IV Consecrations

Witches make a practice of consecrating their working tools and ritual substances such as water, wine and cakes or biscuits. Most religions do the same, in one form or another; but in Wicca, there are two notable differences. First, because of Wicca’s emphasis on male-female polarity, consecration is normally done by a man and a woman together. And second, in Wicca the right to consecrate is not confined to the priesthood as a separate class, because every witch is regarded as a priest or priestess, and this is stated in each of the three initiation rituals. The power to consecrate is regarded as inherent in every human being, and as being effective if sincerely carried out. In fact, we (and doubtless other covens) often encourage neophytes who have not yet been initiated, but who have been attending Circles long enough to understand what they are doing, to carry out consecrations (except of a sword or athame) in the coven Circle, and we cast no doubt upon their effectiveness.

Consecration has two basic purposes. The first is psychological; to set the tool or substance aside as something special, and thus to modify the user’s attitude to it — which in turn strengthens his or her confidence, creative imagination and willpower for any ritual in which it is used.

The second purpose can be called psychic, magical or astral. Witches (and many others) believe that every material object has ‘bodies’ on the other levels; and that, just as the material object itself can be altered, decorated, carved, moistened, dried, cooked, frozen, given a static electrical charge or what have you — all without robbing it of its identity, sometimes even enhancing it — so also (for example) can its astral ‘body’ be altered, charged, rendered harmless or actively beneficial, and so on, by human action, whether deliberate or involuntary. Deliberate action of this kind includes consecration, exorcism, the making of talismans, and many other steps — even the conscious love or resentment with which a gift is presented. Involuntary action includes a long (or short but intensive) use by a particular person, the involvement of the object in some emotionally charged situation — or again the spontaneous love or subconscious resentment which may accompany a gift. All of these affect the invisible but often very powerful astral or even spiritual charge carried by a material object.

It is not always easy to separate these two effects — the psychological and the astral — into watertight compartments; indeed, they overlap a good deal, and some people would lay more emphasis on one than on the other, or even deny that the effect is anything but psychological. After all, if a surge of confidence comes from a Catholic grasping a rosary, a Jew touching a mezuzah, or a pilgrim to Mecca circuiting and kissing the Ka’ba — or if an Irish farmer has bad luck when he finds a piseog1 on his land — who is to say how far the effect is psychological, and how much of it is due to the non-material charge which has been put into, or accumulated by, the physical object?

Be that as it may, strong confirmation of the reality of the non-material charge is given by the often startling accuracy with which a skilled psychometrist can tell the history and emotional associations of an object simply by holding and concentrating on it.

Many witches and occultists would admit, if they are honest, that they started off by only being really certain of the psychological effectiveness of consecration, but that experience convinced them of the reality of the psychic-charge effect, which of course also grows stronger as the consecrated object continues in ritual use.²

There are three forms of consecration ritual in the Book of Shadows: for water and salt, for a sword or athame, and for other tools. All of them come from The Greater Key of Solomon, first published in English by Macgregor Mathers in 1888 (see Bibliography under Mathers) who translated it from mediaeval manuscripts in the British Museum. In Text A (and in Chapter X of High Magic’s Aid) the strings of Hebrew, Greek or Latin Names of Power were retained as they appear in the Key of Solomon; but in Text B these were replaced, in two of the three rituals, by the names Aradia and Cernunnos. Text C is the same as Text B.

Doreen Valiente tells us: ‘This shows how old Gerald’s mind was working, as he gradually modified the rituals and incantations of the Hebrew Key of Solomon into a simpler and more pagan form. This important magical work first became generally available in 1888, so it had been around for quite a while among students of the occult. However, Gerald also told me that when the Jews were forced to go underground in Britain in the Middle Ages, some of them were helped and protected by the witches, who regarded them as companions in misfortune and fellow refugees from a persecuting Christian Church. Consequently, there was a certain amount of Qabalistic3 lore which found its way into the hands of the witches, who esteemed the Jews as powerful ceremonial magicians. Occultists who were not witches had the same idea, and wanted to study the secret lore of Israel; but they had to be careful, so they pretended to be studying Hebrew in order to convert the Jews to Christianity, and to be studying the Qabalah with the same pious end in view. As you know, a lot of Hebrew Qabalistic lore has found its way into the Western Tradition; so much so that Dion Fortune (The Magical Qabala) says that Hebrew is the sacred language of the West as Sanscrit is of the East. High Magic’s Aid in fact portrays a working relationship between a Qabalistic magician and a witch, and as we now know,⁴ this book was published in Old Dorothy’s lifetime; so I think she and Gerald probably used the Key of Solomon wording for these consecration rituals, which he later shortened and simplified. But I wish we knew what the older witches used!’

