I will tell you how I cast spells, but that doesn't mean this is the
best Way for you to work. You have to start, to practice and experiment, until
you Find your own style, find what works best for you. Creativity is of great
Importance in spell-craft.
I think of magic as being of two types, major and minor. Ritual or
Ceremonial magic, which includes casting a circle, is the most effective.
Ordinary magic is worked without a circle. It can also be very effective,
Provided your Will is strong enough and focused properly.
RITUAL MAGIC
WHERE
Any place that has good energy, is quiet, private, and without
interruptions Will do. I usually do spells in the kitchen because most of what I need is Already there. It's also the safest place in the house to burn things. Good
for You if you have a special place like a grove or garden available to you. If
not, Don't let it stop you.
WHEN
Spells are usually performed according to the lunar cycle:
Waxing moon for spells of invitation, growth or increase
Example: money spells
Waning moon for discovering inner secrets and spells of
Banishing, binding or
Decrease
Example: spells to end loneliness or financial problems
Full moon for:
Maximum power, coven work, sex magic, love spells
Workings of culmination There is great wisdom in this but I must admit that as an urban witch who can't see the moon from her apartment windows, I pay no attention to the moon Whatsoever. I did follow it, however, whenever I lived in a place where I could See the moon each night.
Spells can also be performed in accord with the Zodiac. Sun or moon in
Astrological sign for:
Aries: battle - beginnings
Taurus: money spells - sex magick
Gemini: communication
Cancer: psychic work - lunar magick
Leo: leadership - solar power
Virgo: purification
Libra: balance - work in law or for justice
Scorpio: power
Sagittarius: honesty - expansion
Capricorn: overcoming obstacles
Aquarius: healing
Pisces: psychic work - endings
Five Steps
INTENTION:
Intention is the focus of your spell and the absolute will to succeed. I
try To never do a spell unless I feel it well up inside of me beforehand. Spells
Don't work unless you are able to focus your Will. Your intent must be clear
or Your spell may have unintended results.
PREPARATION: Assembly of tools and materials
The spell actually begins at this stage because your Will starts to
focus Itself as you gather the herbs, select the candles, choose the incense,
decorate The altar and lay out your tools. Knowledge of correspondences is essential Here, so that you select materials
Appropriate to the spell.
Incense, candles, music and ceremonial dress, makeup or masks can be
used to Make sacred space, set the mood for a spell. You must have something to
Represent each Element - earth, air, fire, water - on the altar or working
Surface.
CAST THE CIRCLE:
Call corners (also called calling quarters)
Cast the circle, invoking the Lords of the Watchtowers. Who are these
Guys, anyway? And why do you need to call upon them when you cast a magic
Circle?
Magic relates to both time and space. Ancient peoples divided space
into The four quarters: north, south, east and west. Sometimes they further
Subdivided it, but the four basic directions are the crucial ones. They
assigned Deities to guard each of these quarters, deities to whom the power of each Quarter accrued. The Lords of the Watchtower can be male or female. By
invoking Them we call upon their spatial powers to guard and inform our magic circles.
