Magik by Words

Author Sage

First edition

© 2012  Sagegallaries, All rights reserved

Table of Contents

Dedication              5

Preface              6

Chapter 1              7

In the beginning              7

Chapter 2              11

Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s clothing              11

Chapter 3              14

Which Witch are you              14

What does a Witch Do?              17

Chapter 4              21

Tools of the trade              21

The Besom              22

The Wand              23

The Alter Tile              25

The Cauldron              27

The Incense Burner              28

Robes              29

The Chalice              31

Candles              32

The Candle Snuffer              33

The Pentacle              34

Chapter 5              36

Thoughts and Knowledge              36

The Nature of Magik              36

The Implications of Existentialism              38

Desires and Needs              39

Magikal Workings              41

Chapter 6              43

The Elements and Other Understandings              43

The Elements              43

Spirit              44

Air              45

Earth              46

Fire              47

Water              48

Chapter 7              49

Nuts and Bolts              49

Creating a spell              53

Chapter 8 part 1              55

Holidays              55

SAMHAIN = Oct. 31 = (Halloween / Final Harvest)              57

Ritual for Samhain              57

The Ritual              58

Chapter 8 part 2              62

YULE = Dec. 21= (Winter Solstice)              62

Ritual of Winter Solstice              62

The ritual              63

Chapter 8 part 3              67

BELTANE = May 1= (Mayday / Third planting)              67

Ritual for Beltane              67

The Ritual              68

Chapter 8 part 4              71

LITHA = June 21= (Summer Solstice)              71

Ritual for Summer Solstice              71

The Ritual              72

Conclusion to chapter 8              76

Chapter 9  Part 1              77

Rituals of Life              77

Thanks Giving ritual (Birth)              78

Chapter 9 part 2              82

Death              82

Transformation Ritual (Death)              82

Chapter 9 part 3              86

Marriage or Handfasting              86

The Circle              91

The Cardinal Points              91

Verse / mnemonic              91

People are not Property              91

The Rings              91

The Cord and Binding              92

Vows              92

The Blade              92

The Burning              92

The Circle Dismissed              92

The Besom              93

Chapter 9 part 4              94

Chapter 10              96

The conclusion              96

Dedications

In righting this book I have learnt much about my self but more importantly about the other people I share my life with.  So the first person I wish to thank is my beautiful and always supportive Cindy without whom this book would not exist.  Secondly the members of The Magik Cauldron chat room who through their constant inspiring conversations inspired me to write many of the chapters in this book.  Next on my list is my dear friend Karol Rowe and her husband for it was Karol that very kindly edited this book and so played an essential part in it being born.  And last but not least my daughter Ruth who helped me with many different aspects of the book along the way.  If I have left any one out please accept my most humble apologies.

Preface

Witch; is it a name, a question, or an accusation?  All have been true at some point throughout history. Why?  In this book we shall try to answer this and many other questions you may have about the oldest of all philosophies.

Why do I say philosophies and not religions? Well, the answer is simple. There is no organized liturgical system in place, nor has there ever been one.  Witchcraft (or the Craft for short) is not and never has been a religion; it is a philosophy that those of us who practice the Craft live by.  It defines not who we are, but what we are and for what we stand.  Our ethics and moralities may be different from your own; you may consider them lower than your own.  But as you read this book I hope you can come to understand that they are probably far higher than those of most of modern societies.

We believe in the sanctity and fidelity of relationships, the value of honesty, and above all, we live by an honour code that dictates how we inter-react with people in general.  There will always be those of our fraternity that choose to ignore all of the above and where they fit into the Craft we shall see a little later on.  But overall and most importantly, the Craft is an ever changing, living thing that adapts to the times at hand and therefore continues to grow and flourish all over the world.

Chapter 1

In the beginning

It would be true to say that throughout man’s many millennia of existence upon this planet one of his most enduring themes has been his belief, use and practicing of Magik.  From the earliest moments of mans existence he seems to have chosen to believe in something greater than himself.  Imagine a cold dark winter’s eve back at the first dawning of mans reign as the dominant species upon this world.  Let’s now imagine there is a group of what we would call in common language Cavemen surrounding a fire and trying to find sufficient warm and shelter so as not freeze to death.  When one picks up the skin of a deer that they had hunted and killed earlier that day and puts it on, he dances around pretending to be the deer and his comrades join in the pretence.  Remembering how they killed the deer earlier that day and now pretending to do so again.  The next day they kill two such animals and so that night they all play their parts again.  The following day they are yet again even more successful and so a tradition is born.  Now it would be impossible for us to say whether they where more successful because of Magik or whether it was because they had greater confidence in their hunting abilities, but either way they achieved the result they were hoping for.  We can see this tradition still being practiced to this very day, for what sports team dose not practice their sport or what actor dose not rehearse so that they will become better at playing their part.  This we call sympathetic Magik, it is the oldest and most widely practiced form of Magik in the world.  What do I mean by sympathetic Magik?  I mean any situation were similar things are believed to affect each other.  For example Mandrake root is a poison and causes a fever so it must also be the cure for a fever.

Not long after our story has begun the tradition has already spread throughout any local groups of hunters and has now become a thing they rely upon to be successful.  For they now believe that to not act out the ritualistic killing of their prey will lead to failure and therefore disaster.  So already man has created a ritual without which he believes he cannot survive.  He does not believe in Magik as such at this point for he has no such term in his vocabulary, if indeed he can talk at all.  But he does believe that there is a mechanism at work and comes to rely on it for survival.  We do not know this as a fact for we were not there and of course there are no written records from that time period, but there are records of a sort in the form of cave paintings and archaeological remains. What I have described is accepted by most anthropologists to be the truth of how early human kind came to believe in and practice Magik.

As we can see in just a short time Magikal traditions are starting to form.  Not long after this point in our development, early man has realized some members of the tribe are more successful when performing rituals than others.  So these people are chosen to become the doers of Magik for the whole of the tribe. These today we call Shaman and they came into existence around 26,000 ago. It is from these Shamans that we get such traditions as the Christmas tree. At the winter Solstice the Shaman would climb the central pole that held the roof up in the round house. He would stay up the pole for a length of time in the smoke filled atmosphere.  After a while he would climb back down the pole suffering from oxygen starvation due to breathing in the smoke.  In this state he would give gifts of wisdom based on the visions he was having due to his condition.  So was born the idea that a man climbed down a chimney and brought with him gifts.  But when the population had grown to such a size that one person could not do the amount of Magikal work required of them a new class of Magik worker came into existence.  These we call the Druids and they were common amongst the Celtic tribes of Europe. At the height of their rule they were the priest class for the whole of Europe, from the west of Ireland to half way across modern day Turkey, from the north of Saxony to central Greece.

They were not however to be found anywhere south of central modern day Italy.  An area ruled by the Romans that contained their seat of power, Rome itself.  But by a strange quirk of fate it is only through the Romans that we know anything of the Druids existence at all.  The Druids were a people who only passed their Magik beliefs and customs on by word of mouth.  It is for this reason that Caesar wrote that the Druids underwent 21 years of training. Each day was spent learning and reciting all the known ways and knowledge of the Druids until they were ready to take their place amongst the tribes that they would serve. The druids were not just Magik workers; they were Priest, Teacher, Judge and adviser to the people and leaders of the tribes. They were for this reason excused work and military service but were to be found on the battlefield giving advice to the military leaders.  We must remember as we said before the only source of information about the Druids is to be found in the writings left behind by just a few Roman authors.  So our knowledge of them is very patchy to say the least. What we do know is that by around 200 AD they had been wiped out by the Roman Empire. Magik now had to be incorporated into family and every day life if it was to survive.

From the middle Roman period up until around 600 AD Magik was practiced in the home and tribe quite openly. The Romans did not mind if you had different beliefs just as long as you were living peacefully in the Empire and paying your taxes. But with the conversion of the Empire from military to religious in the mid forth century all this was about to change. Christianity was spreading and had none of the Empires previous tolerance. By the early years of the seventh century, the people of what we now call the United Kingdom were facing a formidable foe in the form of St Augustine. He was from the UK originally but had spent much of his life in Rome. So when the Pope ordered him to return to his homeland he was not at all pleased. He refused on the first two occasions and was then told that a further refusal would result in his death. So return to the UK he did and you can imagine he was very bitter about the whole affair. This he showed in the first orders he gave on his return, for it was a bitter and some would say twisted St Augustus. That ordered the building of churches on Pagan holy cites and the taking over of pagan feast days by the church.

As I am now using the term pagan to refer to the indigenous peoples of the UK I should take a moment to explain were the term comes from. The word “Pagan” comes from the Latin “Pagani” singular or “Paganus” in the plural.  Its literal meaning is country dweller. So how did it come to mean a follower of the pre Christian ways?  As the Christian message spread through the Roman Empire, those who lived the farthest away from civilization heard the message last so they were “Pagan”. In other words they either had not heard of Christianity or had rejected it and so it is a term used to this day to mean a non follower of Christ.

This policy of assimilation was not as successful as you may have been lead to believe. Firstly the policy of simply converting the leaders of a kingdom and then declaring that the whole kingdom was Christianised had little to no effect on the people of that kingdom. So when the great churches and cathedrals started to be built, it is not surprising that the craftsmen that worked on these buildings were Pagans. Because of this they put many representations of there own Gods and beliefs into their work. When these houses of God needed to be filled with believers the people were forced to church with threats of physical violence. The people were at least able to stare at representations of there own Gods and feel that the whole experience was not wasted. This led to an uneasy truce of a sort, if the people came to church the church could look the other way when they practiced the Old Ways at home and in every day life. This unwritten and not acknowledged truce kept the peace right up until the last part of the fifteenth century.

In 1486 “Malleus Maleficarum” (Latin for "Hammer of the Witches", or "Der Hexenhammer" in German) a treatise on witches, was written by Heinrich Kramer an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church and Jacob Sprenger a preist. When they submitted their work to the Theological Faculty of Cologne University, the appointed censor for church documents at that time, most of the faculty refused to have anything to do with the work and rejected it as not suitable to be a piece of church doctrine.  Not put off by this Kramer and Sprenger simply forged the approval of the whole faculty and their fictional work became the standard text for Witch hunting in Europe. Such was the fervour that they created with their deception that the authorisation went unchallenged until 1898.

The lust for Witch hunting in the UK was never as great as it was in the rest of Europe. So it is not surprising that the self appointed Witch finder General “Mathew Hopkins” (1620-1647) only terrorized England for a total of fourteen months. In that time he and his followers tortured, tried and hung around 300 so called Witches. You will notice that I said hung, as the usually quoted “Burning” was not used generally in England. In Scotland they did burn those unfortunate enough to have been accused of Witchcraft, on some occasions but they also preferred to hang their victims. But even in Scotland there was not the same level of hysteria that could be found in Europe. For this reason it is no surprise that Parliament repealed the Witchcraft act of 1601, a Royal decree and replaced it in 1735 with an Act of Parliament. This stated that there was no such thing as Witchcraft and to pretend to have occult powers was to commit an act of fraud. This too was eventually repealed and replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951. Which in itself was not dissimilar to the previous act it had replaced, with one exception, it made no reference to Witchcraft at all.  There are moves afoot in Parliament as I write this book to repeal the 1951 act as it is now felt that consumer protection laws would cover any remaining transactions involving the providing of occult services.

During the period of 1486-1951 Witchcraft, or the (Craft) for short, had gone underground. It had become a thing never talked of and for good reason. It had become a family tradition and as such it was passed from mother to daughter and farther to son but never shared outside the family. It is for this reason that Traditional Witches do not meet in covens and never have done so. Also for the same reasons Traditional Witches have not since the start of the persecutions written down their Craft for to do so may have meant the difference between life and death. Both Covens and spell books no matter what you might call them and the term Warlock (supposed male Witch) are modern inventions of the neo Pagan movement. Warlock is a Scottish word meaning oath breaker or traitor. As you can see from what you have just read such a person would have put their entire family at risk of execution and therefore there is no greater insult you can pay a male Witch. A Witch is a Witch, male/female, they are both the same, they practice the Craft so they take the term Witch as their ancestors have done for generations.

Chapter 2

Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s clothing

In 1954 as a direct result of the repealing of the Witchcraft act the book Witchcraft Today was published and the Magikal world changed forever. The author, Gerald Gardner, had published other books during the 1940’s but whilst they included Witchcraft as a subject they did so in the context of being a novel. This new book was sold to the world as fact; it was we were told, in effect a confession by Gerald Gardner that he was a Witch. This claim was supported by the fact that Gardner claimed to have been initiated into a coven of Traditional Witches in the new forest around the beginning of the Second World War. But as we have seen Traditional Witches were organized in family groups and did not accept outsiders nor did they have covens. So we must infer from this that the claim of being involved in a coven of Traditional Witches was wholly untrue. Gardner also claimed that a lady known as Old Dorothy Clutterbuck ran the coven. He went on to claim that she was the most important Witch in all of England and as such, she had lead all the Witches of England down across Romney marsh to the coast in 1940 so that they could work Magik to repel the German invasion. Unfortunately it appears from the Censes records that Old Dorothy never existed and the only person with such a name was a practising Anglican Christian. Even if we take the standard position that those defenders of Gardner take, which is that Old Dorothy was not the lady’s real name and therefore she would not appear in any official records. We are then left with the claim of her importance and her fete of repelling the German invasion. Well she could not be the most revered Witch in all of England, because as we have seen there was no organized religion of Witchcraft in existence. Also and more importantly the area of Romney marsh was home to a military training camp, which covered all the 11 square miles of the marsh. Finally there was a travel ban in place that prevented all non-essential travel within the UK. So for any amount of people to gather near a military training camp at a time of war is simply a ridiculous suggestion. For them to have done so and gone unnoticed is Magik indeed. Of course Gardner’s claims were untrue but they served a purpose; not only did he convince the world that what he was publishing was the Craft, but by association with the claimed most important Witch in England he therefore assumed the authority of a leader and not just any leader but the only leader.

Now you might be thinking that a man like Gerald Gardner does not just start to lie about such things.  Well you would be right; he had done such things throughout his life.  An example being he is often listed as Dr Gerald Garner. When, in fact, his claimed degree in anthropology from Singapore University was fictitious. We have proof of this as the university has checked its records and has stated categorically that the degree is dated 8 years before the university came into existence. There are many more such discrepancies in Gardner’s claims; such as his insistence that members of the Craft all carried the Kris, a dagger with a wavy blade often known as a flame dagger. In fact the Kris is a bladed weapon found only in Indonesia.  Which is where Gardner encountered it during his time as minor a civil servant working for the UK government.  Another of his claims and possibly one of the most widely believed is his Book of Shadows. He claimed the book of shadows was the place of choice for a Witch to write down all their ways and workings.  Actually the term Book of Shadows refers to a mythical book that is spoken of in Hinduism. As before, Gardner stole the title after he heard of it from Hindu servants whilst serving abroad. It should be noted at this point that in fact the spell book that Gardner shared with the world, was firstly written by Aleister Crowley and then re-written by Gardner’s priestess Doreen because she felt the world would recognize Crowley’s style of righting.  All of this is relevant, as the lies told by Gardner are still commonly believed to this day. To such an existent that if you identify yourself as a Witch to anyone they will say, “Oh you are a Wiccan”. Wicca (the religion) and Wiccan’s (the practitioners of it) are the names Gardner told the world were the secret names of the Craft and the Witches. As you can see there is a lot of misinformation that people believe to be fact available through books and the Internet. If you are to find out the truth about the Craft, which I assume, is your reason for reading this book. Then first you must be able to tell fact from fiction. It is to this end that I shall devote the rest of this chapter to comparing the truth to the fiction that is Wicca.

Lets firstly compare deity, by this I mean the different approaches that Witches and Wiccan’s have to the subject of God’s and Goddesses. In Wicca there are fundamentally two forms of deity the Lord and the Lady. They do of course use a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses each one having its own specialties and therefore being placated when its area of expertise is needed. For the Wiccan the deity is as real and important as the trinity is for the Christian. For the Witch deity is a different matter all together. If we could travel back in time say 300 years I’m sure we would find that Witches were not dissimilar to Wiccan’s in their beliefs. But unlike Wicca the Craft is a living, breathing philosophy that is ever changing and assimilating the latest knowledge. This has lead to most members of the Craft rejecting deity in favor of an understanding that we are in fact all co-creators of the universe, which in turn means that what we actually believe is that we are our own deity. We will discuss this belief further in chapter 3 along with other points of a Witches philosophy.

Next let’s take a look at morals and ethics.  In Wicca we are told that the (Rede) an old word meaning rules, advice or laws, is as follows: “Do what thou whilst, harm none”.  This you might think is not dissimilar to the golden rule of Christianity “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. They are very similar but the more you think of the Rede the harder it is to see how it can work. For instance we all harm people unintentionally from time to time.  Let’s imagine, you’re on your way to work and you stop of to buy a newspaper. Your running late so you snap at the assistant because she’s a little slow to serve you, she in turn snaps at her boss and gets fired, did you do no harm?  As you can see the Rede is a nice idea but not a practical one.  In the craft we have a far more pragmatic approach and unlike the Rede it has morals incorporated into it.

It is as follows: We do not believe in any mythical three-fold law, nor do we believe in any law forbidding the harming of another being.  For we understand that on occasion it may be necessary to work against another person in defence of someone who is not capable of defending themselves.  On these occasions we work with the hope that the harm we do will be mitigated by the good that results from the protection we have offered.  We also accept that if we do pay a price for the work we have done in protecting another it is worth it for we have done the right thing. This takes us nicely onto our next comparison, the Wiccan law of three.  Here we are told that all that we do will return to us threefold good or bad but always threefold.  But as we have just read there may be times when we have to do harm to protect others or our own families.  If we are to be punished times three for defending our own family, it would seem a very unjust system.  In the Craft we accept that just as in physics all actions have reactions.  But as to what they might be and to the strength of them we cannot say.  As they will very depending on the circumstances of the Magik performed.

The tools used in Magik are many and none.  By this I mean to say that in Wicca you cannot work without your tools, in the Craft you can work with tools or without if you wish to.  To a Wiccan the tool is an integral part of the Magik and therefore essential to its successful working.  The Witch knows that a tool is just a way of focusing one’s intent and therefore with a little practice Magik can be performed with the mind alone.  After all as the main tool of a Wiccan is an Athame, a dagger with two sharp sides and a black handle, it would be impractical to carry this with you say to work or shopping, let alone to produce it to do Magik say in the middle of Wal-Mart.  But your mind goes were you go and so does your finger if you needed to point whilst casting a spell.

Correspondences are the traditions that tie the hands of a Wiccan.  Let’s imagine that a friend contacts you and asks for help with an illness.  A Wiccan will offer to help, but what that means is: I’ll do Magik for you but it must be on the right day of the week and under the right moon faze, with the right colour candles and with the right God/Goddess.  If all of these correspondences are not met then they are pre-programmed to believe that the Magik will not work and so it won’t.  In the Craft we have no such correspondences, as we do not rely on physical objects to perform Magik.  Nor do we need the right position of the stars or of the moon to be successful.  Finally the day of the week is of no importance in our use of Magik.

Finally let’s take a look at some of the other things that people think are a part of the Craft.  It is not at all unusual to hear Wiccan’s talking of chakras (which is rather odd as they are the energy centres taught in eastern mystical traditions such as in parts of Hinduism and Buddhism).  If, as we have learned, the Craft is an ancient western traditional form of Witchcraft then what would eastern mythology be doing as a part of its practices?  The answer is quite simple it has no place what so ever.  Auras also seem to be very popular amongst Wiccan’s and other new age followers.  But again they have migrated from eastern mystical practice and along with chakras were unheard of prior to the Victorian period in the west.  And so it is with meditation, belief in Atlantis, third eyes, indigo children, crystal skulls, the year 2012 and lots and lots more new age nonsense.  They are just other pieces of the ever-increasing puzzle that is being sold as Witchcraft, when in fact it has nothing to do with the Craft at all.