So do we; and it may well be that these old forms, or variations of them, have been preserved by other hereditary covens. For it is time that critics of Gardner who like to maintain that he ‘invented’ his system faced the fact that the ancient rituals of the Craft have survived piecemeal and unevenly; and that while they may genuinely possess some of them, so undoubtedly did the New Forest coven — and not necessarily the same elements. And that they or their forebears, like the New Forest coven, have doubtless filled in the gaps with material from other occult sources, or of their own devising. This was a perfectly legitimate process — indeed a necessary one if the Craft was to survive, especially during the fragmented and secret years. What matters is does it work? — and the Gardnerian system, as well as many others, undoubtedly does. Given the spirit and the understanding of the Old Religion, the forms are secondary. The old forms are to be valued, of course, because they represent our roots and enshrine wisdom which we are all striving to rediscover. If we can abandon sectarianism, and witches of many traditions can get together without bias, honest research and pooling of evidence could give us a far clearer overall picture of what the old forms actually were. Till then, we may all be sitting on different pieces of a rather important jigsaw puzzle.

We give below the Text B/C version of the three consecration rituals, plus an element-based form which we ourselves use for other objects such as personal jewellery. All these rituals should of course be performed within a Magic Circle. Even if the water and salt are being consecrated for a single purpose such as the Openings of the Body ritual, you should at least cast a mental Circle around yourself before you start.

One other point. At the banishing of the Circle, one witch should not join the others in making the Banishing Pentagrams but should carry any objects which have been consecrated during the Circle, and move round to be behind the coven as they face each of the cardinal points. To make a Banishing Pentagram towards a newly consecrated object might have a neutralizing effect.

Consecrating the Water and Salt

Our own usage is for the High Priestess to consecrate the water, and the High Priest the salt; the High Priestess then holds up the bowl of water while the High Priest pours the salt into it. But the whole thing can of course be done by one person.

The Text B/C version given here is a shortened form of that given in the Key of Solomon, pp.93-4 (see also High Magic’s Aid pp. 144-5). The list of Hebrew and other Names of Power has also been reduced — with the water from thirty-two to five, and with the salt from nineteen to six. As will be seen, in the other two consecration rituals, Gardner eliminated the Hebrew and other names altogether and substituted those of Aradia and Cernunnos (as we do ourselves), and we are a little puzzled by the fact that he did not do the same here.

The Ritual

Place the bowl of water on the pentacle, hold the tip of your athame in the water, and say:

‘I exorcise thee, O Creature of Water, that thou cast out from thee all the impurities and uncleanness of the spirits of the world of phantasm. Mertalia, Musalia, Dophalia, Onemalia, Zitanseia.’

Remove the bowl from the pentacle, replace it with the bowl of salt, hold the tip of your athame in the salt, and say:

‘Blessings be upon this Creature of Salt; let all malignity and hindrance be cast forth thencefrom, and let all good enter therein. Wherefore I bless thee and invoke thee, that thou mayest aid me.’ Changing over the bowls again and pouring the salt into the water, say: ‘Yamenton, Yaron, Tatonon, Zarmesiton, Tileion, Tixmion. But ever mind, water purifies the body, but the scourge purifies the soul.’

Consecrating a Sword or Athame

The Book of Shadows says that this consecration should if possible be done by a man and a woman, ‘both as naked as drawn swords’. If a solo witch has no choice but to do it alone, the final embrace could perhaps be replaced by holding up the newly consecrated sword or athame for a moment in silent offering to the God and the Goddess, envisaged as being beyond the altar.

If possible, the weapon should be consecrated in contact with an already-consecrated sword or athame — as High Magic’s Aid puts it, ‘to communicate increased power’.

The actual words should be spoken by whichever of the couple is the owner of the weapon to be consecrated. If, in the case of the sword, it belongs to both of them or to the coven, either of them may say the words, or both of them together. Where appropriate, ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’ are replaced by ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’; or if the weapon is being consecrated for someone else, by the person’s name and by ‘he’ or ‘she’, etc.

