Second Lunation: Waning Moon Cycle
Days 16–28
Dark Moon Magic
with the Key of Solomon
During this waning moon cycle, we shall continue our exploration of the Key of Solomon, initially using some of the pentacles of Saturn. Not all of the pentacles of the Key are suited for our second year’s magical explorations, so I have selected a handful of them for our spiritual practice. You can easily find copies of each of the pentacles for you to print from online sources. It would be best to double-check the source and compare it to the pentacle printed in this book, for accuracy.
Begin each practice by printing the pentacle on a piece of parchment that has never been used for any other purpose. Use the highest-quality print setting on your printer. If you have a color printer, you can save some time by printing the pentacles in color from your printer, but be sure the colors are clear and unambiguous and you are able to read the Hebrew letters and the pentacle’s markings clearly.
For colors such as yellow, blue, or green, try setting the printer so that you print out the darkest or most saturated version of each color. Alternatively, for lighter colors, you can print the pentacle in black and white, then using a quill pen and colored ink, color in the entire background area of the pentacle (within the boundary lines of the circle drawn around each pentacle). (Later in the year you will be learning how to make your own magical inks for this purpose, so don’t be worried if you don’t have a magical ink prepared at this point.) Remember, you are not practicing with the Key to evoke spiritual entities, but rather to use the inherent archetypal energy of each pentacle to give your spellwork a boost. So if you make errors or go outside the lines here or there, nothing terrible will happen to you.
Preparations for the
First Pentacle of Saturn
Magical Purpose: Expelling negative or unwanted spirits.
What you’ll need:
• A copy of the First Pentacle of Saturn. It looks like this:
First Pentacle of Saturn
• A white pillar candle
• Black ink (the kind you can store in an inkwell or other small container)
• A feather quill pen
You will also need the ingredients to make Saturn Incense, which include:
• ¼ cup powdered sandalwood
• 1 teaspoon dried Solomon’s seal
• ½ teaspoon poppy seed
• ¼ teaspoon dried elm
• 7 drops patchouli essential oil
• 7 drops musk essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil
• Your circle-casting tools
Finally, you’ll need the following to make Saturn Oil:
• 7 drops patchouli essential oil
• 7 drops musk essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil
• A one-ounce bottle with lid
I always like to know what I’m dealing with when I see writing in a language other than English. I’m sure many of you feel the same way. For that purpose, I am providing the following information about each of the pentacles:
• The writing within the square at the center of the pentacle includes the “four great names” of deity in the biblical pantheon: YHVH (which is Jehovah: Yod, He, Vau, He); ADNI (which is Adonai); IIAI (which is Yiai); and AHIH (which is Eheieh).
• In addition, along the circular border we find the versicle, “The Ethiopians shall kneel before Him; His enemies shall lick the dust.”
Have you ever felt like you had a few unwanted spirit guests in your home or in your life? People who practice Wicca and other magically empowering spiritual paths typically report that their homes are ghost-free. Ghosts just don’t seem to like to hang around Witches’ power vortexes. But if you do feel like you have unwanted visitors, there are important steps you can take. After completing the next day’s practices, you’ll likely sense a “cleaner” vibration in your dwelling or magical space. Even if you don’t have unwanted spirits hanging around, you should still complete the following activities as part of your training. This can help to keep unwanted spirits from joining you later on.
Cast a circle in the hour of Saturn (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Light the white pillar candle and place it nearby for light. Using the black ink and the feather quill, retrace the images of the First Pentacle of Saturn. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power.
Next, using a large bowl, mix together the herbs for Saturn Incense. Mix in the vegetable glycerin or the carrier oil. Add the essential oils. Mix everything until it is light and fluffy-looking. Once done, place the incense mixture in an airtight container.
Next, fill a one-ounce bottle with your carrier oil only halfway. Put in seven drops each of musk and patchouli essential oils. Add a few small crumbles of each of the dry herbs to the bottle, then seal it tight and shake it vigorously.
Close your circle and be sure to extinguish the white pillar candle. You’ll be using it again tomorrow night.
First Pentacle of Saturn
Candle Image Transfer
Magical Purpose: Making an altar candle for ritual purposes.
