lot of our life takes on the form of magic.  We begin to tell our own story as a magical one.  We are magical, our lives are special, and we are connected to the Gods and Goddesses.

Our challenge is to tell our story in a way that moves us forward toward the divine.  Making it about ourselves, our ego and our power, drives us away from the divine and keeps us in the present.   It breaks the association between divinity and what we do in the same way talking about magic creates a distraction for us and for the spell.

The circle itself, not the calls or casts or workings or trappings or fuss, is sufficient to establish a connection between past and future, between those in the circle now and those who will come, between us and the sacred, between us and the world where the Gods and Goddesses exist.  Our world.  Our stories.  Told through ritual and magic.

Look greatly forward to this day

When the time is nigh for this beloved Sabbat

We know the light is on it’s way

Through this longest night we celebrate

Knowing now the light will grow

And the joy that every spirit feels

Proves that the heart does also know

As the sun goes down

And the Yule logs burn

Our loved ones gathered round

And even Earth’s creatures participate

As they do not make a sound

When the fires cold and the night grows short

This sacred time comes to a close

And the flames, and joy that come at Yule

In each person’s heart now glows.

Since the Sun is also considered helpful in workings of prosperity, during the burning of the log provides an opportunity to work some prosperity magic as well.  One way of doing this is to take a square of cloth or paper and lay it out flat.  Add one or more herb’s for prosperity such as cinquefoil, clove, or patchouli.  You can add a written request before drawing up the corners and tying it into a bundle to be burned in the fire, or you can speak your desire as the bundle burns, but either way I have found this to be a successful added bonus to the Yule fire.  I hope all of you have a Blessed Yule and a Merry Christmas!

No one can compile an exhaustive list of topics covered by the Craft, and everyone’s personal list will be prioritized differently, according to that witch’s practice.  For me the Craft includes herblore, traditional handicrafts, farming and hunting lore, divination, dreamwork, trancework, meditation, spellwork, study of ancient religions, study of indigenous religions, local study of nature, ritualwork, and covencraft, but I am proficient in only a few of these areas.  I am not proficient in herblore, and moreover I currently live in a country, Norway, where people do not enjoy herbal freedom.  It is very difficult to obtain certain herbs here, and people are not supposed to import them.  For my herbal knowledge I must rely on friends who live elsewhere in the world and who can advise me over the internet or by telephone or letter.  Sometimes these can be obtained in the woods.  Except in the cities, there are small stretches of forest throughout the lowlands.

Local study of nature can only be carried out locally.  If you have one or more partners in the Craft, you should acquire some guidebooks to local flora and fauna, geology and topography, and go out together in different seasons of the year for camping trips and hikes, to study the locale and familiarize yourself with the animals, plants and minerals of the area.  For this topic one must combine book-learning with personal familiarity.  I am aware of the animals and plants in my neighborhood, though I am not given to long hikes or to camping anymore.

Every witch will practice some physical discipline and engage in some form of work developing manual skill, in addition to more mental pursuits.  Every witch seeks balance, both within and with the environment, including inner and outer spirits.  Witches seek freedom in all its forms, and for this reason will not use addictive substances, and will either abstain from habit-forming substances altogether, or at most will use them rarely.

Witches follow the Sun-wheel in all their practices, seeking balance in their use of the powers of elemental Air, Fire, Water and Earth.  They align these practices with the directions of East, South, West and North, respectively.

Air contains the power to know.  Thought is breath.  Every process is begun by increasing knowledge.  Witches always seek to know rather than hide from knowledge.  A witch is nothing if not practical, and will always seek to make use  of knowledge in some way.  Knowledge that is purely negative will be buried by a witch, who can draw on its power without letting its negativity emerge.

Fire contains the power to will.  Will is inseparable from action.  Witches cultivate strings of actions which require regular effort.  They take oaths before the gods to fulfill these strings.  Some strings, such as learning a language, are ongoing and have no foreseeable end.  Strings are cultivated through two forms of action, practice and praxis.  A practice is engaged in at particular times and for particular intervals of time.  A praxis is engaged in at random moments, whenever one thinks of it.  Practice and praxis support each other, and every string involves both forms of action.  To establish a string requires some form of sacrifice, for space must be found in one’s life for the new activity.  The sacrificial fire was always built traditionally in the south, and it is the means of communication with gods, demigods and ancestors.  Witches begin by sacrificing very small things, such as minor habits, which generally tie up large amounts of energy.  The ancestors approve of such sacrifices and will send the witch a special form of vigor as a sign of their approval.