The original words of this ritual, as used in Text A, may be found on pp.101 and 118 of the Key of Solomon, and on p. 160 of High Magic’s Aid.

We give the Text B/C version below, expanded slightly to make the movements clearer. After the ritual itself, we give verbatim the explanatory passage as it follows the spoken words in Text B/C. It is interesting to note that in this text, ‘Witch’ means the woman witch and ‘Magus’ the man witch.

The Ritual

Lay the sword or athame over the pentacle, preferably together with, and touching, another already-consecrated weapon. The man sprinkles them with the salt-and-water mixture. The woman then picks up the weapon to be consecrated, passes it through the smoke of the incense, and replaces it over the pentacle. Man and woman lay their right hands on it and press down. Say:

‘I conjure thee, O Sword [Athame], by these Names, Abrahach, Abrach, Abracadabra, that thou servest me for a strength and defence in all magical operations against all mine enemies, visible and invisible. I conjure thee anew by the Holy Name Aradia and the Holy Name Cernunnos; I conjure thee, O Sword [Athame], that thou servest me for a protection in all adversities; so aid me now.’

(This is called the First Conjuration.)

Once again, the man witch sprinkles and the woman witch censes, and the weapon is returned to the pentacle. Say:

‘I conjure thee, O Sword [Athame] of Steel, by the Great Gods and Gentle Goddesses, by the virtue of the heavens, of the stars and of the spirits who preside over them, that thou mayest receive such virtue that I may obtain the end that I desire in all things wherein I shall use thee, by the power of Aradia and Cernunnos.’

(This is called the Second Conjuration.)

The one who is not the owner then gives the Fivefold Kiss to the owner. (If they own it jointly, or if they are consecrating it for someone else, the man gives the Fivefold Kiss to the woman.) For the final kiss on the mouth, they take the sword or athame and embrace with it flat between their breasts, held there by the pressure of their bodies. After the kiss, they separate (being careful to take hold of the hilt of the sword or athame before releasing the pressure on it, as dropping it may be painful as well as undignified).

The owner, or owners, of the newly consecrated weapon should then immediately use it to re-cast the Circle, but without words.

In Text B/C, the following explanatory paragraph is given after the ritual:

‘If possible, lay sword with an already consecrated sword or athame. It should, if possible, be consecrated by both a woman and a man, both of whom are initiated, and both as naked as drawn swords. During consecration, press down on sword hard with consecrated sword or athame. If possible, partake of Wine and Cakes first, then Magus should sprinkle with the water, Witch should cense in first Conjuration, then sprinkle and cense again and conjure again with second Conjuration. If true sword and athame are available, a sword and athame can be consecrated at the same time in which case Magus should press with sword on sword and Witch with athame on athame, and new sword and athame should touch. In any case, when finished the weapon should be handed to new owner with Fivefold Salute, and should be pressed against the body for a time to get the aura; and it should be in as close connection as possible to the naked body for at least a month, i.e. kept under pillow, etc. Do not allow anyone to touch or handle any of your tools until thoroughly impregnated with your aura; say, six months or as near as possible. But a pair working together may own the same tooks, which will be impregnated with the aura of both.’

Consecrating Other Working Tools

This form is used for any ritual tool except a sword or athame. The original words, as used in Text A, may be found on p.102 of the Key of Solomon and on p. 155 of High Magic’s Aid. Again, in Text B/C the names of Aradia and Cernunnos have been substituted.

Here, too, we give the Text B/C version, slightly expanded to make the movements clear, followed verbatim by the explanatory paragraph from the Text.

In this paragraph, once again the words ‘Witch’ and ‘Magus’ are used — but here, we think, they do not mean ‘woman’ and ‘man’. We are told that the Witch may leave and re-enter the Circle freely and safely, but that it is dangerous for the Magus to do so — which would be strange if it were a sexual discrimination! In this particular statement, pretty clearly ‘Witch’ means Wiccan operator (man or woman), and ‘Magus’ means ceremonial magician (man or woman), and what the Text is doing is to stress the difference between ‘Art Magic’ — i.e., a ceremonial magician’s Circle (which is purely protective, against spirits being summoned outside it) — and the witches’ Circle (which is primarily to contain and amplify power which is being raised inside it, and only secondarily protective). Such a change in the meaning of words between related passages would not be surprising; as Doreen comments, ‘this part of Gerald’s book is rather difficult to unravel! He had the endearing habit of copying half of something on to one page and then copying the other half on to another page mixed up with something else — though this may have been deliberate in case the book ever fell into the hands of an uninitiated person, who just wouldn’t have been able to make head or tail of it.’

