Wicca for Beginners (19 page)

You can also plan spell work based on the day of the week. Each day is associated with a planet, and the planets in turn have their own correspondences. Sunday is associated with the Sun, and is good for magic that has to do with energy and the life force, money, and prosperity in general. Monday is associated with the Moon, and is a good time to do magic for conception and anything having to do with mothers, emotional work, and nurture. Tuesday is associated with Mars, the warrior planet, and is good for any kind of protective or aggressive magic, and especially for magic to muster up the guts to stand up for yourself. Wednesday is associated with the planet Mercury, named after the Roman messenger of the gods, so magic having to do with communication and travel works well on this day. Thursday is associated with the planet Jupiter, Roman king of the gods, and magic for things like money, luck, and fortune is enhanced. Friday is associated with Venus, planet of love, so magic to draw love, send love, or heal relationships works well on Friday, provided all involved parties consent to the working. Saturday is associated with Saturn, the planet of work, boundaries, and restrictions, so protection magic, magic to eliminate debt, or magic to find employment work well on Saturday. This list of associations with the days of the week is not exhaustive.

There is a lot more to magical timing, but the previous factors are a good start. Entire books have been written on magical timing, and I’ve included some good ones in the recommended reading list.

Step 6: Involve other people (or not).

Who will be involved in your ritual? If you are planning to do it alone, this is an easy question to answer. However, you may wish to include others. Who is likely to share your goal and be willing and able to help you? If you are planning to do magic that involves another person who won’t be present—like doing healing work for your grandmother, for example—you should contact the person if possible and ask his or her permission before proceeding. Sometimes it is impossible to get permission, like if your grandmother is on a respirator or unconscious. In those cases, meditate on whether the spell is appropriate, and use your knowledge of your grandmother to help you decide.

Step 7: Involve otherwordly beings (or not).

As I said earlier, magic is different than praying because you are the primary force behind making it work. However, you may wish to ask for help from the God and Goddess, your personal deities, animal “familiars,” ancestors, or elemental beings. Before you begin, do some research to determine whom it would be most appropriate to ask. As long as the magic is positive, the God and Goddess are good choices for just about anything, but the God is particularly helpful in work that has to do with protection, fertility, nature, death, raw energy, and animals, and the Goddess is particularly helpful in magic about birth, fertility, plants, the earth, and manifesting things into your life. Your personal deities will have characteristics associated with them that could help you too. For example, the Celtic goddess Cerridwen is linked to wisdom, and the Greek god Hermes is related to travel.

There are two types of Wiccan animal familiars: discarnate (spirits in animal form) and incarnate (living pets or other animals). Discarnate animal familiars or spirits serve as guides and helpers. Many Wiccans work with animal spirits, but some do not. In the accounts of the witch trials, there are stories of animal familiars, most of which were said to be demons in animal form. Wiccan familiars are not demons. They are positive energy spirits or thoughtforms that take animal shapes in the mind of the Wiccan. Some Wiccans choose the familiar they would like to work with based on its qualities. For example, they might choose a raven for its intelligence or a wolf for its strength. Sometimes an animal familiar chooses the Wiccan. I have a student who seems to have been chosen by rats and another by spiders—not animals either would have gravitated toward naturally. Some Wiccans work with their pets and believe them to be familiar spirits incarnate. I have a cat that loves to “help” with my husband’s massage clients. She lies down next to them, stretches out a paw to touch them, and does some weird energy thing that nobody quite understands, but several of his return customers specifically request that she be allowed in the room to do whatever it is she does. Many pets are drawn to energy. If you have a pet that really seems to want to join you in circle, consider letting him or her in, as long as it’s safe (no open flame, no incense if your pet is a bird or reptile because they have delicate lungs, no poisonous oils or plants to ingest by accident, and so on). Watch them around your plate of cakes. My cats have been known to run off with ritual food.

You can always call on your ancestors to help in magic. They are linked to you both in blood and spirit, and they can be powerful allies. Some ancestors will not come when you call, and some will not approve of you doing spells, especially if they followed a different religion when they were alive. Never ask an ancestor whom you think might be offended. If you think they’re okay with magic, however, call on them to strengthen your work.