Water contains the power to dare.  Witches dare to go beyond their current limitations.  They examine their assumptions and question them, seeking to think outside the box, as the saying goes.  They explore other possibilities, of awareness, of living.  They change habits to experience living in other ways.  This can also take small forms, such as taking a different route to work on occasion.  But they also seek initiation, psychic death and rebirth, and, when it is the wise choice, they will follow their passions.

Earth contains the power to keep silence.  Silence is inner as well as outer, and involves physical stillness as well as control of speech and thought.  In order to be physically still one must exercise regularly and stay in shape.  A witch will practice some form of meditation in order to be inwardly still. Avoiding unnecessary talk is important not just to preserve discretion (very important during the Burning Times and still important today), but as a way of conserving energy.  A witch conserves energy and only uses it to accomplish a worthwhile purpose.  For this reason, witches are enjoined to overcome and suppress nervous habits.  Unnecessary talking, especially expressing negative emotions, qualifies as a nervous habit.

A witch has several names.  His or her innermost name is known only to the gods, and the witch uses it in silent prayer or when praying and offering to the gods alone.  If a witch is in a coven with a tier of initiations, he or she will have an inner court name, used only among fellow initiates.  Among non-initiates or non-coven fellow witches or pagans, he or she can use an outer court name.  My outer court name, which can be read above in the byline to this paper, is Quicksilver.  This means that one of my gods is Hermes or Mercury; it also means that I tend to spread myself thin in my interests and jump around a lot from one thing to another.  I celebrate this weakness light-heartedly and by naming it I keep it within bounds, thus converting it into a strength, or at least into an element of personal style in my practice of the Craft.  The inner court name, if one has one, and the innermost name should likewise be meaningful, with the innermost name in some way expressing where one is at in one’s current incarnation, and where one is going.  An innermost name can often be the name of an animal or bird.

Witchcraft is both serious and joyful, in this way resembling the play of children.  We witches believe in reincarnation, and also periods of rest and recuperation in the Summerland  (a pleasant place in the Underworld) between lives.  Thus, we are not in a hurry and can afford to enjoy ourselves.  At the same time, our play and restful recreations generally involve some form of learning or practice.  We are children of the gods practicing being grown up, with a view to eventually engaging in some form of work helpful to the demigods (daimones) and elementals, and through them to the greater gods and goddesses.  Laughter and light-hearted glee or zest is an important part of play.  Witches come together at Esbats (generally held at the full Moon) and Sabbats (eight per year).  ‘Esbat’ is from a Middle French word, esbattier, meaning to frolic.  ‘Sabbat’ means a rest.  This implies that the real work of the Craft is done between these occasions.

Witches regard all forms of life as equal and worthy of equal respect.  Humans are not regarded as higher than animals, and even stones are thought to be conscious in some way.  Personal evolution involves harmony within and without, and faculties shared with animals and other forms of life are considered just as important to cultivate as those that seem unique to human beings.

Progress in the Craft is not uniform in pace; it slows down and speeds up at intervals.  As with mountain-climbing or attending a university, there are certain levels to be attained, and reaching them requires a period of intensive preparation when one is getting close.  In the Craft there are three levels or degrees of initiation.  Upon attaining to a new level, the nature of learning in the Craft changes its form.  One emerges victorious with respect to old struggles but must now assume more mature responsibilities; this is described in the witch saying “First the victory, then the battle.”  Initiations are like promotions in school.  Eventually one graduates, and this graduation, lifetimes ahead, is sometimes referred to as the transmutation or transformation.  Thereafter, a witch need not incarnate but can stay on the Other Side, performing work useful to the daimones.  He or she acquires the ability to visit this surface Earth, at first as a sort of light; later on a material body can be projected temporarily for a particular purpose.  This is what the ka was believed able to do in ancient Egypt.  Transmutation generally takes place on the Other Side, though accounts from stregheria (Italian witchcraft) suggest that it can occur while in a material body on this side, in which case the experience is said to be excruciating.