What you’ll need:
• The white pillar candle you used on practice days 16–17
• White tissue paper (the kind you use when wrapping gifts)
• Plain white printer paper
• A computer printer
• A blow dryer
• Scissors
• Wax paper (the kind you use in your kitchen)
Over the next couple of days, we’ll get the materials together to transfer the First Pentacle of Saturn to your pillar candle. In the good old days, if we were doing magic with the Key, we Witches would actually take the time to painstakingly inscribe our candle with the pentacle image. It would never really look clear or all that impressive, though. It left wax shavings all over the work surface. It was a mess, and, in my opinion, I’m glad those good old days are gone, especially when we have cleaner, more detailed ways of creating the same effect.
Today you will use a homemade image transfer process to get the exact image onto the candle you’re using in your magical work. To do this, you’ll need to first print (using the highest-quality print setting you have on your printer) the image of the pentacle onto the white tissue paper. Since you can’t feed tissue into your printer without damaging it, you’ll need to size down some of the tissue to the general size of your regular computer paper. Cut the tissue out and tape it to the regular computer paper at four corners.
Next, test the printing of the pentacle to make sure it is sized correctly for your pillar candle. If the pentacle is too big, you can resize it. Or consider getting a candle big enough to accommodate the pentacle image.
Once your image sizing is complete, feed the tissue (that is taped to computer paper) into your paper tray and print the image of the pentacle. Once you have the image printed on tissue, cut it out and trim the image so it is very close to the pentacle borders. Try not to leave a large paper margin around the image.
Take the trimmed pentacle and place it on the candle surface with the image facing out. Wrap this tightly with wax paper. (You might want to wear an oven mitt for this next part so you don’t burn your hand.) Be sure you are holding the wax paper tightly, so the image is pressed firmly between the wax paper and the candle surface.
Turn on a blow dryer to the hottest setting and allow it to blow on the wax paper. This process can take a few minutes. Once the wax paper looks shiny all across the pentacle image, you can turn off the blow dryer. Wait a minute for the wax to settle and harden. Then remove the wax paper. The tissue edges and the image should have “melted” into the candle surface.
Banishing Spirits with the Pentacle
Magical Purpose: A banishing ritual using your incense, oil, and candle.
What you’ll need:
• The pillar candle with the image transfer (from days 18–19)
• The First Pentacle of Saturn you used on days 16–17
• Saturn Incense and Oil
• Circle-casting tools
On the hour of Saturn, cast your magic circle. Place your altar pentacle (the five-pointed star, not the Pentacle of Saturn) at the center of your altar, and on it place the First Pentacle of Saturn. Use the middle finger of your right hand to trace the outer circle of the Saturn pentacle with Saturn Oil.
Consecrate the candle with your blessed water and salt by dabbing it around the sides. While doing so, say:
Thou art consecrated with the elements of water and earth.
Place the pillar candle atop the oil-smeared Saturn pentacle. Sprinkle a circle of (unlit) Saturn Incense around the base of the candle. Smear the perimeter of the Saturn pentacle image on the candle with Saturn Oil.
Then sprinkle Saturn Incense on your incense burner and cense the candle, blessing it with the elements of fire and air. While doing so, say:
Thou art consecrated with the elements of fire and of air.
Light the candle now and hold your hands around the flickering flame. (Be careful not to burn your hands or catch your sleeves in the flames!) Say:
I call upon the names of the Great Mother and the Horned One that thou cast out from my presence all harmful or negative spirits, energies, forms, and manifestations. I expel thee in the names of the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters, the Kings of the Elements, that thou leave for thy realms, never to return.
Take the pillar candle now to each of the four quarters, starting in the east and moving clockwise (south, west, north, and ending in the east again). Hold the candle up at each quarter of the circle and draw a banishing earth pentagram with the candle. When you finish at each quarter, say loudly:
Begone! Begone! To Bane, begone!
Back ye go from whence ye came.
Place the candle back on the pentacle. Sit nearby and gaze into the candle flame, imagining that your home has become clear, clean, and safe. Extinguish the candle and close the circle.
Sealing Your Home from Unwanted Spirits
Magical Purpose: A rite for keeping energies at bay.
What you’ll need:
• Saturn Incense and Oil
• The pillar candle with the image transfer of the First Pentacle of Saturn
• The pentacle seal you used in the previous ceremony
At an hour dedicated to Saturn, sprinkle Saturn Incense over hot coals in an incense burner you can carry around your dwelling. Start at the front door and carry the burning incense clockwise throughout the entire house, returning finally to the front door.
