West With the Night –A Setting Sun Spell (All Lunar Phases)

To clear energy and prepare for a week of calm clarity, find your favorite white flower—iris, lily, rose, one that is truly beautiful to your eye. Monday’s setting sun is the time for this spell, immediately after the sun goes below the horizon. Anoint a white candle with clary sage oil and place on your altar. Take your single white blossom and add that to your altar in a bowl of freshly drawn water. Place sage leaves on a glass dish in front of the lit candle and speak aloud:

This fire is pure; this flower is holy, this water is clear.These elements purify me.
I walk in light with nothing in my way.
My energy is pure, my spirit is holy, my being is clear. 
White light burns bright in me and all the words I say. 
So mote it be. And so it is.

Burn the sage in the fire of the candle and put in the glass dish where is can turn into ash, smudging as it burns. Stand in front of your altar and breathe in slowly and deeply six times. On the last strongest exhalation, blow the candle out.

Powers of the East, West, North and South Sanctuary Spell (Waning Moon, New Moon)

Every kitchen has a box of salt. This most common of seasonings is essential to physical health and also the health of your home. With a bowl of salt alone, you can purify your home every day and have a “safe zone” for ritual work. You can leave a bowl of pure salt in any room you feel is in need of freshening; the salt absorbs negativity. Many a witch uses this homely approach on a daily basis early in the day, tidying up and cleansing energy to charge a home with positivity.

In your kitchen, take a bowl of water, freshly drawn and a small cup of salt. Take the vessel of water and sprinkle in as much as you feel is needed. Anoint your fingers by dipping them in the salt water and then around your third eye in the middle of your forehead.

Now turn to the east and say:

Power of the East,
Source of the Sun rising, Bring me new beginnings.

After speaking, sprinkle some of the water in the eastern part of your kitchen.

Face south and say:

Source of the Starry Cross, Place of warmth and light, Bring me joy and bounty.

Scatter droplets of salt water in the southern direction.

Face the west and speak aloud:

Powers of the West,

Source of oceans, mountains, and deserts all,
Bring me the security of the ground beneath my feet.

Scatter droplets of water in the west side of your kitchen.

Face north now and speak aloud:
Powers of the North,
Bringer of winds and the polestar. Show me vision and insight.
Sprinkle water in the northern area of the room.

End this ritual by sprinkling water and salt all around your home, especially around windows, sills, doorways and thresholds where energy passes in and out as visitors and delivery people come and go. In this way, you are cleansing and managing the energy of your space. After a distressing occurrence, you can repeat this ritual and then leave a bowl of salt out for 24 hours so it can rid your sacred space of negative “vibes.”

Intention Magic: Consecration Candle Spell

Write your intention on paper and then speak aloud:

Thus I consecrate this candle in the name of [your favorite deity]. So this flame will burn brightly and light my way with the element of fire.

Place the anointed candle in the candleholder, light it, and say:

Blessed candle, light of the Goddess,

I burn this light of [deity’s name].

Hear my prayer, O, [name the deity], hear my need. Grant my wish and give me hope.

Do so with all your grace,

And magical speed.

Now read your intention as you wrote it on the paper. Roll the paper into a scroll and, using a few drops of the warm wax from your intention candle, seal your sacred statement. Place the paper on your altar or in a special place where it can be safe until your intention is realized.

Power Up: Ritual Tools then Need Charging

You will need a symbol of each of the four elements—air, earth, fire, and water—such as: a candle for fire, incense for air, a cup or water, a bowl of salt.

One was to design your own ritual is to work with the four elements. Choose a symbol from the information here. Also let your instinct guide you to choose as you wish or what you are inspired by.

Take the new ritual tool and pass it through the scented smoke of the incense and say:

Now inspired with the breath of air.

Then pass the tool swiftly through the flame of the candle and say:

Burnished by fire.

Sprinkle the tool with water and say:

Purified by water.

Dip the tool into the bowl of salt and say:

Empowered by the earth.

Hold the tool before you with both hands and imagine an enveloping, warm white light purifying the tool. Now say:

Steeped in spirit and bright with light.

