Color Craft

Candle magic is a mainstay of crystal magic. I burn candles every night and take them with me when I am traveling. For this exercise to work, simply apply the basic precepts of color magic: Have a clear intention of your desires outcome and choose the appropriate color candle from the following list. On the corresponding day, begin burning the candle on your altar or any special place in your home. Repeat this ritual for seven consecutive days with the same color candle.

* Sunday: the Sun rules this day; use gold or red to affect a boss, a promotion, health, fame, or success.

* Monday: the Moon rules this day; use silver or orange to affect the home, subordinates, or emotions.

* Tuesday: Mars rules; use yellow to affect aggression, sex, conflict, or confidence.

* Wednesday: Mercury rules; use green to affect communication, study, or intelligence.

* Thursday: Jupiter rules; use blue to affect medical and legal issues, money, spirit, integrity, safety, or security.

* Friday: Venus rules; use indigo to affect aesthetics and beauty, marriage, relationships, theater, art, music, or family.

* Saturday: Saturn rules; use black to affect judgment, obstacles, or property.

Inspiration Infusion: Enhance Your Mental Powers

I recommend growing a pot of hardy sage so you can always clear energy and increase your psychic potential. Another useful herb is mint, which comes from the Latin mentha, and literally means “thought.” It is called the flower of eternal refreshment. Woven into a crown, it bestows brilliance, artistic inspiration and prophetic ability. Burned, it is especially potent.

Here is a wonderfully simple tool for awakening the mind and attuning to the high powers. Take dried mint stalks and dried sage in equal parts and roll together into a wand. Bind with multi- colored string, and before any ritual, tarot reading, or spellcrafting, “smudge” your house with the wand by lighting the leafy end and passing the smoke around. This will purify your space.

In a Pinch Prosperity Spell

Cinnamon, which you probably have a plentitude of in your kitchen cabinet, is a major source of prosperity and can even bring it about in a hurry. Thursdays are named for Jupiter, or Jove, originally Thor of Norse mythology, who represents joviality, expansion, and all things abundant. Here is a Jupiterian Thursday spell that will bring excellent opportunities your way.

Gather both cinnamon sticks and the powdered kind and place on your altar. On a Thursday, light incense, preferably cinnamon, and walk through your house, wafting the delightfully sweet smoke in every room. Light two altar candles, one brown and one green. Gather flowers, preferably yellow ones, such as daisies and adorn your altar with them. Stand in front of your natural altar and consider the wonderful, full life you are going to enjoy. Pour the cinnamon spice and sticks into a bowl and pray aloud:

This humble spice I offer to the gods who provide all.
I am grateful for all I receive, no matter how small.
Now, I find I am in need,Blessings shall come now with great speed.
As above, so below,The wisdom of the world shall freely flow.
To perfect possibility, I surrender.
And so it is. Blessed be to all.

Prosperity Altar: Using the Laws of Attraction

The full moon is the time for fomenting your intentions and seeing them to fruition. You can increase your prosperity by remembering one of the most basic principles of prosperity: by giving, so shall you receive. To create a prosperity altar, consecrate the area with sea salt. Cover a low table with green and gold altar cloths or scarves and place matching candles on it. Each day, “recharge” your altar with an altar gift such as flowers, jade or other green crystals, golden flowers, scented amber resin, and coin-shaped pebbles.

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.”

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

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!

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. 

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!

Dispelling Blocks: Full Moon Incantation

Is  something  getting  in  your  way?  Do  you  feel  stalled  out  and  overcome    with    procrastination?    To    overcome    any    blocks    obstructing  your  creativity  and  productivity,  you  can  dispel  the  negative  energy  by  going  for  a  walk  in  the  nearest  park.  Find  a round, flat rock, six to ten inches wide. This will become an altar supplied  directly  to  you  by  Mother  Nature,  and  it  will  have  the  purest  energy.  Begin  by  charging  this  stone  on  the  full  moon  at   your  home  altar.  Light  a  white  candle  for  purification,  and  then  place your hand on the stone and chant three times:

Bad energy, take flight!