I hope from this chapter you have gained an understanding of what the Craft and its practitioners are not.  I also hope from chapter 1, a clearer idea of how we came to be where we are now in our knowledge and understanding of Magik.  Both of these understandings are important for if we do not know how our Craft came into being and what we as Witches are not, how can we in the next chapter start to learn what we as Witches are and what with our Craft we actually do.

Chapter 3

Which Witch are you

Which Witch are you?  This may seem a funny question to ask but as we have learned previously there seems to be many kinds of so-called Witches.  Now we shall learn what being a Witch truly means.  To do this we must start with what a Witch is and then move onto what a Witch does.

What is a Witch?  A question that is asked quite often of me, my answer is always the same.  Witches are not born nor are they taught for to become a Witch is an experience.  One that you have everyday of your life, from the moment you start to study and live the Craft.  Having the Craft in your family can help you in your desire to become a Witch but it does not make you one.  You experience the Craft by taking the first faltering steps on your own, now at this point you will know almost nothing.  So it’s not surprising that your first steps will usually end in failure or your actions have unforeseen consequences.  We all have a lesson in consequences, what do I mean by consequences, I mean those unexpected side effects we never cast for.  My lesson was as follows:

One of the first spells I ever cast was a spell to stop someone buying the hotel my family and I managed and lived in.  Part of this spell required the making of a powder from spices and roasting it until it resembled chilli powder (both in looks and taste).  The spell was very successful but at the end of the casting I had quite a lot of the go-away powder left so I packed it away in case I needed it again.  When eventually we were ready to move and the hotel had been sold we had a problem.  One semi-permanent resident was not willing to leave the hotel and it was my job to get him to go.  As he paid me to feed him an evening meal each night and I was making chilli I had a thought.  You see my family doesn’t eat chilli if it’s spicy so I always made chilli and added the spice to mine afterwards.  So I had a plan I would use go-away powder instead of chilli powder in my resident’s meal and he would volunteer to leave.  I served him his meal and he took it to his room as normal.  Less than 5 minuets later all hell broke loose.  There was a couple staying in the hotel that were on holiday and they were in the next room to my resident.  First down the stairs was the husband of the couple followed by my resident who was attacking him as they went.  Next followed the wife who was attacking my resident.  This train of people just went through the hallway and out the front door.  After the dust had settled, it transpired that the husband had attacked his wife and my resident having heard this through the wall had kicked the door in to go to her assistance.  Unfortunately she was used to this and had attacked my resident giving her husband time to escape.  The husband would not return to the hotel and though she was advised by the police to stay with us she went with her husband after all.  And the resident returned looking very embarrassed about the whole affaire and gave his notice to leave at the end of the week.  His reason was, he was too embarrassed by his own actions to stay.  So the spell to get him to move out worked but not as I had expected.  This we call a consequence and we all have a lesson in them quite early on in our walk as a Witch.  As you can see from my little story the Craft is all about doing Magik making mistakes, getting it wrong and learning from those mistakes.  To become a Witch you must chose to study the Craft, to live by its morals and ethics and above all to never stop learning.  You do not become a Witch by initiation, or by some divine right through heritage.  Nor by studying for a year and a day to pass each degree in a Wiccan coven.  No, you become a Witch the moment you chose to make the Craft a life long endeavour.

So if you have made that decision based on what you have read so far then welcome Brother/Sister to the Craft and blessed be.  Please note the term blessed be is a term meaning “a blessing be upon you”.  As the origins of the word (blessed) come from the more common (bless) which in turn derives from the name of the Irish Celtic Goddess Brigid, it is a term highly appropriate for use by a Witch.  It is suitable as a greeting and a parting wish; this too has unfortunately been appropriated by the Neo Pagan movement.  And one now hears it used as a throw away comment all the time by those who think such things make them some how more authentic.

Being a Witch is of course much more than doing Magik and being an ethical person.  Being a Witch means respecting all living things, it means protecting those who are unable to protect themselves.  As we now live in a world where we have a second generation of young people growing up who have watched Magik on TV and in films and have then gone onto the Internet and learned enough about Magik to be dangerous but not enough to be responsible, protecting and helping people has become a large part of our work.  So being a Witch now means being visible, no more hiding in the broom closet, for if we are not visible how can those people know who to ask when they get into trouble.  And getting into trouble is very easy indeed, as the following story will demonstrate.  Let’s for the sake of ease call the person at the centre of this cautionary tale Christine and her story is as follows:

Christine came to me for help because she had lost her boyfriend and hoped I would cast a spell for him to return to her.  I of course refused but in the course of the conversation learnt that she had on a number of occasions obtained a spell and cast it, with a view to making her ex-boyfriend return to her.  This he had done but always left her again shortly afterwards.  I explained that I would not get involved in over riding anyone’s free will by making them return to a relationship they had already left.  But I did offer to help Christine cut the ties to her previous actions and make a fresh start.  She refused my offer of help and was about to leave when I asked her were she had acquired the spells from that she had already cast.  Oh she said I didn’t cast them I just paid for them.  I asked her to explain, to which she said, “I buy them from eBay”.  She went on to share how she bid upon spells offered for sale on eBay.  The person with the winning bid can ask for anything they desire and the seller will cast a spell to that end.  I was horrified and tried to explain the dangers of her actions.  But she would not listen and stated her intention to purchase another spell from the same source.

Though on this occasion no help was accepted you can see from this story that getting into trouble in a Magikal sense is very easy.  So in the times in which we live, being a Witch means being open and approachable so that those who need your help can find you and seek your assistance.

Being a Witch means living in balance with nature, for though we may not worship nature, we do respect its power.  Let me explain with another short story, our hero, as they say, is called Jeff and his story is as follows: Jeff lived on the coast of Alabama in the USA, around 50 yards from the beach.  One night on an Internet chat system Jeff was introduced to me by a mutual friend.  He had been a born again Christian but when he realised that he was gay, he soon found he did not fit in and was made to feel very un-welcome.  So he had been studying Buddhism but it was not for him. From the moment we met it was obvious to both Jeff and to me that the Craft was the direction he should be travelling in.  He was from the beginning a very talented Witch, who gained command of the elements very naturally.  Around this time hurricane Ivan was threatening to make landfall somewhere on the gulf coast.  So Jeff decided that each night when he went down to the beach after dark he would push the hurricane away through the use of Magik.  Each night as he did this it seemed as though the hurricane focused in on him more and more, until it made landfall.  When it arrived it went straight up the middle of the road Jeff lived on and destroyed his home.  It flattened the restaurant were he worked and so he never returned to the coast and now lives in another state all together.  From this he learned that control of the elements during the performing of Magik is one thing, but interfering with Mother Nature is another thing entirely.  So the lesson to be learned is work with nature not against it.

Being a Witch means walking on grass barefoot to connect to the earth.  It means living in tune with the seasons and observing those special days that mark the turning of the wheel of the year.  The average persons life these days consists of rushing around at breakneck speed trying to do two days work in just one day’s time.  As a result they are increasingly more and more detached from nature and the natural order of things.  Let’s take the winter solstice for example; to our ancestors it was a time of wonder.  A time of gift giving (only useful ones), a time of being around the fire with your loved ones, a time of looking forward to the warmer days and the lighter nights and the slow return of new growth.  But now people buy gifts they can’t afford for people who don’t appreciate them.  They work most of the holiday period so they don’t spend time with their loved ones.  They never stop to think about the fact that they are experiencing the longest night and what that means to the world around them.  They eat foods that have no place on the table at this point in the year, Tomatoes from Brazil, lettuce from Africa to name but two.  So be the Witch you long to be, start to live the seasons as they come around.  Eat what is in season not food that has travelled half way around the world and has been grown by people who have produced food for you but are starving themselves.  By doing this you will start to reconnect to nature and the world around you.  Observe the celebrations as they come around through the turning of the wheel of the year.  This way the year will have meaning and will not pass by so quickly.  Give gifts at solstice time but make them useful things that the recipient will treasure.  And finally spend time with your loved ones at each and every celebration you can and you will be the Witch you long to be.  But more importantly your life will be all the richer and therefore more fulfilled.

Being a Witch means getting to the end of summer, smelling the cooler air of autumn and coming alive with excitement for Samhian (Celtic for Halloween) is soon at hand.  Being a Witch means all of the above and so much more, far too much for us to mention here as there is not the space in this book to do so.  I hope this brief look at what a Witch is has given you food for thought and will help you get started on your journey in the Craft.

What does a Witch Do?

Some people will try to tell you that the Craft is a religion and as such not all Witches do Magik.  Some say that they only live a good life in tune with nature, and that the practicing of Magik is not important to them.  Well its called Witchcraft for a reason; if there is no Craft then it’s just a name you have taken and worse still one you have no right to bear.  The Craft is a philosophy and a fundamental part of that philosophy is the practicing of the Magikal arts.  But Witches do not only do Magik, they may offer their services in Herbology or Scrying or any number of areas that people may ask for help with.  In this next section we will look briefly at the things Witches do.  Why they do them and the thinking behind them or the beliefs involved in the doing of them.

Witches have been accused over the years of just about everything from selling their souls to the devil in return for unnatural powers, to murdering countless farm animals and humans for money.  Of course some of this fearsome reputation may have been deserved in the past but in today’s world it could not be farther from the truth. As we learnt earlier Witches harm only when they have no other option.  So Witches mainly work Magik to heal, to bring insight, to bring prosperity, to help return property to its rightful owner and to generally assist those that seek them out.  How Magik works is a subject for later on in this book.  So for now lets look at how Magik is used to do these things, to do this I shall tell you some more stories.   Our first story involves a lady in Canada and it goes something like this:

Late one night or should I say early one morning as it was around 3am UK time.  I was contacted over the Internet by an old friend who was seeking help for a friend who was very sick.  After asking a few questions of my friend it seemed a very desperate situation.  It seemed that the person in question (lets call her Steph) suffered from a very serious illness of the intestines.  One of the all too common modern aliments that medicine treats but cannot cure.  Steph had no medications to alleviate this current, rather severe bout of her illness and no money to buy any,  but was due at work the next morning or her job may be lost and with it the home which she provided for her children (she being a single parent) at the time.  So after a short pause for thought I suggested I work a healing of sorts and at the same time Steph should work a simple spell that I would supply.  This was agreed and all was set, I worked my healing spell and Steph followed the instruction I supplied even down to wandering outside in her nightgown to empty a bowl of water at the base of a tree.  Steph made it to work the next day and all that week with little or no problem.  Now whether it was a permanent healing we shall never know because when Steph got paid again she returned to consuming large quantities of meds and her illness returned.  But as you can see from this story Witches use the Craft to heal but only as much as the client will accept that healing.  Because a forced healing is still working against the clients will which is unethical.

One way a Witch might provide insight into a situation is through the art of Scrying.  What is Scrying you might be asking?  Scrying takes many forms, a few of which we will discuss in a later chapter.  The form we are going to look at here is one I’m sure you will have heard of - Tarot Cards.  I have read for a client of mine for over seven years now, she comes to me for regular readings were she asks about her career, personal life and other things.  Let’s call her Esha, now Esha works in Bollywood as a scriptwriter and producer of TV programmes.  She is a divorced lady and when I first met her she was living at her parent’s house.  She was by then already very successful in her career but very unhappy in her personal life.  Over the seven years that I have provided readings for Esha I have helped her in her career by warning her about unscrupulous men that she would encounter in her work.

By guiding her as to which projects to accept when they were offered.  By giving her the information she needed to steer through the minefield that is show business Bollywood style.  In her personal life I advised her when to relocate from her parents house to one of her own.  I have advised her of the need to leave her own country.  And to work on a more worldwide scale (she is now working on a foreign feature) and is moving towards making the leap.  I have warned her of men who on the face of it seemed a very good catch but turned out to be bad news.  So it would be safe to say that she relies on my readings to steer her career and love life.  From this I hope you can see how a Witch can give insight into situations before they occur and thus help people to avoid making bad decisions.  This is just one service that a Witch might provide and a good example of what Witches do.

Our next story deals with how a Witch might help bring prosperity to those in need.  This story took place a little over three years ago and involved a family who lived in one of the southern states of the USA.  Jennifer and Adam had three children and like so many people they lived on a minimum wage and were just getting by.  Then Jennifer became ill and could not work so money got tight and life became a day-to-day struggle.  Towards the end of the year Jennifer approached me.  She asked if I or any of the internet group we hung out with would be willing to work a prosperity spell for her and the family.  The problem as she explained it was a simple one.  With the bills paid and food bought there would be no money left to get a present for each of the children for winter solstice.  I told her that I would do a working for the whole family for a prosperous solstice.  A few days later when the only people in our online chat room (The Magik Cauldron) were close friends Jennifer asked for their Magikal help as well.  Firstly and I think most wonderfully within two days money and checks started to arrive in the mail from the members of the room.  Secondly and I think most amusingly offers of help started to come from some very unusual directions.  At first it was one or two a week but within three weeks it was so bad or good depending how you look at it, that I had to dismiss my spell because they could not have possibly taken up every offer of help they received.  These offers of help were mainly from churches and usually involved the sponsoring of the family for what they would call Christmas. It wasn’t only churches; some of the offers were from complete strangers who had heard from a friend of a friend that they needed help.  So from this short story I hope you can see how a Witch might bring prosperity to a family in need or in fact any person in difficult circumstances.

As I have said before Witches try to work without interfering with the free will of others.  But in some circumstances this is not always possible.  In our next story you will see that this is one of those rare occasions where it was a necessity to do so.  I was asked one day by a dear friend if I would be willing to create a spell to help his mother.  It transpired that his mother had unwittingly become the victim of a very unscrupulous dentist.  She had gone to the dentist with a minor problem involving her dentures.  The dentist had confirmed that her problem was indeed a minor one and told her not to worry about it, as the repair would cost next to nothing.  Unfortunately when she returned to collect her dentures she was told that she had to pay over a $1000 or she would never see the dentures again.  Now this is an awful lot of money for anyone to find but for a 90-year-old lady it was a fortune.  She now had a dilemma she could borrow the money or go without her dentures.

My response was as follows, after some thought I decided that I would create a spell to make this unscrupulous dentist return her property.  But I decided that I would not work the spell so I told my friend that he must work it himself.  This was not a problem as he was a practicing Witch.  Well he worked the spell and within just a few days the dentist contacted his mother and offered to settle the whole matter for under $100 a price she could both afford and was happy to pay.  As I am sure you can see in these circumstances the spell had to go against the dentists will.  As a thief does not return that which he has stolen willingly.

In pointing out what a Witch does I have told you true stories mostly with real names and locations of the people involved.  But in my final story to explain what a Witch does I have had to change all the details to protect those involved from being identified.  It is unfortunate that in 2011 there are parts of the US were identification as a Witch could be dangerous but it is so.  So please forgive the fact that I will be very vague in the personal details of those involved in this story.  This story took place in Idaho in 2008 and it goes like this.  June had lived a very traumatic adult life, she was divorced and had two children.  Her ex-husband had done unspeakable things to her and both of the children as well.  He was an alcoholic and crack addict and having vanished for days at a time, would return to the family home in a violent and abusive mood.  But to June’s credit she had eventually worked up enough courage to better the situation and had divorced him some 11 years before our story takes place.  By the year of 2008 her son who was the eldest of the two children had just reached the age of 18.  June knew he been drinking when he was with his friends and this concerned her greatly.  Then one day he did not return home as he had said he would.  The first night she thought he had simply stayed over with a friend.  But when he did not return the second night she got quite agitated.  By the evening of the third day she was in somewhat of a state.  You see she was not worried that anything had happened to him, as he was quite capable of looking after himself.  No she was worried that he was walking in his father’s footsteps.  She was having flashbacks to the bad old years and expected him to return drunk and violent as his farther used to.  It was at this point that she approached me and asked for my help.  I talked to her and counselled her and convinced her not to panic and to think clearly.  After a lot of talking she agreed that a spell to make him at least call or come home so she would know where he was would be a good idea.  She did practice Magik as part of her own spirituality so I insisted that she work the spell.  The spell was quite simple and easy to work.  However it did have two elements of note, one it must be cast exactly on the hour.  Which as it happened was 9 pm and two it demanded that the person that was its target return home or contact home exactly one hour later.  Well that was one of the longest hours I can ever remember.  June was very nervous and I had to encourage her to believe in the spells power over and over again.  At 9:59 and 58 seconds June’s phone rang and guess who was on the phone.  June’s son played in a local rock band and they had simply started to record a demo disk and three days later they were still working on it.  As you can see from these stories the work we do can vary enormously.  All of these examples are true but they give you just a very small glimpse of the work that Witches do.

As Witches we are often approached by those that know what we are and asked to get involved in all kinds of situations.  Through years of practice and the wisdom that it brings we learn that Magik is not the solution to every problem.  In fact I myself now use a simple method to help me to decide whether I am willing to get involved when someone approaches me.

Unless the situation is time sensitive, I always request that the client return to me in three days.  I refuse to say whether I am willing to help until they return.  This sorts out the serious from the frivolous and allows me time to consider the request.  What I mean by the serious from the frivolous, is people want all things immediately so if a person is serious they will return and if not they won’t.  Magik is not like Harry Potter we do not use it for every little thing that comes along.  Magik is a tool of last resort and the longer we study the more we learn, the less we do.  Of course as I alluded to a few lines ago there are occasions when time is of the essence.  A good friend of mine in the USA was rushed to hospital recently and his life hung in the balance for a while.  When his wife also an old and dear friend asked for my help I did not hesitate and worked for his recovery straight away.  He is now at the time of writing this making a slow but steady recovery.  Ronny if you ever read this it was a pleaser and an honour to be asked by Marisa to help with your situation.

In the next few chapters we shall start to uncover some of the philosophical beliefs of a Witch and how they go about working Magik on a day-to-day basis.  But for now please remember the following, whilst Magik has no limitations, we as Witches should have the wisdom to limit the work we do on ethical, moral and common sense grounds so that what we do reflects well on the Craft and casts in a good light what Witches do.

Chapter 4

Tools of the trade

Welcome to chapter four, you have made it farther in this book than I ever made it in any so called Magik book that I tried to read.  And there is a good reason for this; you see I always wanted a book to tell me how to practice Magik.  Now I am severely dyslexic so any book that started to explain in words what should have been explained in diagrams I found very boring and simply gave up on.  It is for this reason that I wanted to use a limited number of photographs were possible (I.e. within the limits of the technology and format used). But this was not to be so when this book is published in hard back form or maybe a second edition is published and all E-book readers are in colour then I will update it with photos and diagrams, until then I am sorry to say that descriptions are all I can provide.

Of course I was fortunate, as a helping hand was offered from within my family and through the help I received I learnt the Craft without the need for books.  I realise that you are probably not so fortunate and so I am writing this book on the assumption that you are not well versed in the ways of the Craft.  As such having first learnt briefly the history of the Craft and what the Craft is not.  We then learnt what the Craft is and what Witches do, now we shall start to learn about the tools that we use and how we use them.

Well here we are at the point you’ve been waiting for, the start of your learning the craft.  So let’s begin with an overview of tools and other items.  There are many tools that the Witch may possess for various reasons and we will look at them in this chapter.  I feel I must at this point state that in fact Tools have no power in themselves, or to quote a well known piece of dialogue in a recent movie “it’s always the Wizard never the Wand” or in this case and more correctly “the Witch never the Wand”.  So you might ask why a Witch would wish to have items that possess no power.  Well there are two answers to this question the first is the least practical.  Simply put, we all like to have a physical link to our Craft, something to hold when we feel the need.  Some of us do collect tools as a hobby and therefore may have many things that we have never and will never need or use.  The other answer is a more practical one, you see when you first start out in the Craft you do not possess the mental focus to work Magik by thought alone.  So to own and use Magikal tools as an aid to focusing one’s intent is a good idea in one’s early workings.  It is for this reason that we all start out acquiring Tools and I suppose it simply becomes a habit to continue to do so.

