Spell Casting is a safe and simple way to improve a situation by using your wishes to harmonize natural energies.
A spell is the combination of words and objects used to focus magical energy and direct it into ensuring the desired result. Casting spells can help you deal with areas of your life that cause problems and give you the confidence you need to overcome them. By working with words and objects that symbolize the goal you are seeking, you can direct and focus your won natural energies.
The Ethics of Spell Casting
All true Wiccans follow the ethic, "An it harm none, do as ye will", meaning you should not cause harm to anyone with your spells, including yourself. By using the power of your imagination, focused and heightened by concentration, will-power and belief, you can start to cast spells safely and positively.
Spells help your unconscious mind focus on your wishes and attract the outcome that is right for you. Use natural ingredients to harness the magical energies around you.
Spell Casting Through History
Witches and their beliefs have been demonized in recent times, but for thousands of years spells were used to help protect people from life's sorrows and pains. In the Middle Ages, local witches combined the roles of doctor, midwife, and vet, dispensing herbs to heal human and animal ailments and to aid births. Without a local pharmacy, they found their own ingredients, and an extensive knowledge of herbalism was essential. The traditions of herb and Moon lore, learned by witches, were usually oral. These were passed down and adapted through time.
Spells can be divided into three broad categories: Blessing, Wishing, and Protection.
Blessing Spells
Blessing spells are used to improve existing conditions. Within a rural community, such spells may include blessing crops and encouraging the appropriate weather to ensure a good harvest. Blessing spells can also heal people and animals, bringing more happiness and positive influence into a person's life. They can be used to purify places and buildings, removing unwanted influences. Blessing spells remind us of our connection to the people around us and our environment--for example, you may cast a blessing spell for along and happy life on a newborn baby or on a newlywed couple to ensure their future happiness.
Wishing or Attraction Spells
Wishing spells are cast to improve your quality of life. They include:
*Spells to improve your current job situation or help you find a new one.
*Spells to help you overcome nerves and perform well during exams.
*Spells to improve your luck.
*Spells to attract love into your life.
When you perform wishing spells, remember you are seeking to attract what is right for you. It is better to do spells to attract the "right" job or lover rather than a specific person or career, which may not in fact be right for you.
Protection Spells
Protection spells were among the most popular kind cast in ancient times. These can include:
*Protection when traveling
*House protection from burglary or negative influences.
Binding Spells
Binding spells are cast to stop an individual acting maliciously or negatively in a manner that causes harm. Such spells also help the person causing the problem to realize the harm they can do. They are NOT curses.
For example, if you are sexually harassed at work and wish to prevent the perpetrator from behaving in this manner, a binding spell would reflect their negative energies back on them and make them realize how they are harming others.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Using Magic Wands
Magic wands can help you to channel the mystical forces surrounding you and focus this power into the object of your spell.
A wand functions as an antenna. When pointed upward and used with ritual and focus, it enables you to draw down magical energy. When spell casting, you can then point the wand at an object to release this power down your arm and into the wand, where the energy is intensified by its crystal tip. You can also focus on directing your own energy into the wand. Thus, double-pointed crystals work very well on wands, enhancing power from yourself and external forces.
Harnessing tree magic
A wand is imbued with the properties of the tree from which it is make. Willow is the most popular choice of wood, but you can make wands from most trees and reserve individuals wands for specific purposes. Birch trees, for example, signify renewal and a birch wood wand could be used in spells to bless new projects.
The Uses of Magic Wands
You can use a wand for a variety of purposes when practicing magic and rituals and casting spells.
*Sleeping on a willow wand is said to make your dreams more vivid and meaningful.
*Rowan wands can help to enhance your clairvoyant abilities.
*Wands can be used to cast sacred circles, which you can then step into and cast a spell.
*Place a wand on an altar at a Wiccan celebration as your offering to the ritual.
*Enhance the power of your spells by using wands to focus more energy on your intent, whether it be for love, prosperity or healing.
*Use a wand made from a specific wood to celebrate a seasonal festival. A holly wand, for example, could be used to perform magic at a Winter Solstice ritual.