Goddess of Night, shine bright.

Moon of tonight, you give us delight.

Fill this stone with your light,

Imbue it with all your magic and might,

Surround it with your protective sight.

So mote it be.

Ideally,  you’ll  want  to  perform  this  spell  three  times  on  three  consecutive full moons before you begin drawing upon its energy. Like your altar, your stone will be a reservoir you can turn to any time you feel  stuck  or  uninspired.  This  rock  will  emanate  with  a  quiet power you can draw from whenever you need.

Spring Full Moon: Invocation of the Flower Moon

This  dazzling  spring  Flower  Moon  is  an  optimal  opportunity  to  strive for the new, to initiate a phase of transformation that will last long after the Full Moon has waxed into darkness. This invocation honors the season, planting seeds of positive change in your life to bloom for years to come. Start by gathering red and green apples, candles of the same colors, and seed corn from a gardening store, along with three stalks of lavender and three long strands of night-blooming jasmine. Leave these offerings on your altar all day. 

When the Full Moon of May reaches the highest point in the night sky, light one red and one green candle on your kitchen altar. Wind the jasmine  and  lavender  into  a  crown  for  the  top  of  your  head,  breathing in the lovely scent the flowers produce. Holding an apple in each  hand,  speak  this  spell  while  circling  the  altar  clockwise three times.

Moon of Flowers; light the way to change tonight,

Through the power of Earth and Air, Water and Fire.

As I bite this fruit of knowledge, I am thus inspired.

All possibilities are before me. And so it is.

Eat  from  both  apples  until  you  are  fully  satisfied,  and  then  bury  twelve  corn  seeds  and  the  cores  in  the  rightmost  corner  of  your  garden.  With  the  spring  rains  and  summer  sun,  your  intentions will flower into being. By the fall full moon, you will harvest the bounty of change from this spell, with great gratitude.

Stone Cold Magic: Your Crystal Conjuring Shrine

By building a stone shrine, altar, or power center in your home, you can create  a  place  for  daily  conjuring,  rituals,  and  thinking.  This will set the stage for you to focus your ideas and make them grow. Having a shrine in your home allows you to rid yourself of personal  obstacles  and  invite  friendly  spirits.  Your  shrine  will  spark  your  inner  flame  and  bring  daily  renewal.  The  more  use  an  altar  gets,  the more energy it builds, making your spells even more effective.

Create  your  shrine  on  a  low  table  covered  in  a  white  scarf.  Set  rainbow  candles  in  an  arc  and  then  add  black  and  white  candles.  Place   a   heatproof   bowl   containing   amber   incense   (good   for   creativity  and  healing),  and  place  it  in  the  center  of  the  rainbow,  surrounded  by  quartz.  You  should  also  keep  a  stick  of  sage  or  a  seashell on your altar for cleansing the space every day.

Prosperity  stones  should  be  placed  to  the  far  left  on  the  altar,  in  the money corner. Romance crystals should sit to the far right on the altar. The  rest  of  your  altar  should  consist  of meaningful,  personal  symbols.  They  should  reflect  your  spiritual  aspirations.  I  keep   fresh wildflowers in a vase, a statue of a goddess, abalone shells, a  magnetite obelisk, and a rock-crystal ball on my altar. An obelisk  or pyramid  on  your  altar  can  be  used  for  writing  out  desires  and wishes.  You  can  use  just  about  anything—photos  of  loved  ones,  religious images, and so forth.

With your altar, you can create a bridge between your outer and inner worlds. It can even be a place where you commune with the deepest and most hidden parts of yourself. An altar is where you can honor the rhythms of the season and the rhythms of your own life. An altar is a touchstone, a place to see the sacred and incorporate it  into  your  life  each  and  every  day.  It  can  be  your  special  corner  of  the  world  where  you  can  rest  and  connect  with  your  spiritual center. Creating and augmenting your altar every day is one of the most soul-nourishing acts you can do.

