Days 181–210
Magical Items to Gather:
Here are the items you will need for your next month of training.
Day 186
• One handful of powdered sandalwood
• 4 tablespoons myrrh (preferably powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon poppyseed
• Jasmine essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin
• Cucumber essential oil
Day 187
• A 5–6 inch blue taper candle
• Water oil
• Water incense
Note: incense and oil made from ingredients of Day 186.
Day 193
• 1 handful of powdered sandalwood
• 1/2 handful of dried patchouli
• 2 teaspoons mandrake
• 2 teaspoons storax
• Lilac essential oil
• Patchouli essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin
• Pine essential oil
Day 194
• A 5–6 inch green taper candle
• Earth oil
• Earth incense
Note: incense and oil made from ingredients of Day 193.
Day 196
• A cup of red wine (or a red fruit juice such as cranberry)
• A baked good (such as cake or bread)
Note: you will need the same items that you used today for Day 199, Day 202, and Day 205.
Day 210
• Pruning shears or saw
• 12 inches of red ribbon
• Dried white sage
• A thurible (a small iron pot in which you can safely burn small ritual items, such as herbs)
• A small pouch made of cheesecloth or muslin in which you place two teaspoons of dried hyssop and lavender.
Day 181
Devotional Day: Honoring Pan
Table of Correspondences: Pan
Symbols: Acorns, oak leaves, pan pipes, seashells and twigs
Tools: The phallus, the wand
Magical Essences/Herbs: Musk, false unicorn, saw palmetto, patchouli, and myrrh
Direction: Pan is aligned with the center.
He Rules: Ecstasy, connection with nature, happiness, sexuality, grounding, life, and health
Animal Symbols: Goat
Sacred Foods: Wine, meats, and grapes
Magical Stones: Obsidian, carnelian, sunstone
Pan is an ancient Greek god of nature. The ancients described Pan as a god of the woods, of animal husbandry, and of fertility. Scholarship divides as to the meaning and origin of his name. Some scholars say Pan means “all,” suggesting his embodiment of the universe. Others argue that his name was derived from the Greek paeon, meaning “pasturer,” a word that connects Pan to the earthly seasons.
Ancient artists depicted Pan as a goat-footed god playing a flute-like musical instrument. Scholars connect Pan’s worship with the earlier cults of Dionysus. Pan is present in your life whenever you feel sexual urges, playfulness, or a sense of inner joy. He is there in the eyes of any lover, or in the heart of an individual who embraces life no matter what it might present. Pan’s magical energies are those of ecstasy, connection with nature, happiness, sexuality, and grounding. Symbols sacred to this god are acorns, oak leaves, pan pipes, seashells, and twigs. The magical colors of Pan include forest green, amber, and deep, earthy brown tones. Wine, meats, and grapes are foods sacred to Pan. Magical essences and herbs sacred to Pan include patchouli and myrrh. You can most readily evoke Pan’s energies at midday.
Pan Practice
Make an altar honoring Pan that includes his symbols. Light candles of an appropriate color on his altar and intone his name slowly, fully. Since Pan is a one-syllable word, you can resonate it loudly and clearly. Intone his name until you feel or sense his presence. Once he has arrived, spend some time contemplating what it might mean to serve this aspect of deity. Ask Pan what it would mean to live life through his energy. Contemplate how you would live each day as a manifestation of this one unified, immense All, rejecting nothing and embracing the whole.
Spend the day honoring this god by recognizing that which is wild and natural in each person you encounter.
Day 182
Day of Silence and Review
As you observe silence, focus your attention on whatever it is you hear. How attuned are you to the sounds of your immediate environment? Do they all seem to run together and disrupt your thinking? Or do you hardly recognize environmental sounds? How closely do you listen to the ones you love? How openly do you listen to the voices of the planet? When the day is complete, answer these questions:
• What was it like to focus my attention on my sense of hearing?
• In what way did my hearing impact my thoughts, emotions, or spirit?
• How does what I hear affect my physical energy or my attention?
• Did my capacity to listen to other people either increase or decrease with my focused attention? Why might that be?
Review
Take time to ask yourself the following:
• Of the information I have learned up to now, what stands out most as vital?
• What information seems least relevant to my spiritual development?
• Which of the practices seemed to move me spiritually, and which had little impact?
• Of the information I have learned so far, what would be best to review? (take time to review it now)
Day 183
Water: The Power to Dare
The power to dare is water’s active, outward expression. In this dynamic expression, water brings forth a power of fearlessness. Water does not recognize formal boundaries. The ocean does not distinguish one drop of water from the next, nor does it discriminate. It accepts all forms of water. If you observe any large body of water, you can easily note that it moves in its own way, based only on the laws of nature. Similarly, water’s power to dare encourages you to go beyond human-constructed, socially accepted and institutionalized boundaries. If you dare, then just as naturally as water, you glide across that artificial line drawn in the sand by culture, gender, ethnicity, family, or by any other arbitrarily assigned conventions.
The areas of dreams, visions, empathy, compassion, understanding, cycles, and lunar mysteries are all ruled by water in this active expression. The energies of water manifest in those who are best suited for work in counseling, film, storytelling, psycho-therapy, social work, the medical field, and professional psychism. People whose personalities are filled with water energies are naturally empathetic, dreamy, compassionate, loving, and emotional.
When the power to dare takes control in an individual, causing an imbalance in the delicate natural interplay between light and dark water energies, it can cause an individual to appear weepy, sad, depressed, fixed on the past, brooding, secretive, emotionally reactive, and inappropriately empathetic.
Take time to commit to paper an exploration of your own relationship to daring:
• In what ways do you feel you are connected to the power to dare?
• In what ways do you feel disconnected from the power to dare?
• Have the outward qualities of water been an important part of your life? Your culture? Your upbringing?
• What part does daring play in your life today?
Practice: Rebalancing Daring
When you notice that you are too emotional, dreamy, and lacking in boundaries, take time to practice this grounding exercise. Go to a place in nature where you can find water. If this is impossible, fill up the bathtub or the sink with water. Place your hands lightly on the surface of the water. As you do this, exhale onto the water. Close your eyes and imagine that a blue field of energy leaves your body through your hands and out through your breath. Now imagine that it enters the water on which your hands are placed. Continue with this process until you feel calm and emotionally centered.
Day 184
Water: The Power to Accept
In its receptive expression, water governs the power to accept. Since water’s natural expression is a free flow in any direction, the complementary, “reversed” aspect of water focuses more on the container of water rather than upon the water itself. Therefore, the heart of magical accepting is defining and honoring the boundaries. It is the power of the cup, the chalice, the cauldron that holds and gives shape to water. In practical terms, accepting is about grounding yourself in the circumstances of your body, your environment, family, friends, work, life, etc. It is fully knowing where you are right now and determining how to get where you’d like to go.
When it is raining, you get wet. In the summer, it’s hot. There is a simple, clean reality involved in accepting life as it is. There is power in acknowledging the whole truth of your life, pleasant and unpleasant alike. How honestly can you assess your advantages and limitations? Although discomfort may be involved in such a prospect, accepting is a golden doorway of opportunity. It invites you to take effective action in your life that can lead to significant change. It may begin with becoming aware that you are overdrawn at the bank, or with recognizing that you are angry or sad. It may mean acknowledging a secret desire, a hidden passion, or a repressed urge, but once you define the parameters of your existence, you can take meaningful steps in any direction you would like. Without accepting, you become dangerously paralyzed and ineffective; you do not see that you are soaked by rainwater or baked by the summer sun.
When the receptive aspect of water takes control in an individual, causing an imbalance in the delicate natural interplay between light and dark water energies, it can cause an individual to appear rigid, hyper-alert, self-deprecating, demanding of boundaries, needy of high structure and order, or only able to relate to what can be defined.
Take time to commit to paper your own relationship to acceptance:
• In what ways do you feel you are connected to the power to accept?
• In what ways do you feel disconnected from the power to accept?
• What are the dangers of accepting?
• Would accepting have any benefits in your life?