The Ritual

Man and woman place the tool on the pentacle, and lay their two right hands on it. Say:

‘Aradia and Cernunnos, deign to bless and to consecrate this White-hilted Knife [or whatever it is] that it may obtain the necessary virtue through you for all acts of love and beauty.’

The man sprinkles the tool with the salt-and-water mixture, and the woman passes it through the smoke of the incense and replaces it on the pentacle. Say:

‘Aradia and Cernunnos, bless this instrument prepared in your honour.’ In the case of the Scourge or the Cords, add, ‘… that it may serve for a good use and end and for your glory.’

Once again, the man sprinkles and the woman censes.

The one who is not the owner then gives the Fivefold Kiss to the owner. (If they own it jointly, or if they are consecrating it for someone else, the man gives the Fivefold Kiss to the woman.) For the final kiss on the mouth, they take the tool and embrace with it between their breasts, held there by the pressure of their bodies. After the kiss, they separate (again, carefully holding the tool so as not to drop it).

The owner, or owners, of the newly consecrated tool should then immediately use it, in the way suggested in the Text B/C explanatory paragraph which follows:

‘All these weapons should be presented to the new owner with Salute. If a Witch Queen: [as in the first degree initiation]. End ceremony with Fivefold Salute. The new owner should immediately use the new instruments, i.e., form Circle with Sword, then Athame, incise something with White-hilted Knife, exhibit Pentacle to Four Quarters, wave Wand to Four Quarters, cense to Four Quarters, use Cords and Scourge; and should continue to use all of them in a Circle as often as possible, for some time. To mark out a new Circle, stick sword or athame in ground, make a loop in cord, and slip over; then, using cord, mark out a circle, and later mark it with point of sword or athame. Always renew the Circle with sword or athame when about to use, but have it marked so that you always retrace it in same place. Remember the Circle is a protection, a guard against evil influences, and to prevent power created from dispersing; but the Witch, not being evil, may enter and leave freely. But in Art Magic, it is a barrier against forces raised, and when once in the Magus may not leave without great danger. If any great danger is manifested it would be advisable to take refuge in the Circle; but ordinarily sword or athame in hand is perfect protection against anything. Those who make these tools must be purified, clean and properly prepared. When not in use, all tools and weapons should be put away in a secret place; and it is good that this should be near your sleeping place, and that you handle them each night before retiring.’

Consecrating Personal Jewellery, Etc.

The Book of Shadows gives no ritual for this. We have found that a satisfactory way is to do it in terms of the four elements — again in the names of Cernunnos and Aradia. We include our ritual here in case other witches find it useful.

Incidentally, it should hardly be necessary to point out that covens should use whatever God- and Goddess-names they are in the habit of using (in this and other rituals). We have used the names Cernunnos and Aradia throughout this Section because these are what the Book of Shadows gives, and what we normally use ourselves. But ‘all Gods are one God, and all Goddesses are one Goddess’; and the names one uses are a matter of choice. They may also be varied for the occasion. For example, we might consecrate a Celtic brooch in the names of Lugh and Dana, a dog’s collar in the names of Pan and Diana, or an engagement ring in the names of Eros and Aphrodite. Suiting the God and Goddess names to the nature of a rite helps to emphasize its purpose.

An invaluable and encyclopaedic book on the significance of Goddess-names is Lawrence Durdin-Robertson’s Juno Covella, Perpetual Calendar of the Fellowship of Isis.

The Ritual

Man and woman place the object on the pentacle, and lay both their right hands on it. Say:

‘We consecrate thee in the element of Earth.’

They sprinkle the object with the salt-and-water mixture, saying:

‘We consecrate thee in the element of Water’.

They pass the object through the smoke of the incense, saying:

‘We consecrate thee in the element of Air.’

They pass the object above the flame of the candle (well above, if it is something which flame could damage), saying:

‘We consecrate thee in the element of Fire, in the names of Cernunnos and Aradia.’

They then embrace and kiss with the object between their breasts, in the same way as for ritual tools.

Finally, if the object is something which can be worn immediately (obviously not possible for example if it is a brooch and the owner is skyclad!), the one who is not the owner places it round the owner’s neck, wrist, finger or wherever.