Witches are not much concerned with transmutation.  It lies far ahead.  One goes to the Sun and receives a body of light.  If you’re interested you can read about it in the Prasna Upanishad.

When you step into the occult you will need heart and perseverance, if not you will fallout very fast. The occult is not as simple as 2+2=4 on practicality, it is more like 1x1x2x2=4; the occult is not short winded and convenient like these modern time. The reason why many Occult articles are so long winded is due to the fact it is a practice of discipline that you take small steps as you learn to walk. When you tame your mind, you learn about yourself and your reactions. The facts of these studies are not to be scholarly or intricate to show off for glam, but they are only to show the mentality of the
discipline to know yourself. Many folks will say the idea of these fancy rituals is for “see how smart I am” when its quite the opposite and meant to be a discipline. As my teacher told me you have to dig through the pile of shit to find the gold.

I have found many shy away from the Occult because of the fact that it takes time to learn and excel in time. You cannot just pick up a book and understand,there is study involved. Many of us Occultists hate to read, but we do it due to the fact we have to learn about ourselves and the ancient ways. The best cure to deflation of the ego is to realize how little you really know, these cultures of the great magicians in the past reflect the process of hard work. Knowledge is earned and not given. We can
spoon feed information all day, but unless someone takes the initiative to learn for themselves then its no good; but when the information is given then it should be given in large chunks for the student to meditate on and absorb for the long term memory.

The idea of looking in the mirror and knowing the Self is the key to the occult. I can understand if time is an issue, but I have ran into people who say they do not have the time and they spend 80% of their time on facebook, twitter, or other networking sites when they are not working. The idea of putting forth an effort is now a burden on people because they are interested and not dedicated. Many folks are afraid of commitment to anything nowadays. Can you look in the mirror and say you want to be an occultist? Can you look in the mirror and say you want to learn about yourself? Can you say you are willing to read dry lengthy books and articles to learn? This is what the occult is about: learning, experiencing, and dedication to wisdom.

Ask yourself what you learned about yourself for one day and it will carry you far. Accept the good with the bad and bad with the good. Look in the mirror and face your traumatic experiences you have not battled with the occult philosophy, do not evade it and see everything as this “everything is a perfect world” kind of view. Its not about the idea being negative or pessimistic, but facing reality. We have to accept reality to accept ourselves. I am proud to say I persevered through hell and back, most of all I am proud to say I know people who would agree with me in this assessment. If you are interested
in the occult there are people around you, books, and resources to get you started. Before you say you are ready then ask yourself two questions. Are you ready to face yourself? Are you ready to be a dedicate and not an interested person? There are trials and ordeals we must confess to and prepare for as you start your path on the occult.

I’ve spent the last few months discussing different ways to meditate; this month I’d like to focus on why meditation is such an important skill for both practical and magical purposes. Research is revealing more and more health benefits to a regular meditation practice, but the ability to direct your own attention and shift your focus as you wish is incredibly valuable in everyday life, not just while actively meditating, and also an essential part of working magic.

As a practical skill, meditation can help us deal with difficult times in our lives. Many people who have depression experience being stuck in negative thoughts, going around and around the same issue or problem over and over again. This “spin cycle” can produce feelings of helplessness and despair. Meditative practice at redirecting your attention can help you break free of these traps.

This “thought stopping” is a difficult skill to develop. It requires a kind of self-awareness that allows you to monitor your own internal monologue so you can recognize when you’re getting stuck in repetitive thoughts and feelings. It’s very difficult to develop this ability while you’re in the midst of a stressful or painful time. Meditation practice gives you a chance to cultivate that skill so you will be able to use it when you need it most. Exercise helps you develop and maintain the physical skills and strength you need for other activities; meditation is mental and emotional exercise.

It is a bit misleading to talk about “thought stopping,” though, because it’s not so much stopping as redirection. Just as in meditation, you don’t so much stop thinking about one thing as choose to direct your attention elsewhere. And like in meditation, you have to be gentle with yourself when you do this. It’s counterproductive to blame yourself for thinking or feeling the way you do; what matters is moving your focus to something else of your choosing. If you’re spending time and energy blaming yourself, worrying, or suppressing those thoughts or feelings, you’re still focusing on them. You can acknowledge them, then refuse to let them occupy center stage in your mind. Gently let them go and redirect.

