Month: February 2012

Dragon Magick

Dragon Magick

 
 
Western and Eastern European and Scandinavian dragons are the true fire dragons. They are primarily guardians of gold, described as the life blood of the earth, and live in caves. The Oriental dragons are mainly air and water dragons, associated with life-giving rain, with winds and storms and with gems and pearls, through there are the fiery kinds as well, as seen in processions.
 
Dragon magick uses the spiritual power associated with fire-breathing dragons to protect your own particular treasures. These treasures might be tangible ones like your home or your family. Less tangibly, treasure to you might represent speaking the truth or receiving honesty from others, the power to develop your career or heaing powers, or the ability to love or gain knowledge. Dragon magick is also good way of manifesting prosperity in your life, not for its own sake but in order to have the resources to do all the things you want to – and so that you don’t need to worry and can bring happiness to others.
 
For despite their bad press in Christian times as symbols of the earth mother, dragons are essentially wise and noble. Of course, physical dragons don’t exist. By means of visualization however, you can build up a connection the huge energy field of the dragon that exist spiritually, the same way the love and altruism are real.
 
Fire dragons are variously described as possessing all or some of the following: eagles’ feet, bat-like wings, the front legs of a lion, a reptile or dinosaur’s head with a huge mouth and teeth from which smoke and fire pours, huge scales, the horns of an antelope, a soft underbelly and a spade-like snake or lizard-like tail that may being close to the head.
 
Smaller fire drakes, found in the myths of France and Germany, don’t have wings, but are red and have fiery breath. They live in caves with their great hoards, the riches of the earth.
 
According to Bulgarian dragon lore, the male dragon is the fiery one and is a benign protector of humans and the crops, in contrast to his watery and less well-disposed sister. In this tradition, dragons have three heads and wings.
 
The ruler of the fire dragons is called Fafnir, whose name comes from the Norse and German culture. He was once a dwarf but was transformed into a dragon because of his love of the treasures he created and the metals he forged. He was killed by Sigrid Volsungr or Siegfried who burned himself, licked his fingers and so absorbed the dragon’s power to commune with the birds.
 
This isn’t a straightforward legend and has a lot to do with the overcoming of the earlier earth goddess power as typified by the dragons. Therefore, Fafnir shouldn’t be thought of as a greedy dwarf who became a dragon to be slain, as in the patriarchal, monk-recorded legends. Rather, Fafnir is lord of the dragons, who guards from the greedy and insensitive the power of the hidden treasures, whether these be of the goddess or your own potential. So if you do include Fafnir in your dragon chants recall his wonderful craftsmanship and how he conserves the minerals of the earth – not a bad lesson for modern times.

Starting the Ceremony (Natural Magick)

Starting the Ceremony

(Natural Magick)

 

Light any altar candles. If it is a very simple altar and you are putting directional candles on the actual altar, the southern altar candle will serve as the elemental candle as well, so don’t light this one yet.

If others are present, stand in the center of your visualized or maybe stone-constructed circle and face your guests. Otherwise stand in the center of your visualized circle. Make a short spontaneous call for blessing on all present or on yourself if carrying out the ritual alone. Hold your wand or a pointed quartz crystal in your hand, circling it clockwise as you speak.

In a simple outdoor spell this opening blessing will serve as casting the circle if you picture light beams emanating from your wand to make a light circle round you and your altar space which rises into the sky and sinks down into the ground.

Use your own favorite greeting blessing or adapt one from an old Celtic blessing. You can say something like this:

Circle this place/hillside/garden/woodland/seashore, Mother/Father. Keep harm without, keep peace within. Circle this place, Father/Mother. Bless all who gather here this day.

The ‘all’ will, if you are working alone, include the nature essences and elemental guardians of the four quarters of the circle.

Generally, you will now want to cast a full circle of magickal power round the group, or round yourself and the altar if working alone.

Cast the circle with your wand, crystal point or the index finger of your power hand (the hand you write with). Always do this clockwise, starting in the north or east. This draws earth and sky energy to you.

If you want a more elaborate circle (you need not and can go straight on to opening the four quarters) make a triple circle to empower the magickal one you created.

If you were making these three circles, this would be the point at which you would light the candle of the south and any incense. Pre-heat the charcoal for loose incense as it takes about en minutes: a stick is instant. If you are using a sacred salt and water mix into the ritual or the circle casting, empower the mix now. You can use your wand to stir the salt and water together. For a special ritual, you would set the salt and water dishes on your pentacle.