A wand functions as an antenna. When pointed upward and used with ritual and focus, it enables you to draw down magical energy. When spell casting, you can then point the wand at an object to release this power down your arm and into the wand, where the energy is intensified by its crystal tip. You can also focus on directing your own energy into the wand. Thus, double-pointed crystals work very well on wands, enhancing power from yourself and external forces.
Harnessing tree magic
A wand is imbued with the properties of the tree from which it is make. Willow is the most popular choice of wood, but you can make wands from most trees and reserve individuals wands for specific purposes. Birch trees, for example, signify renewal and a birch wood wand could be used in spells to bless new projects.
The Uses of Magic Wands
You can use a wand for a variety of purposes when practicing magic and rituals and casting spells.
*Sleeping on a willow wand is said to make your dreams more vivid and meaningful.
*Rowan wands can help to enhance your clairvoyant abilities.
*Wands can be used to cast sacred circles, which you can then step into and cast a spell.
*Place a wand on an altar at a Wiccan celebration as your offering to the ritual.
*Enhance the power of your spells by using wands to focus more energy on your intent, whether it be for love, prosperity or healing.
*Use a wand made from a specific wood to celebrate a seasonal festival. A holly wand, for example, could be used to perform magic at a Winter Solstice ritual.
How to Make a Magic Wand
Follow this simple and fun step-by-step exercise to create your own magical wand, adorned with brightly colored ribbons, pretty gems and elaborate feathers.
Wand Materials
To make your magic wand, you will need:
*a 10-12 inch long stick of willow or other wood
*a knife
*a double-pointed quartz or other preferred crystal
*sandpaper--coarse, smooth and very smooth
*almond or linseed oil
*a brush
*copper wire
*needle and cotton thread
*PVA glue
*ribbons, feathers, beads and shells
1. Ask permission from a tree to take its wood. Then cut a 10-12 inch piece. Thank the tree and leave it a gift.
2. Strip off bark with a knife, while the wood is "moist" and easy to peel. Later, return the shavings to the tree.
3. Sand the wood, first with the coarse paper, then again with the smooth. Finally, use the very smooth sandpaper.
4. Allow the wood to dry out for a few days. Then lightly brush it with oil until it is soaked through. Leave it to dry.
5. Glue the crystal you have chosen onto the top of your wand and wrap with the ribbons securing it with glue.
6. Now, you are ready to personalize your wand. Use a needle and thread to attach other magical items, such as beads, feathers and shells to the ribbons.
Using Advanced Wands
The more practiced you become at magic, the less elaborate your wand needs to be. Many experienced witches will used a plain wooden stick and do not worry about dressing it up.
Decorating your wand does not increase its magical powers, but the ritual of spending so much time on the tool's creation helps to forge a psychological connection, encouraging the flow of magical energies between you. Many beginners find this useful.
Using a Ritual Blade
Other rituals associated with creating your own wand include setting aside a special knife, which you use only for this purpose.
Wand Materials
To make your magic wand, you will need:
*a 10-12 inch long stick of willow or other wood
*a knife
*a double-pointed quartz or other preferred crystal
*sandpaper--coarse, smooth and very smooth
*almond or linseed oil
*a brush
*copper wire
*needle and cotton thread
*PVA glue
*ribbons, feathers, beads and shells
1. Ask permission from a tree to take its wood. Then cut a 10-12 inch piece. Thank the tree and leave it a gift.
2. Strip off bark with a knife, while the wood is "moist" and easy to peel. Later, return the shavings to the tree.
3. Sand the wood, first with the coarse paper, then again with the smooth. Finally, use the very smooth sandpaper.
4. Allow the wood to dry out for a few days. Then lightly brush it with oil until it is soaked through. Leave it to dry.
5. Glue the crystal you have chosen onto the top of your wand and wrap with the ribbons securing it with glue.
6. Now, you are ready to personalize your wand. Use a needle and thread to attach other magical items, such as beads, feathers and shells to the ribbons.
Using Advanced Wands
The more practiced you become at magic, the less elaborate your wand needs to be. Many experienced witches will used a plain wooden stick and do not worry about dressing it up.