Last but not least, you can call on the spirits of the elements. If you are doing a spell that involves bravery, for example, you might call fire spirits (keep that fire extinguisher handy), or if you are doing one that requires intellect, you might call on air spirits.

Step 8: Choose the location.

There are many places where you could do your spell: inside versus outside being the first consideration, followed by whether or not you will be able to work without interruption. You will want to choose a place that is easy to get to and where you have access to whatever you need for the spell. The nature of your spell will be a determining factor too. If you’re working with fire or nature spirits, you might want to do it outside, but if you’re doing a quiet working that requires a lot of concentration or meditation, it might be better to be inside. You’ll also need to consider whether you want to do your spell in sacred space. Casting a circle is not at all required for magic, but it’s a good idea if you are calling the gods.

Step 9: Choose your correspondences.

Magic works well when your spell includes items that are aligned with your goal. These items help focus your intent and add energy to the working. When you are thinking about what items to include in your spell, consider things whose color, sound, scent, taste, or texture somehow suits your goals. Consider food, candles, oils, incense, magical tools, clothing, herbs, and rocks and crystals that are associated with the purpose of your spell.

Step 10: Write or acquire the spell.

Do you want to write your own spell, or have you found one in a book? If you’ve found one, do you want to modify it to suit you better? Do you want to go into your spell with a carefully determined script, or do you want to have a general idea of what you’d like to do and make the words up on the fly?

If you choose to write your spell, first think of your goal. Find a way to state your goal clearly in words, either with rhyme or without. Then build the ritual around this center statement of intent. Incorporate the correspondences you’ve chosen, either directly into the words or into the greater ritual. The steps of the spell ritual can be very similar to the steps you’ve been using in the other rituals in this book. For example:

1. Clean and prepare your space. Set up the altar and draw a circle.

2. Call the quarters, if desired.

3. Call the God and Goddess, if desired.

4. Declare your intent, speak the words of your spell, and focus on your goal.

5. Raise energy to direct toward your goal using any one of many methods, including breath work, dance and other physical movement, chant, tai chi, or visualization. If you’d like, see the energy as a rising cone of power in the center of your space.

6. Focus and direct the energy. Visualize your goal, and mentally direct the energy to it.

7. Ground and release excess energy.

8. Thank all participating beings, human and otherwise.

9. Say farewell to the God and Goddess, release the quarters, take up the circle, and clear the space.

10. Reinforce the spell by repeating it later if necessary. Sometimes it takes more than one shot.

Remember, you do not have to build a circle, call the quarters, or call the gods. I have included those steps in case you want to do them. It might be best to use them during your first few tries.

Step 11: Prepare.

Sometimes Wiccans will do preparatory work that helps them begin to align with their purpose before they ever start the actual spell. This may include taking a ritual bath with herbs or oils associated with their goal (for example, basil for a money spell), fasting for a day, eating foods that are aligned with the goal, and charging/blessing/consecrating tools and materials prior to the ritual.

Step 12: Work your magic and
know
that it will succeed.

A Sample Spell

The following is an oldie but goodie: a spell for a witches’ bottle. A witches’ bottle is a charm to protect your home. It consists of a bottle or jar filled with sharp objects, such as pins and needles; pieces of string; and a liquid, often red wine. The bottle is filled during the ritual, sealed, and buried in the yard after the ritual is ended. The idea is that the sharp items drive away harm, the strings bind it up, and the liquid dilutes it or washes it away. When you make a witches’ bottle, you do not do it with the intent to harm anyone, just to drive bad energy and burglars away. So what does a witches’ bottle have to do with all that lofty, noble stuff I said earlier about working your will? Well, it’s not the most sophisticated spell, but it gets to the core: If you don’t have safe, stable space in which to live and practice your spirituality, you will have a hard time finding your higher purpose.

