Eighth Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle
Days 16–28
Magical Stillness with the
Second Pentacle of the Sun
Magical Purpose: Using magical principles to develop inner stillness and magical clarity.
What you’ll need:
• Second Pentacle of the Sun
• Power of Unity Oil
Now that you’ve prepared and charged the Second Pentacle of the Sun, it is time to put it to good use. For the next couple of days, keep the pentacle safely with you. Try not to fold it or stuff it away, as this not only shows disrespect for the object of art you’ve painstakingly created, but also psychically “chokes” your magic.
Some places you might keep the Second Pentacle of the Sun include:
• A large ziplock bag
• A mylar card storage envelope
• A plastic page protector
• A plain white envelope
Keeping the pentacle in a special holder creates a small ritual activity for you each time you are about to observe magical stillness. Also, for this activity, make sure that you have a small quantity of Power of Unity Oil.
To start this practice, choose several times during the day when you plan to observe magical stillness. Set a timer (for example, on a cell phone you carry around with you) so that you keep yourself on a schedule at first. This is only to establish the new routine, and over time you can decrease or eliminate this prompting altogether. You might also set the alarm to vibrate rather than ring, so you can maintain the practice without drawing excessive attention to yourself.
When the alarm rings, stop whatever you are doing, just for the moment. Take in the bigger picture of whatever is happening. What are the sounds, sights, and other sensations you are experiencing in this moment? Take out the Second Pentacle of the Sun and the Power of Unity Oil. Retrace the pentacle’s outer circle with the oil, focusing only on the physical sensations you experience in this moment. Put the pentacle away, then pause for another few beats.
Resume your action, or choose a new one based on your experience during the magical pause.
Freestyle Magical Stillness
Purpose: Using magical principles to develop stillness.
What you’ll need:
• Second Pentacle of the Sun
• Power of Unity Oil
You’ve been practicing magical stillness in a general manner by using a timer and applying stillness to whatever situation was arising in that moment. For the next two days, try the same practice without the timer, if you can. Try applying the method of stillness to specific situations. For example, begin by applying it during the day at times when you are alone. If you are typing, or looking out the window, or waiting in line somewhere, these are great times to practice.
Keep the Second Pentacle of the Sun and the Power of Unity Oil with you nearby. But remember that in more public settings you might not wish to flash the pentacle to those around you or take out the magical oil and apply it to the image. Instead, try taking your magical pause of stillness, and as soon as you are finished, close your eyes and draw an inconspicuous circle in the palm of your hand with your forefinger.
If this goes well, you can try this method in more emotionally trying circumstances. These are excellent training times to apply stillness. As you do so, explore the moment, taking in the objective details rather than the ones you find important.
As time goes by, you can begin to apply magical stillness to other, more serious situations. But it takes time and “rehearsal” with smaller, less volatile situations before you can do it cleanly, effectively, and inconspicuously.
Notice how frequently you make a constructive or intuitively fortunate change in direction, demeanor, thinking, or behavior immediately following magical stillness. It works.
Drawing Down the God: Incense and Oil
Magical Purpose: Creating herbal aids in preparation for our next magical workings.
Contemporary Wiccans frequently emphasize the Goddess, and we do so with good reason. Witchcraft is, by our own mythic accounts, a gift from the moon goddess Aradia.18 Her charge was to teach all Witches her mysteries and magics. There have been other reasons—political, social, and more—that have also been important to claiming the Wiccan religion as “the Goddess religion.”
But there also exists a vital male force that manifests through all strata of energy, from the finest ethereal, spiritual form to the physical bodies of men in the world. The Horned God is the personification of male energy. And while Wicca may place an accent on the Goddess, in general practice there is a balancing between the two energetic poles of female and male.
In previous lunations, you learned to draw down the Moon and allow the Goddess’s energy to fill your body and mind (called aspecting). Over the next several days, you’ll learn to do a similar rite that invokes the God. The rite is called Drawing Down the God, rather than Drawing Down the Sun, as one might anticipate (especially since this rite parallels the Goddess/Moon ritual). The reason that this practice has a different name is because Witches from the past believed that the Sun’s power was too mighty and fiery (and thus too dangerous) to draw into a priest’s body. Instead, they invoke the God in his earthier manifestations.
Again, while physical gender (or gender identity) can help with a “natural” alignment, either gender can (and should) invoke the God energies into the circle. This is especially true for Witches as you celebrate the solar festivals: the two solstices and two equinoxes.
The following activities are meant to incrementally prepare you for aspecting the God in his various forms. You will create an incense and oil that evokes the Horned God, which you will use later in the week.
Horned God Incense
What you’ll need:
• 3 tablespoons dried patchouli
• ¼ cup powdered oak
• 1 tablespoon crushed, powdered cloves
• 4 tablespoons frankincense tears
• 6 drops vetiver essential oil
• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil
• An airtight container
Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the essential oil to the glycerin or carrier oil. (For this recipe, you might want to adjust the level of the essential oil, as vetiver is a strongly scented oil described as “woody, smoky, herbaceous, earthy, and spicy.” As long as you have some of this essential oil in the mix, it will have the magical properties desired.) Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scent from the essential oil and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.