Set the incense down in a safe place and consecrate each door with Saturn Oil. Starting at the front door, move clockwise through the whole house, marking each door (as best you can) with Saturn’s magical letters:
Saturn’s Magical Letters
When you go back to the front door, use the oil to mark it with the sigil of Saturn (see illustration). The Saturn sigil comes from the Medieval period, when the use of planetary “signatures” (such as this seal) was a common practice to invoke the planetary influences.
The seal was made first by using the magic square of Saturn (which we will discuss later in the year). Spiritual names would be converted into numbers and the numbers would then be plotted out on the magic square, ultimately giving the sigil.
The illustration shows the magic square of Saturn as well as how the sigil was created. And by the way, just creating the magic square invokes the Saturn energies. So if you feel you need to get an extra charge to vanquish unsavory spiritual forces, you can always draw Saturn’s magic square and place it near you.
Saturn’s Magic Square and Sigil
The third in the sequence of illustrations is the final sigil that you will draw, using Saturn Oil, on each door of your house.
Next, light your white candle that has the image transfer on it. Starting at the front door, draw the sigil of Saturn in the air using the candle’s flame. Perform this same procedure at each door in your house, going clockwise and returning to the front door.
Finally, take the First Pentacle of Saturn that you copied and traced with oil, and affix it to the interior front door or just above it.
Safely store away the pillar candle with the First Pentacle of Saturn inscription, as you will use it in later workings during the year.
Third Pentacle of Saturn
Magical Purpose: Reducing the flow of unwanted karma.
What you’ll need:
• A good copy of the Third Pentacle of Saturn (see illustration).
Third Pentacle of Saturn
• Black ink and a quill pen
• Saturn Incense and Oil
• Circle-casting tools
• 8 small black votive candles
The Third Pentacle of Saturn has eight rays emanating from a central spot, which Mathers calls “the Mystic Wheel of Saturn.” At the end of the rays are the magical characters associated with the energies of Saturn. At the four cardinal points of the wheel, we see inscribed four angelic/spirit names: Omelil, Anachiel, Arauchiah, and Anazachia.
There are many approaches to reducing the number of destructive effects in your life. We will cover more of them in-depth over the course of the year; but suffice it to say, at least for now, that perhaps the effects of things as they are occurring in your life right now are what mystics call “karma flow.”
Karma is a Sanskrit word that means action. The word karma also means “deed” or “work.” Most magical practitioners understand karma to mean “cause and effect.” Whatever action you take, there is a response in the world. The concept has close ties with the magical axiom discussed earlier from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes: “That which is below corresponds to that which is above, and that which is above corresponds to that which is below.”
Karma flow is the release, or “ripening,” of a karmic effect in your life. The conditions were right to produce a response to an action. Mystical folk know that when you can’t trace the karma flow to a recognized action, it could well be that karma from another lifetime has ripened and has begun to flow.
The most effective way of dealing with an unpleasant karma flow in your life is to reduce your struggle against it. That being said, if you are being victimized or are struggling to save your life, you should take action toward whatever the moment requires. Who knows what you may have to do in your lifetime as your face each moment? Might you have to end a marriage? Save a child? Put an animal to sleep? Quit a job? Take a job? The magical stance, the position of power, is to remain flexible, neutral, and aware. You should be ready for whatever the moment requires of you without letting your inner discourse or commentary interfere with the necessary action.
The “struggle” (or perhaps it is clearer to call it “suffering”) you experience about whatever unwanted karma flow is occurring has more to do with your mental state, your emotional response to the karma flow. If you can meet the moment and respond to it, as needed, without engaging in mental/emotional warfare with others, yourself, or the world, then the karma will pass through quickly and cleanly. However, if you take action based on your inner commentary (including resentment, anger, frustration, fear, etc.), you can prolong or even disrupt the karma flow. This means that whatever you’ve disrupted may occur again at some other point.
The workings over the next several days are aimed at slowing the outpour of karma flow, rather than eliminating it. I will note here that it is possible to halt your karma flow, but it is not advisable. Allowing karma to flush through, like the flow of a clean, clear river, finishes the karma once and for all. It frees up your life for newer karma, perhaps positive karma of your making in this very moment.