Make the triple circles with three clockwise circles, one over the other or extending inwards, the first with the sacred salt and water mix (or just salt), the second with incense and the third with the directional candle of the south. If not using the salt water mix, substitute magickal water droplets for the candle to make the third circle. If there are other present, three of you can walk round in a complete circle, one following the other, or make a single triple-empowered circle starting in the northeast.

Put the wand in the south of the altar (some use the east as they regard the wand as an air tool).

If you are inviting the guardians of the directions you should now visit the four quarters moving in a clockwise direction. Greet each one in turn and ask for their appropriate power and protection. Again, start in the north but many practitioners work from the east.

Otherwise you and anyone present can simply face that direction and raise both arms in greeting (palms flat and uppermost). Visualize the elemental forces as they are in nature entering the circle. You would still be greeting the guardians as you face the different directions, just not actually be visiting the four quarters.

You can do elemental greeting even with just a small traveling or outdoor altar by picking up each of the elemental substances in turn and inviting the guardian of the element into your altar and your spell. Reverse the actions at the end of the ritual and thank them.

If you aren’t opening the quarters, light any directional candles now and then add some incense to the charcoal if you didn’t use incense to cast the triple circle.

If using an incense stick light this now from the nearest candle (again if not used for the circle casting).

If you want to, you can now invite the ancestors or a particular one who acts as your guardian spirit by facing the west and calling them. Some people strike the ground with their staff at this point.

Now invite the fey beings into the circle (turning to all four directions as you call them). It is a good idea and practice to do this every time you do an outdoor spell.

Finally, if you want to make your ritual real special, face south, open your arms wide and ask if any deities (you can name them) would bless your ritual.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Five Moving to a Conclusion

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Five Moving to a Conclusion

 

Staging 5: Moving to a conclusion – grounding or internalizing the power

If you would like to incorporate cakes and ale into a spell or ritual, this would be the point at which you would first take the cakes on the dish. When you are working alone, this is a lovely part of a spell or ritual to help to connect you with the love all round you.

Raise the cakes on their plate (one for you and one for the birds if working alone) skywards away from the altar.

Then lower them to waist height in front of you, saying:

“May the abundance of the Mother and the bountifulness of the Father bless and nourish, sustain and protect me/you/us all my/your/our days.”

 

You can, if more than one person is present, choose one to hold the dish and another to bless the cakes by making either a pentagram or a cross over the dish as the words are spoken. You can, of course, do this alone with your power hand.

Put the plate in the center of the altar.

Now take the chalice or goblet in your receptive hand and your wand in your power hand and gently lower the tip of the wand so it almost touches the surface of the wine or juice. Say:

“As male to female, god to goddess, so in this wine/juice is joined power and love, strength and compassion, striving and acceptance.”

 

Return it to the center of the altar.

If more than one person is present, one can bless the cakes and another can bless the wine. The same people are usually chosen to carry out the blessings, but you may prefer to share the duties. Often the wand is held by a female and the cup by a male for the crossing of energies, but two women or men can carry out the ceremony.

You should then take the cakes, scatter a few crumbs on the ground (or in a dish indoors) and say:

“I return the gift to the earth mother in thanks for blessings received. Blessings be.”

 

After the ceremony feed the rest of this cake to the birds.

At this point if there were two people involved, you can offer each other a cake and then pass them round to anyone else present. Each person can say:

“Blessed be.”

 

Or add a blessing before eating.

You should then return the plate to the altar and take the wine, pouring a little on the ground and thanking mother earth again for her blessings. (Pour this offering into a dish if indoors and you can put the crumbs and liquid outside after the ceremony.)

Now drink or offer the drink to the other person who blessed the chalice. He or she will take a sip and offer it to you and to the other person who carried out the blessings, saying:

“Blessings be.”

 

If others are present, pass the cup round so each can take a sip, saying:

“Blessings be.”

 

And perhaps adding a blessing before passing it on.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: An Alternative Stage 4

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: An Alternative Stage 4

 

 

If you are carrying out a healing spell or one for gentle love or letting go of sorrow, setting off psychic fireworks may seem a bit over the top.

Instead you may choose to infuse a healing herb mix with the power to relieve pain or exhaustion or infuse a dish of crystals so that they can afterwards be burned for peace in four directions. Gently directed power can be used to steer away in a psychic way someone who is making you unhappy.

“In a group celebration you may likewise not want to have everybody jumping up and down (it could certainly scare a baby at a blessing ceremony and a few elderly relatives at a hand fasting). You need instead to use the accumulated power and direct it into sanctity, whether that be the vows of a couple or of godparents. Or you might each make reflective wishes for the year ahead after the shouting of Happy New Year and banging of saucepan lids and blowing of whistles at a turning-of-the-year rite.”