Practice: Rebalancing Accepting
Engage in this magical activity whenever you notice that you are feeling rigid, hyper-alert, or self-deprecating. Go to water in a natural setting, such as at a lake, a stream, or the ocean. If you do not live near a natural source of water, fill a large pot or cauldron with fresh clear water. Stand directly in front of the water. Open your arms and welcome this energy into your being. Close your eyes. Imagine that you become transparent and you allow the cool, slow, watery flow to pass directly through you. Stay with this exercise for at least ten minutes.
Day 185
Contemplating Water
Sit in a comfortable meditative position that assures spinal alignment. Read through this guided imagery and commit it to memory before you begin or have someone read it to you. You can also record it for later playback.
Reader:
Close your eyes and take three deep, slow breaths. Now allow your breathing to become rhythmic and natural. After a few moments, imagine that a twisting white mist begins to form a in a ring around your feet. You notice that with each inhalation, the ring of mist grows, expands and climbs your legs. Continue to visualize that with each inhaled breath the mist climbs your body, until it covers you completely.
Suddenly you feel the sensation of lifting. Your body feels as light as the mist that surrounds you. Soon you discover that you are hovering over the place where you were once sitting. Imagine that the mist now begins to move you across a colorless, imageless void. It is moving you through time and space. It is taking you to a sacred place of magic and power.
Soon the mist dissipates and the movement stops. You find yourself standing along sea cliffs that overlook a vast ocean. It is dusk and the sun is nearly set. It hovers half-hidden as it sinks slowly below the blue-green horizon.
Begin breathing deeply. With each inhalation, imagine that the ocean begins to churn and large waves crash up against the cliff below your feet. Each wave throws a magical, sparkling, blue-green mist into the air around you. Feel the cool energy of this mystical sea spray as it comes in contact with your skin. This cool energy now penetrates your skin and begins to fill the entirety of your body. It is a tingling, soft energy. If you look at your spirit body, you’ll notice that you glow with this blue-green aura. You are filled with the element and powers of water. Stand with this energy and simply allow it to penetrate to the very depths of your spirit. Become one with the power of water.
(Reader: pause for a few moments.)
It is now time to return to the place where you began your journey. Look down at your spirit feet and you’ll notice the glowing white mist beginning to encircle your body. Once it covers you completely, it lifts you and swiftly carries you back to the place where you began. When you are ready, open your eyes and stretch. Take note of how different you may feel now that you’ve taken on the qualities of water.
Live the rest of your day through the magical energies of water.
Water: Incense and Oil
Water Incense
Burn this incense any time that you want to bring about the energies of the element of water, which include: intuition, dreams, visions, cycles, peace, compassion, understanding, spirituality, and women’s mysteries.
What You’ll Need:
• One handful of powdered sandalwood
• 4 tablespoons myrrh (preferably powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon poppyseed
• 10 drops jasmine essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin
Place your powdered sandalwood in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in about two tablespoons of vegetable glycerin, adding one tablespoon at a time and then mixing with a metal whisk or a fork. As you have done before, create a soft, fluffy compound. Do not add the second tablespoon of glycerin if it feels like it would be too much, causing the incense to be too moist.
Now add your essential oil and whisk. Add your other dried herbs and mix thoroughly. Wait for at least a day for the compound to settle before you sprinkle it on hot coals.
Water Oil
Anoint yourself or other people with this oil to activate the magical energies of water.
What You’ll Need:
• Vegetable glycerin
• 10 drops jasmine essential oil
• 5 drops cucumber essential oil
• Pinch of dried lemon zest or willow bark
Fill a one-ounce bottle halfway with vegetable glycerin. Add plain water until the bottle is three-quarters full. Add your essential oils. Add your dry ingredient, close the lid, and shake the bottle. You can use this magical oil immediately.
Day 187
Becoming Water
What You’ll Need:
• A 5–6 inch blue taper candle
• Water oil
• Water incense
• Bowl of water
To begin, light a blue candle and sit down facing the west. Place the bowl of water in front of you and the lighted blue candle behind that. With your middle finger, dab a drop of water oil at approximately the center of your chest, at the level of the heart chakra. Light the water incense and gather some of the wafting smoke into your hands and bring your hands toward your face. Repeat this elemental cleans-ing with water energies twice more.
Now, focus your attention on the water in the bowl before you. Allow your breathing to become deep and rhythmic. Allow your mind to become the water. Feel your body become fluid. Imagine that the place where you sit flows and undulates like the tides. Focus intently so that nothing exists but water. Stay focused, preferably for 20 to 30 minutes.
When you are done, take time to close your eyes and imagine that your water-body solidifies and becomes stable once again. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor to ground and center your personal energy.
When you are ready, open your eyes and stretch. Take time to journal about your experience or to discuss it with a friend.
Day 188
The Element of Earth
Earth is an elemental energy that represents the diversity of forms and shapes, the physical expressions of our existence. In magical terms, earth is a feminine element; after all the earth itself gives birth to life forms and then nourishes those forms, just as women give birth to and then suckle their young. There is a spiritual symbolic link between woman and earth, between these spheres of microcosm and macrocosm. Our ancient ancestors had a clear understanding of the link between women and the earth as well. Consider the hundreds of ancient artifacts archaeologists have unearthed in the past century from the “Old Europe” communities of Hacilar and Catal Huyuk, most of which have been goddess and vulva figures formed of mud and clay.73
This theme of the earth as a goddess is not a phenomenon peculiar only to Old Europe. Almost every ancient primal culture across the globe has included earth goddess veneration. There exists evidence for goddess veneration in the creation myths from such disparate cultures as Africa, the Near East, India, Japan, Europe, Siberia, North, Central, and South America, and Australia.74
In Wicca, earth is more than our home planet or a “goddess theme.” It is an authentic, energetic expression of solidity, substance, form, manifestation, embodiment, and grounding. It represents the vast human web that links us with other humans, animals, plants, and minerals. For Witches, the element of earth represents the mystery dimension and the physical body itself. Earth is the “grounding” element. It is the energy that brings to us into awareness of practicality, physical pleasure, and abundance. Earth sits in the north of your circle, and this particular compass direction has cross-cultural associations with darkness, the void, and unnamed, unspoken, not-yet-formed potential.
Take time today to familiarize yourself with the following table of correspondences for earth. You will learn more about each of these as you progress through the coming week.
Table of Correspondences: Earth
Alchemical Symbol: 
Earth Governs: Solidity, substance, form, manifestation, embodiment, pleasure, money, all minerals, practicality, work, reliability, seasons, and grounding
Magical Tool: The Pentacle
Color: Green
Alternate Colors: Black, brown
Fragrances: Patchouli, oak moss, lilac
Elemental Beings: Gnomes
Elemental King: Ghob
Tarot Card Suit: Pentacles (“coins” in some decks)
Magical Stone: Salt, fluorite, obsidian, jade, slate, lead
Outward Expression—The Power to Be Silent: The ability to keep one’s counsel; silence as a manifestation of who we are in our essence; darkness, the void, and the unnamed, unspoken, not-yet-formed potential
Inward Expression—The Power to Resonate: The ability to speak with the voice of the Gods and of nature, the ability to become “one” with the world; potential that has taken form
Day 189
Holding Earth
Go out into a natural setting where you will be able to lie down on the earth undisturbed. (If this is not possible, find a spot in your home where you will be able to lie down on a solid floor.) Once you identify the location where you will practice this exercise, form a simple earth-circle by sprinkling sea salt (or kosher salt) approximately nine feet in diameter. You can also place crystals or stones at each of the circle’s four compass points for added enhancement. Using the moonwalking technique you learned earlier in the year, start in the east of your circle and walk the perimeter thrice while focusing your attention on maintaining your own silence.
Once you have moonwalked around your circle three times, enter it from the northernmost point. Lie down in the center of this salt-circle so that the top of your head aligns with the north. While you are lying down, simply experience the effect of the earth (or the firm floor) as it comes in contact with your back. How does it feel physically? What feeling or mood does it bring up in you? After some time to breathe intentionally, establish a rhythm and imagine that with each inhalation, you absorb the energy of the earth that lies beneath you. Imagine that this energy flows up through the points where your body makes contact with the earth and that it fills you completely. Hold the energy tightly in your body. After a minute of this, release the energy with an audible sigh. Retain whatever energy you feel your body may need.