The same advice applies when you’re trying to change a mental habit. If you identify a negative idea about yourself that you’re trying to change, maybe by replacing it with an affirmation, you need to redirect your attention away from the negative idea, not suppress it. Many admonitions to just “Think positive!” make people feel like it’s their fault if they think negatively, which makes them feel worse, which gives them even more negative thoughts and feelings to try to ignore. I call this the backlash of positive thinking, because the harder you push down those negatives, the more energy you give them to throw back at you, often subconsciously or from an unexpected direction.

To avoid that backlash, don’t treat an affirmation as a magical incantation that will banish your hurts, fears, and doubts all by itself. Acknowledge those feelings or your negative beliefs about yourself and gently redirect yourself away from them towards the new mental habit you want to cultivate instead.

Where this becomes a magical skill is when you use the same techniques to improve your visualization and focus on your intent for a spell. We do magic because we want something to change, but in visualization, we need to concentrate on our desired outcome rather than the current state of affairs.

This is the “Don’t think of a pink elephant!” problem. If you’re trying to help heal a friend, for example, it is easy to be distracted with concerns about how she was sniffling and coughing this morning. That’s the reason you’re doing the spell, after all! But you’re not raising and sending energy towards the idea of her staying sick; you want to concentrate that energy on her being well, so you have to catch those thoughts and change your focus to your visualization or affirmation of her as healthy and happy.

Working with different types of meditation can help you identify your strengths for magical practice and improve your abilities in areas where you’re weaker. If you like meditating with a physical object to focus on, then you can use the same techniques to direct your intent towards a spell component like a candle, stone, or herb. If chanting or prayer works well, make the most of that by designing spells with verbal elements. On the other hand, if you are good at concentrating when you have your eyes closed, you can work on meditating while gazing at a physical object to make it easier for you to concentrate on an object for magical purposes.

These are just a few examples of how awareness of your own thoughts and feelings and the ability to redirect your attention are both practical and magical skills. As your practice deepens, you’ll find even more ways to apply the benefits of meditation in everyday life.

Back to School!

Here we are again!  The wheels on the bus do go ‘round and ‘round, as does the Wheel of the Year.  As we are heading into September, our thoughts are pulled in a million directions – kids’ going back to school and all that implies (i.e., shopping for school clothes, schedules, chauffeuring the kids, etc.) and our own work schedules/home schedules and getting everything to coincide and work together in some smooth synergy.

We want our kids to do well; AND, if we are also going back to school as adults taking advance courses, trade courses, or just a yoga class or craft class, we all need help with the “focus factor and some extra self-motivation.”

With that in mind, this spell is to help you with focusing your attention on what matters most and to help you (or your child(ren)) overcome apathy and ambivalence as the days grow shorter and the nights longer and temperatures cooler.  Use all that you can in your resource arsenal to assist you through the changing of the Wheel of the Year.

This is simple and can be done/said while driving the car if you wish.  (You can say the spell below easily enchanting your child by saying it out loud ‘over them’ as they are getting dressed, or you’re fixing their breakfast… etc. – Feel free to say it over an object you know they will use all day, such as a pencil or pen that they love.) We have to squeeze in some simple spells occasionally as not everything we do can take formal time.  On days you are going to need extra focus, use Rosemary essential oil and/or inhale a bit of Eucalyptus or Lemongrass.  You can dab a dot or two of any of those essential oils you may have on hand on your neck under each ear and on your wrist pulse points.  Inhale a couple of deep breaths before you take off for the day.  Say this spell when you have a second and repeat until you feel it has ‘taken’ — I say this often when I write my spell articles, that you will know when you are finished with an incantation.  You will feel comfortable with stopping and it’s then that you need to.

Spell/Enchantment to help you Focus and to Gain Motivation:

With this spell comes motivation,

To overcome hurdles in focus & education,

Let me embrace this higher place,

To do all work required with utmost grace.

‘An harm it none, this spell is done.

May you continue to learn, grow and enjoy the start of the Witches’ Season of the Year!

Blessings till next month,

Morika

Well, hello. Nice to see you here.