Decorating your wand does not increase its magical powers, but the ritual of spending so much time on the tool's creation helps to forge a psychological connection, encouraging the flow of magical energies between you. Many beginners find this useful.
Using a Ritual Blade
Other rituals associated with creating your own wand include setting aside a special knife, which you use only for this purpose.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
How to Harness Your Inner Power
Following the path of Wicca means learning how to listen to a well-spring of inner knowledge and discovering how to use it in spell and ritual.
Within all of us is a deep reservoir of untapped potential filled with knowledge about the physical and spiritual worlds. Part of Wicca is about getting in touch with that "inner knowing"--learning how to read the signals, which may be competing with all manner of noise to be heard. Some people such as clairvoyants naturally hear these signals very clearly, but you may have to work at it.
Coincidence or Telepathy?
You may have experienced telepathy without even being aware of it--it's what happens when you think of a friend and suddenly they call you. You may even have experienced clairvoyance--how many times have you said, "I knew that would happen?" There are tools to help develop these divining gifts, such as a pendulum or dowsing rods, as well as wands that help direct the energies of your inner power.
Listen to the Voice Within
When you tap into your inner power you are also exercising your intuition and when you use your intuition you are really entering into the universal psyche--bypassing your own personal views and touching upon the universal truth. This is because your intuition is largely based upon what you "feel" about something, and as well as drawing upon the wisdom that has been taught to you by life experience, intuitive feelings are guided by that deep, hidden inner voice.
Quiet the Noise
Your brain is constantly making a racket and throwing up all manner of things to distract you from your inner truth--doubts and fears as well as logic and reasoning are all blocks to hearing your intuition and to harnessing the power within. Meditation is the art of learning to bypass this noise, so that the quiet voice of truth can be heard.
You can learn to access your inner power by employing techniques such as dreamwork, meditation, dowsing and working with magic wands.
A Dream Diary
The unconscious has many messages for you, but it speaks through symbols and dreams rather than directly.
Coded Messages
Unless you are already finely tuned to listening to your inner voice, many of the signals that are trying so hard to be heard can only bypass the everyday clatter by working at night. Unconscious messages appear in you dreams in the form of coded symbols. You can become more open to the messages from the unconscious by recording your dreams and by familiarizing yourself with the workings of your mind. Keep a notebook and pencil by your bed, and upon waking write down your dreams. Over time you will uncover more and more and open an easier dialogue between the unconscious and conscious mind.
Meditative Herbs
During a meditation session, use incense that helps to develop clairvoyance by clearing away mental debris. Frankincense, sandalwood and star anise are all good fragrances.
State of Peace
To enter a serene state, sit cross-legged and close your eyes. Focus your breath into your belly and concentrate on breathing. As thoughts arise, try not to pay attention to them, but let them float by. With practice you may notice that the scent of the herbs helps you to "drift away." Notice that this is happening and just gently come back to your breathing. Do this for 20 minutes and then notice how your inner voice is free to speak.
Practice Dowsing
A good time to try your first go at dowsing is when you are felling centered after a meditation session. With dowsing, the mind can be tempted to exercise logic and impose its will, but when you are feeling very still you are more likely to allow the intuitive mind to be heard. Before you start dowsing, establish the signals your dowsing tool provides for answering "yes" or "no".
Find the Answer
Holding a pendulum gently, establish what is "yes" and "no" answers are by asking, "Is my name _____?" The way it swings will be the "Yes". Check its "No" answer too, and you will then be ready to start dowsing. See if you can find a lost object in the house by asking simple "Yes" or "No" questions to the pendulum. It may be helpful to use a piece of paper with the words "yes" and "no" written on opposite sides, and then hang the pendulum over the paper with your receptive hand. (Right hand--projective, Left hand--receptive).
Working with Wands
Once you have opened up the pathway to your inner powers and can recognize when they are working, you are ready to practice directing these energies at will. This will take much time and effort, and you may initially find that directing your energies to charge objects for spells and rituals is quite draining.
Direct the Power
You should use a crystal-tipped wand for this exercise. (I will post more about making your own wand in the next post). Choose an object in a room and draw a circle clockwise around it with the tip of your wand. Point the wand at the object and concentrate on a musical note in your mind.