Horned God Oil
What you’ll need:
• 2 drops patchouli essential oil
• 1 drop clove essential oil
• 3 drops vetiver essential oil
• 1 frankincense tear added to the mix
• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil
• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid
Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils.
As further practice today, light some of the incense and dab yourself just above the pubic region with the oil. Sit in mindfulness and observe the effects the incense and oil have on your body and mind.
Take time to journal about the experiences.
Drawing Down the God:
Evocation of Energy
Magical Purpose: Preparations for Drawing Down the God.
What you’ll need:
• Horned God Incense and Oil
• A thurible
• Self-igniting charcoal
• Matches
A Word to the Wise: If you engage in this activity in an outdoor space, be sure to refer to and observe the fire safety rules covered in days 8–10 of this lunation.
For today’s practice, take the following evocation chant to a natural, wild setting. The traditional places to evoke the Horned God, the places where his energies run free and wild, are in forest groves, open fields, reedy areas, where moss grows on rocks, near orchards, in mountains, on the banks of shaded rivers, or near herd animals.
Of course, if you don’t have access to any of these places, you can sit right where you are, close your eyes, and imagine that you are in one of these places in nature. Really imagine the sights, sounds, smells, and textures of the landscape. Once you have a clear image, you can begin the evocation.
Light the Horned God Incense and dab some of the Horned God Oil on your pubic region. Stand facing the south and raise your arms in the Provider magical pass (see illustration, and for greater clarity on the hand positions, see Appendix G).
Begin with your hands at your sides, palms flat, facing in front of you. Bend the right arm at the elbow and raise the right hand so that the palm faces out and is level with your right cheek. The left hand remains open at the left hip. Close the little finger and ring finger of both hands, which creates the hand gesture of esotericism. This pose has some similarities with the well-known Baphomet image of the Knights Templar.19
Now read the following evocation prayer: 20
Horned One, from whom all things have begun,
O ethereal, marine, earthy, and fiery one,
Immortal; for all the world is thine,
O hoof and horn, O leaf and vine.
Come, Blessed One, whom rural haunts delight,
Come, bounding, shining, starry night;
The hours and seasons move at thy hand,
Baphomet
And round thy throne in order they stand.
Goat-footed, horned, Bacchanalian Pan,
Seed from whom the world began,
In endless dance and melody divine,
The whole of nature in thee combine,
O boon to all of humankind.
In thee a refuge Witches find,
The shepherds, streams, and goats rejoice,
Thou lovest the chase, yet offer the choice.
With dancing nymphs, you shape and bend,
And all thy works fulfill my destined end.
Drop your arms by your side and lift them again in the Inseminator magical pass (see appendix G). Begin by facing the east. Stand with your hands at your sides, palms flat and facing behind you. Bend the arms at the elbows and raise the hands so they are level with your ears. Hands should be approximately eight inches away from the ears on either side of the head. With both of your hands, extend the forefinger and little finger, and close together the remaining fingers and thumb. This forms the Witches’ “stang” (a long cane with its top branching out to symbolize the antlers of the young Horned God).21
Now say:
World’s great ruler, my life is thine,
Grand, encompassing, loved and divine,
All-fertile Horned One who wanders the night,
In fruits rejoicing and in caves delight.
The balance of nature is in thy care,
And in thy bounties all mankind share.
Lord of the Herds, thy suppliant hear,
Come, Bacchanalian Lord, ’tis time to draw near,
Upon these holy rites attend,
Thy hoof, thy horn, thy power lend.
Raise the thurible of burning Horned God Incense high above you to the east, south, west, and north. Then sit and remain aware of any sensations or feelings you may have. Take time to journal about the experience following the practice.
Drawing Down the God: The Rite
Magical Purpose: Drawing the divine masculine into your life.
What you’ll need:
• Horned God Incense and Oil
• Your circle-casting tools (including wand, athame, chalice, and pentacle)
• First Pentacle of Saturn candle (the white pillar with the image of the pentacle on it from the second lunation)
• A black, fairly translucent veil
Cast your circle as usual. Once the casting is complete, light the Horned God Incense, and with it, cense the perimeter of the circle. Start in the east, walking clockwise, and finish in the east. Light the pillar candle with the First Pentacle of Saturn on it. Hold it with the image facing the outer perimeter of the circle, and again, retrace the circle with the candle.
Using the middle finger of your right hand, dab Horned God Oil on the tops of your feet, drawing an invoking earth pentagram on each.
After this, say:
Blessed be my feet,
Which have brought me in these ways.
Using the oil, draw an invoking earth pentagram on each knee, saying:
Blessed be my knees,
Which kneel at the sacred altar.
Draw an invoking earth pentagram with the oil just above the genital area, saying:
Blessed be my womb/phallus,
Without which we would not be.