Through the technique is straightforward it is like learning to do a hill start in a car – getting the clutch and accelerator in perfect balance so you can stay ready but motionless for as long as necessary.

When the power in your spell has built up to almost a climax instead of releasing it, hold it for a moment, keeping your movements and your voice steady and then begin to recite the words more slowly and more softly until your words fade through a whisper to silence and make your movements slower and gentler until your feet become still. The incense sticks, your hands or wand will likewise become still.

Point downward with smudge, incense sticks, wand or your hands toward the symbol at a 45-degree angle (slightly away if necessary so no ash falls on the symbol, herbs or crystals).

Push very gently, psychically holding your hands or sticks motionless, using words to make the power and light flow into the symbol. You may detect a rainbow aura or green light round the symbol.

When you feel the power ebbing, stand motionless and silent for a moment and then replace the wand, smudge or incense sticks in their place or holders or put your hands in front of you pointing downwards so any residual power can flow into the symbol or be used to heal the earth.

Leave the incense to burn through and whisper:

“May you be blessed.”

 

In a ritual this would be a good time for everyone to make personal offerings or quietly pass the symbol round and make low soft promises of practical ways you all personally will help to bring peace or work for the good of others. At a midwinter ceremony you would quietly, after the cry “The sun is born again,” light your candles one by one round the circle and make your own perhaps silent resolutions for bringing light back into your life and the world.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Four

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Four

 

Stage 4: Release of Power

This stage will blur and merge naturally into the previous one if you trust yourself.

When the moment is right, raise the incense sticks and hold the upright and above you, calling for the release. Then plunge the incense sticks simultaneously into a bowl of sand. Do the same if you’re using the smudge with a final spiraling above your head (pretend you are using a lasso).

If you are just using your hands or a wand, raise your arms high either side of your head, then swing them down, one behind you and one in front of you to waist height in a slashing movement.

Picture yourself releasing the pressure within the cone and lighting the touch paper on the entire firework display. Picture that one of stars cascading into the night.

End the song with a final shout, the dance with a final clap and a leap. Then call out “The power is free.” The wish is mine’ or “The spell is done,” whatever feels right to express the culmination of the spell.

See spiraling rainbows of light shooting upwards lie rockets or hundreds of white doves, colored balloons or butterflies being released as the same moment into the air.

If working as a group, one person should be responsible for calling “Now’ or the drummer could give a huge band. In practice the synchronized energies will bring the climax into synchronicity. But it really doesn’t matter if some psychic fireworks go off a few seconds after the other, it just prolongs the joyous tensions.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Three

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Three

 

Stage 3: Raising or increasing the power

This is the most active and powerful part of the spell, and involves building up the speed and intensity of the action you started in stage 2.

Raising the power is especially easy out of doors as you connect, especially if barefoot or wearing thin-soled shoes, with the natural spiraling energies or straighter ley flows beneath the earth.

Grass or sand near a river or seashore is also energized by the water flow, especially around the week of the new and full moons. On a safe beach you can dance through the shallows.

There are many ways of raising power, limited only by your imagination. When working alone and in a potent natural setting, perhaps at a power time like sunrise, you will sing, away or move quite without prompting or run along the beach or through long grass round in circles or spirals like a dog let off the leash. Watch children playing for inspiration.

Most effective is a combination of words or sound and movement in such a way that your conscious mind is carried along by the power, like riding a carousel when everything blues except for the music. The purpose of this stage is not only to empower the symbol but also to empower yourself, since you are the vehicle to carry the magickal energies from the thought (mental) and spiritual (astral) planes to actuality (earth). This is the same process used by shamans to trigger their out-of-body or out-of-everyday consciousness.

Enchant the symbol with a pair of lighted incense sticks, one held in each hand, a few centimeters/an inch above the symbol. Move the right one clockwise and the left on anticlockwise. Move them faster and faster and chant faster and faster in order to draw in all four elemental powers.

Increase the speed and intensity so the incense sticks cross and uncross over the symbol. As you move the sticks rhythmically, recite your elemental chant continuously.

Alternatively you can move your wand clockwise in flourishes or a spiral, a smudge stick in your power hand in huge circles allowing it to dictate its own pathway and shapes. You can move the other hand anticlockwise in rhythm if you want.

A very simple chant is:

Air, water, fire earth,

Bring, I ask, this wish to birth.

 

You can continue over and over again at increasing intensity and speed, adding variants or weaving your own simple four- or five-word chants, around the natural surroundings and the elemental associations.