The Besom

Much has been written about the humble Besom or broom (if you’re not used to the old name for it).  You might ask why a broom is so important to a Witch.  And I could say it is needed for flight but that would be both an obvious and trite answer.  The truth is much more down to earth and far more practical.  First let’s look at the materials used in the construction of a Besom.  The shaft or handle should be as straight as possible and can be made of any kind of wood, either stripped of its bark or not.  I personally prefer the handle to still have its bark in tact no matter how rough it may be.  The obvious choice for a handle is perhaps Ash or Birch due to their straightness or any other kind of wood but never Elder or Rowan for reasons which I will explain latter on.  The bristles are far more specific in that they should be made of Hazel twigs and nothing else.  Its construction should be as natural as possible.  So it could be bound together with twine, string, wire or if you’re really lucky as I was when I acquired my besom platted corn stalk see.

Now you may be asking yourself at this point why the handle can be pretty much any kind of wood when the bristles must be made of Hazel twigs.  Well the answer is a simple one; the handle is just a way to hold the Besom and nothing more.  The bristles on the other hand are far more significant as they are the reason that a Witch has a Besom in the first place.  You see Hazel for as long as anyone can remember has been associated with Magical practice.  It is usually believed to be a cleanser or a remover of negative forces or entities.  So to sweep one’s home from day to day and especially before Magical work is undertaken, with a Besom is an obvious thing to do.  As you use the Besom it will charge with your energy and therefore it will become representative of you.  So the law of the besom is a simple one, use it regularly to cleanse your home or sacred space if you are lucky enough to have one.  And keep it by the main entrance to your home bristles upwards and no person or entity will be able to enter your home unless you give your permission for them to do so even when you are not there.  Finally it is worth pointing out that Witches never flew on Besoms what they did do is leap around the orchards astride their Besoms, bristles pointing forward to cleanse the trees of negative forces so as to guarantee a good harvest.

The Wand

The Wand is a Tool of direction, by this I mean to say that its total purpose is simply to direct the Magikal work its owner undertakes.  It is usually made of Hazel because Hazel has for centuries been known as a cleanser.  It has crystals burred inside it, a handle whipped onto it and is sealed with wax and a natural varnish.  The making of a Wand is a skill that all Witches should posses.  So I shall briefly explain the processes involved in making a Wand.

First and foremost you will need a piece of Hazelnut branch, the length, straightness, thickness and taper of it is entirely your choice.  But please remember that you are going to have to hollow out the handle end so you can insert your crystals into it.  Having selected your piece of wood you must now cut it to length.  Cut the handle end first and then with wood in your lap focus your thoughts on the remaining wood and it will tell you were to cut it to length.  Next slightly round the handle end of your Wand, you can use a hobby tool to do this if you wish.  Next round the other end in the same way.  Now working from one end to the other, smooth down any burrs or rough spots on your Wand.  Having done all of the above you must now hollow out the handle of your Wand.  I would recommend you drill it out first and then ream it until it’s the right bore and length say 5 mm wide by 50-60 mm deep.  Having prepared your Wand so far you must now place your crystals into the handle.  What I buy is one of those crystal bracelets that is made up of little chips of crystal all threaded on to a piece of elastic.  I personally look for ones that have Amethyst, Clear quartz, Rose quartz and Hematite.  You can of course use any kind of crystal you like; it is after all your Wand.  When you have cut the elastic and sorted out the crystals you are going to use.  You must place them into your Wand and use something to push them all the way into your handle.  The last crystal should be a very tight fit so as to hold the others in place while you seal your Wand with wax.  I would also say that it is wise to leave 5 mm between the last crystal and the end of your Wand.  Now heat up a pan of wax, Beeswax is best but very expensive, therefore paraffin wax will do.  When it is nice and hot and by this I mean hot not about to burst into flames hot.  Dip the handle end of your Wand into the wax, hold it there for 5 seconds then pull it out and turn your Wand until it has turned opaque again signifying that it is set.  This lets the wax form evenly around your wand.  Don’t worry if you get it wrong you can always hold your Wand in the pan of wax until it melts and then start again.  Repeat this step until you have a bulbous end on your handle, then set it aside to harden for a day or two.  After the wax has hardened, you must whip a grip on to your Wand so as to form a handle.  I am not going to explain how to do this because it would be impossible to do so with words alone.  But if you look this subject up on YouTube you will be able to find many instructional videos showing you how to do this.  Having whipped your grip onto your Wand all that remains is to seal your Wand in some way.  I personally use 5 coats of shellac applied over a 4 week period.  I chose shellac as it is not a plastic base varnish and therefore more natural than the modern varnishes.  If you chose to use shellac you should be able to obtain some from your local hardware store.  Don’t forget to cover the whole of your Wand in varnish the grip and wax end as well.  The process above is for making a wand with the bark of the wood still intact.  If however you wish to make your Wand without the bark then the process is still pretty much the same.

Finally: the reason for going to so much trouble, hollowing out and inserting the crystals in to the handle of your Wand, is as follows, in electronics when any object that oscillates is inserted in to an electromagnetic field the frequency of the field changes.  Now all the cells of the human body oscillate giving of an electromagnetic field.  Crystals of course also oscillate each one at a different frequency.  So when we hold our Wands in our hands the Fields affect each other and a blending of energies is achieved.  In other words the Witch and Wand become as one.  Which as I said at the beginning of this subject the Wand becomes a director of the Witches intent.

The Alter Tile

It would be true to say that there are as many kinds of Alter tile being sold today as there are types of incense.  And in the same way as each type of incense is made of different raw ingredients and assigned a different Magikal use,  so it is with Alter tiles, some are made of metal, some of wood, and some of stone.  They come with Magikal symbols on them, they come without, and some are painted, engraved, embossed, pressed, stamped, cast, and/or carved.  The only thing that they will all have in common is the large pentacle that will be marked on them.  And it is this pentacle that alludes to their use and their importance to the witch.  You see the reason that an Alter tile is so useful to a Witch is a matter of space.  Yes I did say space, for who of us have enough room in our homes to be able to set aside a room as a sacred place.  Very few of us I would think, and yes we could always have a pentacle painted on the floor under the rug or carpet.  But then what do you do with the furniture when you want to use it?  The truth is whilst we may be willing to move around a whole room for the purpose of performing  a celebration ritual 4 times a year it is not practical to do so each time we need to cast a spell.  So we have an Alter tile instead, the tile replaces the need for a permanent alter to be set up in a room or for the room itself to be set aside as a sacred space.

In a perfect world we all would have a room within our homes set aside for the practicing of Magik.  It would have a black floor and painted upon that would be a large white pentacle.  And when you wished to work Magik you would, after a little preparation, simply enter your room and all would be waiting for you.  So it is with an Alter tile, it never needs clearing or re-arranging it is always ready and waiting for you.  What you must now learn to do is view your Alter tile as a representation of the room described above.  Now an alter tile does not need to be too large so as to be bulky and for this reason it should be no larger than eight inches square.  And as you are not going to be able to fit a cauldron on to your tile it should be fire proof.  This will allow you to burn things on your tile with no fear of it catching fire itself.  It is for this reason that I recommend a tile made of clay such as those one can purchase from a DIY store.  A single tile will cost very little and it should be a floor tile as they are a little under half an inch thick and therefore quite sturdy.  Though clay tiles tend to be red not black I still recommend them as they are the best choice for making an Alter tile.  Also they tend not to be glazed and this will be useful when you start to make your Alter tile.  So let’s look at how easy it is make a sturdy and durable Alter tile.

Firstly having purchased a tile from a DIY store, you need to put three pieces of masking tape approximately two inches long, roughly in the centre of your tile so they cross each other.  Now with a ruler set from corner to corner diagonally mark a small line on the tape.  Then repeat this from the other corner to corner so that you have a cross in the centre of the tile.  Next you must mark a circle on to your tile; I suggest a six inch one on an eight inch tile.  You can do this by using a compass or by using a drawing pin with a suitable length of string attached to it.  To mark your circle I suggest an indelible marker pen as this will be absorbed through the porous surface of your tile and become at least semi-permanent.  Now you can remove the tape from the centre of your tile.  The next step is to place your ruler across your tile from side to side with one of its edges just touching your circle.  So that you can put a small mark were the top point of your star will be located.  The next thing you need to do is using a protractor make a little mark every seventy two degrees around your circle starting with the top mark you made earlier.  Having made all five marks you must now join then up to form a pentacle.  When all of this is done you can, if you wish to, cover the bottom with some self-adhesive felt so that your Alter tile will not scratch any surface it is placed upon.  Please note that should you need to wash your Alter tile and that in doing so the pentacle should show any sign of fading, you can just remark it as many times as you need to.  One final warning if you burn anything on your Alter tile it will become quite hot so be careful were you place it and do not handle it until it has cooled down.

The Cauldron

I suppose it would be true to say that the Cauldron is second only to the Besom in being synonymous with Witchcraft.  In fact the Cauldron is a far more useful item than a humble Besom.  This is due to the fact that it simply has so many uses, from cooking pot to water carrier its use knows no bounds.  It is the symbol of the home and as such is usually associated with the hearth and what has become known as kitchen Witchery.  In fact, there is no such thing as ‘no good witch should be absent from the hearth/kitchen’ due to it’s being the centre of the home. As such it would be true to say that any practitioner of the Craft should own a cauldron and know their way around their own kitchen.  This of course would make us all kitchen Witches and so we should be for there can be no more iconic an image than the Witch stirring their Cauldron suspended over the hearth.  Your Cauldron does not have to be black, made of iron or potbellied.  It can be an ordinary pan that you set aside for Magikal use.  It can be bought, given as a gift or inherited from a friend or relative.  All that maters is that it is heatproof and it is clean before you use it as a Cauldron.  My first Cauldron was a small saucepan that I inherited from my grandmother it has two handles and is made of stainless steel.  I still have it and use it to this day for melting wax when I make candles.  I now have an iron Cauldron and yes its black and potbellied but you can use whatever you have to hand.  As I have already said a Cauldron has many uses, so let’s look at just a few of them.

The first use that always comes to mind is the making of potions as is so comically demonstrated it the Harry Potter films.  In fact nothing you will mix in your Cauldron is going to explode nor will it enable you to transform into the appearance your worst enemy.  The use of your Cauldron will however allow you to mix herbal remedies, make such things as infused oils or just provide you with a place that is safe to burn items indoors.  Mine is even used to hand out candy to the children when they come calling on Samhain's eve (Halloween).  The only other thing to be said about a Cauldron is that experience has taught me that when you need one the opportunity to purchase one will present its self.  As I said my first was inherited, my second is black iron and I found it at a car boot sale.  I asked how much it was thinking that I could not afford it and the lady said it was part of a fondue set but as it was not complete she only wanted £2 pounds for it (that’s about $3) and so it came home with me.  I had wanted a traditional potbellied Cauldron for my collection of tools for a long time but could never afford one as they seemed to be quite expensive.  Then one day I stumbled across a Witchcraft shop I did not know existed and in it found my Cauldron.  It was exactly the amount of cash I had in my wallet at the time and so it sits behind me as I write this, now much loved, cared for and well used.

The Incense Burner

Incense burners come in many guises, there are brass one’s, iron one’s, ceramic one’s, resin one’s and wooden one’s.  Most burn charcoal brickets and the Incenses that you burn in these are made of tree resins, herbs and scented woods.  The resin and wooden Incense burners/holders usually only burn Incense sticks.  As the resin one’s would melt and wooden ones would of course catch fire if you were to use them to hold a white hot piece of charcoal.  It is at this point that I must explain that the reason we are looking at Incense burners directly after Cauldrons is that of course the Cauldron can be used for burning Incense.  There are no hard and fast rules governing whether you have an Incense burner or whether you burn Incense sticks or even essential oils.  I personally do all three, though you should be careful if you intend to burn oils as these can be volatile and can give of toxic fumes.  The advantage of burning Incense on a charcoal briquette is of course that you can make your own Incense to suit the occasion.  There is not much more to be said on the subject of Incense burners over and above the fact that no matter what they are made of, they get very, very hot.  You should be able to buy charcoal brickets in any good Witchcraft store and you can even buy them online through Amazon, they must be kept dry and preferably in an airtight container once they are opened.  I perhaps should add that it is a good idea to line your Incense burner with a layer of sand before you use it as this will help to prevent the burner from getting overly hot.  At this point you may be asking why we burn Incense at all and I must say that you do not need or have to use Incense in your workings.  But as with all things connected to the subject of tools it simply helps to set the scene or make the occasion.

Robes

Robes are a very personal thing, by this I mean to say that at the end of the day you are the one wearing them.  So I suppose it’s really up to you what colour they are how they look and what they are made of.  And indeed whether you wear robes at all, by this I do not mean to suggest you work naked I simply mean whether you have separate garments for performing Magikal work.

Let’s look at colour first as this is the oldest consideration.  I know that my last statement seems a little odd but it is true.  In times gone by we did not have a choice of material because as poor people we worked with what we had.  If indeed most lowly village Witches could afford any kind of Robes at all.  Style certainly did not enter in to it as the average poor person would not have had any sense of it in any way.  So we are left with colour, the usual being black and not without good reason.  Now the new age/neo pagan movement would have you believe that black was chosen because black is in truth a complete absence of all colours.  They prattle on about black therefore attracting all energies, as if a mere piece of clothing can prevent or encourage energy to work through the Witch.  The truth, I’m afraid, is much more mundane, you see if indeed you had Robes you wanted them to be both black and large particularly in the hood.  This way should a person stumble across you performing say a tree blessing at night in the woods they would not be able to identify you the next time that you met.  So black was simply camouflage, for a figure dressed all in black could disappear in to the night very easily.

Having established that black was the preferable colour for Robes in days gone by; we should remember that we do not live in such dangerous times.  For this reason if you do wish to have Robes you should chose a colour you will feel comfortable wearing.

Now as to how your Robes should be designed, the answer is as simply as possible.  After all Robes are a tool as much any other, they serve a purpose; they are not a fashion item.  By as simple as possible I mean to say, fancy braid on the hems, and large pentacles in gold on the front or back, other Magikal symbols festooned around other parts of your Robes simply make you look pretentious and silly.  So style is up to you but always remember that your Robes are a part of your work tools for use when working Magik.  And for this reason they must never be allowed to distract you or any other from the Magikal work being done.

As to material we have such a range available these days, it is hard to say definitively which any person should chose.  I personally chose to have two Robes, one for summer and one for winter.  For summer I chose a light weight cotton one and for winter one made of heavy weight cotton velvet.  Believe me when I say cotton velvet in summer is unbearably hot and just plain old cotton in winter is terribly cold. Therefore, two Robes is defiantly the way to go for your ease and comfort.  I also have a cape that has a large hood which is useful, as my Robes do not and if it is very cold it offers me extra warmth.  There has been much speculation in Craft circles as to whether man made materials are acceptable for the making of Robes.  I personally think all materials are acceptable, to reject a material simply because it is modern and man made is like rejecting electric light simply because you don’t make the bulb your self.  So use any material you can get/afford if it suites your needs and wear your robe with pride.

Making a Robe is quite easy as you can get patterns in most material shops.  Or you can simply fold your material in two and cut out what would appear to be a giant tee-shirt and then simply sow it together and hem it to finish it off.  If you go down the route of making a giant tee-shirt you will need a belt of some kind.  I recommend a rope belt which is both practical and will save you money.  So I would suggest looking around yard sales or charity shops for rope curtain ties.  When these are cut open, so as to give you one single length of rope, all you will need to do is seal each end to stop them fraying.  Again what colour you chose is up to you but a nice green or red one can look very complementary when worn with say dark coloured Robes.

The Chalice

The chalice in the modern sense seems to have taken on a whole lot of folklore it never had before.  We are told that, for instance, it symbolises the feminine in as much as it is a vessel, a receptor and is in fact V shaped and therefore symbolises the womb of a woman.  All I say to any of this is new age nonsense, the Chalice is just that a Chalice, a cup, a drinking vessel and nothing more.  As to its construction, design and the material it is made of it entirely up to you.  I personally have a set of two Spanish silver plated Chalices.  And yes for some celebrations you will need two but no they don’t have to be identical.  Your Chalices could be made of glass, earthenware, clay, silver plated base metal (as are mine), and solid silver (if you can afford it) or even plastic if need be.  All that is important is that they hold liquid, are safe to drink from, and you are comfortable using them.  If you think about it the average Witch was poor and could not afford a Robe so do you think they had a special set of vessels set aside for use as their Chalices?  Of cores they didn’t, they used any drinking vessels that they possessed and made do.  We are more fortunate we can set a set of vessels aside for Magikal use and designate them our Chalices.  So as I said what you use is up to you but once again I would advise you to look around yard sales and charity shops because you never know what you might find.  I have a collection of Chalices that all came from second-hand or charity shops and the most I paid was £4 that’s about $6 US for a matching pair.  The least was a single Chalice for 50p that’s 75 cents and all are silver plate.

Candles

Candles come in all shapes and sizes, every colour of the rainbow and are available made from at least two kinds of wax.  Let’s deal with size first as the size of a Candle defines its use.  Let’s say for instance you light a Candle and the ritual you are performing calls for the Candle to be left to burn out.  Then you wouldn’t light say an eighty hour pillar Candle would you.  So the size of your candles is important, I would suggest that you keep a varied range in stock.  You can have large pillar Candles that are kept for your alter when you do a celebration and small tea lights that you use when you need to let a Candle burn out as they tend to last only around four hours.  And I would suggest a range of sizes in between as this way you will be equipped for all occasions.

Next let’s discuss the colour of your Candles.  It is not unusual to find in the modern pagan world a plethora of literature on the subject of Candles and their corresponding uses.  These authors have made a lot of money by filling people’s heads with modern laws pertaining to candles.  But that’s what they are - modern and as such have no place in the Craft which is not modern but ancient.  The ancient way again was based on what could be afforded and coloured Candles either could not be had or had not yet been invented.  On top of these obvious restrictions was the fact that in the true Craft we have always known that a Candle is any colour you chose it to be in your minds eye.  This is both true from A Magikal point of view and from a physical one as well.  As the standard colour of a Candle is white and white is an amalgam of all colours then a Candle is any colour you may chose it to be.  One final word on the subject of the colour of Candles: the infamous black Candle which is sold at a premium price both online and in shops, is not black at all, it is in fact a very dark blue. The only way to get a black Candle would be to spray paint one.  And burning such a Candle would be very dangerous indeed as the fumes from the paint would be carcinogenic.

The material that your Candles are made of will be governed by what you can afford.  Beeswax is always preferable but has two draw backs, it’s expensive and it’s not something that every large store will have in stock.  On the other hand paraffin wax Candles are relatively cheap and readily available.  If you should choose to cast your own Candles remember these simple facts.  It’s a very easy thing to do; there are lots of videos on YouTube showing you how to do this.  You can use any container that will not melt to cast your Candles.  And it is cheaper to buy large Candles when they are on offer and melt them down than to buy wax from a craft store to make your Candles.  Don’t ever be fooled by the weight of a Candle, the lighter it is the more styrene there is in it.  And while styrene is a bulking agent it does make a Candle burn longer so a lighter Candle may be better value in the long run.  If you are surprised that I have not mentioned Candle Magik, then don’t be, it is also mainly a modern invention and therefore is not relevant to your learning the Craft.  In times gone by when you were taxed on the Candles you bought, do you think you could afford to waist them on Magikal endeavours?  When a simple thought or the burning of few herbs on the fire you had to have to cook on and keep warm with would do the same job.  As always ours is a Craft of the practical and the wise, not complicated but simple in its ways and therefore effective in its workings.