• How does the energy of earth feel as it enters your body?
• What energies do you sense earth imparting to you (silence or resonance)?
• Where in your body did you seem to hold on to the earth energies after you consciously released them?
• What does your body feel like as this earth energy leaves you?
• What is it like to hold the energies of earth in your body?
Day 190
Earth: The Power to Be Silent
Witches say that the power to be silent is earth’s outwardly expressed, dynamic energy. The earth is, after all, a silent presence; it is only natural that its active power reflects this wordless, unspeakable reality. In another way, this might seem puzzling, because in Western cultures we equate outward or dynamic expression with observable movement or noticeably directed energy. But here in the element of earth, we arrive at a peculiar magical fulcrum point, and in it we discover that earth is an energetic expression of paradoxes and surprises.
Silence is what Westerners normally consider a receptive trait, and in many ways it is. Silence is an energy of stillness and rest. Through this energy, the body, mind, and spirit find a sense of opening, broadening, and deepening. However, the stillness of silence also represents the void. This void is, as the yogis of India called it, shunyata, the original emptiness of all things. Paradoxically, the energy of emptiness is also one of potential; the void is eternally ready to manifest as new forms—trees, birds, streets, people. In a sense, then, emptiness is also fullness. The usually receptive energy of stillness is also the active energy of readiness, and of unlimited potential.
In its active expression, the element of earth rules material gain, wealth, prosperity, riches, work, service, strength, fortitude, honesty, practicality, pleasure, comfort, music, and art. Earthy people enjoy the simple pleasures of life such as good food, good sex, and a nice place to live. They are grounded and practical in their approach to what some people consider to be complex issues. If you naturally align with the outward expression of earth energies, you are best suited for work in real estate, banking, investing, engineering, farming, mineralogy, archaeology, building, architecture, dentistry, or medicine.
When the this active element of earth is out of balance in an individual it can cause one to appear rigid, stubborn, pessimistic, conventional, cruel, worrisome, inactive, possessive, stupid, slothful, greedy, or covetous.
Practice: Rebalancing Silence
When you notice that you are out of balance in the active energy of earth, take time to practice this freeing exercise. Go to a place in nature where you can touch the bare earth. (If this is impossible, fill a bowl with salt, which is the magical representative of earth.) Place your hands lightly on the surface of the earth (or the salt). As you do this, exhale onto the earth. Close your eyes and imagine that a green field of energy leaves your body through your hands and out through your breath. Now imagine that it enters the earth. Continue with this process until the green energy field feels rebalanced and you feel whole and serene.
Day 191
Earth: The Power to Resonate
The element of earth governs the power to resonate in its inward, more passive expression. Again we can note the paradoxical nature of earth here, since most of us would not consider resonation a passive trait. The power to resonate sounds vibrant and active. In magical terms, resonance is the energy that emerges from silence. Resonance represents the interconnectedness of all reality. It is an energy that widens your perspective to understand that there is no division between you and anything else. The receptive energy of earth connects you to the undulating pulse of the universe, the spiritual vibrations that underlie all of existence. Sometimes, in moments of silence, we can naturally connect to this energy and we feel the pulse of life throbbing all around us. Through this power, Witches gain access to experiencing the divine as it manifests in the world. It places our concepts, our academic terms of “god” and “goddess,” into a palpable experiential form.
Often, when Witches tap into the power to resonate, they make spontaneous utterances. In Wiccan lore these utterances are presumably the voice of the gods; they are the sounds and the words of life itself. Not only that, but when you tap into resonance, the denseness of earth renders itself luminous, weightless and effortless. When you strongly align with this power to resonate, spontaneity guides your actions; the energies of life itself guide you.
When this receptive element of earth falls out of balance, it can cause an individual to appear light-headed, detached, disoriented, and out of touch with one’s surroundings/reality.
Practice: Rebalancing Resonance
When you notice the signs of resonance imbalances, take time to practice this grounding exercise. Begin by heating seven small river stones under hot running tap water. Do not allow the stones to heat so much that you cannot handle them. Then, take off your clothing and lie flat on your back. Use table salt to form a line down the center of your body from the base of your throat to the pubic area. Place one heated stone each at the center of your brow, at the base of your throat, at the center of your chest, about two inches above the navel, and just above the genitals. Place one stone in the palm of each hand and lie so that your palms face upward. As you lie on the ground, imagine that you absorb the earth energies both beneath you and from the stones.
Day 192
Contemplating Earth
In order to experience the spiritual energies of earth, you will take an inward journey to your own sacred earth source. To begin, sit in a comfortable position while also assuring that your spine is straight and aligned. You can first read through this journey and commit it to memory before you begin, or you can have someone read it to you. You can also record it for later play back.
Reader:
Close your eyes and take three deep, slow breaths. Now allow your breathing to become rhythmic and natural. After a few moments, imagine that a twisting white mist begins to form in a ring around your feet. You notice that with each inhalation, the ring of mist grows, expands, and climbs your legs. Continue to visualize that with each inhaled breath the mist climbs your body until it covers you completely.
Notice that not only does the mist surround you, it penetrates you. With each breath, your body becomes one with the mist. You can feel your body shift from its usual weight and density; it now glows and becomes light and buoyant. Soon your body lifts and you find that you are suspended above the place where you were sitting. In an instant, the energy of the mist transports you to a colorless, soundless, imageless void. In that void, you feel as though you are moving through time and space to a sacred place of magic and power.
Soon the movement stops and you find yourself standing just outside a labyrinth with spiraling passages that are dug out from the earth. It is midnight and as you look to the stars, you notice that there is no moon in the sky. Some distance from you, you notice a glow that emanates from the center point of the labyrinth.
Enter the labyrinth, knowing that you will soon arrive at the center point that contains the brilliant, shining light. As you walk the labyrinth, notice that the trench becomes deeper and deeper with each step. Along the way you can see old roots, mushrooms, and mossy growth sprouting all along the sides of the labyrinth. Touch them with your hands. Soon the walls of the labyrinth are slightly taller than you. You are no longer able to see the shining light of the central point. But you can feel its presence and it continues to guide you.
As you continue to walk, feel the cool, heavy energy of the earth surrounding you. Inhale the rich, earthy scent that fills the pathway. As you breathe in this scent, allow it to fill you completely.
(Reader: pause for a few moments.)
Once you reach the center of the labyrinth, you find a glowing crystal suspended in midair. Look directly above the crystal and you will see that its source of power is the north star, which it reflects and magnifies. As you stand before the crystal, raise your spirit arms and welcome the power of earth. In an instant, the crystal emanates a beam of light that strikes you at the center of your brow. Feel the power of earth fill you and energize you.
(Reader: pause for a few moments.)
It is now time to return to the place where you began your journey. Look down at your spirit feet and you’ll notice the glowing white mist beginning to encircle your body. Once it covers you completely, it lifts you and swiftly carries you back to the place where you began. When you are ready, open your eyes and stretch. Take note of how different you may feel now that you’ve taken on the qualities of earth.
Earth: Incense and Oil
Earth Incense
Burn earth incense any time that you want to bring about the energies of the element of earth, which include: stability, practicality, reliability, grounding, material gain, wealth, prosperity, and riches.
What You’ll Need:
• One handful of powdered sandalwood
• 1/4 handful of dried patchouli
• 2 teaspoons mandrake
• 2 teaspoons storax
• 6 drops lilac essential oil
• 4 drops patchouli essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin
Place your powdered sandalwood in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in about two tablespoons of vegetable glycerin. Add the tablespoons of glycerin one at a time and then mix with a metal whisk or a fork. As you have already learned, create a soft, fluffy compound. Do not add the second tablespoon of glycerin if it feels like it would be too much, causing the incense to be too moist.
Now add your essential oil and whisk. Add your other dried herbs and mix thoroughly. Wait for at least a day for the compound to settle before you sprinkle it on hot coals.
Earth Oil
Anoint yourself or other people with this oil to activate the magical energies of earth.