Using the oil, draw an invoking earth pentagram on each breast, saying:
Blessed be my breasts,
Formed in beauty and strength.
Finally, draw an earth-invoking pentagram at your chin, saying:
Blessed be my lips,
Which shall utter the sacred names.
Place the veil over your head. Be sure that it allows you to see through it fairly clearly.
Using your wand, draw the symbol of the First Degree, touching the wand tip just above the navel, then left breast, right breast, and solar plexus again.
Hold your athame in your right hand and your wand in your left, then cross them over your chest in the Osiris position.
Recite the first evocation:
Horned One, from whom all things have begun,
O ethereal, marine, earthy, and fiery One,
Immortal; for all the world is thine,
O hoof and horn, O leaf and vine.
Come, Blessed One, whom rural haunts delight,
Come, bounding, shining, starry night;
The hours and seasons move at thy hand,
And round thy throne in order they stand.
Goat-footed, horned, Bacchanalian Pan,
Seed from whom the world began,
In endless dance and melody divine,
The whole of nature in thee combine,
O boon to all of humankind.
In thee a refuge Witches find,
The shepherds, streams, and goats rejoice,
Thou lovest the chase, yet offer the choice.
With dancing nymphs, you shape and bend,
And all thy works fulfill my destined end.
Set your wand and athame down so that they are perpendicular to your feet. Raise your hands in the Inseminator magical pass while saying:
World’s great ruler, my life is thine,
Grand, encompassing, loved and divine,
All-fertile Horned One who wanders the night,
In fruits rejoicing and in caves delight.
The balance of nature is in thy care,
And in thy bounties all mankind share.
Lord of the Herds, thy suppliant hear,
Come, Bacchanalian Lord, ’tis time to draw near,
Upon these holy rites attend,
Thy hoof, thy horn, thy power lend.
I invoke and call upon thee to descend
Into this, thy priest/ess.
Speak with my tongue, touch with my hands,
Fill the world with thy sacred utterances.
Intone the name of your patron god while standing in the Inseminator magical pass, chanting the name one syllable at a time. (For example, if your patron god’s name is Cernunnos, you’d chant each syllable slowly: Cer-nu-nnos.)
Stand in silence and allow any intuited words to emerge, if they will come. Give yourself permission to verbalize what you are seeing, feeling, hearing, or sensing. Audio-recording your aspecting session can be helpful, as you may not necessarily recall the things you said while directly channeling the God.
Following Drawing Down the God, recite the Charge of the God: 22
Hear ye the words of the Horned One,
Lord of the Underworld, life and giver of life:
I am a stag of seven tines,
I am a flood across a plain,
I am a wind on a deep lake,
I am a tear the sun lets fall,
I am a hawk above the cliff,
I am a thorn beneath the nail,
I am a wonder among flowers,
Who but I sets the cool head
aflame with smoke?
I am a spear that roars for blood,
I am a salmon in a pool,
I am a lure from the skies above,
I am a hill where poets walk,
I am a wild boar ruthless and red,
I am a breaker threatening doom,
I am a tide that drags to the open sea,
Who but I know secrets from the unhewn dolmen arch?
After this is completed, remove the veil, complete cakes and wine, and spend time grounding yourself to make sure you’re centered after aspecting the Horned God. Close the circle.
Ad Visionem: To Gain the Sight
Magical Purpose: Developing psychic abilities.
The following is an old Witchcraft recipe for incense that helps with developing your psychic abilities and seeing visions of the future. It can be used when doing psychic readings, and is most effective when you inhale the fumes prior to the reading.
What you’ll need:
• 1 tablespoon myrrh
• 1 tablespoon gum arabic
• ½ tablespoon gum mastic
• 2 tablespoons calamus root
• ½ tablespoon cinnamon bark
• ½ tablespoon juniper
• Handful of sandalwood powder
• 2 drops ambergris essential oil
• 3 drops patchouli essential oil
• 1 drop musk essential oil
• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil
• An airtight container
Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the essential oils to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scents from the essential oils and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it in upcoming days.
After preparing the incense, light a charcoal and sprinkle some on. Try doing a psychic reading with one of your magical tools such as tarot cards or runes. Journal about the experience:
• What did this incense invoke for you?
• In what ways might you use this magical incense?
18. Charles Godfrey Leland, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (Radford, VA: Wilder Publications, 2014), pp. 1–5.
19. In Dictionnaire de la Langue Francaise, Emile Littré asserts that the name is a Cabalistic invention that one arrives at by writing backward “Tem. Ohp. Ab,” an abbreviation of the Latin templi omnium hominum pacis abbas, which means “father of the temple of peace of all men.”
20. Adapted from the Orphic hymns. See, for example, Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow, trans., The Orphic Hymns (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013).
21. For more information about magical passes and practical exercises related to them, please see Wicca: A Year and a Day.
22. This version is an adaptation of “The Song of Amergin,” which is thought to be the oldest poem in the Irish language. Amergin is referred to as the “First Druid of the Gaels” in the Irish Book of Invasions.