You can do this spell either inside or outside of a circle. It’s a spell that’s been around for a long time, it’s true “kitchen witch” magic, and I suspect that whoever made it up years and years ago was thinking more about protecting his or her home and family than the intricacies of ritual. Since we’ve talked about ritual structure a lot already, I’m just going to include the central piece of the working; the guts of the spell. You can add the circle and other ritual elements if you feel they are appropriate.

You’ll see when you get into the spell that I’ve broken the “statement of intent” into four pieces: one for the sharp things, one for the threads, one for the wine, and one for the whole bottle.

You will need:

•
A glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid or cork. Empty spice jars work well.

•
Sharp items such as pins, razor blades, nails, needles, and tacks in a bowl or other container (not in the bottle yet).

•
Several short strings or threads, preferably black, but any color will do.

•
Red wine or another liquid. Red corresponds to
aggression and protection.

•
A black candle. Red is okay too. Black corresponds to banishing, and red to strength.

•
Matches or a lighter.

The Spell

1. Prepare your ritual space, if desired. Ground.

2. Open the circle, if desired.

3. Slowly begin dropping the sharp items in the jar. Be careful not to cut yourself. As you place each item in, visualize negative energy being repelled from your home. If you want, say something like:

Pins and needles, razors and tacks,
Drive all harmful energy back.

4. When the jar is about two-thirds full of the sharp things, place several strings and threads in the jar. Visualize negative energy being bound up in the threads as you do this. If you want, say something like:

Pieces of thread, pieces of string,
Bind up harmful, negative things.

5. Pour some wine into the jar to fill the spaces between the other items. Leave a small amount of space at the top. Visualize the wine washing away all negative stuff that might approach your home. If you want, say something like:

Reddest wine, protect this place,
Wash all harm out of my space.

6. Cap the jar tightly. Light the black candle, and drip candle wax all the way around the edge of the jar. As you do this, visualize and know that your spell is fixed and it will work.

7. Raise energy and send it into the bottle. You can do this by pulling earth energy up from your taproot and running it into the bottle through your hands. You can also repeat the following chant faster and faster until you feel the energy is peaking, and then direct the energy into the bottle.

All harm banish,
Be gone, vanish!

8. Push all the energy into the bottle. Do not keep any of it in your body. After the bottle is charged, ground.

9. Thank the gods and quarters, and take up the circle if you cast one.

10. Allow the wax on the bottle to cool and harden. Take the bottle outside and bury it in your front yard or in front of your building, preferably in a corner. Visualize it sending out an energetic barrier that repels harmful things. Know that it will protect you. Reinforce the magic from time to time by visualizing the bottle repelling harm from your home, perhaps at each full moon.

You’ve done your first spell!

12

Where Do I Go from Here?

Now you know a
little bit about the beliefs, practices, deities, tools, and techniques of Wicca. If you want to learn more, what do you do next? The obvious answer is to read more about Wicca. There are some good Wicca books on the market (and some lousy ones too), and there is information in magazines such as
NewWitch
and on the Web. Read a variety of things from a variety of sources. Check out both scholarly and anecdotal material and the resource list in this book. Build a base of knowledge.

But remember, reading is not enough. Wicca is not a “religion of the book.” It is about engaging with life, and it requires active participation and practice over time. So do the exercises in this and other basic Wicca books. Begin assembling your own Wiccan practice. Explore the Wiccan ideas that sing to you, and create some rituals for yourself. Build an altar. Talk to the gods. Start a book of shadows. Most of all, open yourself up to the transformation and self-discovery that walking the Wiccan path can inspire.

You’ve probably figured out by now that you can’t snap your fingers or wiggle your nose and instantly become a Wiccan. It takes months, years, sometimes decades to hone all of the skills used in Wicca and to work the mysteries with any depth. Nothing ticks off established Wiccans—those who have actually done the work and walked the talk that goes along with the title of Wiccan—more than a “newbie” who reads a Wicca book and declares himself Lord High Priest Dragonsbane of the Moonbeam and Fairydust Tradition or some such pompous, ridiculous title. If you do this, the Wiccan community will give you another name: fluff bunny. Fluff bunnies are poseurs, people who have read a few books and lit a candle or two and therefore think they know everything about Wicca, or people who treat Wicca as though it were a live-action fantasy role-playing game—in other words, people who claim to follow the path but don’t respect it. So read, but don’t stop there. Wicca is about change and transformation after all, so stopping after you’ve got a book or two under your belt won’t cut it.