The Candle Snuffer

Yes the Snuffer is a Magikal tool; it is at least as important as any item that you might use to light things with.  You may be used to blowing out Candles, but to the Witch this is a thing that should never be done on an alter or in a circle.  When we are doing Magik and have commanded the elements to attend our working we are trying to working in harmony with all things.  So to blow out a Candle would be to use the element of Air against the element of Fire.  Not a very harmonious thing to do so we use a Snuffer instead.  Your Snuffer can be made of any non combustible material such as brass, iron, copper or silver.  There are many different kinds available and most of them are fairly cheap to buy.  The only other thing to be said is that it is acceptable to snuff out Candles with your fingers, but not if you wet them first as this would be using Water against the element of Fire.  Which is fine when your house is on fire but is not good practice on an alter or in a circle.

The Pentacle

There has been more written about the Pentacle than probably any other symbol known to man.  It has been used extensively throughout mankind’s history. It first appears in cave paintings that date from the very dawn of our existence.  And it is still used today by everyone from the Freemasons to the Mormon temple in Saltlake city.  But whilst all these organisations chose to use the Pentacle as a symbol they fail to understand its true meaning as do most Neo / New age Pagans I am sorry to say.  I say sorry because its simplicity is its beauty and to not behold something so wonderful is their immeasurable loss.  There are those who, through their religion, have been convinced that it should be worn upside down as one would see portrayed in a cheap Hollywood horror film.  They are told that this then represents the horned God of nature.  But this a perversion of the use of the Pentacle brought about by Hollywood itself in the 1930’s, to sensationalise the depiction of Pagans as Devil worshipers.  For with two points upwards, two points sideways and one point downwards the Pentacle vaguely symbolises a goat’s head (supposedly a symbol of the Devil himself).

In history the Pentacle as a drawn symbol occurs over and over again, it appears in cave paintings, Egyptian temples, the great temple at Jerusalem, the first sixty years of the Christian church and many modern Anglican / Episcopal churches of today.  The point in time at which it was first used in the Craft is unknown, but its use goes back to well before the persecutions began in the late fourteen hundreds. There is much speculation as to whether the word Pentacle meant a five pointed star within a circle or just a five points or sides drawn as a part of a symbol.  Either way it makes little difference to the Witch, as a Pentacle so perfectly identifies what we are and what we do, that no other symbol could do the job as well.   In the Pentacle we have the simplest, oldest and most complex symbol to have ever been used by the human race.  I know I seem to have just contradicted myself and you probably think that both statements can not true at the same time but I can assure you that they are.  I hope to make this clear to you shortly but first let’s take a look at the meaning of the Pentacle that has been passed down through the Craft.  It’s true meaning, and by this I mean the description of the pentacle in antiquity, is as follows.

The Pentacle as we have used it in the Craft for over a thousand years is a five pointed star enclosed within a circle, with each point touching the circle so as to form one solid object or symbol.  Each point symbolises a different element and I know that you have only read of four elements but in the Craft we know there are five.  These are Air, Earth, Fire and Water, the fifth and most important element is that of Spirit and is always represented by the uppermost point of the Pentacle.   This is because as an element Spirit rules over the other four elements and it is through this relationship that Magik is worked.  Though science has found many elements that go to make up matter and the physical realm, we understand that they are represented in their most simple form by Air, Earth, Fire and Water.  As these are the building blocks of all existence then to manipulate circumstance, matter and outcome we must firstly control these elements.  To do this we use Spirit, that is to say the spiritual element of our own existence.  For as we are in the spiritual sense the creators of the physical realm we have the power to change it as we see fit.  It is a simple but obvious understanding, one that is so simple it evades all but the most balanced and enlightened minds.  If you created reality as a spiritual being then you can change it by your will and focused with your intent.  This is the mechanism of Magik and through this simple but yet enormously complicated system the Witch derives their power.  So this is why we use a five pointed star as a part of our Magikal symbol.

The other feature of the Pentacle that we have not yet discussed is the circle that surrounds our star.  The circle can symbolise many things but the two most obvious one’s are: the never ending cycle of life, Birth, Life, Death and then Birth again.  And the turning of the year, an ancient Celtic idea that you can divide the year into wedges as if each were a part of a whole circle.  A bit like the wedges in a game of Trivial Pursuit except that the year is only divided into four not six.  One whole circle being the equivalent to one year which is also a cycle of Birth, Life, Death and then Birth again.

So over all, the Pentacle is a reminder that we created all of this physical realm and that by commanding the elements of creation we rule over it, but also that all of our existence is but a constant cycle of Birth, Life, Death and Re-Birth.  As I said before a complex system that is also very simple and is by its very simplicity one that confounds the so called wise one’s of our world.  Little more needs to be said on the subject of the Pentacle except perhaps to look at the material that it is made from and what size Pentacle you should wear.  Many years ago it was not safe to wear any kind of representation of one’s faith except perhaps a crucifix. If you possessed any kind of pagan amulet it would have been made of wood as this was all you could afford.  As time has progressed and some metals have lessened in price, it has become common place to wear Pentacles made of Sterling silver; this is for a number of reasons.  Whilst there are as I said a number of reasons, they can all be stated with one word…purity!  By this I mean the purity of the silver itself, as most other precious metals are not pure, for example let’s take gold. 24-carat gold is 99% pure, but who can afford to buy 24-carat, not that many of us I’m sure.  Next 18-carat gold is only 75% pure and 12-carat gold is 50% pure and so forth and so on.  Whereas, silver which is standardised as Sterling is 92.5% pure, is well within a price range we can all aford.   It’s hard enough for it to be well wareing and yet is almost pure.  Its purity along with its colour is also the reason it is the metal of choice for the Witch.  For as you look at Sterling silver that is well polished it will appear to be almost white.  This has long been recognised in folk law and amongst people as a sign of silver’s ability to defeat evil or negative forces.

Silver is also a metaphor for the relationship between a Witch and the Craft.  In that it is white and pure looking whilst you maitian it regulaly but let your cleaning of it lapse and it will soon turn black.  So the Witch must maintain and tend to their Craft or it will tarnish.  And be it your Craft or your silver Pentacle that tarnishes you will find recovering it back to the way it was to begin with is much harder work that to simply maintain it in the first place.  The size of the pentacle you wear is up to you, as is whether you chose to wear it openly or hidden.  Pentacles made of Sterling silver are readly availabil in many sizes but when choseing, one please consider this one factor.  Your Pentacle if seen by others is like your robes, the larger it is and the more showy the design the more silly you will look.  I personaly ware a pentacle that is around 30mm across and is just plain silver in design.  I also wear my Pentacle quite openly and with pride for when I was a Christien I wore a crucifix, so why should I be any different now that I am a Witch?

Chapter 5

Thoughts and Knowledge

The Nature of Magik

In the next chapter of this book we will build upon some of the concepts that we will study here in this chapter.  These will be fundamental to your understanding of the Craft and how Magik works.  So let’s begin with the nature of the universe and how this wonderful world and the entire universe came into being in the first place.  Four hundred years ago the Craft was very different from the Craft of today.  Its practitioners may well have admitted to belief in a creation myth as an explanation of how everything came to be.  They would have been deity oriented and this would have been polytheistic.  By this I mean to say they would have had many gods including God almighty, Jesus, the Devil, and many pagan deities. They would have mixed and matched the deity’s abilities to the work in hand, and would have done so impervious to any conflict produced by this strange mixture of religious eclecticism.

Also around the same time there was a more enlightened philosophy being spoken of for the first time.  A French philosopher called Rene Descartes said “I think therefore I am” or more correctly translated as “I think therefore I exist” and this was to have a profound effect upon the Craft.  As this more enlightened philosophy has grown in popularity over the last four hundred years, and our understanding of it has increased, it has become the cornerstone of the philosophy of Witchcraft.  It is by this piece of philosophy and its implications that we have come to understand the very nature of our universe and therefore the nature of Magik itself.  Magik is, at best, stated as “the ability to alter matter, circumstance, or the outcome of any given situation by the imposition of one’s will”.  This is by no means a definitive description of Magik but will serve to make a point.  If the Witch through the Craft is able to alter Matter, or the nature of reality in any given situation, the Witch must by the process of logic be a part of the creative force of the universe.  If we are not, then we cannot alter anything, for if you do not have the power of creation then you do not have the power to alter it.  Four hundred years ago our ancestors believed that they did not have this power and that they needed to placate the gods with offerings to enable Magik to be worked.  We, four hundred years later, know now, due to the more enlightened times in which we live, that the gods were as much a tool any other that we have learned about.  The faith that was put in the gods of old was faith placed in entities that had no more power in themselves than the power your faith places in your wand.

As result of the statement “I think therefore I exist,” we have come to understand that all of our reality is only there because we as spiritual beings have chosen for it to be so.  So if this is the true nature of the physical universe that we inhabit, then by default we do create reality and therefore have the power to change any aspect of it as we see fit.  As we have come to this understanding, the need for deities has shown a dramatic decline with the Craft.  And indeed the use of deities by some of our fraternity is now seen by many Witches as a hindrance or even a sign of a less powerful practitioner.  For the power of a creator is somewhat watered down when you invest that power in a non-existent deity, rather than taking responsibility for it yourself. It is worth mentioning before we move onto our next subject that with each day that passes sciences move closer and closer to proving that we live in an existential universe.

Existentialism is the philosophical name for the concept of “I think therefore I exist” and is thought to be the explanation of our existence by many noted philosophers.  Quantum physics has already proved that matter obeys the mind and thus by implication that thoughts create reality.

The Implications of Existentialism

In many different Magikal systems around the world the practitioners of those systems ask, beg, offer up sacrifices, and punish themselves.  All in the hopes of gaining the favour of the deity that they wish to help them with their Magikal work.  Yet the implication of existentialism in these situations is both a far reaching and profound one.  Let us look at just one aspect of Magikal practice that is uniformly used by most Magikal practitioners no matter what path they may follow.   That is the calling or summoning of the elements or guardians when one casts a formal circle.  In basic Wicca the guardians are asked to attend the proceedings.  In formal gardnarian Wicca they are begged by the humble and inferior practitioner to do so.  And so it is quite normal within most pagan traditions to ask, beg and beseech the elements or guardians to attend a circle.  This is because the practitioners of these religions start out from a position of belief that they are merely physical beings on a spiritual journey.  What they have failed to grasp is that they are in fact spiritual beings on a human journey and as such are not subjects of the god’s living upon a created world.  But are in fact the gods of creation living upon a world that they created for themselves.  Why we all chose to create this world and inhabit it is a subject for another day, but we did.  At the end of the day this means that a Witch never begs or asks or even beseeches an element to attend their circle, they command it to do so.  For if we are the creators then all aspects of the creation will obey us.  All that then remains is for us to show the wisdom we discussed in a previous chapter and in doing so know when to interfere and when not to interfere with nature.  So you see the knowledge that you start with will determine the direction and style in which you travel.  You can start from a position of “I am just a mortal being begging the gods for help to get by in life”.  Or you can start from a position of “I am a creator and therefore I will command reality to obey me” and your life will be in your own hands.  The choice is yours but from a Magikal point of view which do you think is more successful when living and working the Craft on a daily basis.  I can not answer this for you I can only give my opinion based on my own experience and that is as follows:  whether you are a Christian or a pagan it makes little difference anytime you give up your power to a deity you are in effect creating a cop out for yourself.

The Christian that does not obey the Bibles command to simply lay hands on the sick to heal them, but in fact creates a ritual, and as a part of that ritual says something to the effect of, “oh God heal this your servant if it be in your will”, is just creating an excuse for their own lack of faith so that when the healing is not forthcoming they can declare that it was not in Gods will.   So it is with some pagans they chose to beg the gods for help and as a result their Magikal workings are either less effective or not effective at all.  They then use their fall back position and proudly state it was not in the gods wills or even worse they blame the client by saying you did not believe enough in the work being done.  I hope you can see from this that only if you start with a firm understanding of why you are able to work Magik can you stand any chance of success in you workings.  And most importantly we must as Witches take responsibility for our Magikal work whether it is successful or not.

Desires and Needs

It would seem obvious to many people that if we all co-create the universe together then we should all be powerful and fabulously wealthy beings.  Why not, I mean if you can just wish things into existence then you would have all that you desire wouldn’t you?  Well the answer is yes you would, but and there’s always a but, what you need and what you want are two very different things.  There are two forces at work here; one is this wonderful playground we call the universe that we created for ourselves.  The other is the wisdom we gain as we grow and develop within the Craft.

Firstly let us take a quick look at the checks and balances that are built into the existence in which we live.  We in a Magikal sense are somewhat protected from ourselves.  If we cast to try to obtain the things we want but don’t need we never seem to succeed.  If we do succeed it is always fleeting and soon fades away, most of the time we have no success at all.  This is because the spiritual beings that exist beyond the physical beings that we are, had such foresight that they saw fit to create the universe with its own set of rules.  Some of those rules were put there to protect us from ourselves.  In a physical sense and on a day to day basis we are free to do as we wish whether it be good, bad, or downright depraved and evil.  In a Magical sense we are not, whilst we can use the Craft to do enormous harm to others, we are prevented from using it to harm ourselves.  It would seem that we as Witches are limited not by what we can do to or for others, but by what we can do to ourselves.  So we gave ourselves free will in all matters except that of our own well being.  We did this because we did not trust ourselves to have Magical power over our own physical existence, so we took ourselves out of the equation.  We gave power over this aspect of our existence to the mechanism we call nature.  Now this may seem a strange state of affairs, until we consider our tendencies as a race to elect ourselves to human godhood.  By human godhood I refer to those individuals such as Caesar, Hitler, Hirohito and many more throughout history that have seen fit to declare themselves deity, and therefore unquestionable by other human beings. You see it’s a lot harder to think of yourself as god incarnate when you have a major incurable illness, the cars just about had its day, and day to day life is an up hill struggle.  These everyday problems serve to keep us firmly rooted on the ground and in touch with what it means to be human.  So there are rules built in to our reality that were put there by ourselves to protect us from ourselves and as such you break them at your own peril.

The rules we have just learned about serve a purpose and as such should not be tampered with.  When we do choose to tamper with them the consequences can be dire and sometimes even fatal.  Let us consider the difference between (Wants and Needs) and yes there is a difference between the two.  A Want is something we desire but do not require to live a happy and contented life.  A Need is a necessity, something that is essential for our wellbeing.  A Want could be a bigger house, a better paid job, a larger TV, a foreign holiday or just about any other thing you desire that you don’t need to survive.

A Need on the other hand would be a roof over your head, food to eat, transport to work, a job to go to, and just about any other thing that is essential for you to live from day to day. Why is it a bad thing for us to acquire the things we Want, well let’s have another story shall we?  In late September of 1955 one evening the well known British actor Alec Guinness entered a small restaurant in Hollywood and asked for a table.  The waiter surprised him by showing him to a table that was already occupied.  Upon being seated he found himself facing the very famous American actor James Dean.  James Dean explained he was a big fan of Alec Guinness’s work and asked him have dinner with him.  Before Alec Guinness could even accept this kind offer James Dean asked him to join him outside so he could show him his new car that had just arrived from Germany.  Alec Guinness to the day he died was very disturbed by what happened next.  As James Dean showed him the car Alec Guinness was overcome with a sense of horror and told James Dean that if he ever drove this car it would end in his death.  James Dean dismissed this and they had a wonderful evening together.  James Dean died in that car just a few days later.  Now I tell you this tale because it demonstrates a point.  James Dean did not need a German sports car and given their reputation for difficult handling, was probably not well advised in buying one.  So his desire and Want directly lead to his death, an American car would have transported him just as well and a lot more safely.  This is why it is never a good idea to seek after Wants as opposed to Needs.  And if you do so, and particularly through Magik, it won’t end well it never does.

Needs on the other hand has its own set of problems.  I mean how do you sort out your Needs from your Wants.  This is always a thorny and difficult problem and there is not always an easy answer.  If you are a solitary practitioner of the Craft then you must have a friend or relative to confide in.  If you aren’t then things are a little easier for you in this matter.  You see you will never be totally objective when the Needs are your own.  How could you be, we all lie to ourselves on a regular basis, we say things like.  “I just need a new large screen TV like the one they have next door because my eyes are getting bad due to my age”, said by a healthy forty two year old man.  So we are not able to be objective when the Needs directly affect us and our lives.  If you are a solitary this is where a friend or family member comes in handy.  You can discuss your Needs and Wants with them and they, being objective, can point out which are Needs and which are not.  However far better off is the Witch that is in contact with others of their kind, as this will offer a different solution.  It is a piece of wisdom that to avoid working for a Want as apposed to a need one should never work for oneself.  In fact in any situation where the client is you then the work should be carried out by a trusted college for they will see the truth of the situation and act accordingly.  So please understand that not all that we want is good for us and consequently will not be forthcoming.  And remember never have fool for a client i.e. yourself, for that is a road of much misery and humiliation and one I hope you each manage to avoid.

Magikal Workings

There are many kinds of Magikal workings, at one end of the scale some will be assertive and at the other end some will be defensive and the rest will fall somewhere in between.  These may seem like very broad definitions and they are, but we will discuss them in a little more detail in the following paragraphs.  As we do I hope you will see that all the Magik you will do in the future will fall roughly into one of these three categories.

The term Assertive Magik covers a large range of spells and rituals all of which are proactive in nature.  By proactive I mean they require you to become involved in a situation as opposed to merely tinkering with it.  When recently a friend of mine asked for advice about how to deal with someone they knew that was being misled by a self appointed guru, I could have said just cast some kind of protective spell and leave it at that, this of course would have been tinkering.  Instead I suggested a spell that would on the one hand bind the guru from his intended victim and on the other would open the eyes of his intended victim to the danger they were in.  This would require my friend to get actively involved in working against another and could therefore be described as Assertive.  Other examples of the use of Assertive Magik are any situation that requires you to restrict attack or interfere with the free will of another.  Even when we set out to find a missing object by commanding its safe return, the using of Magik to secure its safe return interferes with the free will of any person who may now be in possession of it.  This is because by commanding its return you are causing it to be returned willingly or unwillingly.  So whether the possessor wishes to keep the object or not they have no choice in the matter and must return it. For this reason situations such as the ones you have just read about are clearly Assertive in nature.  These examples are Assertive because they require the imposing of your will over another’s.  These are just two examples of Magik that sits at one end of the scale or cycle, there are of course many more.

Next let’s look at Magik that sits at the other end of the scale or cycle.  Defensive Magik does largely what it says on the can.  It’s Defensive in as much as it protects without the need to impede another’s free will in any way.  When we defend we protect ourselves, our loved ones, our friends or even those we don’t very much care for.   To be defensive is all about making sure that our shields are good and that all those we are caring for are protected by them.  The following is a simple to do verbal spell / visualisation that is defensive in nature and harmless to all who do not wish to harm you. As for those that would wish harm on you, then the spell deals with that but does not require you to cast anything against another.

Circle, circle on the ground

All negativity rebound

To whence it came

And be ground

As you repeat this you see yourself as the centre of a nuclear explosion and the shockwave going out from you is the magical force you project. When your force meets the harm that is meant for you the rebound effect acts as an accelerant and returns the harm to the person who sent it forth in the first place.  But at a greatly accelerated rate and only grounds its self after the feed back is done with.  In grounding it can harm no one other than the one who sent it forth in the first place.

I hope it is obvious from the example above that this is a way of protecting one’s self or any others for that matter.  Without trying to harm or in anyway interfere with another and is for that reason purely Defensive.  I also hope it is obvious that we always prefer to help / protect by Defensive means, as this incurs only a positive return for the work we have done.

If we choose to interfere with the free will of another the return could be positive for we have done a good thing or it could be negative because we have impeded the free will of another.  So defensive work is always preferable for the obvious reasons I have set forth above.  As we have learnt Magik is circular in nature and both extremes are next to each other with only a fine line separating them. This is obvious if you think of it as it reflects situations in other aspects of human existence.  In politics we say that the extreme right is fascist and the extreme left is communist.  They both use the same tactics to control the masses, unjust trials, draconian laws and invasive surveillance.  Yet they do these things for supposedly different reasons.  So it is with Magik we have Assertive at one side of the line and Defensive at the other, both are very similar yet both are very different.