What I hope to accomplish with this blog: passing on about forty years’ worth of practice in the Craft of the Wise, AKA being a witch.

Like most people, I’ve learned a few things, and messed up a few others before I finally Got It. I hope to share with you the ups, the downs, the occasional cosmic misfires, and the equally occasional cosmic successes, past, present, and future.

Spellcraft, writing a novel, that wicked slavemaster called “personal evolution,” doing the dishes, and cleaning out the litter box: it’s all fair game.

Along the way, I’ll tell you a few stories.

I’ll see you here every other month. Wanna come along for the ride?

To begin with, here’s the little jobbie I use to get all the details into place before I stand in front of my altar and get to The Work. (And then, yes, I copy it into my BoS, by hand.)

Clean copy first, detailed copy second.

Since it’s not fair to throw people off the pier without teaching them to swim, feel free to delete any references to astrology that you are not familiar with, and don’t care to learn. (It’s a math-heavy subject.) The really necessary questions are in bold. The incidental stuff’s in plain text.  And if you feel swamped just looking at it, go to the bottom, and read the disclaimer.

Then breathe.  See you here in a minute.

Goal of the Work

Detailed description of goal:

Why do I want this?

What purpose will it serve in my life?

How will it change my life?

Simplified description of goal, taking into account above two answers:

Chant derived from goal:

One-word description of goal:

Goal

Phase of Moon:

Deity:

Method of raising energy:

Magical action:

Color:

Herb/Incense/Essential oil:

Planet:

Day of week most favorable for Work:

Planetary hour most favorable for Work:

Astrological Conditions at the Time of the Work

Is the Moon visible? If not, the Work must delayed until it is again seen as a slender crescent.

Will the Moon be or become void-of-course during the Work? If it is or will be, the Work must be rescheduled to fall outside a VOC period.

Will any planet be stationary direct or stationary retrograde over a planet or point in my natal chart? If so, how can I incorporate the energies of both into the Work?

Will Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto contact any planet or point in my natal chart? If so, how can I incorporate the energies of both into the Work?

Will the Moon transiting be through a sign (or house in my natal chart) which rules the goal?

Personal Considerations

Is any element represented in my chart by 4 or more occupied signs, or signs on the Ascendant or MC?

Can I use herbs, colors, or magical actions from this element?

Is any element represented by no or one occupied signs, or signs on the Ascendant or MC?

Can I use herbs, colors, or magical actions from this element?

Results

Worked immediately:

Didn’t work within 14 days:

Worked after _____________ days

TEMPLATE WITH DETAILS:

Goal of the Work

Detailed description of goal: I need a job. (Sometimes, it’s this simple.)

Why do I want this? What purpose will it serve in my life? I need the income. I don’t want to live on the street. Plus, I love what I do for a living, just not the people I currently do it with. (Note that there are two streams here: the person loves what s/he does for a living, AND s/he needs money to live. Both are equally important to hir, but the need for money can be said to be critical for most of us.)

Simplified description of goal, taking into account above two answers: I need an income-producing situation doing what I love.

Chant derived from goal: (The quality of your poetry isn’t all that important, but do try for rhythm. Just shut that inner critic up, and go for it. What I’ve produced below certainly isn’t, oh, Wordsworth, or even T.S. Eliot.)

What I love and money too

Comes when I have work to do!

One-phrase description of goal: Work I love for money.

Goal

Phase of Moon: Waning to banish unemployment or waxing to draw a job. (Every magical goal can be stated in two ways: to draw the desired outcome, which can be worked during the waxing Moon, or to banish its opposite, which can be worked during the waning Moon. I have done Work at the wrong phase of the Moon when I was in grave need of help, and I did get results, although I had to wait until the phase changed to get them.)

Is the Moon visible? If not, the Work must delayed until it is again seen as a slender crescent. (In the Dark of the Moon period, those three days while She is not visible, there are simply not enough lunar energies to fuel any kind of Work. No work-around exists for this. Work done during this period will not be effective, your time, energy, and supplies wasted.)