What can you do in addition to studying and practicing by yourself? That will depend on you, your preferences, and the opportunities available to you. There are several questions that potential Wiccans ask once they have read about Wicca and decided that they want to learn more. If you are interested in continuing, it’s important that you answer these questions for yourself and/or ask them of others. The answers will help you shape your next steps.

Should I Work Alone or in a Group?

There is no central church of Wicca (thank the Goddess). There is no authority that tells Wiccans how they must worship, when, and with whom. The upside of this is that Wiccans have the freedom to practice their religion in whatever way they see fit. The downside is that sometimes it’s difficult to find support, camaraderie, or other people to practice with (if you want to). Most Wiccans practice their religion either in small, autonomous, family-like groups called covens; large public gatherings; “solitary,” meaning alone; or some combination of these. Ultimately, all Wiccans are solitary at some point because their relationship with their deities is personal, and it exists whether they’re working with a group or not. So if you do decide you’d like to work with a group, it’s best if you also become a strong solitary Wiccan.

Advantages of Group Work

Some of the advantages of working in groups are that you have others with whom you can share the work and bounce ideas around. You have support and people who understand what you’re trying to achieve (most of the time, anyway). Others can help you validate and interpret your experiences and keep you from feeling alone. Each member of a group has strengths and weaknesses, so you can balance each other out and learn from each other. Another group member may provide a catalyst for you for a great spiritual discovery. Each member also has different experiences to bring to the mix. One may have studied Celtic mythology, and another Greek. Everyone is a resource. Being in a group can motivate you too. It’s hard to slack if you have others to answer to. Most important, it’s hard to learn a mystery religion in a vacuum.

Disadvantages of Group Work

The downside of group work is that you can’t do everything you want, whenever you want, without taking another person’s opinion or preferences into account. You may have to deal with egos, politics, and personality clashes. You may have one member who uses or pushes around the others. You may have members who don’t do their share of the work, show up late to meetings, don’t contribute to the materials you need, and generally leech off the rest of the group. You have to plan your meetings and rituals around other people’s schedules. You might disagree about what deities you’d like to work with, how you’d like to cast the circle, whether you’ll have white or red wine, and just about everything else.

Deciding whether to work in a group or fly solo is a difficult choice. Remember, though, that you can always change your mind later. If you join a group, you can leave it. If you decide to work alone for a while, you can join a group later. Many Wiccans fluctuate between group and solitary work depending on their schedules, access to others, and where they are on their spiritual path. Neither way is necessarily better than the other.

If I Don’t Want to Work Alone,
What Are My Options?

Work with a Friend or Start Your Own Group

One of the easiest ways to explore Wicca with others is to find a friend or two who are also interested in Wicca and work together as a small group. If you start with friends, it’s likely that you’ll be comfortable, and your small group can provide a safe space for all of you to learn about Wicca. Starting your own group can be a lot of work, but with only a few members it’s easier, and you can split the planning, writing, and prop-gathering between you. If you work successfully in your small group for a while, you may decide you want to take in new members, and your small group might grow into a coven. There is no set minimum or maximum number of members for a coven, although many Wiccans I know believe you need at least three people. A one-member coven seems a tad ridiculous though.