Then we have the rest, i.e. everything that lies between the two ends of the scale and this is so varied and vast that where to begin is the question that comes to mind.  This area out of the whole landscape of Magik is the part where most of the Magik you do in your life time will fall.  Everything from a charm to aid self confidence to help with someone’s career, or even the joining of a couple together as man and wife, some of the workings you do will be more towards the Assertive and some more towards the Defensive end but all will fall somewhere on the scale.  Healing is a good example of Magik that you will be called upon to do often and it falls exactly at the middle point on the scale of Magikal practices.   This is because when we work to heal we have to consider many varying factors such as what is best for the patient.  Do they wish a healing to be done on their behalf and are you going to heal them through your power to create or just cast a general health spell and hope for the best.  The answer to these questions will dictate how you will proceed in any given situation.  If you take authority over the illness and enforce your will upon the situation you will be acting in a more Assertive way than you would if you just cast an all heal spell for the person’s wellbeing.  So even when working for a healing we have to choose whether we are willing to get assertively involved or simply work from a purely Defensive point of view and thereby remain neutral.  I could continue giving examples of where different kinds of Magikal work are to be found on the scale, but that would take the rest of this book and any other that I might write in the future so I won’t.   Instead I will tell you that knowledge gained too easily is never valued.  In other words you will learn all you need to know through the experiences that you have and that is as it should be.

Chapter 6

The Elements and Other Understandings

The Elements

In the world that we live in the elements seem to have gotten a little mixed up to say the least.  So I shall Endeavour to clarify the situation and set forth the old way of identifying the elements, their direction and what they stand for or represent.  Firstly in the Craft we have never worked with just four elements, we always worked with five.  They are as follows and in this order: Air, Earth, Fire, Water and the most important of all Spirit.  Spirit being the most important because Spirit is a part of us and it is through Spirit that we control the other four elements and by this mechanism do Magik.  Look at any pentacle and you will see that there are the four elements represented each by a point of the pentacle with the fifth element, Spirit, uppermost ruling over the other four.

You may be familiar with the modern assignments of elements to compass directions but these are incorrect so let us look at the more ancient assignments and why they were so assigned.  In the UK when one faces north one invariably feels the North wind and as wind is associated with Air it became normal in the Craft to assign the element of Air to the North.  At that time if one was to travel East across the North Sea to Europe the land seemed to go on forever and early man did not know that eventually the land reached the ocean so they assigned the element Earth to the East.  If one looks to the south in the UK on any day when the weather is fine one feels the warmth of the sun on one’s face so in the Craft it became normal to assign the element of Fire to the South.  At the same time if you were to travel to the west by boat you would find yourself in the Atlantic Ocean; a stretch of water so vast that it was thought to go on forever and so in the Craft it became normal to assign the element of Water to the West.  As you can see the assignments of the elements to the compass points differ from the neo pagan (modern order).  But I hope also that you will now understand why the old way of doing things is both more practical and more meaningful.  Obviously setting out the elements on the floor or an alter as shown in the diagram above would not work out to be the exact compass points of North, East, South and West.  But we shall discuss that and other issues pertaining to elemental work in a later chapter.  One last point should be made about the elements and their assigned compass points Air is always directed to the North and then the other Elements follow on from there in a clockwise direction.

Spirit

Spirit as an element is a concept that you may or may not have encountered before, either way it is a fundamental concept within the Craft.  For if we do not command and rule over the elements then how can we practice and perform Magik with them.

You can not mould, change and manipulate matter, circumstance and outcome if you do not create it in the first place.  It is for this reason that Spirit is of such importance to the Witch as it is through Spirit that Magik works.  To the Witch the universe has an existential nature, that is to say (we think therefore it is). In other words everything in the physical realm is only as it is because we think it to be so.  It then follows that if we decide that something in this physical realm needs to change all we need do to change it is to think of it as changed and it will be so.  Now this of course is a massive over simplification of the universe, Magik and the performing of it.  But it is a very important part of the understanding of Spirit and its role within the Craft.

Spirit, Soul or any other name you may chose to give it, is the eternal aspect of our existence and as such may simply be defined as the real you.  It is often said that we are human beings on a spiritual journey, but in the Craft we know that the truth is that we are spiritual beings on a human journey.  We are quite literally the beings that by wishing it into place created the universe and the entire physical realm, a realm that we now inhabit as human beings in a physical sense.  But behind every physical person there is a spiritual being and that being is a creator of the all that is apart of this physical realm.  So at the risk of repeating myself, as a creator of the universe you have the ability to change it in any way you may feel you need to.  Now as you learn your Craft I’m sure you will learn to exercise good judgement as to when to change things and when not to do so.  But always remember that nothing is beyond your abilities but it may be beyond what you are willing to do for any number of reasons.

So as a spiritual being you are immensely powerful and one aspect of the power that we all posses is that we rule the elements and they serve us not the other way around.  So it is for this reason that spirit is always depicted as above or ruling over the other four elements.  Now there many attributes that the element of Spirit possesses that we could discuss and fill pages with.  But if I told you everything you needed to know, you would not have to study at all so again I say Knowledge gained to easily is never valued.

Air

The most noted aspect of Air as an element is its connection with divination and the many arts that are practiced in order for the Witch to become the seer.  Long has the Witch has been sought out by none Magikal folk to advise on a wide range of subjects.  Being a seer has been one of the most sought after of the services provided by the Witch.  When we talk of divination we are of course referring to such practices as Tarot, Crystal ball reading, Runes, pendulums and any other visionary arts.  Nearly all forms of divination involve the use of some sort of tool.  Now we must remember that tools have no powers of their own, they are simply a way of focusing your own abilities and in this aspect of our Craft they are most useful.

Let us take one of the most widely used forms of divination, Scrying with water and ink.  The water and ink themselves have no power so how do these simple items help you, the Witch, advise the client?  Well, there are two sides to your brain, one side deals with all things practical.  And the other side deals with all things spiritual and ethereal.  All the ink does when it is dropped into water, which has been stirred, is form patterns.  It is through the interpretation of these patterns that information is divulged to the Witch and then passed onto the client.  Now ink is just ink and water just water, so there must be more going on than first meets the eye.  There is the water and the ink and any patterns that you see simply allow the two halves of your brain to connect.  In other words your spiritual brain senses things about your client’s situation.  And through the patterns that you see your practical brain is able to speak out what you have seen.  Now, this is but one aspect of the element if Air and as I stated above “knowledge gained to easily is never valued”.  So you must strive to study this element for yourselves but I will leave you with the following final thought on the subject of the element of Air.  The element of Air encompasses all things not solid or corporeal and therefore is the element most closely associated with spoken Magik, spoken Magik being the goal that all Witches aspire to, it being the purest form of Magikal practice.

Earth

The element of Earth is in many ways the exact opposite of the element of Air, although not when laid out in a Witches circle.  Earth is all about the practical, the Physical, and the solid.  Earth deals with the material needs of the Witch, the tools of a Witch, and other aspects of the Craft - such as Herbology.  It is the element of the tangible, of the solid object, and of the doing side of the Craft.  It is through the element of Earth that we posses the Knowledge to heal with herbs, make a wand or sew and make a ritual robe.  If we could not make our tools or cloths and we did not know how to cast a candle or pick and dry herbs we would not be Witches of much use.  The truth is that as a large amount of the work that we do as Witches is of a practical nature the element of Earth is very important to us.  For ours is not a Craft of fluffy rainbow coloured pie in the sky nonsense, but one of feet firmly rooted to the ground in practicality.  Let us look at just one small aspect of the Craft that involves the element of Earth.

The making of a Wand is an ancient and very precise art within the Craft.  Though we in our time realise that the Wand has no power of its own, our ancestors believed otherwise.  So the making of a Wand became a precise art form and requires a great deal of skill.  First you must have the knowledge of wood then you need to know about crystals and their various properties.  Then you must learn all the processes involved in crafting your Wand.  Finally you need to know how to assemble these items into your Wand.  As you can see each component of your wand is connected to the earth in some way.  So an item as simple as a Wand involves the element of Earth throughout its manufacture.  It is for this reason that the Wand is associated with the element of Earth.  We will learn more about the Wand, its making, use, and laws a little latter on in this book so don’t worry.  As you can see each element is a complex subject.  And as I have said before I am not going to tell you any more about this element for you must study it and learn it for yourself.  Only then will you understand how valuable knowledge gained through your own research is.

Fire

Fire as an element is interesting in as much as to early man Fire must have been seen as Magik itself.  It is only with a more sophisticated understanding of the universe that we have come to see Fire as an element.  Therefore we now view Fire as an element involved in Magik, not just as the whole of Magik itself.  Fire as an element encompasses many things such as one’s emotions, revenge, new opportunities and death.  Let’s take a quick look at just one of the many aspects of the element of Fire.

People have many different emotional states but when we are describing some one who is annoyed or upset.  We use the term “He/She saw red” to describe a person who has become very angry or lost their temper.  To see red is to lose one’s self control or as it is often said “to have the red mist descend” which clouds one’s judgement.  Yet red is just a colour no different from any other, except that it is a component colour of the element of Fire.  Already we see how the element of Fire is being associated with human emotions.  Fire is thought to represent anger, love, and passion - all of which are emotions that we as Witches posses just as do all other humans.  But once again I am not going to elaborate further on the subject of the element of Fire, as you must search out further knowledge of the element of Fire for yourselves.

Water

Water is our final element but is by no means the least of the five elements.  The element of Water is associated with new births, fertility, energy, and power.  Let’s briefly look at one aspect of the element of Water and how it impacts our world today.  Let us look at New Birth, immediately it is fairly obvious that without the element of Water there would be no such thing.  In fact there would be no life at all without Water both in reality and in a Magikal sense.  For all life needs Water to survive and thus the Magikal laws associated with Water and its uses are well known to the Witch.

In Christianity one is washed clean of one’s sins by baptism (new birth).  Now we all know that simply being dipped in water does not miraculously cleanse you of your responsibility for your wrong doings, but to the Christian it does, all be it in a spiritual sense, which is no different from the Witches Magikal view that the element of Water has power beyond that which is visible.  We are all creatures of Water for we are all born through the waters of our mothers wombs.  And we are in fact mainly composed of Water, which is why we as Witches feel such an affinity with this most abundant element.  There is much that could be written on the subject of the element of Water but as before I remind you of the fact that you should study this subject for yourselves.  So once more I remind you that knowledge to easily gained is never valued.

Chapter 7

Nuts and Bolts

You know by now that I like to use a lot of stories to teach the points I am trying to make.  I am about to continue to do so, as not all things can be taught with diagrams, unfortunately.  But I hope that if you bear with me you will see the relevance of the following tale to the subject at hand.

Shirley (her real name) is a dear friend I have known since the beginning of 2003 and she lives to this day in North Carolina USA.  When I first met Shirley she would identify herself as a Witch but it would be truer to say she had been taught a form of Wicca.  Shirley had been taught Magik by an old lady who after teaching her for about a year had died suddenly.  I met Shirley not long after this and we became good friends and of course we would share our experiences and talk about the Magik work we each did.  One day Shirley was somewhat agitated, to say the least, and upon asking what the problem was this is the tale she told.  She said you see the VCR blew up the other day and the microwave the day after that.  Then the car engine went bang and now I opened the toilet door having heard a loud noise and the cistern has exploded and water is shooting out of the bowl and into the air.  This of course sounded quite funny in a sort of perverted way and Shirley now laughs about it herself but at the time it wasn’t funny at all.  Then she said that she had been casting spells on the previous Saturday evening and she hoped she had not done anything that may have caused all these mishaps.  I inquired how she had gone about her Magikal work and immediately discovered the problem.  She was explaining how she had cast her first spell and I said stop right there.  I then asked her how she had created her Witches circle or sacred space and she had no idea what I was talking about.  So I explained it to her as I do to you now.  Imagine the energy that you are working with is like children’s bubbles.  They float around and when they touch something they burst.  So dose energy and for this reason before we start to do Magik we create a Witches circle.  Think of it like a glass tube that is so large you can stand inside it and it is solid except for a window.  When you start to cast your spell you create lots of spurious little pockets of energy that are contained within the tube.  You open the window to let out the energy you have raised.  So it can do the Magik you have been working and all the little pockets of energy are still contained in the tube.  But if you have not created a Witches circle of containment then one may hit the VCR or the microwave or escape outside to the car or even blow up the toilet.  Upon hearing this she could see the truth of it and realised she had not been taught what she needed to be safe.  Since then Shirley has studied and learnt her Craft through good and bad times and I am pleased to be able to say that today she is a very competent Witch.  As I said earlier we laugh about it now and amongst our friends Shirley is referred to as Aunt Clara a character from the TV show Bewitched.  Aunt Clara was the dotty old Witch that always got her spells wrong with comical results.  I have told you this story so you would understand that to begin with you must learn how to cast a Witches circle for your own protection and the safety of others.  Please note that with lots of practice a Witches circle my not be needed but when first starting out it is essential.

So how do you cast/create a Witches circle you may ask?  Well to start with you will need several things they are as listed below:

A = Broom = (Besom)

B = A room with enough space to either mark out or imagine an eight foot circle

C = Four candles as large or as small as you wish, coloured or white either will be fine

D = Something to light your candles

E = Something to snuff them out with (never blow out a candle it pits two elements against each other - air and fire)

Firstly clear a space large enough to contain a circle that you, and any other people you may wish to have with you in your circle, could easily sit down in without breaking the circle’s boundaries. Next, with your Besom sweep the space in a clockwise direction starting in the Middle and working outwards until you reach a doorway then sweep through the doorway to cleanse the room. This will remove all the negative energy in the space and prepare it for your working.  When this is done you can start to prepare your space for the celebration you are going to perform.

First Place a candle to mark the northern quarter point, then mark the other quarter points East, South and west by placing a coloured or white candle representing the Element for that quarter.

The correspondence of colour to element is as follows but please note that white candles will do just as well:

North = AIR = white

East = EARTH = Green

South = FIRE = red

West = WATER = blue

Now place the other items either on the floor within your intended circle or on a small table within your intended circle.  Then standing in the center of your intended circle facing North, now speak out the following words.

Element of air dweller of the north you bring to us life itself, through the breaths we take.  I now command you to attend my circle this day / night.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Next moving in a clockwise direction we come to East now speak out the following words.

Element or Earth dweller of the east you bring to us food through the plants that grow and the animals that live upon you.  I now command you to attend my circle this day / night.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Next moving in a clockwise direction we come to South now speak out the following words.

Element or Fire dweller of the South you bring to us warmth through the sun in the day and fire at night.  I now command you to attend my circle this day / night.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Next moving in a clockwise direction we come to West now speak out the following words.

Element or Water dweller of the west you bring to us life from the water we drink to the fish we eat.  I now command you to attend my circle this day / night.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Now finally finish of the creating of your circle by traveling all the way around it from North to North again and as you do so speak these words.

Circle be cast upon the ground

A sacred circle true and round

A place of Magik calm and still

Cast by me, and through my will

Now enjoy the sacred space you have created for as long as you wish, just sit there and enjoy the calm of its sacredness.

When you are done resting and enjoying the peace of the circle you will need to undo or take down your circle.  This is accomplished in the following manner.  Start by standing in the center of your circle facing North; now speak out the following words as you travel around your circle from North to North in an anticlockwise direction.

Purpose served, Magik done

Elements called, worked as one

Sacred space calm and still

Dismissed by me, through my will

Now continuing to work in an anticlockwise direction and starting facing west / water say the following words.

Element of Water, dweller of the west I now command you to leave my circle this day / night.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Next moving in an anticlockwise direction we come to South now speak out the following words.

Element of Fire, dweller of the south I now command you to leave my circle this day / night.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Next moving in an anticlockwise direction we come to East now speak out the following words.

Element of Earth, dweller of the east I now command you to leave my circle this day / night.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Next moving in an anticlockwise direction we come to North now speak out the following words.

Element of Air, dweller of the north I now command you to leave my circle this day / night.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

As this is your first true Magikal working, then I’m sure some things will not have gone as planned. Don’t worry, we all make mistakes no matter how long we have been practicing the Craft.  As this was a very simplified way to cast a Witches circle, we will look at more complex ways later on in this book.  But the things we should remember above all else are that the circle no mater what form it takes is a necessary part of our growing in the Craft and that practice makes perfect.  It is for this reason that I recommend you cast a circle as above as many times as you wish until you’re confidant in your ability to do so when needed.

Creating a spell

Creating a spell may sound like a simple task but I can assure you it is not.  No matter how many years you practice the Craft spell creation will never become an easy task.  It may well become easer with lots of experience but it will never be an easy thing to do in itself.  However there are some tips of the trade, so to speak, that will help us with the task of creating spells.  First break down your spell into the following categories.  The Objective, the Aim, the Mnemonic or rhyme and the Execution of the spell.  Let’s now take a closer look at each of these elements that all go to make a successful spell.

The Objective of a spell may seem on the face of it simple and you are probably thinking right now that the objective of a spell is no more than what you wish to achieve with it, but is it?   The objective of a spell is not only what you wish to happen but also what you do not wish to happen.  I refer of course to the old thorny subject of consequences, those unexpected side effects that we never wished to happen in the first place.  So when you start to plan out a spell I suggest you spend twice as much time considering the things you don’t want to happen as you spend on considering the thing you wish to achieve.  I personally do this and can tell you from experience that if you do this you will always have a good foundation to build your spell upon.

Whilst the Objective is the over all thing you wish to achieve with your spell.  The Aims of it are the individual steps you take to achieve your Objective.  For example if you are doing a binding spell and it requires a poppet doll.  The first Aim you will probably have is to make / create the poppet itself.  The next may be to assemble all the items that will be needed in the binding. So that whereas the Objective is what you are working for the Aims are the steps you take to achieve it.

Mnemonics or Rhymes are synonymous with the preverbal image of a Witch and for good reason.  Mnemonics and Rhymes are simply the best way to remember tried and tested spells.  Who of us was not taught the Rhyme “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” when we were children.  It was taught to us as a Rhyme so we would not forget it and to remind us that apples are good for us.  In the same way Witches learn their spells in the form of Mnemonics or rhymes so that they will be able to remember them when needed.  There are advantages to memorizing one’s spells, the most obvious one being that were you go so do your spells.  Now it would be remiss of me if I did not point out that Mnemonics or Rhymes are no more effective Magikally than any other form of the spoken word.  But as it is easier to remember spells written in Rhyme, then this in it’s self may make your spells seem more effective.  And this may simply be because as you are not struggling to remember your spell you can put more concentration into it.   So the Mnemonic or Rhyme is an important part of your spell and should be given its proper place when you are considering the Aims of your spell.

The Execution or Working of your spell may need to take into account many factors and for this reason is at least as important as the Objective of the spell.  First you must consider how long your spell will take to cast.  Secondly you may need to factor in to you Execution, a time period in your day when you will be uninterrupted by others or outside influences.  This is so you can perform your spell in its entirety and of course it must include setting up for your spell and putting away afterwards.  You may need to make allowances for other factors as well.  For instances if you are going to burn say a piece of paper with a written spell on it.  And you don’t live alone then you may want to do so when you are home alone.  Because if you set the fire alarm off at night in a house full of people you probably won’t finish your spell before all hell lets loose.  From these brief examples I hope you can see that planning the Execution of your spell is just as important as any other part of the preparations that you should undertake when you start to create a spell.