Deity: (It’s best, if possible, to work with Someone Who has already come into your life. If that’s not possible, ask for help this time, but be prepared to give back the energy you asked for in devotion and sacrifice. As for sacrifice, virgins are a Christian fixation and dead animals cruel and unnecessary; wine or tobacco [though Venus doesn't like it, as it's an herb of Mars] work well for almost every deity, as does a candle in Their color, perhaps rolled in herbs sacred to Them.)

Magical action: (In our example, employment spells are usually seen as workings of the element Earth. The witch might use magnets, an Earth device if ever there was one, to pull a sigil scribed with hir name toward one bearing the symbol for the new job; once they are bound together with the magnets, s/he might lay them on a copy of hir resume. S/he could also bury them. If your goal is fiery, burn something, you pyromaniac [light a paper, or a second candle, scribed with your goal, from a candle scribed with your name; use one candle to partially melt the side of the other, fuse them, and allow them to burn together]; if it’s watery, consider drinking water imbued with your goal’s energy; if it’s airy, blow the symbols of goal and self together, or scribe a fan with your goal and use it to blow incense smoke over yourself. The possibilities are limited only by your own creativity; have fun!

Method of raising energy: (Usually, this involves repetitive movement or activity of some kind. Dance, do a simple sidestep around or in front of your altar; bust your favorite yoga moves; clap; play your Tibetan singing bowl; play a single short phrase over and over on a flute, guitar, rattle, or other musical instrument; chant; sing; dig in the garden. Almost anything will work, and work pretty well. Of course, it’s also possible to do this entirely in your mind, which, while quite difficult, is also ferociously good training in concentration.)

Color: (Very briefly: red for passion, pink for friendship, orange for attraction, black for repulsion, gray for dissipation [of energy], yellow for intellectual endeavor, green for growth of any kind, purple for horses, law, or publication, blue for honor, brown for practicality, and white for purity. White is also the go-to color when you don’t have the color you need. Looking to minimize? Orange, green, gray, black, and white cover all the possibilities.  Colors of what, you ask?  Candles, altar cloths, clothing … I suppose you could also, at need, paint yourself the necessary color.  Up to you.)

Herb/Incense/Essential oil: (Essential oils are wonderful for those among us who can’t tolerate incense smoke, or share a home with someone who dislikes the smell of burning herbs. They can be dripped into the pool of melted wax at the base of a candle flame, rubbed onto the candle itself, diluted with a little olive and dabbed on the pulse points, or used in a diffuser. Do be aware that they always carry the elemental signature of Fire; if you are working to put out a forest fire, for instance, they are not a good choice!)

Planet: (Very briefly: Sun for masculinity, Moon for femininity, Mercury for trade/writing/intellectual pursuits, Venus for affairs of the heart, Mars for war and affairs of the sex organs, Jupiter for expansion of any kind [including necessary weight gain], Saturn for contraction/discipline, Uranus for new ideas/astrology/TV/new technology, Neptune for film/poetry/dance/inspiration/drugs, and Pluto for the kind of can’t-go-back change embodied by nuclear power. Caution: it is incredibly difficult to work successfully with the outermost three planets. Don’t try this at home unless you are very sure you know what you are doing.)

Day of week most favorable for Work: (Very briefly: Monday corresponds to the Moon, Tuesday to Mars, Wednesday to Mercury, Thursday to Jupiter, Friday to Venus, Saturday to Saturn, and Sunday to, ta-da!, the Sun.)

Planetary hour most favorable for Work: (There is no “very briefly” for the subject of Planetary Hours. I have downloaded and use a free program called “Chronos XP’ which pops up the planetary hour on my desktop every time it changes, and allows me to look at days in the future to see when the hours fall. However: look up the sunrise and sunset times, subtract sunrise time from sunset time, and that is the length of the day. Divide that amount of time by twelve, and add the increment thus derived to the time of sunrise. That’s the hour of the Sun. Do it again for the hour of the Moon, and so on. When you get to sunset, find the amount of time between sunset and the following sunrise, divide by twelve, and repeat. The first hour after sunrise is always that of the planet the day corresponds to; see para above.  Told you it wasn’t brief.)