Place the cleansed tool upon your altar and say:

By craft made and by craft charged and changed, this tool [fill in the actual name: boline, Book of Shadows, etc.] I will use for the purpose of good in this world and in the realm of the gods and goddesses. I hereby consecrate this tool ______.

Other tools you will use in ritual are more intangible. These include your breath, your intuition, your psychic powers, and your ability to focus your mental powers and spiritual intentions. Because they are intangible, only your intention can purify them. From time to time, you will use colors, herbs, oils, crystals, and numbers. Many of these ritual correspondences and associations have been passed down through the centuries, whereas many of them were invented by modern authors. Information on them can be found in the appendices.

Crystals can also be charged. However, tools that come from nature and are not “manmade,” but are of divine design, such as flowers, feathers, and herbs, already contain an intrinsic magic of their own and can be used as you find them.

Your tools will collect and hold the magic that lives inside you. They will become instilled with your energy and stored at your altar or in your sacred space. They will become your power source and will magnify the strength of your ritual work. Your altar should be a place of peace and meditation where your spirit can soar. Adorned with your treasured objects and the tools of your practice, it is a place of focus where you can enrich your life through ritual. You can create a wellspring of spirit so you can live an enchanted life every single day.

You can also perform rituals and make magic without any tools or implements at all. Your intention alone is extremely powerful. This simple approach could be called “zen magic.” When you perform ritual in this way, you are one step closer to the methods by which early men and women created ceremonies.

Earth, Air, Fire, Water - Ritual Tool Sanctification

You should design a personal consecration ritual for your magical tools. Use the following ritual as a simple “temple template” to build on. In essence, in this ritual you are dedicating yourself and your tools for the betterment of all and setting a foundational intention for your good works. Every time you acquire a new tool or treasure, perform this rite. As you grow in experience, you can embellish the ritual. Refer to your own Book of Shadows. Is there a certain phase of the moon that brings you more clarity? Should you use corresponding colors, crystals, essential oils, incenses, and herbs for your own astrological sun and moon sign? Is there a specific deity with whom you feel an affinity? Use these correspondences to begin designing the rituals of your dreams. The more associations you learn and use, the more effective your power will grow. Keep good notes of your ritual work in your Book of Shadows, and soon you will become a “maestro of magic.”

Inner Serenity Spell

For inner peace, take a walk in the woods, a stroll on the beach, or just relax in your backyard. Bring a stick, seven leaves from an ash or oak tree, several stones, and matches. With the stick, draw a circle on the ground and mark four directions: north, east, south and west.

Place the stones at the center of the circle. Concentrate upon your connection to the earth and how to honor that in your life. Say:

Good luck rises for me in the East;

My music rises in the South;

My wishes rise in the West;

From the North, my dreams will come true.

Magical Meanings of Essential Oils

• Astral Projection: jasmine, benzoin, cinnamon, sandalwood
• Courage: geranium, black pepper, frankincense
• Dispelling negative energy and spirits: basil, clove, copal, frankincense, juniper, myrrh, pine, peppermint, rosemary, Solomon’s seal yarrow, vervain
• Divination: camphor, orange, clove Enchantment: ginger, tangerine, amber, apple
• Healing: bay, cedar wood, cinnamon, coriander, eucalyptus, juniper, lime, rose, sandalwood, spearmint
• Joy: lavender, neroli, bergamot, vanilla
• Love: apricot, basil, chamomile, clove, copal, coriander, rose, geranium, jasmine, lemon, lime, neroli, rosemary, ylang-ylang
• Luck: orange, nutmeg, rose, vervain Peace: lavender, chamomile
• Prosperity: basil, clove, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange, oak, moss, patchouli, peppermint, pine, aloe
• Protection: bay, anise, black pepper, cedar, clove, cypress, copal, eucalyptus, frankincense, rose geranium, lime, myrrh, lavender, juniper, sandalwood, vetiver
• Sexuality: Cardamom, lemongrass, amber, rose, clove, olive, patchouli

How To Charge A Candle

“Charging” a candle means instilling it with magical intent. A candle that has been charged fills your personal space with the intention of all four elements into the celestial sphere. Ritual candles are chosen for their color correspondences and carved, “dressed” or anointed with special oils chosen for their own special energy. Herein is a quick guide to candle color magic:

• Black: banishing, absorbing, expelling the negative, healing serious illness
• Brown: home, animal wisdom, grounding, physical healing
• Dark blue: change, flexibility, the unconscious, psychic powers, emotional healing
• Gold: solar magic, money, attraction, the astral plane Gray: neutrality, impasses, cancellation
• Green: money, prosperity, growth, luck, jobs, gardening, youth, beauty, fertility
• Light blue: patience, happiness, triumph over depression, calm, deep understanding, compassion
• Orange: the law of attraction, success with legal issues, mutability, stimulation, support, encouragement, joy
• Pink: love, friendship, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, affection
• Purple: female power, stress relief, ambition, healing past wounds, goddesshood, business success
• Red: strength, protection, sexuality, vitality, passion, courage, heart, intense feelings of love, good health, power
• White: purification, peace, protection from the negative, truth, binding, sincerity, serenity, chastity, gladness, spirit
• Yellow: mental power and vision, intelligence, clear thinking, study, self-assurance, prosperity, divination, psychism, abundance, wisdom, power of persuasion, charisma, sound sleep

Once you clarify your intention, cleanse your candles by passing them through the purifying smoke of sage or incense. Further charge your candle by carving a symbol into the wax. You can warm the tip of your ritual knife using a lit match and carve your full intention into the candle wax. As you engrave the appropriate magical words onto the candle, you are charging it with energy and the hope and purpose of your spell. Some highly successful examples of this I have used and witnessed in circle gatherings are: “Healing for my friend who is in the hospital; she will recover for renewed and increased health.” “I get the raise I am asking for, and more!” “New true love enters my life in the coming season, blessed be.”

Next, you should “dress” your candle with a specific oil. Every essential oil is imbued with a power that comes from plants and flowers of which it is made. You can also use oils to anoint yourself at the crown of the head or at the third eye to increase mental clarity. By using the inherent powers of essential oils, you are increasing and doubling the energies by anointing both your tool— in this case, the candle—and yourself.

Essential oils are highly concentrated extracts of flowers, herbs, root, or resin extract, sometimes dilated in neutral base oil. Try to ensure you are using natural oils instead of 
manufactured, chemical-filled perfume oil; the synthetics lack any real energy. Also, approach oils with caution, and don’t get them in your eyes. Clean cotton gloves are a good idea to keep in your witch’s kitchen for handling sensitive materials. You can avoid any mess and protect your magical tools by using oil droppers. Find a trusted herbalist or the wise sage at your local metaphysical shop; usually their years of experience offer much in the way of useful knowledge you can use to your advantage. I have included as much as I can in this at- a-glance guide to oils.

Moonlight and Candles - Earth, Air, Fire Water

The popularity of candles has reached an all-time high. Candles are used by folks from all walks of life, for relaxation, meditation, aromatherapy and, most importantly, to achieve that “peaceful homey” feeling of being in your own sanctuary. This simple yet profound tool can make powerful magic. Take a moment and notice how candlelight transforms a dark room and fills the atmosphere with the energy of magical light. Suddenly the potential for transformation is evident. I don’t know about you, but I burn candles 365 days a year! They bring a sense of calm to me, imbuing my personal space with the positive.

Every candle contains all four of the four elements:

• Air – Oxygen feeds and fans the candle flame
• Earth – Solid wax forms the body of the candle
• Water – Melting wax represents the fluid elemental state 
• Fire – the flame sparks and blazes

Ghostbusting Potion (Waning Moon Optimal)

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   To rid a house of haunting intrusion, brew a peppermint and clove infusion. Drizzle the potion throughout the space, and out, out, the ghost will race. Burning frankincense and myrrh incense sends negative spirits flying away as well.