Other spells chant include goddess names, the most popular being Isis, Astarte (Ass tart-ay), Diana, Hecate (Hekart tay), Demeter (Dem eat-er), Kali (Karly) and Innana (In-arn-a).

Isis is the Ancient Egyptian mother Goddess; Astarte is the supreme female divinity of the Phoenicians, Goddess of love and fertility, associate with the moon and all nature; Diana, the Graeco-Roman Goddess of the moon and hunt and queen of the witches; Hecate, the Ancient Greek Crone Goddess of the underworld and waning moon; Demeter, the Ancient Gree Corn mother; Kali, the Hindu creatrix/destroyer Goddess and Innana, the Sumerian fertility Queen of Heaven and Earth Goddess in the Middle East area of modern Iraq. Feel free to substitute your own goddesses/gods.

You could instead move round and round the altar or circle, chanting and clapping, while stepping, stamping or whirling and twirling. Sufi spiritual whirling dancing has been eagerly adopted by the New Age as a way of altering consciousness. Trust your feet to follow the spirals of the Earth energies.

You can add the beat of a hand drum using your hand or a striker or use a tambourine. We can all play these, without training or a natural ear for more formal music. Just let your hands and feet set the beat and if you chant along they all harmonize. The simpler and more repetitive words and actions, the better.

Move and chant until you feel that the power has reached its height, like revving a car with the hand brake on or a plane whose wheels are starting to life off the tarmac.

Through visualization, individuals and groups can create a cone of power with the circle as the base, picturing a mass of stars or swirls of rainbow light collecting a light cone above you. Imagine the cone getting higher and brighter as the apex gets taller and the cone denser with rainbow light. As you swirl you may even see it.

When the psychic power peaks in intensity it is released through the apex as shooting stars. Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a firework display.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Two

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage Two

 

You are now ready to begin endowing the symbol and spoken intention of the spell with power. Here you will use words, actions and visualization to build up this power within the physical symbol.

One of the most common methods of empowering the symbol is to pass it round or through the four elements in turn, so that power builds up within it.

Some practitioners start in the east with the incense. It does not matter as long as you are consistent. It depends whether you want to add your stability (north) at the beginning or end. Some prefer to start with stability and to end with the flowing waters of the west.

Begin with the salt in the north and make three clockwise circles of salt round the symbol, moving the circles outwards.

State again the purpose of the spell and then create an earth power chant, which should be spoken three times, visualizing at the same time what seem to be relevant earth powers. Visualize the power of the element in its natural form and then see that power entering you and meeting your own inner elemental power (like two rivers meeting). You can plan your chants in advance or just let them come spontaneously: they don’t have to rhyme. You can speak the chant as you make the circle, or afterwards for each of the four elements.

Next surround the symbol on the dish with three clockwise circles of incense smoke. Create an incense chant as you make the smoke circles over the salt ones. Afterwards you can also write the purpose of the spell in smoke over the symbol if you wish.

Repeat the process for fire with the candle or, if easier, circle the symbol on its dish clockwise over the candle of the south three times. Create a fire chant and again recite it three times.

Finally you are going to fill the symbol with the power of water in the same way. Make sure the water droplets are over the circles of salt and incense smoke (approximately). Again create a simple water power chant to be recited three times as you make the three water circles.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage One

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage One

 

Stage 1: Formally defining the purpose of the spell.

Take your symbol that should be made of natural material, natural fabric, crystal, beeswax, dough, clay, flowers, herbs, twigs or metals.

Set the symbol in a dish or flat plate in the center of the altar (you can use a pentacle dish is you wish).

Raising the symbol dish in the center of the altar as you face north, name the purpose of the spell and the time scale, for example, “by the time the leaves are on the trees,” “by the next full moon or “within seven days.”

At the same time, define the person for whom you are casting the spell – this could be yourself.

If you wish, you can now, while you are speaking, pass the symbol on its dish slowly in turn over all four elemental substances, beginning in the north or east.

You may now speaking slowly and confidently, ask for any god or goddess or maybe an angelic power that could be helpful.

Put the symbol back in the center. Touch the symbol with your wand or with a crystal point or the outstretching tip of your index finger to make the connection between the symbol and the energies to be raised. Say:

Be filled with powers and blessings that _________(name) may be/ have/ do__________.

In a ritual you would announce the purpose of the gathering and draw everyone together in a initial chant or action during this first stage.