Cultures represented in the invocation lists range from Asia through
Europe And Africa to the Americas, illustrating the universality of the division of
Space into the cardinal points. You can invoke any gods or goddesses who
appeal To you, but these are examples of mythologically consistent invocations:
ANGELS
N -Uriel
S -Michael
E -Raphael
W -Gabriel
AZTEC
N- Mictlantecuhtli
S -Huitzilopochtli
E -Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
W -Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl
BUDDHIST
N -Vajraghanta
S -Vajrapasi
E -Vajrosnisa
W -Vajrasphota
Buddhists count five directions, assigning each one to a member of the
Buddha family:
North: color: green
Negative quality: envy and jealousy
Positive quality: all-accomplishing wisdom
Sacred to: Amoghasiddhi
South: color: yellow
Negative quality: pride
positive quality: wisdom of equanimity
sacred to: Ratnasambhava
East: color: blue
negative quality: aggression
positive quality: mirrorlike wisdom
sacred to: Akshobhya
West: color: red
negative quality: passion and longing
positive quality: wisdom of discriminating awareness
sacred to: Amitabha
Center: color: white
negative quality: ignorance that causes the cycle of
reincarnation
positive quality: wisdom of ultimate reality
sacred to: Mahapratisara - Vairochana
EGYPTIAN
N- Hapy Neith Osiris
S- Imset Isis Ra
E- Duamutef Nephthys Horus
W- Qebehsenuf Sekhmet Thoth
(these are the four sons of Horus, who appear on canopic jars)
HINDU
N- Soma
S- Yama
E -Indra
W -Varuna
The eight Lokapala, Hindu Lords of the Watchtowers, are each assisted by
an
elephant:
East: Airavana
Southeast: Pundari-Ka
South: Vamana
Southwest: Kumuda
West: Anjana
Northwest: Pushpadanta
North: Sarvabhauma
Northeast: Supratika
Each direction corresponds to a color in India:
North: green
South: blue
East: white
West: red
Raise power. You should feel it between your hands, like the force of two
magnets that repel each other, as you invoke the Lords or Ladies and cast
the circle.
THE SPELL:
Perform the spell, reciting its words and carrying out whatever actions
it requires. The words of a spell should be said aloud, in a commanding voice.
This is the Word that goes forth and comes into being, so mote it be.
Manifestation of word into deed is the essence of magic.
CLOSE THE CIRCLE:
Close the circle and ground the power you have raised. Clean up. Carry out
any after-spell actions that the spell required.
CORRESPONDENCES
Think of correspondences as lists of ingredients. What exactly do you do
with them?
friendship:
Planet: Sun - Venus
Zodiac: Aquarius
Number: 3
Invoke: Gilgamesh and Enkidu - Mitra, for intimate
friendship
Plant: lemon - rosemary - passionflower
Jewel: rose quartz - alabaster - turquoise - emerald, to
strengthen friendship
Suppose you want to make new friends, and you write or find an
appropriate spell for this. Using the correspondences, you could:
Do the spell at noon, when the Moon is in Aquarius.
Place three lemons in an alabaster bowl on the altar.
Fill your chalice with passionfruit juice, make a potion of it
by charging it with the spell, then drink it down before you close the circle.
You could also refrigerate the potion or make a syrup of it and drink some each
time you will be meeting new people.
Wear a turquoise ring until you make a new friend
POWER
The power, like the Good Witch told Dorothy, is in you. You effect
magic with your Will. Spells, incantations, candles, herbs, crystals and all of
that just channel it in the desired direction.
Eight ways to raise power:
1] Meditation or concentration
2] Chants, spells, poetry or invocations
3] Trance, or projection of the astral body
4] Incense, drugs or alcohol
5] Rhythm: dancing or drumming
6] Binding, to control the flow of blood
7] Flagellation: light scourging, traditionally 40 lashes
8] The Great Rite: ecstatic sexual union
I usually use incense and psychic concentration, drawing power from
wherever I can feel it: the jet stream, an approaching storm, trees, rain, the city,
my love, my anger, my desire, the Sun or Moon, even the Universe itself. You
have to experiment with different methods in order to find the best way for you
to raise power. You will come with practice to recognize the state of psychic
readiness that tells you when you are prepared to make magic.
Ways to boost your power:
invoke the Mighty Ones (the Old Gods)
work with spirits or elementals
work with other witches
go barefoot, to draw on earth energy
Power is connected to the moon. It increases as the moon waxes,
decreases as it wanes. Witches are most powerful at the full moon. Many witches wear their hair long because cutting your hair can diminish your power. This is likely why Joan of Arc had her hair shorn before she was burned at the stake.
DIRECTING SPELLS
For a spell to work in the intended way it must be properly directed.
You can do this with words or images, putting representations of the person or
thing you want the spell to affect on the altar while you cast the spell. Old
spells sometimes call for hair or fingernail clippings, but I've never used
anything creepy like that. We have cameras now.