Chapter 8 part 1

Holidays

In the modern neo-pagan world everyone seems to be caught up in the idea that all pagans should celebrate eight Holidays or festivals a year.  And that these celebration days are called Sabbats, this is totally untrue.  The concept of celebrating set points evenly spaced throughout the year is not a new one.  It is as old as the Craft its self but up until neo-pagan times members of the Craft only celebrated four days a year not eight as I previously mentioned.  And there was no such term as Sabbat in the Witches vocabulary; this was an invention of Dr Margaret Alice Murray a now disgraced anthropologist.  Who coined the term as a part of her theories on what she referred to as The Witch Cult in Western Europe published 1921.  In which she states that an unbroken chain of organised Witchcraft religion has existed throughout Europe dating back to the Druids.  As we have already learnt this is nonsense and her ideas are no longer given any credence by scholars.  But she is still highly thought of by Wiccans and other new age followers, to such an extent that to criticise Murray is to commit blasphemy.

The eight Holidays or feast days of modern times are as listed below (please note that they are listed in English and by their Celtic names where available).

SAMHAIN = Oct. 31 = (Halloween / Final Harvest)

YULE = Dec. 21= (Winter Solstice)

IMBOLC = February 2 = (First Planting)

OSTARA = March 21= (Second Planting)

BELTANE = May 1= (Mayday / Third planting)

LITHA = June 21= (Summer Solstice)

LUGHNASSADH = August 1= (First Harvest)

MABON = Sept. 21= (Second Harvest)

Some of the above dates will very slightly from time to time but the dates given are accurate enough for our purposes.

In the modern world in which we live, things such as (Second Harvest) and (First Planting) are far removed from our daily lives.  So it seems rather odd that the Neo-pagan movement has seen fit to embrace four extra Holidays that were not celebrated in the first place.  The four original days that were celebrated are as follows:

SAMHAIN = Oct. 31 = (Halloween / Final Harvest)

IMBOLC = February 2 = (First Planting)

BELTANE = May 1= (Mayday / Third planting)

LUGHNASSADH = August 1= (First Harvest)

Whether you chose to celebrate four or eight feast days a year is entirely up to you and which feast days you choose to celebrate is also your choice.  I personally choose to celebrate four feast days a year, the one’s I choose, the reasons why I choose to celebrate them and the basic rituals for doing so are as follows:

SAMHAIN = Oct. 31 = (Halloween / Final Harvest)

YULE = Dec. 21= (Winter Solstice)

BELTANE = May 1= (Mayday / Third planting)

LITHA = June 21= (Summer Solstices)

SAMHAIN = Oct. 31 = (Halloween / Final Harvest)

Samhain, Halloween or the Celtic New year, no matter what you choose to call it, is the most celebrated pagan holiday of modern times.  It has been adopted in our current society as a holiday for children and the ancient practice of Trick or Treating is now widely spread.  In antiquity it was a time when it was believed that the world of the living and the world of the dead would briefly touch allowing the dead to revisit the mortal world for just one night.  It is with this in mind that we celebrate Samhain to this day and make our homes welcoming to any ancestral spirit which may wish to visit us.  It is also the Celtic New Year and as such is a time to settle all of our unfinished business and then to celebrate the new beginning that a New Year offers us.  I personally choose to celebrate Samhain for the above reasons and because of all the current pagan holidays Samhain has been celebrated from the beginnings of known time.  So I choose to celebrate Samhain and usually do so with friends through the internet so the following ritual will work for an individual or a group either through the net or gathered together in the same place.

Ritual for Samhain

Firstly, clear a space large enough for the amount of people you expect to attend your ritual. Next sweep the space in a clockwise direction starting in the Middle and working outwards until you reach a doorway then sweep through the doorway to cleanse the room. This will remove all the negative energy in the space and prepare it for your ritual.  When this is done you can start to prepare your space for the ritual you are going to perform.

Secondly, place an alter in the North of the room with a candle on it to mark the northern quarter point, then mark the other quarter points East, South and west by placing a coloured or white candle representing the Element for that quarter.

The correspondence of colour to element is as follows but please note that a white candle will do just as well:

North = AIR = white

East = EARTH = Green

South = FIRE = red

West = WATER = blue

When you have done this then you can set up your alter. To do this you will need two white candles one placed to the right of your alter and one placed to the left. You will need a small candle just large enough to burn out in 1 night, a tea light should be ideal for this purpose.  This you must place in the center of your alter.  You will need two small portions of something to eat, each on its own plate and placed on your alter. One plate for you to consume, and one for you to leave out overnight for any ancestors that may wish to visit your home.  Also you should have two chalices or glasses of wine or cider to drink as well.  One for you to consume and one for you to leave out over night for any ancestors that may wish to visit your home.  Don't forget to have something to Light your candles with and something to snuff them out with after the ritual is over.

The Ritual

Having set out everything as above you are now ready to start your ritual.  So stand facing the altar, next you should request the presence of the all-powerful force of Mother Nature. This is done by inviting Mother Nature to attend your celebration; suitable wording for this is as follows.

Mother Nature we ask you to attend our celebration tonight and honor us with your presence as we recognize your role in the cycle of life and death.

Now light the candle to the right of your alter and the one to the left as well. To signify that you accept that she is present.

Now you should command the elements, start by facing north and commanding the elements in the following order, North, East, South, and West.  As you can see this means you will be working in a clockwise direction.  The following is a suggestion for how to command the elements

Element of air, dweller of the north you bring to us life itself, through the breaths we take.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Samhain.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east you bring to us food through the plants that grow and the animals the live upon you.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Samhain.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South you bring to us warmth through the sun in the day and fire at night.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Samhain.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Water, dweller of the west you bring to us life from the water we drink to the fish we eat.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Samhain.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

When you have commanded the elements you can move on to the main part of the ritual, this is as follows.

Tis the eve and truly alive we feel

The year now ends and we do congregate

For now is the last turning of the wheel

With friends to make merry and celebrate

Samhain has come the eve is here

Darkness rains and the cold duth come

Now is the tipping point of the year

As we are gathered together as one

Let us celebrate this joyous time

The realms now touch and spirits return

Remembering loved ones, yours and mine

Which we shall mark as candles burn

So the wheel full circle has now turned

So again I say a happy new year

The New Year is upon us as we have learned

Let’s all celebrate for Samhain’s here

Now you should begin the remembrance of your loved ones and ancestors by lighting the small candle you have placed in the centre of your alter.

Now eat one portion of the food you have placed on your alter.  Whilst you do this try to concentrate you thoughts on making it known spiritually that all your ancestors and friends who have gone before you are welcome in your home this night.

Then drink one of the chalices or glasses of wine or cider that you have placed on your alter, but remember to leave a small drink in the chalice or glass to use as a toast later on.  Again whilst you do this try to concentrate your thoughts on making it known spiritually that all your ancestors and friends who have gone before you are welcome in your home this night.

(Please allow two minutes of silence for all that are present to do so.)

At this point any person attending the ritual may if they chose, come forward and speak the name of and a little about a loved one, relative or friend that has passed on during this year.  If a person has more than one person to mention they may do so but they should be encouraged to keep what they say brief so as to give all a chance to speak.

If a person has no one that has passed this year they may mention a person that passed in a previous year.  When all those who wish to speak have done so you should propose a toast to all that where mentioned.  Use the last of the wine or cider you have in your chalice or glass for this toast.

(The following toast is a suggestion but you may use your own if you wish.)

May the very best of this life be the worst of the next life you live and all those that follow on thereafter.

Now, as this is the end of the year, it is a time to put aside all the feelings and things that are not resolved in your life.  Remember without death there can be no new life and so without you relinquishing any feelings of hurt or injustice there can be no new start for you in the New Year to come.

(Please, allow two minutes of silence for all that are present to do so.)

Now you should seal the ritual with a suitable spell.

(The following spell is a suggestion but you may use your own if you wish.)

A spell be cast upon this night

A year to bring all good cheer

Joy of winters first dark night

A blessed, happy and good year

Every one should now shout out in turn their agreement by saying aloud:  IT IS DONE.

When you have finished eating and drinking and letting go of all the unresolved things you have gathered in to your life this year, you can move on to the closing part of your ritual.

The cold now comes and it grows dark

Tales are told and history is spoken

The nights draw in and fires spark

The ancients believed the days were broken

But we will a wait the darkest night

So now rejoice and have no fear

When by our working we bring forth light

Make merry and mirth for it is New Year

The rituals over the celebrations begun

So let’s all celebrate, be happy and jolly

Now’s the time to have some fun

For soon will come the time of holly

Now you should dismiss the elements in reverse order starting with water.  (Please note you should never blow out a candle, as this would be causing two elements to oppose each other (i.e. Air and Fire), so snuff your candles out instead)

Element of Water, dweller of the west I now command you to leave this ritual of Samhain.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Fire, dweller of the south I now command you to leave this ritual of Samhain.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east I now command you to leave this ritual of Samhain.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Air, dweller of the north I now command you to leave this ritual of Samhain.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Finally you should thank Mother Nature for attending your ritual of Samhain by repeating the following words:

Mother Nature thank you for joining with us tonight may the coming days of winter remind us daily of the part you play in our lives.

Now extinguish your alter candles and your ritual of Samhain is over.

Please note the candle that you lit to mark your ancestors returning should be allowed to burn out overnight.  Also leave the food and drink that you put out for your ancestors out overnight. Then throw it out for the birds the next morning (DO NOT EAT OR DRINK IT) as to do so would be to disrespect any that visited you throughout the night.

Chapter 8 part 2

YULE = Dec. 21= (Winter Solstice)

Yule is another ancient feast that has been celebrated by the people for as long as can be remembered.  It was in its earliest form a festival of light, in other words people thought the sun was dieing and they held rituals to bring it back to life.  It also marked the shortest day and was seen as the tipping point of the year.  In the homes of the past it was tradition to bring in a log (the Yule log) and light it with a dry piece of the previous year’s Yule log.  Which was kept by the front door of the house and as the log brunt in the fireplace a piece of it would be taken out of the fire and allowed to cool.  When it was cold and safe to handle it would be wrapped up in a piece of cloth and put by the front door.  And so the cycle would repeat every year, each log brought into the house throughout the year would be put upon the fire so that it would continue the fire that was lit on Yule.  Only on the afternoon of Yule itself would the fire be allowed to burn out.  So that the ritual of bringing a Yule log into the house, blessing it, and welcoming it to the home, and then lighting it as I described earlier could take place.  It was believed that the fire must burn all year long to bring prosperity to the home.  And when you consider that the fire was warmth, cooking, and the only source of hot water that the people had, you can see why it was so important to them.  The role of the piece of part burnt and thoroughly dry Yule log was also to bring prosperity to the home.  It was also thought that it would ward off evil from entering in to the home; hence it was kept by the front door of the house.

I my self still have a Yule ritual every year as well as a ritual to mark the Winter Solstice. As regards a Yule log ritual, you will find one in a later book. In respect of a Winter Solstice ritual, you will find one set out below.

Ritual of Winter Solstice

Firstly, clear a space large enough for the amount of people you expect to attend your ritual. Next sweep the space in a clockwise direction starting in the Middle and working outwards until you reach a doorway and sweep through the doorway to cleanse the room. This will remove all the negative energy in the space and prepare it for your ritual.  When this is done you can start to prepare your space for the ritual you are going to perform.

Next, place an alter in the North of the room with a candle on it to mark the northern quarter point, then mark the other quarter points; East, South and West by placing a coloured or white candle representing the Element for that quarter.

The correspondence of colour to element is as follows but please note that white candles will do just as well:

North = AIR = white

East = EARTH = Green

South = FIRE = red

West = WATER = blue

When you have done this then you can set up your alter. To do this you will need two white candles one placed to the right of your alter and one placed to the left.  You will also need twelve small candles, tea lights would be ideal.  Set them out on you alter in a circle surrounding the two white candles so as to mark each month of the year.

Do this so that the candle/tea light that marks December is the most northern on your alter.  Also you will need 1 red pillar candle and a sharp implement to inscribe it with, and a piece of paper and a pen to write on it with.  Finally you will have to set out an alter tile if you have one if not a small plate will do instead.  These items you can place on your alter where ever is most convenient for you.  Before you start your ritual you must light the candles/tea lights that mark the months from July - December.  Don't forget to have something to Light your candles with and something to snuff them out with after the ritual is over.

The ritual

Having set out everything as above you are now ready to start your ritual stand facing the altar.  Now you should request the presence of the all-powerful force of Mother Nature. This is done by inviting Mother Nature to attend your ritual; suitable wording for this is as follows.

Mother Nature we ask you to attend our ritual tonight and honor us with your presence as we recognize your role in the cycle of life and death.

Now light the candle to the right of your alter and the one to the left as well, to signify that you accept that she is present.

When this is done all who will be taking an active part in the ritual should speak the following words.

In my heart I am pure

Perfect trust you may have in me

Of my intensions you maybe sure

Assured of my reasons you may be

Now you should call the Quarters, start by facing north   and calling the quarters in the following order, North, East, South, and West.  As you can see this means you will be working in a clockwise direction.  The following is a suggestion for how to call the Quarters.

Element of Air, dweller of the North you bring to us life itself through the breaths we take.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Winter Solstice.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the East you bring to us food through the plants that grow and the animals that live upon you.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Winter Solstice.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South you bring to us warmth through the sun in the day and fire at night.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Winter Solstice.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Water, dweller of the West you bring to us life from the water we drink to the fish we eat.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Winter Solstice.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

When you have called all the Quarters you can move on to the main part of the ritual this is as follows.

Hurry hurry winters here

Bringing snow, bringing fear

We are safe and fear nought this night

For we shall bring forth the Suns new light

The wheel has turned to Sosticetide

And there is no more, a need to hide

Tis midwinter, cold and dark

So the Solstice night, we shall mark

We celebrate the return of the light

As we gather together this night

From now on, warmth returns

As the Sun greater burns

So now is Solstice and make jolly

For it is the time of the holly

Happy, happy again I say

For it is the merry, Solstice day

Now you should light the other six candles on your alter starting with January and ending with June.  This is to mark the fact that from now on the days will grow longer and the Sun will rule the skies.

Then you should sit quietly and think carefully about what the Solstice means to you and what it meant to those who went before.

(Please allow two mins of silence for all that are present to do so.)

Now right on your piece of paper the things you feel you will need for the coming months and the things you wish for others you care about.  Then fold the piece of paper till it is small enough to fit on your alter tile or plate.  Next light the paper and let it burn whist you say a suitable spell.  After you have finished your ritual take the ashes outside and blow them in to the wind.

(The following spell is a suggestion, but you may use your own if you wish.)

Our needs and wishes do now burn

Things our harts and minds do yearn

This spell be cast, the Sun comes back

To banish the darkness cold and black

Every one should now shout out in turn their agreement by saying aloud: IT IS DONE.

Now take your red candle and with the sharp tool you have placed on your alter inscribe it with symbols of your choice to represent the Sun.  (If you have a white candle from the Summer Solstice then light it, and light your red candle from it.)  Otherwise light it, and later on snuff it out so you can relight it each night until the summer Solstice comes around.  If you are running out of candle, get another one ready and light it from your original candle. You can continue to do this as many times as you need to.

The Solstice we have now harked

From now on the days grow warm

The shortest day we have marked

The flowers bloom and the bees do swarm

Spring will come and bring new birth

Warmth will return to the world

We will celebrate with joy and mirth

As natures wonders are unfurled

So feel the warmth of the sun

No gloom will we have, nor shall we hide

Celebrate and have some fun

For it is the time of solstice tide

Next snuff out the six candles that mark July – December and having done so move on to dismiss the elements in reverse order starting with water.  Please note you should never blow out a candle, as this would be causing two elements to oppose each other (i.e. Air and Fire, so snuff your candles out instead)

Element of Water, dweller of the West I now command you to leave this ritual of Winter Solstice.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South I now command you to leave this ritual of Winter Solstice.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the East I now command you to leave this ritual of Winter Solstice.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Air, dweller of the North I now command you to leave this ritual of Winter Solstice.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Finally you should thank Mother Nature for attending your ritual of Winter Solstice by repeating the following words.

Mother Nature thank you for joining with us tonight may the coming days of winter remind us daily of the part you play in our lives.

Now extinguish your alter candles and your ritual of Winter Solstice is over.  Finally snuff out the six remaining candles/tea lights and you are finished.

Chapter 8 part 3

BELTANE = May 1= (Mayday / Third planting)

Beltane or Mayday, as you may know it, is a fertility festival that is still recognised and honoured around the world to this day.  As a festival it reminds us, that even now in the disconnected from nature world that most of us live in, fertility is still central to our survival.  And just as we understand this, so did our ancestors and just as they celebrated Beltane, so do we.  For even if you work in a concrete box and live in one you still have to eat and without fertility what food would you eat?  So from this point of view fertility is as relevant now as it was three hundred or even three thousand years ago.  It is for these reasons that I personally choose to celebrate Beltane.  I also choose to celebrate it because Beltane in its unashamed and uninhibited way demonstrates an attitude towards all things fertility and sexually that I find to be both very beautiful and very pagan.  It is after all the church that invented original sin and thus taught the people to be ashamed of their own bodies.  Pagans knowing this should not continue to propagate such unnatural nonsense and should embrace the concepts of fertility and nature being honoured in the celebrating of Beltane each and every year.  A simple ritual for celebrating Beltane is as follows.

Ritual for Beltane

Firstly, clear a space large enough for the amount of people you expect to attend your ritual. Next sweep the space in a clockwise direction starting in the Middle and working outwards until you reach a doorway and sweep through the doorway to cleanse the room. This will remove all the negative energy in the space and prepare it for your ritual.  When this is done you can start to prepare your space for the ritual you are going to perform.

Next, place an alter in the North of the room with a candle on it to mark the northern quarter point, then mark the other quarter points East South and west by placing a colored candle representing the Element for that quarter.

The correspondence of colour to element is as follows but please note that white candles will do just as well:

North = AIR = white

East = EARTH = Green

South = FIRE = red

West = WATER = blue

When you have done this then you can set up your alter. On your alter you will need two more candles. One placed to the right of your alter and one placed to the left. You should place a plant pot, soil, any tool you may need and the seed or bulb that is going to be your vessel in the middle of your alter.  Don't forget to have something to light your candles with, and something to snuff them out after your ritual is finished.

The Ritual

Having set out everything as above you are now ready to start your ritual, stand facing the altar.  Now you should request the presence of the all-powerful force of Mother Nature. This is done by inviting Mother Nature to attend your ritual; suitable wording for this is as follows.

Mother Nature we ask you to attend our ritual tonight and honor us with your presence.

Now light both the candles on your alter to signify that you accept that she is present.

Now you should summon the Quarters starting where you are, facing North.   You should summon the quarters in the following order North, East, South, and West.  As you can see this means you will be working in a clockwise direction.  The following is a suggestion for how to summon the Quarters.

Element of Air, dweller of the north you bring to us life itself through the breaths we take, I now command you to attend this ritual of Beltane.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east you bring to us food through the plants that grow and the animals the live upon you, I now command you to attend this ritual of Beltane.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South you bring to us warmth through the sun in the day and fire at night, I now command you to attend this ritual of Beltane.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Water, dweller of the west you bring to us life from the water we drink to the fish we eat, I now command you to attend this ritual of Beltane.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

When you have called all the Quarters you can move on to the main part of the ritual this is as follows.

Gather now in this sacred place

To celebrate a sacred time

Through ritual and fellowship

Much shared food and blessed wine

This is the time of Beltane and we of the craft have come together to celebrate. With each other and with those who are not with us, either through circumstance or through death. Either way we all celebrate together.  But also we are here to invest our hopes, needs, and dreams in our chosen vessels.  So as we prepare to plant what we have chosen let us concentrate all of our desires into that vessel before we plant it.

(Allow up to three minutes for others to focus their thoughts)

Now your hopes, needs, and dreams are firmly placed in what each of you has chosen to plant.  We should plant our vessel just as firmly in the earth of Mother Nature.

(Allow two minutes for people to plant their chosen vessel)

So as we have now planted our vessels let us cast spells to help them grow.  (The following spell is a suggestion, but you may use your own if you wish.)