Astrological Conditions at the Time of the Work

Will the Moon be or become void-of-course during the Work? If yes, the Work must be rescheduled to fall after the VOC period. (Very briefly: period. During this time there is insufficient lunar energy to power the Work. There is no work-around. Work done during this time is energy, time, and supplies wasted.  Seventy-two hours after the moment the Moon becomes New, which is why New Moons are listed as “New Moon, Thursday, 2:27 PM EDT”), She is again a visible crescent.  It doesn’t matter if She is or is not above the horizon when this happens; it’s when She again has sufficient power to fuel a spell.)

Will any planet be stationary direct or stationary retrograde over a planet or point in my natal chart? If so, how can I incorporate the energies of both into the Work? (Planets’ stations generate an enormous amount of energy. If I wanted to make a change of career, for instance, I’d hope for Jupiter SD on my Midheaven – money and progress in one swell foop.)

Will Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto be contacting any planet or point in my natal chart? If so, how can I incorporate the energies of both into the Work? (These outer planets present rare opportunities. Their energies are quite powerful.)

Will the Moon transiting be through a sign (or house in my natal chart) which rules the goal? (Think of the Moon as a match: in terms of power, it hasn’t much, but it’s just what you need for setting things alight.)

Personal Considerations

Is any element represented in my chart by 4 or more occupied signs, or signs on the Ascendant or MC?

Can I use herbs, colors, or magical actions from this element? (Your personal power is concentrated here; this is the easiest path for you.)

Is any element represented by no or one occupied signs, or signs on the Ascendant or MC?

Can I use herbs, colors, or magical actions from this element? (Lack of representation often gives a clue as to what you will work quite hard at unconsciously.)

Results

Worked immediately: (Yay you)

Didn’t work within 14 days: (Something probably went wrong; can you isolate what it was?)

Worked after _____________ days (Note any changes in Astrological Conditions which occurred, particularly changes of the Moon’s phase.)

Do choose, down the road if not right this minute, to make a special friend of a particular deity: and don’t worry if one Chooses you, rather than you Him or Her.

May you find wisdom in the crafting of your goals, and happy casting.

Magic works.  It has the the power to change lives. But magico-religious thinking does have its pitfalls.

Magic is like an artist’s brush.  If you start trying to paint your house with it, you’re going to have big problems. I’ve been reading Tarot for myself and others for over thirty years, and I’ve never had a “bad reading” because I never try to find out who’s going to win the ball game this weekend.

And I’ve used my second sight to converse with deceased relatives.  I’ve received valuable advice and a sense of contentment. But I would never try to contact William Kidd in order to divine the location of his buried treasure.  If someone came to me and said, “can you talk to my late husband?” I’d reply, “No, I can’t. But with careful practice and study you could learn to contact him yourself, and you might gain insight, peace, and understanding.  But I don’t think he’s going to help you make sound investment decisions.  And you’ll need to be careful, because over-emphasis on the past is unhealthy. Both you, and the deceased, must move on.”

Magic is a subtle and gentle force at work in one’s life, not a psychic letter opener that can be used to view the contents of an sealed envelope in someone’s pocket, move objects, or bend spoons.  I pale to think of how much time and money has been wasted trying to magically win various lotteries.

Still, there are always those folks who make such claims.  And none of them have passed the Amazing Randi’s Paranormal Challenge and gotten that cool million bucks.  This is where magical thinking causes problems for witchcraft in general.  For many people outside the craft it’s hard to believe in magic at all, and hard to respect those who do.  But it seems to me that most folks would take witches much more seriously if we advocated a definition that contained the concept of unprovability — because that which can be proved stops being magic and becomes science — and avoided outrageous claims.  Not only would it enhance our image, it would create a much-needed buffer between science and magic.

We need that buffer, because whenever science and magic get entangled the results are disastrous.  Just ask Giordano Bruno, Darwin, Descartes, Galileo, Leclerc, and a hundred others who’ve felt the wrath of magical believers.  Talk to educators who’ve been fighting intelligent design theories since the 2001 Santorum Amendment signaled the still ongoing attempt to get biblical creationism taught in American schools.  Do a quick web search for “religious arguments against environmentalism” and see what pops up.  This is what happens when magico-religious thinking tries to dominate, or supplant, science.

Humanity can do better, and we witches can lead the way if we refuse to let magic masquerade as science.  Otherwise we’ll never be able to overcome the myths that keep us, and the world, in bondage; we’ll be of no help to humanity in avoiding climate collapse nor Armageddon.