Midnight Moon Purification Ritual

Set up your altar outdoors, weather permitting. The altar should be facing north, the direction associated with the energy of manifestation. North is also the direction of the midnight hour, also known as “The Witching Hour.” Find a pure white square of fabric to drape over your altar for clean and clear new beginnings. Take two green candles and place them in green glass holders, and position them in the two farthest corners. Place your censer in between and burn sandalwood, camphor or frankincense for purification. Adorn your altar with objects that connote well-being to you. Perhaps an amethyst candleholder with purple candles, a bowl of bright red apples from your backyard, a dwarf lemon tree bursting with the restorative power of Vitamin C, a cellar of curative salts from the sea. These symbolic items and any others your select will imbue your altar with the magic that lives inside of you and your intention toward good health. It is imperative that it be pleasing to your eye and fills you with gladness when you gaze upon the altar. After you have been performing Midnight Hour rituals for a while, a positive healing energy field will radiate from your altar. Blessed be!

North, South, East and West: The Four Directions and Four Elements in Ritual

Each of your days begins with the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Helios, the great star that enables all life on our manifest planet, rules all your days as the moon rules each night. The directions all have a specific set of energies you can utilize in your altar and your magical workings:

NORTH - New beginnings, renewal, manifesting
EAST - Initiation, awakening and enlightenment
SOUTH - Emotions and feelings
WEST - Transformation, releasing, the energy of the cloud of darkness

Psychic Tuning Fork Meditation - Messages from the Heavens

The great psychic and healer Edgar Cayce used this otherworldly stone azurite for achieving remarkable meditative states, during which he had astoundingly accurate visions and prophetic dreams. Indeed, azurite  helps achieve a high state of mental clarity and powers of concentration. If you can’t find the answer to a problem in the here and now, trylooking for solutions on the astral plane. Write the problem down on paper and place it under a small azurite overnight on a windowsill so it collects moonlight. 

At 11:11 a.m., lie comfortably in a quiet and darkened room with the azurite stone placed over your third eye on your forehead. Clear your mind of everything for eleven minutes and meditate. Sit up and listen for the first thing that comes into your mind—it should be the answer, or a message regarding the issue at hand. Write down the words you receive. For the rest of the day you will be in a state of grace and higher mind, during which you will hear information and answers to help guide you in many aspects of your life. If you, like me, enjoy this meditation, you may want to do it every day at 11:11 a.m. and every night at 11:11 p.m. I strongly suggest that you keep a journal of these “azurite answers.” You may receive information that you won’t understand until many years have passed, making the journal an invaluable resource and key to your very special life. 

Witchy Wellness Healing Altar (Waxing Moon is Optimal)

Your altar is your sacred work space, a place imbued with your personal pagan power. I recommend starting with a flat surface, at least two feet across each way for the four directions of the compass. Perhaps you have a favorite antique table, at once simple and ornate. I have set up my altar to face north, long believed to be the origin of primordial energy. North is the direction of midnight, and an altar oriented in this fashion promises potent magic. 

Find a pure white square of fabric to drape over your table, just touching the floor. Take two candles in matching holders and place them on the two farthest corners. Place your incense burner exactly in the middle. If you don’t have favorite incense yet, start with the ancient essence of frankincense. Select objects that appeal to you symbolically to place on your altar. I have a candlestick of purest amethyst crystal, my birthstone. When I gaze on the candle flame refracted through the beautiful purple gemstone, I feel the fire within me. This inculcates your altar with the magic that lives inside you, that lives inside all of us, and magnifies the ceremonial strength of your workspace. You should decorate your altar until it is utterly and completely pleasing to your eye. After you’ve been working spells for a bit, an energy field will radiate from your altar. 

Fireplace altars today hearken back to this earliest custom. Home and hearth have primal appeal to the comfort of both body and soul. If you have a fireplace, it can become the very heart of your home. The fireplace is also one of the safest places of the ritual work of fire keeping. Sanctify your fireplace with a sprinkling of salt, and then set it up as an altar to the four seasons. Like the Vestal Virgins of old, you can keep a fire burning in a votive glass holder in the back of your fireplace and have an eternal flame. The fireplace can be your simplest altar and a reflection of the work of nature. If you don’t have a real fire in your fireplace, you can place in it beautiful sacred objects—pretty rocks, feathers, seashells, glistening crystals, beautiful leaves, and anything representing the holiest aspects of the world around you. Let nature be your guide. 