You can perform the following activity for your own benefit or for the benefit of another. But if you intervene on behalf of someone else, be certain that he or she knows what you’re doing and has requested the magical work. Slowing karma flow may protract the flow over a longer period of time, but it can also provide some immediate relief.
On an hour of Saturn, cast your magic circle. Smear the surfaces of your eight black votives with Saturn Oil. Next, sprinkle Saturn Incense over hot coals and hold each votive over the smoke, allowing it to be blessed by the spiritual energies of the incense.
Third Pentacle of Saturn with Compass Directions
Looking at the illustration of the Third Pentacle of Saturn with compass directions, start with the magical character that corresponds to the eastern quarter of the Pentacle. Using your white-handled knife, inscribe that magical design into your first candle. Go to the east of the quarter and light the candle, setting it so that the magical character faces outward. Stand facing the east with hands in the Mother magical pass and say:
Eko, Eko, Omelil! (pronounced O-mel-lil)
Eko, Eko, Anachiel! (pronounced Ah-nah-key-el)
Eko, Eko, Arauchiah! (pronounced Ah-rah-oo-key-ah)
Eko, Eko, Anazachia! (pronounced Ah-nah-zah-key-ah)
I call upon thee to guard this circle.
Calm the clouds, soothe the seas,
Tame the earth’s trembling and foil fire’s fury.
Peaceful the path and diminish all darkness.
Repeat this now in the south. Using your white-handled knife, inscribe the magical character of Saturn that corresponds to south on the next black votive. Light it, face its design outward, and again say:
Eko, Eko, Omelil! Eko, Eko, Anachiel!
Eko, Eko, Arauchiah! Eko, Eko, Anazachia!
I call upon thee to guard this circle.
Calm the clouds, soothe the seas,
Tame the earth’s trembling and foil fire’s fury.
Peaceful the path and diminish all darkness.
Repeat this same procedure for the west and the north, inscribing each candle with its corresponding magical design and intoning the evocation as just described for east and south. (Intoning is when you sing in a fairly monotone, “chanting” sort of way.)
Once those are completed, do the same for the northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest, inscribing each candle with the corresponding magical design from the pentacle and placing it in the correct spot along the perimeter of your magic circle. Each time, intone the evocation as described earlier.
Once you have inscribed all eight candles and have placed them about the magic circle, take a seated position at the circle’s center (which is where your altar should be placed). Take your computer printout of the Third Pentacle of Saturn, place it upon your altar pentacle, and trace the designs using your black ink and quill. Once you are done, allow the ink to dry and then anoint the perimeter of the Saturn pentacle with Saturn Oil.
Hold your athame between both palms, just above the pentacle design, intoning:
O Ancient ones who live here,
Those of the ten thousand names,
Who live among rocks, trees, winds, and rivers;
I calm the gathering clouds in the ten directions;
I soothe the churning seas in the ten directions;
I tame the earth’s deep trembling in the ten directions;
I foil fire’s fury in the ten directions.
Imagine that you build up power in your hands as you chant and you focus that power down through the athame blade. Imagine that the center of the pentacle burns with a brilliant light as you touch it with the point of the blade. Visualize this for a few moments, then remove the blade from the pentacle design.
Close your circle, first extinguishing each of the black candles in reverse order: northwest, southwest, southeast, northeast, north, west, south, and finally east. If you have a fireplace, melt the black candles in its flames. Or if you want, you can melt the candles in a pot on your stove. That can work just as well, but be very careful and use low heat, as most votive candles are made of paraffin wax, which ignites easily. If you melt the candles in a pot on the stove, please supervise the activity from beginning to end and use low heat only. In addition, take any customary fire safety precautions that you can.
Pour the black melted wax into a hole in the soil and bury it.
Please note that the “ten directions” referred to in the chant are the four cardinal directions, the four cross directions, and above and below.
Easing Karma Flow Chants
Magical Purpose: Magical activity to ease karma flow.
There are many things we can do as magical practitioners to ease karma flow. One of the most effective positions we can take is to align ourselves with the flow of life, of nature itself. Instead of attempting to force the world to conform to our individual will, or resist some event that we find distasteful or frustrating, we should be flexible enough to widen our personal view and understand karma flow in a larger context.