What You’ll Need:
• Vegetable glycerin
• 5 drops lilac essential oil
• 3 drops patchouli essential oil
• 3 drops pine essential oil
• Pinch of dried patchouli
Fill a one-ounce bottle halfway with vegetable glycerin. Add plain water until the bottle is three-quarters full. Add your essential oils and dry ingredients, then close the lid and shake the bottle. You can use this magical oil immediately.
Day 194
Becoming Earth
What You’ll Need:
• A 5–6 inch green taper candle
• Earth oil
• Earth incense
• Bowl of earth
To begin, light a green taper candle and sit down facing the north. Place the bowl of earth in front of you and the candle behind that. With your middle finger, dab a drop of earth oil at the base of your spine and at the crown of your head, at the levels of the root and crown chakras. Light the earth incense and gather some of the wafting smoke into your hands and bring your hands toward your face. Repeat this cleansing with earth energies twice more.
Focus your attention on the soil in the bowl before you. Allow your breathing to become deep and rhythmic. Continue to focus intently upon the earth, barring all other thoughts. Allow your mind to become the earth. Feel your body become the earth; it feels cold, moist, and heavy. Imagine that the place where you are sitting also becomes soil. Focus intently so that nothing exists but earth, clay, mud, stone, or however you experience the energies of earth. Stay focused, preferably for 20 to 30 minutes.
When you are done, take time to close your eyes and imagine that your earth-body becomes your usual natural self once again. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor to ground and center your personal energy.
When you are ready, open your eyes and stretch. Take time to journal about your experience or to discuss it with a friend.
Day 195
The Elemental Spirits:
Sylphs and Fairies
Elementals are the spiritual creatures that reside in each of the four elements. Francesco Maria Guazzo was the first to write about elementals in the Compendium Malificarum, the second of two works adopted by the Catholic church to curb the believed spread of witchcraft in the Renaissance period. Guazzo’s volume was consulted by church clerics and legal professionals to reveal the operations of suspected witches against humanity and the supposed remedies that thwarted their evil practices.75 Throughout the work, Guazzo cites his varied sources of information, including the hermetic philosophy of Marsilio Ficino. Craft historians suspect that it is from the Ficino material that information about elementals emerged. Later occult lore elaborated on the Compendium and named the four types of elemental beings: the elementals of air were called sylphs, the elementals of fire were salamanders, the elements of water were undines, and the elementals of earth were gnomes.
Our study of these magical creatures begins with air and sylphs. Traditional occultists claim that sylphs live within the etheric dimensions of the element air.76
The name “sylph” reputedly comes from the Greek silphe, which is a butterfly. In traditional Wiccan lore, sylphs are beautiful tiny winged creatures, similar in appearance to butterflies. Another mythic tiny winged creature associated with air is the fairy. In occult lore, Paralda is the king of the sylphs. In myth and lore fairies have a queen who has no name, but whose title is Queen of the Elphame.
As with each of the elemental creatures, sylphs are spiritual helpers. They impart the spiritual powers and energies of air: clear thought, imagination, creativity, communicative skills, listening skills, intellectual capacity. Reputedly, sylphs can diminish these skills and abilities as well. When that happens, one can become “air-headed,” confused, unable to communicate or understand ideas. Witches work with sylphs (and fairies) when they want to rebalance their own air energies, or when they work with the magic of air. They also call upon sylphs to guard and protect the eastern quarter of the ritual circle.
Practice: Meeting the Sylphs
What You’ll Need:
• Air incense
• Air oil
To begin, light some air incense and dab the air oil at all seven body-energy centers: base of the spine, pubic region, solar plexus, heart, throat, center of the brow, crown of the head. Next you will engage in a guided imagery. As always, you can read it and memorize the imagery sequence now, have a friend read it to you with your eyes closed, or tape record it for later playback.
Reader:
Find a comfortable lying-down position and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths and allow your body to become relaxed. Slowly allow the earth to hold you completely. Surrender your body weight to the planet, where it belongs.
Imagine that you stand on the cliff overlooking a vast grassy plain. The cliff faces the east. You hold your spirit hands up and flex the palms of your hands so that they face outward toward the grassy plain. Feel the energy of the land circulate through you completely until you feel that you are one with the energy. Then imagine that you cast this energy out through your hands and it appears as an electric-yellow power that crackles and sizzles. Imagine that you turn your spirit body in a clockwise direction, casting a circle of protection and containment with this energy that bursts forth from your hands. When you face the east again, the energy stops emanating from your hands.
You are now completely surrounded by this field of energy, yet you are able to clearly see through it, out across the grassy plain. Raise your hands to the sky and mentally summon forth the sylphs, the spirits of air. Soon the wind begins to blow and little by little they appear. They surround your magic circle. Take time to observe them carefully. As they surround you, your circle takes on a sparkling golden hue. Ask the sylphs where you can find them near your home. Remember what they tell you.
When you have heard their answer, bid them farewell and request that they return to their magical realm. Little by little, you observe them fly away, leaving only the golden aura that surrounds you and your magic circle. This aura left behind is the balancing force of air. Feel it balance you, center you, and cause you to become whole.
(Reader: pause for a few moments.)
When you feel you have absorbed enough of the elementals’ powers, it is time to banish the circle you created. Hold your hands up again to the east, begin to turn your spirit-body in a clockwise direction. This time as you turn, imagine that you draw the energies of the circle back into your body. Allow the energy to return to the earth below your feet, grounding it completely.
(Reader: pause for a few moments.)
Once you have finished, it is time to open your eyes. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor, grounding and solidifying all of the energy you raised.
Take time to journal about your experiences, to draw a picture of the sylphs, and to write down where you can find them near your home.
Day 196
Elementals: Sylph Offerings
In yesterday’s vision, the sylphs indicated where near your home they reside. Today you will go to this place and make an offering to them. The offering is a libation (based on the practice you learned earlier in the year) which assures that the sylphs will become good magical partners in future spiritual endeavors.
What You’ll Need:
• A cup of red wine (or a red fruit juice such as cranberry)
• A piece of a baked good (such as cake or bread)
When you first arrive at the place of the sylphs, sit on the ground and close your eyes. Imagine the sylphs gathering behind plants, stones, trees, or buildings. Open your eyes and pour out a cup of wine. Grasp the filled cup and baked good in your hands. Hold your arms out, to shoulder level, offering the food to the spirits. Cast your gaze to the ground (a respectful gesture), saying:
Sylphs of the air, Lord Paralda,
Accept this offering of food and drink!
May the magic that I do be aided by your
powers,
The powers of life that were, that are, and that
shall be,
So Mote It Be!
Leave the baked good on the ground and pour the wine over it, saying:
From east to west, from south to north,
Ancient ones, I call thee forth!
Quickly gather your belongings and leave this enchanted spot. Return only when you wish to contemplate the sylphs or if you wish to invoke their magical energies for some purpose.
Day 197
Elementals: King Paralda
Today, you will meet the sylph king, Paralda, (pronounced pah-RAL-dah) and you will learn what energies the sylphs offer to your life and magical practice. You will also learn which of your energies they limit.
What You’ll Need:
• Air incense
• Air oil
It is best to try this practice in the location near your home where the sylphs reside. Light the air incense and allow it to waft over your body. Dab some of the air oil on all seven body-energy centers: base of the spine, pubic region, solar plexus, heart, throat, center of the brow, and crown of the head.
Find a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths and allow your body to become relaxed. With your eyes still closed begin to intone King Paralda’s name, one syllable at a time for each exhaled breath:
Inhale slowly. Exhale, intoning the sound: Pa.
Inhale slowly. Exhale, intoning the sound: Ral.
Inhale slowly. Exhale, intoning the sound: Da.
Repeat these intonations twice more and then practice the following guided imagery. You can read it and memorize the imagery sequence now, have a friend read it to you with your eyes closed, or tape record it for later playback.
Reader:
Imagine that you stand once again on the cliff overlooking the vast grassy plain that you visited before when you first met the sylphs.
Hold your spirit hands up and flex the palms of your hands so that they face outward toward the grassy plain, and again draw up the energies of this place and cast them in a circle of light that surrounds you.