Following  is  a  comprehensive  overview  of  different  crystals  and  

what their presence on your altar will mean:

Altar    Crystal:    amazonite,    aventurine,    carnelian,    chrysolite,    

chrysoprase, citrine, green tourmaline, malachite, yellow fluorite

What They Mean: Creativity

Altar Crystal: amethyst, azurite, celestite, lapis lazuli, moonstone, 

selenite, smoky quartz, sodalite, star sapphire, yellow calcite

What They Mean: Intuition

Altar  Crystal:  amethyst,  magnetite,  rhodochrosite,  rose  quartz,  

twinned rock crystals

What They Mean: Love

Altar   Crystal:   bloodstone,   carnelian,   citrine,   dendritic   agate,   

diamond, garnet, hawk’s-eye, moss agate, peridot, ruby, tiger’s-eye, 

topaz, yellow sapphire

What They Mean: Prosperity

Altar Crystal: amber, apache tear, chalcedony, citrine, green calcite, 

jade, jet, smoky quartz

What They Mean: Protection

Altar  Crystal:  azurite,  chalcedony,  chrysocolla,  green  tourmaline,  

hematite, rutilated quartz, tiger’s-eye

What They Mean: Self-Assurance

Altar     Crystal:     amber,     aventurine,     blue     jade,     dioptase,     

Herkimer  diamond,  jasper,  kunzite,  moonstone,  onyx,  peridot,  

quartz, rhodonite

What They Mean: Serenity

Altar Crystal: carnelian, obsidian, quartz, selenite, sodalite, topaz

What They Mean: Success

Altar  Crystal:  agate,  aventurine,  bloodstone,  calcite,  chalcedony,  

citrine, dioptase, emerald, garnet, orange calcite, ruby, topaz

What They Mean: Vigor

Altar  Crystal:  emerald,  fluorite,  Herkimer  diamond,  moldavite,  

serpentine, yellow calcite

What They Mean: Wisdom

Ritual Herbs: Using Mother Nature's Magic

Refer to this list whenever you are setting up your altar and setting your intention for ritual work.

• Benzoin can be used for purification, prosperity, work success, mental acuity, and memory.
• Camphor can be used for healing, divining the future, curbing excess, especially romantic obsessions, and a surfeit of sexuality.
• Cinnamon refreshes and directs spirituality. It is also handy for healing, money, love, lust, personal power, and success with work and creative projects.
• Clove is good for bringing money to you, for protection, for your love life and for helping evade and deter negative energies.
• Copal is good for love and purification.
• Frankincense is another spiritual essence that purifies and protects.
• Lavender is a plant for happiness, peace, true love, long life and chastity. It is an excellent purifier that helps with sleep. 
• Myrrh has been considered since ancient times to be deeply sacred. It aids personal spirituality, heals and protects, and can help ward off negative spirits and energies.
• Nutmeg is a lucky herb that promotes good health and prosperity and encourages fidelity.
• Patchouli stimulates and grounds while engendering both sensuality and encourages fidelity.
• Peppermint is an herb of purification, healing, and love. It supports relaxation and sleep as it helps to increase psychic powers.
• Rosemary is good for purification, protection, healing, relaxation and intelligence. It attracts love and sensuality, helps with memory, and can keep you youthful.
• Sage brings wisdom, purification, protection, health and a long life. It can help make your wishes come true.
• Sandalwood is a mystical, healing, protecting essence that helps attract the objects of your hopes and desires and disperses negative energies and spirits.
• Star anise is a lucky herb that aids divination and psychism.
• Tonka bean brings courage and draws love and money.
• Vanilla brings love and enriches your mental capacity.
• Wood aloe is good for dressing or anointing talismans and amulets you want to use for protection.

amulets you want to use for protection.

Lucky 13 Waxing Moon Spell

Your altar is the heart center of your home, your sanctuary. Yet the world is constantly coming in and bringing mundane energy over your threshold—problems at the workplace, financial woes, bad news from your neighborhood or the world at large. All this negativity wants to get in the way and stay. While you can’t do anything about the stock market crash in China or a coworker’s divorce, do not allow this bad energy to cling to you. Instead, you can do something about it with a homekeeping spell. The best times to release any and all bad luck is on a Friday the 13th, or on any waxing moon. As you know, Friday the 13th is considered a lucky day on the witch's calendar.