All things in the world arise and come into being, moment by moment, all at the same time. The interconnectedness of things is vast and beyond our personal understanding. Why a certain energy has ripened and come to fruition is nothing we can control, really. There are many conditions that must align in order for karma flow to begin. We cannot escape cause and effect, no matter what. We can divert it (at least for a short while), but eventually the “river flow” of universal energy (of which we are made) will seek its rightful, impersonal path.
With this understanding, it becomes clear that struggling against the vast interconnectedness of the universal flow of energy not only can be exhausting, but can ultimately waste your time. A better and more effective use of your magical energies would be putting yourself in alignment with the universal flow. This position is magically recommended not only because once you are in alignment, you will struggle less against life (and thus you will become less anxious, sad, frustrated, disappointed, or angry), but also because you won’t impede anything, and whatever needs to pass through will finally be able to do so without interference. This is important because if you impede the flow of karma, you can cause it to repeat at some other time.
But what if there is abuse involved? What if there is bigotry? Being in the flow of life is not a call for you to roll over and do nothing at all. Being in direct contact with the moment compels you to be responsive to whatever is happening. So, for example, if there is abuse that comes my way or a bigoted comment is directed at me, staying in alignment with the immediate flow of the moment can allow me to respond to the facts at hand without reacting to them.
The difference between responding and reacting is subtle, but is important to understand. Reacting is a form of action that starts from an emotional basis. That emotional basis is rooted in a whole storyline (usually a painful one) that you develop across your lifetime. And reacting to the circumstances of life from the history of this storyline results in the blockage of karma flow. Reacting also usually takes you down a path that evokes (in you and others) an intensified sense of anger, frustration, sadness, and more.
Responding means taking only the action necessary or dictated by the circumstances, and nothing more. When something appears abusive, make sure you ask yourself three questions before responding:
• Do I have all of the information about how this circumstance arose?
• Does the person with whom I am engaging have all of the information?
• What is the most skillful response to this moment?
These three questions can help guide a wise response rather than an emotionally driven one. There is an element of intention involved in your decision to respond or react, and it is important for you to understand clearly whether you are acting from some personal, emotionally dictated intention or not. An easy way to know if you are reacting is to sense if your body is tensing, tightening, or flexing as you produce your response. Frequently, this muscle tension is a clue that you’re experiencing a difficult-to-process emotion, and it is far more instructive to experience a painful emotion sometimes than to act from it.
I find that when I am truly aligned with the moment and something painful comes my way (like abuse or bigotry), I simply respond by leaving the scene. Or sometimes, if it feels safe enough (or warranted by the moment), I use the situation to instruct, speaking from my own experience and truth. For example, I may simply express/reflect the experience I’m having by saying, “This feels abusive to me,” or “I feel pretty frustrated by what you’re saying (or doing).”
There is no need for any of us to hold ourselves in the flames of abuse of any form, but it would only impede the karma flow if I were to engage with the abuse by reacting from my long-ingrained emotional habits and behaviors. And who really knows how you may need to respond in the varied circumstances of your life? It is a moment-by-moment decision that requires you to be fluid, flexible, and alert.
This practice of allowing the flow of karma to pass through your life has additional benefits. Once you are fully engaged in the uninterrupted flow of nature’s power, you begin to strengthen your own personal energy stores for later use.
The following is a “sung” form of meditation. Don’t worry, I’m not asking that you perform for everyone. Instead, you will chant (in a monotone) the following incantations each morning as you awaken and before you go to bed. What seems to work best is about ten minutes of chanting this incantation at each sitting.
Although I’m presenting this meditation during this discussion of karma flow, I recommend that you use the following two incantations on a regular, general basis to maintain your alignment and to remind you of your place in the vast, impersonal universe.
Knowing this, remembering this, can be helpful in so many ways. When chanting these two karma-releasing incantations, it will feel like a soothing balm is being poured over your life. And ultimately, this magical activity may influence new decisions or directions in your life, as long as you continually align, following the flow of universal energy.
Morning Chant
Vast is the tide of stars and seasons,
Formless the field of benefaction;
Cause; no cause,
Effect; no effect,
Flowing, arising, clean and clear.
Evening Chant
Being one with the Great Mother Goddess,
Being one with the Great Horned God,
Being one with all the Gods and Goddesses
In the east, south, west, and north,
Being one with the Mighty Ones,
The Kings of the Elements,
Being one with all the formless forms
Throughout space and time.
I am the universe and the universe is me.
I am the universe and the universe is me.