You are now completely surrounded by this field of energy. Raise your hands to the sky and mentally summon forth King Paralda. Soon the wind begins to blow and he arrives, standing just outside of your magic circle. Do not waste Paralda’s time—get right to the point and ask him what powers he offers to your life and what powers he diminishes in your life.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you have heard his answer, bid him fare-well and watch him fly away. When he has vanished, it is time to banish the circle you created. Hold your hands up again to the east and begin to turn your spirit-body in a clockwise direction. This time as you turn, imagine that you draw the energies of the circle back into your body. Allow the energy to return to the earth below your feet, grounding it completely.
Once you have finished, it is time to open your eyes. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor, grounding and solidifying all of the energy you raised.
Take time to journal about your experiences, to draw a picture of Paralda and write down what powers he offers and diminishes in your life.
Day 198
Elementals: Salamanders
Salamanders are the elementals of fire. The name salamander reputedly comes from the Greek salambre, which means fireplace. In traditional Wiccan lore, salamanders are small, lizard-like creatures (some say they are dragon-like) that live within the etheric forces of fire. If you have innate mystic vision, perhaps you can discern their movements among the embers of bonfires and in fireplaces. In occult lore, the salamanders are ruled by their king, Djin.
Salamanders bestow the powers of the element fire, such as passion, inspiration, sexuality, drive, ambition, energy, movement, and linear direction. Salamanders also have the power to invert these traits and abilities. When that happens, they can create hot-headedness, force, aggression, anger, rage, or intimidation. Witches work with salamanders when they want to rebalance their own fire energies or work magic that connects to fire. They also call upon salamanders as guardians and protectors of the magic circle’s southern quarter.
Today’s work centers on meeting the salamanders and on learning where they reside near to your home.
Practice: Meeting Salamanders
What You’ll Need:
• Fire incense
• Fire oil
To begin, light the fire incense and allow it to waft over your body, infusing you with its energies. Place a dab of the fire oil at all seven chakra centers: base of the spine, pubic region, solar plexus, heart, throat, center of the brow, and crown of the head. Next you will engage in a guided imagery. As always, you can read it and memorize the imagery sequence now, have a friend read it to you with your eyes closed, or tape record it for later playback.
Reader:
Find a comfortable sitting or lying-down position and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths and allow your body to become relaxed. Slowly allow the earth to hold you completely; surrender your body weight to the planet, where it belongs.
Imagine that you stand facing the south atop a sand dune that dominates a vast white-hot sand desert. No matter where you cast your gaze, all you can see is this burning white sand that seems to stretch into infinity. Hold your spirit hands up toward the south. Feel the heated energy of the land as it circulates completely through you until you feel that you are unified with the energy.
Next imagine that you are casting this energy out through your hands and it appears as an electric-red power that crackles and sizzles. Turn your spirit body in a clockwise direction, casting a circle of protection and containment with this energy that bursts forth from your hands. When you face the south again, the energy that once emanated from your hands subsides.
You are now completely surrounded by this field of energy, yet you are able to clearly see through it, out across the dunes. Imagine that you raise your hands to the sky and summon forth the salamanders, the spirits of fire. Soon you see small flickers of fire sprout up from the desert floor. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of these little flames appear and they begin to move toward you and your circle. As they surround your magic circle, you have a chance to observe them carefully. You can see a fiery-red lizard (or miniature dragon) contained within each of the flames. As they surround you, your circle takes on a sparkling rosy hue. Ask the salamanders where near to your home you can find them. Remember what they tell you.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you have heard their answer, bid them farewell and firmly request that they return to their magical realm. Little by little, you observe the salamanders pop back below the white sands, leaving only the sparkling rosy aura that surrounds you and your magic circle. This aura left behind is the balancing force of fire. Feel it balance you, center you, and cause you to become whole.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you feel you have absorbed enough of the elementals’ powers, it is time to close the circle that you have created. Imagine that you hold your hands up to the south, begin to turn your spirit-body in a clockwise direction. This time as you turn, imagine that you draw the energies of the circle back into your body. Then allow the energy to pass through your body and return to the earth below your feet, grounding it completely.
Once you have finished, it is time to open your eyes. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor, grounding and solidifying all of the energy you raised.
Take time to journal about your experiences, to draw a picture of the salamanders, and to write down where you can find them near to your home.
Elementals: Salamander Offerings
In today’s practice, you will go to the place where the salamanders indicated that they reside and you will make an offering of food and wine to them. As you learned with the sylphs, the offering influences the salamanders to become good magical partners in future magical endeavors.
What You’ll Need:
• A cup of red wine (or a red fruit juice such as cranberry)
• A piece of a baked good (such as cake or bread)
When you first arrive at the place of the salamanders, sit on the ground and close your eyes. Close your eyes and imagine the salamanders gathering, popping up from the ground as small flames, watching you. Open your eyes and pour out a cup of wine. Grasp the filled cup and baked good in your hands. Hold your arms out to shoulder level, offering the food to the spirits. Cast your gaze to the ground (a respectful gesture), saying:
Salamanders of flame, Lord Djin,
Accept this offering of food and drink!
May the magic that I do be aided by your
powers,
The powers of life that were, that are, and that shall be,
So mote it be!
Leave the baked good on the ground and pour the wine over it, saying:
From east to west, from south to north,
Ancient ones, I call thee forth!
Quickly gather your belongings and leave this sacred spot. Return only when you wish to contemplate the salamanders or are in need of their magical energies.
Day 200
Elementals: King Djin
Today, you will meet the salamander king, Djin, (pronounced JIN) and you will learn what energies the salamanders offer to your life. You will also learn which of your energies they limit.
What You’ll Need:
• Fire incense
• Fire oil
It is best to try this practice in the location near your home where the salamanders reside. Light the fire incense and allow it waft over your body. Dab some of the fire oil on all seven body-energy centers: base of the spine, pubic region, solar plexus, heart, throat, center of the brow, crown of the head.
Find a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths and allow your body to become relaxed. With your eyes still closed begin to intone King Djin’s name on each exhaled breath.
Inhale slowly. Exhale, intoning the sound Djin.
Repeat this intonation twice more and then practice the following guided imagery. You can read it and memorize the imagery sequence now, have a friend read it to you with your eyes closed, or tape record it for later playback.
Reader:
Imagine that you stand once again atop the sand dune overlooking the vast white-hot sand desert. This is where you first met the salamanders.
Hold your spirit hands up so that they face outward toward the sands, and again draw up the energies of this place and cast them in a circle of brilliant red light that surrounds you.
You are now completely surrounded by this field of energy. Raise your hands to the south and mentally summon forth King Djin. Soon a large bonfire springs up from the sands just outside of your magic circle. Without wasting time, ask Djin what powers he offers to your life and what powers he diminishes in your life.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you have heard his answer, bid him fare-well and watch him vanish back into the white- hot sands. When he has left, it is time to close the circle you created. Hold your hands up again to the south and begin to turn your spirit-body in a clockwise direction. This time as you turn, imagine that you draw the energies of the circle back into your body. Allow the energy to return to the earth below your feet, where it is completely grounded.
Once you have finished, it is time to open your eyes. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor, grounding and solidifying all of the energy you raised.
Take time to journal about your experiences, to draw a picture of Djin and write down what powers he offers and diminishes in your life.
Day 201
Elementals: Undines
Undines and mermaids are the watery elemental spirits. Although the origins of the word “undine” are not clearly known, some occultists believe that it originated from the Latin word unda, which means wave. Undines are indeed creatures of the waves. But they are also everywhere: they are the thrust of whitewater rivers, the soothing undulations of serene mountain lakes, and the gentle splash of your swimming pool. In traditional Wiccan lore, undines are gilled, finned, and able to live in the depths of the seas—although occult lore says that their favorite dwelling places are wells, springs, and small streams. Undines are ruled by their king, Necksa (sometimes written and pronounced Niksa).
Undines bestow the spiritual powers of water, including intuition, dreams, insight, compassion, spirituality, flexibility, understanding, love, and tenderness. Undines can also impishly invert these desirable qualities. When that happens, they can create foggy-headedness, weepiness, hypersensi-tivity, crabbiness, weakness, emotional instability, depression, and self-pitying. Witches work with undines to rebalance their own water energies or work magic that connects to water. They also call upon undines as guardians and protectors of the magic circle’s western quarter.