Direct the note from your head down your shoulder, arm, wrist, and hand and continue it along the length of the wand and into the object. Practice this daily until you hear the musical note whenever you enter the room with that object.
Within all of us is a deep reservoir of untapped potential filled with knowledge about the physical and spiritual worlds. Part of Wicca is about getting in touch with that "inner knowing"--learning how to read the signals, which may be competing with all manner of noise to be heard. Some people such as clairvoyants naturally hear these signals very clearly, but you may have to work at it.
Coincidence or Telepathy?
You may have experienced telepathy without even being aware of it--it's what happens when you think of a friend and suddenly they call you. You may even have experienced clairvoyance--how many times have you said, "I knew that would happen?" There are tools to help develop these divining gifts, such as a pendulum or dowsing rods, as well as wands that help direct the energies of your inner power.
Listen to the Voice Within
When you tap into your inner power you are also exercising your intuition and when you use your intuition you are really entering into the universal psyche--bypassing your own personal views and touching upon the universal truth. This is because your intuition is largely based upon what you "feel" about something, and as well as drawing upon the wisdom that has been taught to you by life experience, intuitive feelings are guided by that deep, hidden inner voice.
Quiet the Noise
Your brain is constantly making a racket and throwing up all manner of things to distract you from your inner truth--doubts and fears as well as logic and reasoning are all blocks to hearing your intuition and to harnessing the power within. Meditation is the art of learning to bypass this noise, so that the quiet voice of truth can be heard.
Using the Power Within
You can learn to access your inner power by employing techniques such as dreamwork, meditation, dowsing and working with magic wands.
A Dream Diary
The unconscious has many messages for you, but it speaks through symbols and dreams rather than directly.
Coded Messages
Unless you are already finely tuned to listening to your inner voice, many of the signals that are trying so hard to be heard can only bypass the everyday clatter by working at night. Unconscious messages appear in you dreams in the form of coded symbols. You can become more open to the messages from the unconscious by recording your dreams and by familiarizing yourself with the workings of your mind. Keep a notebook and pencil by your bed, and upon waking write down your dreams. Over time you will uncover more and more and open an easier dialogue between the unconscious and conscious mind.
Meditative Herbs
During a meditation session, use incense that helps to develop clairvoyance by clearing away mental debris. Frankincense, sandalwood and star anise are all good fragrances.
State of Peace
To enter a serene state, sit cross-legged and close your eyes. Focus your breath into your belly and concentrate on breathing. As thoughts arise, try not to pay attention to them, but let them float by. With practice you may notice that the scent of the herbs helps you to "drift away." Notice that this is happening and just gently come back to your breathing. Do this for 20 minutes and then notice how your inner voice is free to speak.
Practice Dowsing
A good time to try your first go at dowsing is when you are felling centered after a meditation session. With dowsing, the mind can be tempted to exercise logic and impose its will, but when you are feeling very still you are more likely to allow the intuitive mind to be heard. Before you start dowsing, establish the signals your dowsing tool provides for answering "yes" or "no".
Find the Answer
Holding a pendulum gently, establish what is "yes" and "no" answers are by asking, "Is my name _____?" The way it swings will be the "Yes". Check its "No" answer too, and you will then be ready to start dowsing. See if you can find a lost object in the house by asking simple "Yes" or "No" questions to the pendulum. It may be helpful to use a piece of paper with the words "yes" and "no" written on opposite sides, and then hang the pendulum over the paper with your receptive hand. (Right hand--projective, Left hand--receptive).
Working with Wands
Once you have opened up the pathway to your inner powers and can recognize when they are working, you are ready to practice directing these energies at will. This will take much time and effort, and you may initially find that directing your energies to charge objects for spells and rituals is quite draining.
Direct the Power
You should use a crystal-tipped wand for this exercise. (I will post more about making your own wand in the next post). Choose an object in a room and draw a circle clockwise around it with the tip of your wand. Point the wand at the object and concentrate on a musical note in your mind.
Direct the note from your head down your shoulder, arm, wrist, and hand and continue it along the length of the wand and into the object. Practice this daily until you hear the musical note whenever you enter the room with that object.
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