Special Kitty of the Day for February 5th

Moonlight, the Cat of the Day
Name: Moonlight
 Age: Deceased, Three years old
Gender: Male
 Kind: Cat
Home: Tustin, California, USA
Inominate Moonlight the Stray, who came to accept me as his friend. About three years ago I noticed that the cat food I was leaving out in the evening for my cat Smokey to snack on was disappearing. Then soon after I caught a glimpse of a ragged black and white cat scurrying away into the darkness at just the slightest movement of the wind. Just a spooky little guy. So I began to leave more food out and in no time I had a nightly visitor. Every evening when the sun set this scrawny cat would appear, and so he became known as Moonlight.

Moonlight made great strides in accepting me as his friend. From the malnourished thief of a cat who would steal Smokey’s food under the cover of darkness to that of an occasional lap cat whose purr sounded like thunder. Smokey tolerated him with an occasional nose boop. No longer a wisp of a feline but a big hunk of a tom and as soon as the sun had set I would hear Moonlight make his way upon the tops of the fences with a loud meow announcing his arrival. He would then dine upon two cans of food and a plate of crunchies before stepping inside for an hour long nap on the couch and an occasional brushing. Afterward he would return to the back porch and enjoy the evening for a few hours safe inside my yard. Sometime later he would venture off to make his nightly rounds but would always return the next night as sure as the moon would rise. For three years this feral cat and I understood each other and respected our places in the world. He lived his life and I lived mine, but for a few hours every evening we enjoyed each other’s company.

Then one evening he did not keep his dinner date. Nor did he the next night. Worried I would walk the neighborhood looking for any signs but never saw one. A week passed and nothing. On the ninth day I woke to find Moonlight sitting at the back door and since the sun was up I knew something was terribly wrong. I sat my injured friend in my lap for an hour and listened to his broken purr as he tried to get comfortable, but the look in his eyes told me a story that words could not.

Sadly, Moonlights injuries were too severe and he did not survive. Thank you my friend, you will be missed. I’m honored you accepted me as one of your own.

Dog-gone Doggie of the Day for February 5th

Rosie, the Dog of the Day
Name: Rosie
 Age: Three and a half years old
Gender: Female Breed: Newfoundland
Home: Italy
Rosie’s full name is Rosabelle degli Angeli Neri Kennel in Italy. She was born with a miniature front paw which was later reabsorbed into the wrist. When she was born her breeder, Emmy Bruno, was very sad because she thought that no one would have liked a three pawed, four legged dog, but when we went to see her sister Nana (Rosalinde degli Angeli Neri), we fell in love with Rosie and decided to take her too.

Rosie is beautiful, and if it had not been for her handicap, her breeder would have kept her for breeding. Emmy was (and is) very fond of Rosie, and spoiled and pampered her a lot while I was waiting to take her home. Rosie still thinks she is a lapdog, and now and then she half jumps on my knees, keeping her hind legs on the ground, wrapping her only paw around me, and laying her big head on my breast, looking at me as if saying “I love you, Mom”. We thought that she would never be able to lead a normal life at the beginning. She had problems getting up, and when she wanted to lay down, she circled and circled around like a cat on a cushion , and then literally dropped down face first, with her butt in the air and her tail wagging. She still does it even now, minus the floor hitting with her face.

Her sister was a pest with her when they were pups. She bullied her and pulled her around by the tail. But little Rosie (we still call her Rosina, little Rose, even if she weights 56 kilos), learned to get up very quickly, and to wrestle with Nana and to jump on her and push her down.

She is a very brave and sensitive dog. She still spends most of her day laying on the floor, but if she wants to run and romp with Nana, she is as quick as her sister. The day she learnt to climb stairs was a great day in our house! She never gives up, and having been rather spoiled because of her handicap, at times she is very stubborn. She likes to go to the seaside to my Mom’s even if she does not like water very much. I think it is because she feels unbalanced and knows swimming is not for her.

This summer we almost lost her to an infection, and she was emergency spayed, but her kidneys were damaged. I slept three nights on the floor with her after the operation because she was too restless and was supposed to be resting.

Notwithstanding all this, she is as loving and sweet as she has always been. She is very funny when she sleeps on her back, her stump tucked to her breast. She is very protective of the house and of me, and her deep, husky bark is very intimidating. If anyone arrives she does not know, she hops in front of me and puts herself between me and any possible danger. I love her determination never to be left behind or excluded from anything, her love for life, her courage.

She is a philosopher dog. You can see her thinking while she is looking at you. She loves fish and little treats, and when she was a pup she was a formidable wood chewer, but she never destroyed anything in the house. I love her, and hope that notwithstanding her kidney problems, she will be with me for a long long time still, because losing her will mean the world would have lost a very exceptional being, and I a part of my heart.