Today’s work centers on meeting the undines and on learning where they reside near to your home.
Practice: Meeting Undines
What You’ll Need:
• Water incense
• Water oil
To begin, light the water incense and allow it to waft over your body, infusing you with its energies. Place a dab the water oil at all seven chakra centers: base of the spine, pubic region, solar plexus, heart, throat, center of the brow, and crown of the head. Next you will engage in a guided imagery. As always, you can read it and memorize the imagery sequence now, have a friend read it to you with your eyes closed, or tape record it for later playback.
Reader:
Find a comfortable sitting or lying-down position and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths and allow your body to become relaxed. Slowly allow the earth to hold you completely; surrender your body weight to the planet, where it belongs.
Imagine that you stand at the western edge of a large freshwater spring. The spring is set within a lush, green forest and you cannot see beyond the surrounding greenery. Hold your spirit hands up toward the west. Feel the cool, fresh energy of the spring water circulate through you completely until you feel that you are one with it. Then imagine that you cast this energy out through your hands and it appears as an electric-blue power that forms a protective shield around you. Turn your spirit body in a clockwise direction, casting this circle of protection and containment with the energy that bursts forth from your hands. When you face the west again, the energy that once emanated from your hands subsides.
You are now completely surrounded by this blue field of energy, yet you are able to clearly see through it. Imagine that you raise your hands to the sky and summon forth the undines—the spirits of this magical spring. Soon you see finned, human-like figures emerge from the depths of the spring. When the undines appear, you notice that your circle takes on a sparkling cobalt hue. Ask the undines where near to your home you can find them. Remember what they tell you.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you have heard their answer, bid them farewell and firmly request that they return to their magical realm. Watch them as they glide back below the surface of the spring, leaving only the sparkling cobalt aura that surrounds you and your magic circle. This aura left behind is the balancing force of Fire. Feel it balance you, center you, and cause you to become whole.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you feel you have absorbed enough of the undine’s powers, it is time to close the circle that you have created. Imagine that you hold your hands up to the west and begin to turn your spirit-body in a clockwise direction. This time, as you turn, imagine that you draw the energies of the circle back into your body. Then allow the energy to pass through your body and return to the spring, ground-ing it completely.
Once you have finished, it is time to open your eyes. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor, grounding and solidifying all of the energy you raised.
Take time to journal about your experiences, to draw a picture of the undines, and to write down where you can find them near to your home.
Elementals: Undine Offerings
In today’s practice, you will go to the place where the undines indicated that they reside and you will make an offering of food and wine to them. As you learned with the sylphs and salamanders, the offering influences the undines to become good magical partners in future magical endeavors.
What You’ll Need:
• A cup of red wine (or a fruit juice such as cranberry)
• A piece of a baked good (such as cake or bread)
When you first arrive at the place of the salamanders, sit on the ground and close your eyes. Close your eyes and imagine the undines gathering, watching you. Open your eyes and pour out a cup of wine. Grasp the filled cup and baked good in your hands. Hold your arms out to shoulder level, offering the food to the spirits. Cast your gaze to the ground (a respectful gesture), saying:
Undines of the deep, Lord Necksa,
Accept this offering of food and drink!
May the magic that I do be aided by your
powers,
The powers of life that were, that are, and
that shall be,
So Mote It Be!
Leave the baked good on the ground and pour the wine over it, saying:
From east to west, from south to north,
Ancient ones, I call thee forth!
Quickly gather your belongings and leave this sacred spot. Return only when you wish to contemplate the undines or are in need of their magical energies.
Day 203
Elementals: King Necksa
Today, you will meet the undine king, Necksa, (pronounced NECK-suh) and you will learn what energies the undines offer to your life. You will also learn which of your energies they limit.
What You’ll Need:
• Water incense
• Water oil
It is best to try this practice in the location near your home where the undines reside. Light the water incense and allow it to waft over your body. Dab some of the water oil on all seven body-energy centers: base of the spine, pubic region, solar plexus, heart, throat, center of the brow, crown of the head.
Find a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths and allow your body to become relaxed. With your eyes still closed begin to intone King Necksa’s name, saying one syllable on each exhaled breath.
Inhale slowly. Exhale, intoning the sound: Neck.
Inhale slowly. Exhale, intoning the sound: Sa.
Repeat this intonation twice more and then practice the following guided imagery. You can read it and memorize the imagery sequence now, have a friend read it to you with your eyes closed, or tape record it for later playback.
Reader:
Imagine that you stand once again near the spring in the forest where you first met the undines.
Hold your spirit hands up so that they face outward toward the west, and again draw up the energies of this place and cast them in a circle of brilliant blue light that surrounds you.
You are now completely surrounded by this field of energy. Raise your hands to the west and mentally summon forth King Necksa. Soon a radiant, magnificent merman emerges from the spring, outside of your magic circle. Without wasting time, ask Necksa what powers he offers to your life and what powers he diminishes in your life.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you have heard his answer, bid him farewell and watch him vanish back into the dark depths of the pool. When he has left, it is time to close the circle you created. Hold your hands up again to the west and begin to turn your spirit-body in a clockwise direction. This time, as you turn, imagine that you draw the energies of the circle back into your body. Allow the energy to return to the earth below your feet, where it is completely grounded.
Once you have finished, it is time to open your eyes. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor, grounding and solidifying all of the energy you raised.
Take time to journal about your experiences, to draw a picture of Necksa and write down what powers he offers and diminishes in your life.
Day 204
Elementals: Gnomes
Okay, so you’ve got the cheap plastic garden gnomes in wheelbarrowing or pickaxing poses on your front lawn. That’s nice. But these are not the magical creatures you will encounter in the coming days. Gnomes are spiritual beings that live in the etheric realm of earth. The word “gnome” seems to be related to the Greek gnoma, which means knowledge. So what do they know? They can tell you a lot about the earth, since they are guardians all of her mysteries. Traditionally, Wiccans envision the gnomes as small, stout creatures who live in small hills or mountains. According to legend, gnomes maintain vast stores of treasure—gold and jewels—in their under-earth dwellings and in caves. Humans who are lucky enough to gain their countenance stand to inherit these treasures. Gnomes are ruled by their king, Ghob (whose name may well be related to the term goblin).
Gnomes bestow the spiritual powers of earth, such as stability, growth, material gain, mastery of the physical body, sensuality, pleasure, money, riches, and stamina, but when gnomes invert these qualities they can cause thick-headedness, tiredness, heaviness, dullness, insensitivity, gluttony, greed, or stinginess. Witches work with gnomes when they want to rebalance their own earthy qualities or when they want to work with magical energies related to the element of earth. In ritual, Witches call upon undines as guardians and protectors of the magic circle’s western quarter.
Today’s work centers on meeting the gnomes (assuming they won’t be insulted by those tacky statuettes of yours) and on learning where they reside near to your home.
Practice: Meeting Gnomes
What You’ll Need:
• Earth incense
• Earth oil
To begin, light the earth incense and allow it to waft over your body, infusing you with its energies. Place a dab of the earth oil at all seven chakra centers: base of the spine, pubic region, solar plexus, heart, throat, center of the brow, and crown of the head. Next you will engage in a guided imagery. As always, you can read it and memorize the imagery sequence now, have a friend read it to you with your eyes closed, or tape record it for later playback.
Reader:
Find a comfortable sitting or lying-down position and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths and allow your body to become relaxed. Slowly allow the earth to hold you completely; surrender your body weight to the planet, where it belongs.
Imagine that you stand at the northern edge of a large, freshly ploughed field. A musky, heavy earth scent fills the air and you welcome it. Hold your spirit hands up so that they face outward toward the north. Feel the cool, weighty energy of the ploughed earth circulate through you completely until you feel that you are one with it. Then imagine that you cast this energy out through your hands and it appears as an electric-green power that forms a protective shield around you. Turn your spirit body in a clockwise direction, casting the energy that bursts forth from your hands into a circle of protection and containment. When you face the north again, the energy that once emanated from your hands subsides.