This seed shall grow big and strong

All my needs will come through

The coming days warm and long

As life begins and grows anew

(Repeat your spell or chant enough times till you believe it will work)

Every one should now shout out in turn their agreement in whatever fashion they personally use.

A suggestion for this is: it is done

Beltane cometh Beltane goes

Hopes and dreams all will be

What is planted slowly grows

The wheel turns, you shall see

Now cometh the summertime

And happiness shall abound

All sharing food and much wine

As the Sun bathes the ground

Our ritual it is finished

Celebrate what has been done

Its Magik never will diminish

Be joyful happy and full of fun

Now you should dismiss the elements in reverse order starting with water.  Please note you should never blow out a candle, as this would be causing two elements to oppose each other (i.e. Air and Fire) so snuff your candle out instead.

Element of Water, dweller of the West I now command you to leave this ritual of Beltane.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South I now command you to leave this ritual of Beltane.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the East I now command you to leave this ritual of Beltane.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Air, dweller of the North I now command you to leave this ritual of Beltane.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Finally we should thank Mother Nature for attending our ritual of Beltane by repeating the following words.

Mother Nature thank you for joining with us tonight, may this child of yours that we have planted grow as strong as you are.

Now extinguish you alter candles and your ritual of Beltane is over.

Chapter 8 part 4

LITHA = June 21= (Summer Solstice)

Summer solstice or Midsummer’s Eve has more evidence of continuous celebration than probably any other pagan celebration / feast day.   As you may already know many of the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK and around Europe are positioned so that as the sun rises on the morning of Midsummer’s day, the first rays of sunlight strike certain points within the monument and this only happens at this time on this day every year.  So important was it to the people of the Neolithic period that they built their most impressive monuments in such a way as to incorporate this factor into them.

Let’s consider one such monument, (West Kennet Log Barrow) as the name says it is a barrow, in other words a burial chamber.  The chamber is situated under ground at the end of a passageway.  The passageway is around thirty to forty feet long and as the first rays of sun creep over the horizon on the morning of Midsummer’s day they strike right into the burial chamber itself.  So clearly this event taking place each year as it does was of great significance to our ancestors.  West Kennet is thought to be around five and a half thousand years old, so we know that Midsummer has been an important day in the year for the peoples of Europe for at least that long if not longer.  We know nothing of why it was so important nor do we know how it was celebrated, we only know it was.

In latter times it became the day of First Harvest, a time when grain would be gathered in and therefore marked the start of a period of easier times.  For with grain came bread and ale and many other foods that had probably run out many months before.  So it was the mid point of the year, a time of relative plenty and a holy day to the people.  It is not surprising that a day of such importance has remained popular as a celebration amongst the people up to this very day.  I personally choose to celebrate midsummer for all the reasons stated above, for if a day was so important to my ancestors who am I to choose to ignore it when they felt it to be of such importance.  My Summer Solstice is usually spent in the company of other members of the Craft and we celebrate the point of sun rise with a ritual.  A suitable ritual for you to start to celebrate Summer Solstice with is as follows.

Ritual for Summer Solstice

Firstly, clear a space large enough for the amount of people you expect to attend your ritual. Next sweep the space in a clockwise direction starting in the Middle and working outwards until you reach a doorway then sweep through the doorway to cleanse the room. This will remove all the negative energy in the space and prepare it for your ritual.  When this is done you can start to prepare your space for the ritual you are going to perform.

Next, place an alter in the North of the room with a candle on it to mark the northern quarter point, then mark the other quarter points East, South and West by placing a coloured or white candle representing the Element for that quarter.

The correspondence of colour to element is as follows but please note that a white candle will do just as well:

North = AIR = white

East = EARTH = Green

South = FIRE = red

West = WATER = blue

When you have done this then you can set up your alter. On your alter you will ideally need twelve candles to form a circle around your alter.  Don’t worry if you do not have room or don’t have that many candles you can use as many or as few as you wish. If you do set out a circle of candles set them out starting in the north and traveling clockwise with 1 candle for each month of the year.   You will also need two candles one placed to the right of your alter and one placed to the left. You should place an eighty hour white candle in the middle of your alter and a sharp tool to mark your candle with a symbol of your choice to represent the moon.  Don't forget to have something to Light your candles with.  Now before you begin the main part of your ritual light your twelve candles starting in the north travelling in a clockwise direction.

The Ritual

Having set out everything as above you are now ready to start your ritual.  So stand facing the altar, next you should request the presence of the all-powerful force of Mother Nature. This is done by inviting Mother Nature to attend your celebration; suitable wording for this is as follows.

Mother Nature we ask you to attend our celebration tonight and honor us with your presence as we recognize your role in the cycle of life and death.

Now light the candle to the right of your alter and the one to the left as well. To signify that you accept that she is present.

Now you should command the elements, start by facing north and commanding the elements in the following order, North, East, South, and West.  As you can see this means you will be working in a clockwise direction.  The following is a suggestion for how to command the elements

Element of Air, dweller of the north you bring to us life itself through the breaths we take.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Summer Solstice.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east you bring to us food through the plants that grow and the animals the live upon you.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Summer Solstice.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South you bring to us warmth through the sun in the day and fire at night.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Summer Solstice.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Water, dweller of the west you bring to us life from the water we drink to the fish we eat.  I now command you to attend this ritual of Summer Solstice.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

When you have commanded the elements you can move on to the main part of the ritual, this is as follows.

Tis the turning of the year, the point when the Sun has done its work and food waits to be harvested in the fields.  From this point on the nights will shorten and harvests will be gathered in.  So as the darker days come and we feel the influence of our time calling, let us mark this point with our ritual.

Tis midsummer’s eve

And the sun shines bright

There’s been long days

And little night

Now comes the dark

And the cold of the session

Which we will welcome

With joy and good reason

So rejoice and make merry

On this sacred night

As we celebrate the victory

Of day over night

Next take hold of your eighty hour candle and the tool you have chosen to inscribe it with.  Now mark you candle with a symbol you have chosen to use and as you do so think of the darker days and what they will mean to you.  When you have done this set your candle down and then light it.

(Allow up to 3 minutes for others to focus their thoughts)

Now we must extinguish our twelve candles starting with the candle that is located in the north and traveling in a clockwise direction.  As you do so focus your thoughts on good times, good companionship, good food and the wonderful celebrations the darker nights will bring.

So as we have symbolized the lighter half of the year, now turning in to the darker half of the year.  By lighting and then extinguishing the twelve candles that represent the twelve months of the year. We should now cast a spell over the candle we have inscribed.

(The following spell is a suggestion but you may use your own if you wish.)

As the year turns

Less the sun burns

More our heart yearns

For the times our work returns

(Repeat your spell or chat enough times till you believe it will work)

Every one should now shout out in turn their agreement in whatever fashion they personally use, I personal choose to state: It is done

Our ritual is done

Dark now rules the sky

Nature’s battle won

As the days pass by

And soon Samhain will come

The wheel will turn once more

And darkness will rule the sun

And winter will nock at our door

So look to the times ahead

As the season turns to fall

And sleep well in your bed

For darkness descends on us all

Now you should dismiss the elements in reverse order starting with water.  Please note you should never blow out a candle, as this would be causing two elements to oppose each other (i.e. Air and Fire) so snuff your candles out instead

Element of Water, dweller of the west I now command you to leave this ritual of Summer Solstice.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Fire, dweller of the south I now command you to leave this ritual of Summer Solstice.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east I now command you to leave this ritual of Summer Solstice.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Element of Air, dweller of the north I now command you to leave this ritual of Summer Solstice.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter point)

Finally you should thank Mother Nature for attending your ritual of Summer Solstice by repeating the following words.

Mother Nature thank you for joining with us tonight may the coming days of winter remind us daily of the part you play in our lives.

Now extinguish your alter candles and your ritual of Summer Solstice is over.

Now extinguish the candle you inscribed and light it for a short time each day/night till it is burnt out.  When it has burnt out if the winter solstice has not yet arrived you can light a new candle from your old one and carry on lighting it each day.

Conclusion to chapter 8

As I said at the beginning of this chapter most neo-pagans choose to celebrate eight feast days a year, for what reason I can not say.  I choose to celebrate four, it is not that the other four feast days have no importance, they do.  It is not that they are in some way less historical for they all have their place in the history of Magik and the common man.  I suppose that when all is weighed up, I simply have less connection to the other four feast days.  Why do I have a lesser connection to some feast days than I do to others?   Who is to say, perhaps it’s this modern life or could it simply be that I am so busy, that I don’t have time for these other sacred days.  No matter which you choose four or eight feast days.  Make them sacred to your Craft and celebrate them with joy and happiness.  And they will mark the turning of the year for you just as they have for Witches throughout time.

Chapter 9  Part 1

Rituals of Life

Whilst we have previously looked at the rituals and feast days of the pagan year there are of course other occasions such as Births, Deaths and Marriages that form a part of any person’s life.  And as you would expect there are rituals to perform for each of these occasions.  Let us first take a look at Births and the surrounding ideas of how pagan parents should go about celebrating them.

We should take the time to dispel some of the myths in modern society of christenings and wiccanings before we discuss the pagan dedication of children.  Many of you will have been christened, but you may be shocked to hear that the christening of children is not a Biblical idea.  In fact there is no place in the Bible where anything more than a simple ceremony to thank God for the birth of the child is suggested.  Now some people will tell you that they are the real Christians because in their church children are offered up to God for a blessing to be put upon them, but this is christening by another name.  Some others will tell you that children in their church are dedicated to God, but this is even worse.  You see the one theme throughout all of these so called blessings of children; it is that at some point it is stated that the child will be brought up to believe in or follow the Christian way.  At no point is the child ever to be given a choice of their own in matters of religion.

Now I could say that as pagans we always give our children the choice and freedom to experiment and find their own religious / philosophical way in the world but alas this is not true.  It should be true for all pagans but it seems that there is an ever growing number of Wiccans who decide for their children what they are going to believe in.  And the common practice of wiccaning is the fly in this particular ointment.  As we learnt in earlier chapters of this book Wicca was an invention of a few people in the early 1950’s.  As a result it borrows its practices from many sources, so it’s not a surprise that a wiccaning is just a christening by another name.  Logically then it should be of no wonder that the two rituals are one and the same thing.  Both dedicate the child to the Gods of the parents, both promise to bring the child up in the parents chosen religion.  And both appoint others to complete the raising of the child in the right religion should any tragedy happen to the parents.

What is missing in all of this ritualistic pageantry is a fundamental respect for the Child’s right to experiment and choose a path for themselves.  We as pagans should remember that our children may be little pink babies but their spirits may be older than ours.  For this reason we should raise our children in a proper way but we must respect the fact that they have a right to choose a religious / philosophical path for themselves, and of course to choose a path one must first experience as many paths as possible so that your choice is made for the right reasons.  This is why in the Craft we hold a ritual to thank nature for our new born child but we never promise to impose our ways upon the child, nor do we ask others to do the same in the event of our demise.  I used the word dedication earlier and dedication is what we do, but we do not dedicate the child as others do.   Instead we dedicate ourselves to bring up our children correctly and to support them no matter what religious / philosophical choices they may make.  So you might say we have a gathering to give thanks for our children but that is all we do, no more, no less.  In the ritual that follows I have included all the elements that you have become used to from the rituals in the previous chapter.  The reason I have included all the setting up instructions and wordings for each ritual is so that you can print out whichever ritual you may need at any given time in its entirety and it will be ready for you to use as and when you need it.  The ritual for giving thanks for a new addition to your family is as follows.

Thanks Giving ritual (Birth)

Firstly, clear a space large enough for the amount of people you expect to attend your ritual. Next sweep the space in a clockwise direction starting in the Middle and working outwards until you reach a doorway and sweep through the doorway to cleanse the room. This will remove all the negative energy in the space and prepare it for your ritual.  When this is done you can start to prepare your space for the ritual you are going to perform.

Next, place an alter in the North of the room with a candle on it to mark the northern quarter point, then mark the other quarter points East South and West by placing a colored candle representing the Element for that quarter.

The correspondence of colour to element is as follows but please note that white candles will do just as well:

North = AIR = white

East = EARTH = Green

South = FIRE = red

West = WATER = blue

When you have done this then you can set up your alter. On your alter, you will need two more candles. One placed to the right of your alter and one placed to the left. You will also need to place an alter tile or a cauldron upon your alter.  You will also need a piece of paper and something to write on it with. One dried sage leaf would also be a nice addition to your ritual (but it is not essential). Don't forget to have something to Light your candles with and something to snuff them out after your ritual is finished.

You will need to place a quantity of red wine or cider and a quantity of good bread and perhaps cheese (but it is your choice) just inside your circle by the East quarter point. Please don’t forget to have any implements you will need to serve this food and drink with you in the circle. As once it is cast no one may leave until it is dismissed later on.

The Ritual

Having set out everything as above you are now ready to start your ritual, stand facing the altar.  Now you should request the presence of the all-powerful force of Mother Nature. This is done by inviting Mother Nature to attend your ritual; suitable wording for this is as follows.

Mother Nature we ask you to attend our ritual and honor us with your presence.

Now light both the candles on your alter to signify that you accept that she is present. When this is done all who will be taking an active part in the ritual should speak the following words.

In my heart I am pure

Perfect trust you may have in me

Of my intensions you maybe sure

Assured of my reasons you may be

Now you should summon the Quarters starting where you are and facing North.

You should summon the quarters in the following order North, East, South, and West.  As you can see this means you will be working in a clockwise direction.  The following is a suggestion for how to summon the Quarters.

Element of Air, dweller of the north you bring to us life itself through the breaths we take, I now command you to attend this ritual of Thanks Giving.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east you bring to us food through the plants that grow and the animals that live upon you, I now command you to attend this ritual of Thanks Giving.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South you bring to us warmth through the sun in the day and fire at night, I now command you to attend this ritual of Thanks Giving.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Water, dweller of the West you bring to us life from the water we drink to the fish we eat, I now command you to attend this ritual of Thanks Giving.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

When you have called all the Quarters you can move on to the main part of the ritual this is as follows.

A child has come, a spirit born

Parents proud as they should be

Gathered now, each has sworn

An oath of love and surety

I ask now of ___________ and ____________ what shall be the name of this most precious child.

When Mother Nature sees fit to entrust to us a child it is our solemn duty to dedicate ourselves to the upbringing of that child, for there can be no grater task that nature may bestow upon us.  So with this in mind, we have come together today to dedicate ourselves to the correct upbringing of Baby____________.  And to proclaim to all that we will raise this child to have an open disposition and pleasant countenance towards all other living things.

This is the child of _____________ and _____________ who have chosen to show their love for baby _____________ by dedicating themselves to be good parents and guardians.

Now you should ask the parents to speak their vows out aloud for all to hear them.  Suitable words for doing this are as follows.

I now ask _____________ and ______________ to speak their vows aloud so that we all may bear witness to them and can affirm at a later date if asked to do so the solemnity of their words.

The vow that each parent speaks can be composed by themselves or can be worked upon in collaboration with their family and friends or even with you.

When the vows have been spoken you should all eat and drink in celebration of the occasion. Please note that this is done within the circle you have cast and you can take as long as you need for this part of your ritual.

When you have finished eating take the paper and write a spell upon it. The spell may be one of your own or it may be the following one.

A child has come, and to us is given

To raise it well, strong and true

For all its needs, we will be striven

So we now swear an oath to you

The parents and grand parents and any other persons that the parents wish to be involved in the up bringing of the child, should now repeat the spell you have written down over and over again.  And when you feel that enough energy has been put into the spell you must fold the paper with the sage leaf inside it (if you are using one that is).  And burn it on your alter tile or in your cauldron (you can blow the ashes into the wind after the ritual is over).

Finally the following words should be spoken before the circle is dismissed.

Now we have welcomed baby_______________ into our midst and look forward to getting to know them in the years to come.

Raising a child is never easy in the world in which we live, but _____________ and _____________ with the help of those they have chosen will I’m sure do a fine job.  We as a community will I’m sure be happy to offer any assistance that may be of help in the raising of baby______________ and I’m sure also in a general sense. It only remains for me to thank you all for attending our ritual and to ask for the person who called the Element of Water to start off the closing of our circle.

Now you should dismiss the elements in reverse order starting with water.  (Please note you should never blow out a candle, as this would be causing two elements to oppose each other IE. Air and Fire so snuff your candle out instead)

Element of Water, dweller of the west I now command you to leave this ritual of Thanks Giving.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the south I now command you to leave this ritual of Thanks Giving.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east I now command you to leave this ritual of Thanks Giving.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Air, dweller of the north I now command you to leave this ritual of Thanks Giving.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Finally we should thank Mother Nature for attending our ritual of Thanks Giving by repeating the following words.

Mother Nature thank you for joining with us tonight, may this child of yours that we have planted grow as strong as you are.

Now extinguish you alter candles and your ritual of Thanks Giving is over.

Chapter 9 part 2

Death

Death is a thorny subject with many people, but it would be fair to say that Witches deal with the subject of Death better than most.  If you are a follower of one of the many organised religions,  then your life is all about what happens to you when you die, so you can be forgiven for not dealing with the subject well.  But for the Witch Death is just a process of transformation from this life into the next: a transformation that we each have undertaken on numerous earlier occasions.  So with this in mind the Witch approaches Death from a very philosophical point of view.  The point of view being best expressed as without the ending of one lifetime there can be no begging of the next lifetime.  So we hold a view of Death that both encompasses the sorrow of the loss of a loved one, but at the same time expresses joy that our loved one has moved on to their next life.   All I ask of you is that you bear this in mind as you read the following ritual.

Transformation Ritual (Death)

Firstly, clear a space large enough for the amount of people you expect to attend your ritual. Next sweep the space in a clockwise direction starting in the Middle and working outwards until you reach a doorway and sweep through the doorway to cleanse the room. This will remove all the negative energy in the space and prepare it for your ritual.  When this is done you can start to prepare your space for the ritual you are going to perform.  Next, place an alter in the North of the room with a candle on it to mark the northern quarter point, then mark the other quarter points East South and west by placing a colored candle representing the Element for that quarter.

The correspondence of colour to element is as follows but please note that white candles will do just as well:

North = AIR = white

East = EARTH = Green

South = FIRE = red

West = WATER = blue

When you have done this then you can set up your alter. Upon your alter you will need two more candles. One placed to the right of your alter and one placed to the left to mark the presence of Mother Nature. You will need to place a small amount of something to eat on your alter.  Also you should have a chalice or glass of something to drink as well and a cauldron to burn things in. Your cauldron will need four charcoal brickets in the bottom of it and they must be lit before you start your ritual.  Don't forget to have something to Light your candles with and something to snuff them out after your ritual is finished.

The Ritual

Having set out everything as above you are now ready to start your ritual, stand facing the altar.  Now you should request the presence of the all-powerful force of Mother Nature. This is done by inviting Mother Nature to attend your ritual; suitable wording for this is as follows.

Mother Nature we ask you to attend our ritual and honor us with your presence.

Now light both the candles on your alter to signify that you accept that she is present.

Now you should command the Quarters starting where you are, facing North.   You should summon the quarters in the following order North, East, South, and West.  As you can see this means you will be working in a clockwise direction.  The following is a suggestion for how to summon the Quarters.

Element of Air, dweller of the North you bring to us life itself through the breaths we take, I now command you to attend this ritual of Transformation.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the East you bring to us food through the plants that grow and the animals the live upon you, I now command you to attend this ritual of Transformation.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South you bring to us warmth through the sun in the day and fire at night, I now command you to attend this ritual of Transformation.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Water, dweller of the West you bring to us life from the water we drink to the fish we eat, I now command you to attend this ritual of Transformation.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

When you have called all the Quarters you can move on to the main part of the ritual this is as follows.