New Job, New Moon

Another  good  spell  purpose  for  the  new  moon  is  getting  a  new  job. If you’re seeking new employment, try this ritual out. Get your supplies out:

• 2 green candles

• 2 white candles

• 2 gold candles

• 2 pieces of green jade or another green stone 

• Cinnamon oil

Line up the candles, alternating the colors. Anoint each one with cinnamon oil, and rub a little oil on the stones too. Start at one end and light each candle. With each one, repeat these words:

A new career is what I desire,

I cast this spell to get a hire.

By the light of this new moon,

I need a new job soon.

After  all  the  candles  are  lit,  take  each  stone  and  gently  pass  it  through the flames (careful of your fingers). Then hold the stones in your hands and visualize the type of job you want to get. After the spell, pocket the stones and carry them with you. You should have a new job by the next new moon.

Clearing Energetic Clutter (Waning Moon is Optimal)

In  order  to  do  any  healing  work,  you  must  clear  the  clutter  that  can create blocks. Banish the old, bad energy from your house by following  this  spell.  Make  a  tea  from  herb  lavender  or vervain.  Once it cools, dip your finger in the tea and sprinkle it throughout your home while reciting:

Clean and clear, nothing negative near

Only healing and positive energies here.

So mote it be.

Repeat  three  times,  and  if  you  feel  the  need  to  clear  out  any  remaining cloud of psychic clutter, add diluted lavender tea water to your  cleanser  when  you  wash  floors  or  surfaces.  The scent  of calm and clarity will lift the spirits of all who enter your space. The purpose  of  incense  is to  release  energy  into  the  ritual  space,  not  to create billows of smoke that can cause respiratory problems in the circle. If you or someone else finds incense smoke irritating or worrisome,  consider  using  another  symbol  of  air  instead,  such  as  potpourri, fresh flowers, feathers or a fan.

There exist an abundance of incense burners nowadays, so use your discretion  and  choose  one  that  pleases  you—perhaps  a  smoking  dragon or a goddess to hold the fiery embers of your incense would add to the energy of your altar.

Incenses  themselves  contain  inherent  energies  that  you  can  use  to further  your  intention  and  promote  your  purpose.  I  depend  on Wylundt’s  Book  of  Incense,  which  I  consider  to  be  the  ultimate  reference for excellent information about essences and properties of incense.  It  contains  an  enormous  amount  of  information  in  regard to  loose,  cone,  stick  and  cylinder  incense.  It  also  tells  you how to work with herbs, which part of a plant to use, and how to gather, dry, and store the plants. The following is one of my recipes for an incense to use to cast a circle.

Circle Incense:

• 2 parts myrrh
• 4 parts frankincense
• 2 parts benzoin
• 1 part sandalwood
• 1 part cinnamon
• 1 part rose petals
• 1 part vervain
• 1 part rosemary
• 1 part bay leaf
• 1/2 cup orange peel

This  incense  will  significantly  aid  the  formation  of  the  sphere  of  energy that is the ritual circle. A fine grind of all the ingredients is the key to good incense, so you should add a mortar and pestle to your list of tools if you intend to make a lot of incense. A blender or  food processor  is  a  more  modern  approach  that  may  save  on time and elbow grease, especially if you are making a large batch of incense for a group.

Clearing Incense:

• 1 part sandalwood
• 3 parts myrrh
• 3 parts copal
• 3 parts frankincense 

This  is  an  optimal  mixture  of  essences  to  purify  your  home  or  

sacred  working  space.  Negative  energies  are  vanquished  and  the  

path is cleared for ritual. Open windows and doors when you are 

burning  this  clearing  incense  so  the  “bad  energy”  can  be  released  

outside. It is also advisable to use this clearing incense if there have 

been any arguments or other energetic disruptions in your home. You can recreate a sanctuary with this incense.

Dream Incense:

• 2 parts rose petals
• 2 parts cedar
• 1 part camphor
• 1 part lavender
• 6 drops tuberose oil
• 6 drops jasmine oil

This mixture will bring on psychic dreams. If you set up a bedroom altar, place this incense in your censer and allow the scented smoke to  imbue  your  sleeping  space  with  its  unique  energy  before  you drift off. Prophetic dreams may come to you and, even better, you will remember them!