You are now completely surrounded by this field of energy, yet you are able to clearly see through it. Imagine that you raise your hands to the sky and summon forth the gnomes—the spirits of this earthy realm. Soon you see figures crawl out from their holes beneath the neatly ploughed rows. The gnomes approach your circle and surround it. As they do, your circle takes on a sparkling emerald hue. Ask the gnomes who have joined you where they reside near to your home.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you have heard their answer, bid these magical creatures farewell and firmly request that they return to their magical realms. You watch as the gnomes depart and crawl back beneath the earth’s surface. All that is left behind is the green aura that surrounds you and your magic circle. This aura left behind is the balancing force of earth. Feel it penetrate you. This force centers you, and causes you to become whole.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you feel you have absorbed enough of the elementals’ powers, it is time to close the circle you have created. Imagine that you hold your hands up to the north and begin to turn your spirit-body in a clockwise direction. This time, as you turn, imagine that you draw the energies of the circle back into your body. Then allow the energy to pass through your body and return to the earth below your feet, grounding it completely.
Once you have finished, it is time to open your eyes. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor, grounding and solidifying all of the energy you raised.
Take time to journal about your experiences, to draw a picture of the gnomes and write down you can find them near to your home.
Elementals: Gnome Offerings
In today’s practice, you will go to the place where the gnomes indicated that they reside and you will make an offering to them. Again, the offering is a libation to assure that the gnomes will become good magical partners.
What You’ll Need:
• A cup of red wine (or a fruit juice such as cranberry)
• A piece of a baked good (such as cake or bread)
When you first arrive at the place of the gnomes, sit on the ground and close your eyes. Close your eyes and imagine the gnomes gathering, rising out from their underground dwellings and watching you. Open your eyes and pour out a cup of wine. Grasp the filled cup and baked good in your hands. Hold your arms out to shoulder level, offering the food to the spirits. Cast your gaze to the ground (a respectful gesture), saying:
Gnomes of the earth, Lord Ghob,
Accept this offering of food and drink!
May the magic that I do be aided by your
powers,
The powers of life that were, that are, and that shall be,
So Mote It Be!
Leave the baked good on the ground and pour the wine over it, saying:
From east to west, from south to north,
Ancient ones, I call thee forth!
Quickly gather your belongings and leave this sacred spot. Return only when you wish to contemplate the gnomes or are in need of their magical assistance.
Day 206
Elementals: King Ghob
Today, you will meet the gnome king, Ghob, (pronounced gawb). As with each of the elemental kings, he will teach you about what energies the gnomes offer to your life and what they limit.
What You’ll Need:
• Earth incense
• Earth oil
It is best to try this practice in the location near your home where the gnomes reside. Light the earth incense and allow it to waft over your body. Dab some of the earth oil on all seven body-energy centers: base of the spine, pubic region, solar plexus, heart, throat, center of the brow, and crown of the head.
Find a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths and allow your body to become relaxed. With your eyes still closed intone King Ghob’s name on each exhaled breath.
Inhale slowly. Exhale, intoning the name: Ghob.
Repeat this intonation twice more and then practice the following guided imagery. You can read it and memorize the imagery sequence now, have a friend read it to you with your eyes closed, or tape record it for later playback.
Reader:
Imagine that you stand once again near the freshly ploughed field. This is the spot where you first met the gnomes. Hold your spirit hands up so that they face toward the north, and again draw up the energies of this place. Cast them in a circle of brilliant green light that surrounds you.
You are now completely surrounded by this field of energy. Raise your hands to the north and mentally summon forth King Ghob. Soon a bejeweled gnome emerges from the earth, just outside of your magic circle. Immediately ask Ghob what powers he offers to your life and what powers he diminishes in your life.
(Reader: pause for a moment.)
When you have heard his answer, bid him farewell and watch him vanish back into his hole in the earth. When he has gone, it is time to close the circle you created. Hold your hands up again to the north and begin to turn your spirit body in a clockwise direction. This time as you turn, imagine that you draw the energies of the circle back into your body. Allow the energy to return to the earth below your feet, where it is completely grounded.
Once you have finished, it is time to open your eyes. Get down on your hands and knees and place your forehead to the floor, grounding and solidifying all of the energy you raised.
Take time to journal about your experiences, to draw a picture of Ghob and write down what powers he offers and diminishes in your life.
Elements and the Witches’ Tools
Witches have magical tools for just about every occasion, but there are four main tools (some traditions refer to them as “weapons”) that every Witch keeps for ritual and magical purposes. Each of these tools symbolizes and evokes the energies of specific elements.
The primary Witches’ tools are the wand, the athame, the chalice, and the pentacle. The wand is a length of willow or oak that represents the element of air. The athame (pronounced ah-THAW-may) is a double-edged, black-handled knife that represents fire. The chalice can be any cup or drinking vessel, and it represents the element of water. The pentacle is usually a flat ceramic or copper circle that has a five-pointed star (a pentagram) engraved upon it. This tool represents earth.
Elemental-Tool Correspondences
In the following discussions, the element is given first, followed by the tool associated with that element, and then the description.
Air—Wand: The wand is usually a length of wood (traditionally willow for a woman’s wand and oak for a man’s wand) that a Witch uses to summon spiritual energies. Witches also use the wand in lunar rituals and in rituals that involve “drawing down” the goddess or god into a priest or priestess. Witches sometimes “load” the wand by carving out a hole in the top and bottom and filling it with magical herbs and stones.
Fire—Athame: The athame is a double-edged, dark-handled knife. The athame is the essential Witches’ tool, used to cast and summon magical forces. Traditionally, a Witch might magnetize the athame’s steel blade using a lodestone. This practice allegedly assures the athame’s appropriate “attracting” powers.
Water—Chalice: The chalice is traditionally a stemmed cup. The chalice can be of any material, however, since the chalice aligns with the energies of the goddess, Witches give preference to cups made of silver (or silver metals). Witches use the cup for blessing and fertility rites as well as for making potions and magical elixirs.
Earth—Pentacle: The pentacle is a disk that has a five-pointed star engraved upon it. The disk can be made of any earthy material. Traditionally, Witches make the pentacle from wood, wax, clay, or copper. The pentacle is a tool of fertility rites, blessing rites, and of summoning the goddess.
Each of these four magical tools represents the Witch’s individual power as well as her personal connection to each of the four elements. There are also ritual tools that represent collective elemental energies—the energies of a spiritual community or Witches’ coven. Witches call the collective ritual tools the grand tools. Review and familiarize yourself with each of the tools listed below, along with their elemental correspondences.
Table of Grand Tools
Air—the Staff: A wooden branch the length of a Witch’s body—from head to toe. It represents a coven’s collective link to air and their collective knowledge. The staff also represents the phallus.
Fire—the Sword: Magical swords are usually double edged. They are only used in ritual. The sword represents a coven’s collective link to fire and the collective will. Tool used in summoning the god, and in casting a coven’s magic circle.
Water—the Cauldron: The cauldron is usually a deep-set iron pot that Witches use in a ritual context. The cauldron represents a coven’s collective link to water and their collective power to dare. It also represents the goddess’ womb.
Earth—the Human Body: In certain rituals, the body itself becomes the grand pentacle, with the head, arms and legs representing the five points of the pentagram. Typically the priestess’ body is the grand tool of earth; however many covens believe that the human form of either gender is magically effective.
Below, I have listed additional tools that you will find useful in magical practice. Many of these items are purely optional. As you develop your own spiritual practice over time, you will be able to decide which of these tools are best for you. In the meantime, review the list and commit these items to memory.
Table of Additional Witch Tools
Air—the Boline: The boline is a small knife with a sickle-shaped blade. Witches use this tool to harvest ritual/magical herbs.
Air—the Bell: The bell starts and finishes ceremonies. Witches also use the bell to summon energies and entities. They also use the bell in initiatory rites.
Fire—the Thurible: The thurible is a metallic dish or bowl that Witches use to burn incense, herbs, and other small ritual items. The thurible is usually made of iron.
Fire—the White-Handled Knife: The white-handled knife is usually a single-edged knife with a white (or light-colored) handle. Witches use the white-handled knife to chop herbs, to inscribe candles, and to serve as a tool for all mundane purposes within a magic circle.