Join an Established Coven or Group

Another option is to look for an existing coven and petition to join it. Depending on where you live, this may or may not be possible for you. Each coven will have its own rules about who can join and when. Some start teaching new people at the beginning of the year, so they only take on students then. Others have an open-door policy, and people drop in and out as they see fit. Still others require applications and for the petitioner to meet with the group one or more times beforehand to make sure everyone is comfortable and compatible. Many covens will vote on new members before allowing them to join. This, again, is to make sure that everyone is comfortable. No coven has to take you on if they don’t want to. A word of caution: If a group doesn’t take its member policy seriously, it may be a group you will not be comfortable joining. In my experience, many new Wiccans like to feel “safe” until they get the hang of things, and if people are coming and going all the time, it’s hard to get the stability you may need. In addition, if the member policy is very loose, the group may be disorganized and there may be no protocol for behavior. This can make for a very free and uplifting experience, or a frustrating, disrespectful one, depending on the group.

Attend Open Public Rituals

Finding open rituals can be difficult if you live in a rural area, but many cities have at least one Wiccan group that puts on public ritual, and there are more and more open rural groups springing up. The advantages of open ritual are that the circles often are different each time, and someone else has done the work and planning, so you can just go, enjoy, and learn. It’s a good way to meet other Wiccans in your area, and maybe even find members of a coven you’d like to join. (Although covens have their own private rituals, members may also attend public rituals for the social aspect, to look for potential members or students, or just to see how someone else does things.) The downside is that most of the time these rituals aren’t meant to be anyone’s sole source of religious practice, and the groups that put them on are performing a community service rather than starting a “church,” so there may not be much continuity. Since the rituals are open, you also have no control over who shows up and who doesn’t. If you’re surrounded by strangers, you may not feel like you can really get comfortable and into the ritual.

Study with a Teacher

Finding a teacher may or may not be the same as seeking out a coven because some teachers lead covens and others don’t. Some covens are “teaching covens,” and students are allowed to become members after studying with the teacher for a while. Some teachers take on individual students, and others will take on small numbers of students for a period of time. In this last case, at the end of the training, the student moves on rather than joining a group.

If you are studying with a teacher, whether it is solo, in a class, or as part of a training coven, it’s likely that you’ll be asked to do a certain number of assignments, including reading books from a specific list, writing or journaling about your experiences, energy exercises, studying mythology and the gods, and learning about ethics, magic, and creating and performing ritual. There may or may not be a test or tests. As with teachers of all subjects, some teachers are very hands-off, and others are deeply involved in their students’ process. Some will want to meet with you regularly, and others will not. Some will have you work at your own pace, and others will have a schedule.

Attend Wicca Classes

Attending Wicca classes is different than working with a teacher. They are usually open classes held in a public place, such as a bookstore. If you have a metaphysical bookstore nearby, check there to see if they offer classes, or know anyone who does. Wicca classes held in stores are often informal, and the quality varies from great to lousy. Even if the class is less than inspiring, however, it can be a way to learn about Wiccan resources in your community. Wicca classes are often inexpensive or free. Many Wiccan traditions believe that it is wrong to take money for teaching the Craft, in which case the teacher will not charge or will charge just enough to cover the cost of renting the class space.

Join a Wiccan Student Group

If you are in college, there may be a Wiccan student group on your campus. If you join, you can meet like-minded people on campus to work with and learn from. If there isn’t a Wiccan group, you can start one, but if you do this, go into it with your eyes open. It’s a lot of work—rewarding work, but time-consuming nevertheless. Years ago, a friend of mine and I started a group at our university. The group met every other week, and frequently we had speakers from different Wiccan and pagan groups in the area. The best part about it was that while providing this service to others, my friend and I could meet and “audition” the local Wiccan leaders who came to speak and find out who we wanted to learn more about. We also became much better ritual leaders because the majority of the work fell on our shoulders. One thing you must take into account if you decide to do this is that starting a Wiccan group on campus, no matter how large your school is, makes you a public Wiccan figure. When my friend and I were leading the student group, we got more than our fair share of attention from the fundamentalist religious student groups, and there were times when it was very uncomfortable. If you’ve got a thick skin and some support, though, I can attest that starting your own student group is worth the work.

Join an Online Coven or Email List

If you can’t find a group you like by any of the conventional means already mentioned, you might consider joining an online coven. These can’t provide face-to-face practice and teaching, but they do offer support and resources.