A person need not be present for you to work magic on, for, or against
them. Anything associated with the person can be used to direct the spell:
documents, personal items, letters, gifts, pictures - whatever you have. You
can also write the person's name on a piece of paper or a candle and use that.
POPPETS
A poppet is a humanoid figure. It could be a root, a 'voodoo doll', a
chess
piece, a Barbie doll, a puppet, a paper doll, a piece of twisted wire. . .
anything you have at hand. You say,
"Poppet, I name you _____________."
The figure then becomes that person, for magical purposes. If you have a
photograph of the person their face could be affixed to the doll. Poppets
should be safeguarded or destroyed once a spell has done its work.
TIME
Sometimes the effect of a spell will be astonishingly immediate, other
times you will have to wait a while. I'd repeat a spell if I saw no effect after
two weeks, making the second spell stronger. If I still saw no effect, I'd
assume the spell was not in accord with the Universe and move on to something else. If it's something that's too important to you for you to drop, try coming at it
from another direction.
DISTANCE
Spells can be worked over great distances. I have often cast spells that
worked from one continent to another. A personal connection to the people or
situation involved is helpful with this.
HERBS
When spells call for herbs you can plant them, pick them, burn them, eat
them, brew them, strew them, make floor washes, decorate the altar with them
put them in a mojo bag . . . whatever seems appropriate to the spell.
MATERIALS
Don't make yourself crazy trying to acquire exotic items. Use whatever
is available to you. Be creative. Learn correspondences so that you can find
good substitutes when a spell calls for something you don't have.
Herbs
Florist shops, the supermarket, and health food stores (for essential oils
and herbal teas) are good places to start. Dried herbs sold in jars as
spices usually work just fine, but fresh herbs are better. You have sources all
around you. Identify the trees that grow on your block or in your yard. Find out if there is a farmer's market or botanical garden near you. Plant an herb
garden. Study herbalism.
Candles
Any type of candles can be used, from the hardware store, supermarket,
card shop or wherever. Tapers or votives are good. Unscented candles are best
unless you can identify the scent as appropriate to your spell, such as vanilla
candles for love spells. The colors of the candles should also be appropriate. A
stock of candles in various colors is useful to a witch.
Incense
Joss sticks, smudge sticks, little cones . . . the form isn't important, but
the scent should suit the spell. Some plants and resins can be burned directly
as incense. Try card shops, head shops, the Internet and other religions.
Learn to make your own incense, if need be. Witches always have incense on hand, for use in spells or as offerings.
Statues/icons/pictures/posters
Try museum gift shops, magical supply shops, bookstores and the Web.
Paper There's no telling what ordinary paper is made from, so I like to use
papyrus or linen bond. Papyrus and flax (for linen) are plants that can be
made into paper. Papyrus comes from Egypt and may be difficult to obtain, but
linen bond is available from stationers and office supply stores.
ORDINARY MAGIC
Small magic is worked without a circle, often with visual aids. The
possibilities for this kind of magic are limitless. Inventiveness is the
key here.
My usual method is to assemble things on a tray: candles, incense, herbs
the elements, stones or crystals, and things that represent what I am trying
to manifest. As with any spell, I make careful choices in selecting the
materials. I leave the tray like that for several days or a week, until I feel it has
done its work. I may light the candles or burn the incense if I feel like it, or
talk to the tray in passing, stating my purpose aloud. If I see no results I
recast the spell formally, with a circle.
Spell bottles can also be used in this way. Everything needed for the
spell is assembled in a bottle, which can then be buried.
Balloons can be used for spells. Blow one up, write a name or draw a
face on it saying,
"Balloon, I name you _________."
You can then:
pop it to deflate someone's overblown ego let a little air out of it every day to decrease someone's influence set it adrift (on air or water) to release someone, or release yourself
Meditate on ordinary items like keys, ice, pockets, bird cages, mirrors
and photo albums. Use the Other way of thinking, and I am sure you will invent
more spells than I ever could.
~Lady Sunflower~