Water—the Scourge: The scourge consists of a 12- inch length of dowel. At the top end nine (sometimes five or seven) individual lengths of leather cord are attached to a single eyehook. Usually British Traditional Wiccans are the only ones who use the scourge in initiatory rites. They use this tool to purify an initiate’s chakra system by stimulating the root chakra.
Earth—the Cords: Witches use the cords to cinch their robes at the waist. They also use the cords in initiatory rites. In various traditions of Witchcraft, the cord color that a Witch wears can represent his or her level of attainment or “degree” within a system of study. Cords also symbolize the umbilical cord and therefore represent an individual Witch’s connection to earth and/or to a spiritual community.
Earth—the Broom: Witches use the broom in fertility rites. The broom represents women’s power and the regenerative principle.
Spirit—the Book of Shadows: A Book of Shadows is traditionally a handwritten book that contains the rituals and spellwork particular to a Wiccan tradition or coven. Each tradition has its own Book of Shadows. Some Witches develop their own. Witches call a personal (nontraditional) book of spells a ritual grimoire.
Other tools that Witches use in their craft are candles, incense, essential oils, herbs, divination tools (such as a magic mirror, a scrying bowl, tarot cards, or a crystal ball), magical jewelry, robes, a moon crown, red garters (British Traditionalists only), god and goddess images, and antlers. As you learn more about each of the elements in future lessons, you will also learn more about how to make and use these magical tools.
• Which of the tools seems to be “mismatched” with an element?
• If you were to make your own correspondences, which of these tools would you match with elemental energies?
• Consider the tools of your daily life (your car, your refrigerator, your lights, your garbage disposal, etc.). How might each of these ordinary items align with elements? Take time to consider this and commit your thoughts to paper.
Day 208
The Wand
Witches typically make their own wands from wood branches, although some contemporary practitioners use a variety of other materials for wand construction. Some of these additional materials include elongated or phallic-shaped quartz crystals, bone, copper or silver, antlers, and feathers. The type of wood a Witch uses to make a wand varies from one magical tradition to another—although choosing oak for a male’s wand and willow for a female’s wand is an old magical custom. When considering what type of wood you might use to construct your own wand, begin by considering your current spiritual goals and your personal spiritual expression. Then look at the chart on page 202 that describes various types of woods and their magical associations. Match up your own spiritual qualities and goals with the magical qualities of specific types of wood.
Nine of the traditional Celtic wand-making woods include: apple, ash, cedar, hazel, holly, juniper, oak, pine, and poplar.
Magical Wood Correspondences
In the following chart, the magical wood is followed by planetary ruler, elemental influence, and magical influences.
Apple—Venus—Water: Divine female principle, flowing of the four elements, mystic visions
Ash—Sun—Fire: Insight, divination, illumination, spiritual justice, equilibrium, balance
Cedar—Sun—Fire: Rebirth, purity, consecration, longevity, success
Hazel—Mercury—Air: Knowledge, divination, control of the weather
Holly—Saturn—Earth: The eternal principle, spiritual healing, happiness
Juniper—Saturn—Earth: Fertility, protection, strength, spiritual rebirth, material growth.
Oak—Sun—Fire: Solar energy, divine male principle, horned god, strength, power
Pine—Mars—Air: Compassion, magical protection, healing, movement, enlivenment
Poplar—Moon—Water: Moon mysteries, lunar energies, cycles, intuition, moon goddess
Some other magical woods that Witches use in the making of wands include:
Alder—Blending male/female principles, links to fairies, mysteries revealed, offerings to gods
Birch—Goddess energies, beginnings, change, transition, purification
Willow—Moon magic, underworld journeys, link to the gods
If none of these woods are available to you locally, where do you live? Not to worry—as was the custom among our ancient ancestors, you can create the wand from any wood that comes from local plant sources. Discover the energies of your local plant life for yourself!
Day 209
Making a Wand: Preparation
In the best of circumstances, a Witch collects her wand from a living tree at midnight on Midsummer. Wiccan lore says that the Witch should cut the wand from a living tree branch. This practice ensures that the wand retains the tree’s spiritual essence. The branch should be no more than one inch in diameter (in old measurements, the wand was to be no thicker than your thumb) and it should be equal to the measurement from the tip of your middle finger to the crook of your elbow. To assure the wand’s magical vitality, cut the branch with a single blade stroke.
Wand Symbolism and Lore
Witchcraft workings often involve planetary influences that aid in spiritual endeavors. The wand links closely with the planet Mercury,77 a planet that is a melting pot of spiritual energies and symbolism. In Roman mythology, Mercury was the mes-senger of the gods. He moved between the worlds of humanity and divinity, so he was thought to be composed of both spiritual and earthly energies.
Interestingly enough, Wiccan lore says that the wand is best harvested at midnight on Midsummer, a magical time that vividly represents the shifting, polar qualities of Mercury: the depth of night at the height of the sun’s power. Witches harvested their wands at this tide of contrasting energies to infuse them with Mercury’s archetypes.
Important to your own wand harvesting is keeping in mind the symbolism behind these contrasting spiritual forces. This means that it is important to harvest your wand in a spiritual frame of mind that is “between the worlds,” where all polar energies collide.
Practice: ’Twixt the Earth and Sky
Today’s practice involves centering yourself between the contrasting forces of earth and sky. This technique aligns you to the wand’s Mercurial nature. It is preferable to practice this technique when you can feel the warming energies of the sun directly on your skin.
To begin, turn to face the north. Raise your right arm, making sure that the palm of your right hand faces the sky—toward the sun. Close your eyes. Imagine that the energy of the sun begins to concentrate and focus into a beam that enters your raised palm. Breathe deeply. With each inhalation, imagine that the power of the sun draws down into your body, filling it. Continue to draw the sun’s energy until you feel completely flooded with solar light.
Hold your left arm at your side and flex your left hand at the wrist so that your left palm is parallel with the surface of the earth. Continue to keep your eyes closed. Imagine that a cool green energy radiates from the earth and focuses into a beam that merges with the palm of your left hand. With each inhalation, the power of the earth enters your body and fills it. Continue to draw the energies of the earth into your body in this way until you feel it blend with the energies of the sun.
When you are finished, open your eyes and place both palms flat against each other, in “prayer hands.” Hold them in this way, pressing them together until you sense that the intensity of these two energies subsides. When you are finished with this practice, place both of your hands under cold running water or flat on the ground for a few minutes to restore your own natural energy patterns.
Day 210
Wand Harvest Ceremony
What You’ll Need:
• Air oil
• Pruning shears or saw
• Salt and water in separate bowls
• 12 inch length of red ribbon
• Dried white sage
• A thurible (or other similar burning vessel)
• A bundle of hyssop, or lavender, or small tinkling bells
Go to the tree from which you will harvest your magic wand. Select an appropriate branch to harvest. At the point that you intend to cut the branch, adorn the tree with a red ribbon. From this ribbon, you may tie bells or small bundles of healing herbs, such as hyssop or lavender.
Practice the earth and sky visualization that you learned yesterday. When you have finished the visualization, grasp the selected tree branch in both of your hands and say aloud:
Strong creature from before time of my own,
You without flesh, you without bone,
You without vein, you without blood,
You without head, but who opens to bud,
You who are as wide as the earth,
But who were never born,
Lend me now your magic,
From the Amalthean Horn!
Combine three scoops of salt into a bowl of water. Mix the elements together and then rub the salted water on the tree branch, saying:
I welcome thee with water and earth.
Blow on the branch and then say:
I welcome thee with the air of my body.
Hold the branch between the palms of your hands and visualize energy leaving you and joining the limb. While you do this, say:
I welcome thee with the fire of life.
Rub the branch with a small amount of the air oil. Then, with your pruning shears (or saw), cut the branch swiftly with one snip. If you are using a saw, cut the branch as quickly as you can from the limb of the tree. Place the harvested branch at the foot of the tree and stand before the cut limb and the tree. Light the white sage and walk the perimeter of the tree with the smoldering herb, saying three times:
The tops of the trees
Will sprout of late.
They’ll change and renew
From their withered state!
Rub a small amount of air oil on the spot where you removed the limb. Collect your new wand and take leave from the tree without looking back. Set your wand in a special place in your home for the remainder of the day.