We come together an end in sight

To mark the passing of one held dear

Gathered now in dark of night

Of one of ours who layeth here

Rejoice don’t cry for you’ll see them again

But take comfort now and a happy face

Though you know not were nor when

Blessings be upon them in their new place

So rejoice I say no sadness, nor morn

And we of death shall have no fears

For new birth will come the next new dawn

And we shall live the closing years

Ladies and Gentlemen and Members of the craft whilst this is a time of great sadness it is also a time to rejoice.  For without death there can be no new life and no rebirth for the spiritual being we all knew as ______ ______. It is for these reasons that we have gathered here today, to both commemorate and celebrate the life of ______ ______.  We will do this through the following ritual which we will all play a part in.

The Witch now starts the proceedings off by recounting the first story to be told of the deceased. Each person present is encouraged to tell a story of the deceased (the stories should be tales of a humorous or moving nature).  This part of the ritual continues until all who wish to speak have done so.  Now each person can in turn place a small offering into the cauldron of herbs or incense.  As each person places their offering in to the cauldron they should speak out aloud.

Your soul is free to journey on

A new life awaits and gifts are given

The days of this life are all now done

You in a new life are now risen

As the offerings burn so we should all be thinking of the things we would wish for the deceased in their next life.  When all the offerings have been placed in the cauldron it is time to move on to the next part of the ritual, this is as follows.

The Witch now takes the food and shares it with all those present as each person takes the food they eat it saying out aloud.

I consume this offering in the name of ______ ______ as I eat it and absorb the energy it gives me.  May in the same way their spirit be set free from this life and start its journey to their next one.

The Witch now takes the chalice of wine and shares it with all those present as each person takes a sip and drinks it they say out aloud.

I consume this wine in the name of ______ ______ as I drink it, it is wet to the taste.  So in the same way may they be born now of water and blood in to their new life.

When all of the above has been done then the Witch should propose a toast, the following is a suggestion.

______ _______ May the very best of what has been in this life, be the worst of what is to come in your next one.

A life remembered, a soul departed

A journey continued to another life

A family sorrow and broken hearted

Soon to rejoice again as husband and wife

Now you should dismiss the elements in reverse order starting with water.  (Please note you should never blow out a candle, as this would be causing two elements to oppose each other IE. Air and Fire so snuff your candle out instead)

Element of Water, dweller of the west I now command you to leave this ritual of Transformation.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the south I now command you to leave this ritual of Transformation.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east I now command you to leave this ritual of Transformation.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Air, dweller of the north I now command you to leave this ritual of Transformation.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Finally we should thank Mother Nature for attending our ritual of Transformation by repeating the following words.

Mother Nature thank you for joining with us tonight, may this child of yours that has been reborn this night grow to be as strong as you are.

Now extinguish you alter candles and your ritual of Transformation is over.

Whilst the ritual set out above is a simple one, it still contains all of the elements that a far more complex ritual would contain.  Essentially as I started out saying at the beginning of this section of the book, Death for the Witch or indeed any pagan is both a matter of sadness and rejoicing and for this reason your gathering should continue in the same way as the ritual did.  By this I mean to say it should take the form of a wake were stories are told and the deceased is remembered fondly whilst much drink is shared amongst those that are present.

Chapter 9 part 3

Marriage or Handfasting

Marriage or Handfasting as it is called in the Witchcraft / Pagan world is as simple as a gentleman’s agreement.  It is literally an agreement between two people that hands are shaken on, yet it is so much more than a mere understanding.  For the happy couple it is the first day of the rest of their lives. For the families involved it is a blending of two distinct clans.  To the guests it is a joyous occasion. To the Witch conducting it, it is the most terrifying ritual you will ever conduct.  So for this reason I will not talk more of the thinking behind it but simply say this.  Prepare, practice, practice and then practice again.  Practice at least once in the location that the Handfasting is going to take place with all the participants.  Then practice the ritual over and over again in your head, because this is one ritual that you cannot get wrong.  I give you this advice as one who knows for the following ritual was written by me and performed be me when I had the great honor of Handfasting my daughter to her life partner just this very year.

Firstly, clear a space large enough for the amount of people you expect to attend your ritual. Next sweep the space in a clockwise direction starting in the Middle and working outwards until you reach a doorway and sweep through the doorway to cleanse the room. This will remove all the negative energy in the space and prepare it for your ritual.  When this is done you can start to prepare your space for the ritual you are going to perform.

Next place an alter in the North of the room with a candle on it to mark the northern quarter point, then mark the other quarter points East, South, and West by placing a colored candle representing the Element for that quarter.

The correspondence of colour to element is as follows but please note that white candles will do just as well:

North = AIR = white

East = EARTH = Green

South = FIRE = red

West = WATER = blue

When you have done this, then you can set up your alter. On your altar you will need two more candles. One placed to the right of your alter and one placed to the left to mark the presence of Mother Nature.  Also you should have a cauldron to burn things in. Your cauldron will need four charcoal brickets in the bottom of it and they must be lit before you start your ritual.  Don't forget to have something to Light your candles with and something to snuff them out after your ritual is finished.

The Ritual

The Witch walks down the isle and up to the altar accompanied by the four helpers who we will call the corners. As they each reach the alter they go and stand in their respective places until the music stops.  The bride and groom walk down the isle and up to the altar holding hands followed by the bridesmaids and each stands quietly at their side of the alter facing each other until the music stops, as they do so the bridesmaids walk slowly to their seats.

The page follows the bride and groom down the aisle and up to the altar carrying the rings on a suitable cushion and hands the cushion to the witch and then walks slowly to his / her seat.

Now _________ steps forward and takes the besom and lays it down behind the bride and groom.

We have come together in this place today to witness a sacred and ancient ritual, this ritual is the binding of two souls together, in this case those of  _____ and _____. As the ritual progresses you will find short descriptions of each of the elements of the ritual and why they are performed in the small booklet you each have been given. If you have any questions about any part of the ritual that you wish to know more about please feel free to ask me after the ritual is over.

(Take deep breath and begin)

Now you should request the presence of the all-powerful force of Mother Nature. This is done by inviting Mother Nature to attend your ritual; suitable wording for this is as follows.

Mother Nature we ask you to attend our ritual and honor us with your presence.

Now light both the candles on your alter to signify that you accept that she is present.

To start our ritual we must first cast a sacred circle and mark the four cardinal points, to help me do this I now call up on ______, ______, ______ and ______ to call their respective elements each in turn as I cast the circle and create the sacred space.

The following are suggestions for the commanding of the elements.

Element of Air, dweller of the north you bring to us life itself through the breaths we take, I now command you to attend this ritual of Handfasting.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the east you bring to us food through the plants that grow and the animals the live upon you, I now command you to attend this ritual of Handfasting.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South you bring to us warmth through the sun in the day and fire at night, I now command you to attend this ritual of Handfasting.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Water, dweller of the west you bring to us life from the water we drink to the fish we eat I now command you to attend this ritual of Handfasting.  (Now light the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

The following invocation is spoken at each of the four cardinal points by the Witch after the element is commanded; also the relevant pentacle is signed at each point as well.  This is done in a clockwise direction so as to form a circle.

Circle of power, place of peace

Sacred realm, I now invoke

Time stands still for those within

Separate form the world without

Many are gathered to witness now

This sacred ritual, soon to be done

To mark you’re joining by your vows

Man and wife soon to be one

In the Craft we do not give our children away to others nor to each other for all beings are equal.  So it is for this reason:

In the rest of the ritual the groom always comes first.

I ask you now ______ do you come to this place of your own free will? The answer should be I do

I ask you now ______ do you come to this place of your own free will? The answer should be I do

Do you both come to this place to be Handfasted of your own free will? The answer should be we do

The Witch now holds the cushion towards to the bride and groom and says:

These rings symbolise your everlasting love for each other I now ask you both to place a ring upon the others finger.

The groom takes the ring from the cushion and places it up on the bride’s finger.  Then the bride does the same.  With the rings exchanged the Witch says:

As you have demonstrated your love for each other by the exchanging of rings, I now ask you to join your right hands together to symbolise your life as not two but one from this day forward.

Now I take this cord which you have both woven by your own hands and bind you one to the other with it.  This is to symbolise that for a marriage to work a number of elements will need to be present and they are represented by this cord.  This cord is woven from 3 colours:

Silver ribbon to symbolise commitment and communication

Red ribbon to symbolise passion and a long life

Gold ribbon to symbolise prosperity and health

The Witch then fastens the bride and grooms right hands together with cord they have made.

As on life’s journey you now embark

To each other your vows you both now give

Your love for each other we now mark

Together as one you both shall live

I ask you both now to speak your vows one to the other beginning with ______ and the following on with you ______.

The bride and groom now speak their vows to each other.

I ask you now ______ do you swear this vow upon your honour as a Witch?  The answer should be I do

I ask you now ______ do you swear this vow u on your honour as a Witch?  The answer should be I do

The Witch draws the blade and holds it pointing upwards and says

I ask you both now do you swear these vows together upon this sacred blade.

The answer should be we do

The bride and groom should now kiss the blade.

The groom kisses the star side and the bride kisses the moon side of the blade.

As this blade has two sides one male, one female that work in harmony together so two have become one here this day with all those present as witnesses to this fact.

This parchment has upon it the vows that ______ and ______ have sworn here today upon the sacred blade.  Now I shall set free their words to the universe.

Now the Witch takes the piece of parchment that the vows are written on and raps a piece of Laurel in it as he folds it.  As he does this he says aloud:

I place this Laurel leaf in this sacred document to bring good fortune to ______ and ______ throughout all their married days.

Then the Witch anoints the parchment with lavender oil and as he does so he says aloud:

I anoint this sacred document with lavender oil to bring peace to ______ and ______ throughout all their married life.

Then the Witch drops the folded piece of parchment in to the cauldron and it bursts into flame as it burns.

So we have joined the souls of these two people together for eternity, may they have a happy long and prosperous existence together.

So I now ask to ______, ______, ______ and ______ to dismiss the element that they each commanded in reverse order starting with ______.

(Please note you should never blow out a candle, as this would be causing two elements to oppose each other [i.e. Air and Fire] so snuff your candle out instead)

Element of Water, dweller of the West, I now command you to leave this ritual of Handfasting.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Fire, dweller of the South I now command you to leave this ritual of Handfasting.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Earth, dweller of the East, I now command you to leave this ritual of Handfasting.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Element of Air, dweller of the North, I now command you to leave this ritual of Handfasting.  (Now you should extinguish the candle you have chosen to mark this quarter)

Finally we should thank Mother Nature for attending our ritual of Handfasting by repeating the following words.

Mother Nature thank you for joining with us this day, may these children of yours that have been Handfasted here today live in peace and harmony with you.

Now extinguish you alter candles that mark mother natures presence.

The following dismissal is spoken at each of the four cardinal points by the Witch after the element is dismissed; also the relevant pentacle is signed at each point as well.  This is done in an anti-clockwise direction.

Sacred circle, place of peace

Now dismissed and barrier broken

Time returns to those within

By the words that I have spoken

The ritual now closes it comes to its end

The couple are joined and start a new life

You are all witnesses both family and friend

So ______ and ______ are now husband and wife

Now in keeping with common law of  old England and the laws and rituals of the Craft that we hold so dear I ask ______ and ______ to break the remaining element of our circle by jumping the Besom.

The bride and groom jump the Besom still with their right hands bound together either facing the guests or sideways which ever they prefer.  Once they have done this the can undo the binding at any time they wish.

May the happy couple never part

For they were joined in our sight

Let the celebrations now start

And go long into the night

There are only two things I wish to add to what I have already written above and they are as follows.

Handfasting’s can be used to join a couple for a time period of one year, one lifetime, or all eternity.

Set out below are some points of interest that I chose to print out and give to those who attended my daughters Handfasting.  They are intended to answer people’s questions about the ritual; I hope they are as much use to you as they were to me.

The Circle

The circle is a tradition left over from the days of folklore and superstition. In those days it was thought that evil hid in the corners of buildings. So a circle was used because with no corners there could be no evil present.

The Cardinal Points

In the Craft it has always been the understanding that all of our existence can be represented by four elements. These are as follows: Air, Earth, Fire and Water and each element is assigned a point of the compass. As the element is called a candle is lit to mark its presence. As this is done the presiding Witch signs the appropriate pentacle with their wand.

Verse / mnemonic

You will hear spoken verse throughout the ritual. We use verse or a mnemonic as it is easier to remember one’s spells and workings if they are in rhyme.

People are not Property

In the craft we assert that a person can never be owned by another so the bride and groom are asked repeatedly if they have come to the ritual of their own free will.

The Rings

A ring having no beginning and no end symbolises the fact that a marriage is everlasting.

The Cord and Binding

The cord is made out of 3 ribbons woven together by the bride and groom. Their right hands will be bound together with the cord to symbolise that the attributes represented by the coloured ribbons are needed to make a successful marriage.

The joining of the hands symbolises that through the ritual two people become one. The attributes that the colours represent are as follows:

Silver ribbon to symbolise commitment and communication

Red ribbon to symbolise passion and a long life

Gold ribbon to symbolise prosperity and health

In days gone by the happy couple would have been bound together for at least 24 hours and only if they did not break the cord would they be allowed to get married.

Vows

Vows are the oldest of all traditions associated with marriage. To swear a vow for any reason is the most sacred and binding thing a person can possibly do. So when a bride and groom swear their vows to each other, they are making solemn and binding promises to each other and you are a witness to the fact that these vows were spoken. Vows are sworn on one’s honour for the man it will be his honour as a freeman. In times gone by to be free was a great and important thing because only freemen could make a vow. Any person who was owned was not allowed to make vows for any purpose. The bride will swear her vow on her honour as a Witch, as this is the most sacred thing a Witch can ever do.

The Blade

The blade was sacred in all societies at one time because the working of metal and the creating of a blade that could hold an edge was viewed as magical. As a blade has two edges that work together to make a useful tool, so it represents the bride and groom working together as a single entity. For this reason the bride and groom will kiss the blade as a part of swearing their vows. The groom kisses the male side and bride the female side.

The Burning

The parchment that the vows were written on is burned with herbs and essential oils to set free the intent of the words into the universe. The herbs and essential oils are to bestow peace and good fortune upon the marriage.

The Circle Dismissed

The circle is now dismissed in the reverse order that it was created with one exception. That is as the bride and groom entered the space that became the circle a Besom / Broom was laid down behind them and became a part of the circle. This remains in place as it will be needed to end the ritual.

The Besom

The besom or broom as it is called today has many magical attributes but at a Handfasting it has a very practical use. Until the mid 1600’s common people were unable to afford a church wedding. And as there were no registry offices in those days, so an alternative had to be found. Over time it became tradition that to jump over the besom whilst bound together and in front of witnesses was accepted as a formal act of marriage. So now the bride and groom will jump over the besom and break the last remaining part of our circle and in doing so become husband and wife.

Chapter 9 part 4

As I have stated earlier in this book Magik should always be a tool of last resort.  However even in the narrow percentage of every day life that this leaves we can still find many uses for Magik or ritual.  These will usually fall into one of the following three categories.

1        = Things that are spiritual or Magikal in nature.

2        = Emergencies were there is no time to arrange a mundane solution.

3        = Problems that appear to have no worldly solution.

Things that are spiritual or Magikal in nature may include attack by others using Magik.  A person’s belief that they are being hunted and or the protection of say a loved one when they are far from home.

Emergencies were there is no time to arrange a mundane solution will include immediate health emergencies.  Such as life threatening illnesses (providing the recipient of the working does not object to it being done for them).  Moments of immediate threat or peril to yourself or others you watch over.

Problems that appear to have no worldly solution may include working to help a person with bullying problems when the bully is say their boss.  Or any situation where the solving of it seems to be impossible due to the circumstances of the problem it’s self.

All that being said there are some problems that arise more often than others, one of the most common is the house cleansing.  Usually the occupants of the house report a negative presence or a sense of foreboding somewhere in the home and wish it cleared.  This can be approached several different ways and at this point you are expecting me to tell you how to go about arranging a house cleansing well I’m not going to.   Assuming you have read this book and arrived at this point then you should be more than capable of writing a ritual for yourself by now.  If not then go back to the beginning and start again.  All I will do is give you a list of things that are needed to perform a house cleansing and the rest is up to you.

A besom

6 candles

Sage leaves or bay leaves or hazel twigs

An incenses burner

An alter

A hand held fan

A lighter

A candle snuffer

Food and drink

So now its up to you, research, create and perform and most of all enjoy yourself for this may be the Craft of the Wise but is also the Craft of the joyous and never ever forget that fact.  Ritual is as I stated earlier in this book is unnecessary when performing Magik.  But due to popular misconceptions of how Magik works it is what others think we do.

And if you are to perform a house cleansing then give the client what they expect because their belief in your work is as important as your belief in it.  So give them what they expect to see and they will be happy and your working is all the more likely to have a lasting effect as a result.   Ritual must never become all you are about but it has its part to play in what you are about.  We live in a world of confusion, everyone thinks they know all about us and what we do.  Or even how we do it, this situation has been exasperated by the Wiccan movement, who it seems are so busy trying to create new converts that they put the Christian church to shame in the lengths that they will go to.  Telling people to make up their own craft as they go along and writing countless books full of nonsense to help with the process.  And performing highly ritualistic ceremonies in public venues are just two examples of this blatant evangelising that has lead to the idea that everyone knows what we do (THEY DO NOT).

We are of the craft and as such we do what we do, ritualistic when necessary simple the rest of the time, but overall practical all the time.  So use the rituals in this book and add to them and add on to them, for nothing is set in stone and you must find your own style of practice, for it is your style of practice that will add to the ever changing nature of the craft that we all hold so dear.

Chapter 10

The conclusion

The previous nine chapters of this book have all been about learning the history of the Craft, the basics of the Craft and the nuts and bolts of the Craft.  All of these things I hope I have succeeded in teaching you, for if I have not then reading this book has been a waste of your time and the writing of it a waste of mine.  But assuming that no waste of time has taken place then you should by now be at least a little confident in your own abilities.  And for this reason the Craft should by now be weaving itself into your life in ever invasive ways.  This is a good thing for where the Witch goes so does their Craft, if it does not then you are doing it wrong or it is not for you.

Assuming that it is for you then know this, what you have learned here in this book is just the tip of a very large iceberg. No person could fit all the knowledge there is to know on the subject of the Craft into one book.  Nor I hope would they be foolish enough to try to do so; however that was never my intent.  My intent was to create a sort of Witchcraft for Dummies and that is what I hope I have achieved.  A nuts and bolts book to help people like yourself get started in the Craft.  If this book has achieved this goal then it has been worth the work it took to write it.

The Craft is a living thing as we have learned; it has a past, present and most definitely a future, which I hope you are going to be a big part of.  Its past is a chequered one with thousands of years of reverence followed by hundreds of years of denial followed by decades of claims of authenticity.  The latter being totally untrue the formers being both sad and glorious respectfully.  It is for this reason that the Craft is ever changing.  It has become a part of its DNA to change with each new era and to adapt itself so as to blend in to its surroundings.  Its is for this reason that the Zen Buddhism portrayed in the film The Matrix is almost identical to the Craft as are many philosophies that can be found around the world.  All are individual attempts to explain the one truth of our universes, ‘WE THINK THEREFORE IT IS’.  The world will tell you ‘it is therefore you think’ but this fundamental error of vision is the reason that the masses are trapped in a matrix type existence.  What is real for them is all there is, but what is real for us is unlimited opportunity.  For with the Craft in your life there are no rules that are set in stone.  All things are possible and indeed likely to happen, one thing I have learnt in my time in the craft is the more you state a thing to be imposable the more likely it will be.  So re-read this book as many times as you need to and welcome to the real world of endless possibilities.

Blessed be

Sagewitch

Table of Contents

Dedications

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8 part 1

Chapter 8 part 2

Chapter 8 part 3

Chapter 8 part 4

Conclusion to chapter 8

Chapter 9 Part 1

Chapter 9 part 2

Chapter 9 part 3

Chapter 9 part 4

Chapter 10