Gather materials: Get a big black candle and a black crystal, a piece of white paper, a black pen with black ink and a cancellation stamp (available at any stationary store). Go into your backyard or or a nearby park or woodlands area and find a flat rock that has a slightly concave surface.

Using the pen, write down on the white paper that which you want to rid yourself or your home of; this is your release request. Place the candle and the crystal on the rock, and light the candle near an open window. As the negativity is released outside while the candle burns, intone:

Waxing moon, most wise Cybele,
From me this burden please dispel.
Upon this night so clear and bright,
I release ______ to the moon tonight. 

Go outside and place the rock altar on the ground and visualize a clear and peaceful home filled with only the positive as the candle burns for thirteen minutes. Stamp the paper with the cancel stamp. Snuff the candle, fold the paper away from your body, and place it under the rock. Speak your thanks to the moon for assisting you. If you have a truly serious issue at hand, repeat the process for thirteen nights and the all will be vanquished.

Energy Management: House Blessings (All Moon Phases)

This magic tool was born centuries ago from the practical magic of sweeping the ritual area clean before casting a spell. With focus and intention, you can dispel negative influences and bad spirits from the area and prepare a place for ritual work. In bygone days, pagan marriages and Beltane trysts took place with a leap over the broom, an old tradition of hand-fasting, the classic witch wedding. Over the centuries, this rich history combined to capture the imagination as the archetypal symbol of witches.

Your broom is an essential tool for energy management. Obtain a handmade brook from a craft fair or your favorite metaphysical five and dime. This should not be a machine-made plastic one from the supermarket, although I did get a long cinnamon-infused rush broom from Trader Joe's that I use in my witch's kitchen. A broom made of wood and woven of natural straw will be imbued with the inherent energies of those natural materials.

This is very important - do not use your ritual broom from housekeeping. Like me, you may view every inch of your home as sacred space, but you will need to keep your regular housekeeping implements from those you use for magical workings!

In general, it is not advisable to use your ritual knife for deboning a chicken, for example, as this risks a confusing blending of the mundane and magical energies. If you treat your ritual tools with the utmost respect, they will serve you very well. Over time, they will be inculcated with magic through exclusive use in your ritual workings. The Wiccan tradition holds brooms in high regard, and some witches have an impressive collection of brooms, each one named to distinguish their roles as "familiars," or kindred spirits. Kitchen witches often have the most extensive bevy of brooms of anyone.

Under A Waxing Moon

When the first narrow crescent of a waxing moon appears in the twilight sky, place a green candle next to a white lily or freesia. White flowers have the most intense aromas. Anoint the candle with tuberose or rose oil. Take a handful of seeds, such as sunflower, walnuts, or pistachios, still in their shells, and place them in front of the candle.

Close your eyes and recite out loud:

Under this darkling moon,
In Eden fair, I walk through flowers
In the garden of my desires, 
I light the flame of my mind, 
I plant the seeds of things to come.

New Moon Flower Power

This flower-infused potpourri is wonderful for clearing the way for the new in your life and planting "seeds" for new beginnings. You can also create a wreath of garlic bulbs for self-protection and insurance that your newly-laid plans don't go awry.

Flower Ingredients:

• Rose
• Snapdragon
• Marigold
• Carnation

Place the flowers in a bowl and sprinkle them with a few drops of geranium, clove, and cinnamon oil. Place the mixture on the south point of your altar for the duration of a full lunar cycle, from new moon to new moon. 

All We Need is Love Magic

Love is what makes the world go 'round. right?

Any metaphysician will tell you that the most common request for help involve matters if the heart. Witchcraft is based on the knowledge that our destinies lie in our own hands, even where love is concerned. So why suffer the slings and arrows of love gone wrong when you can do something about it? Why spend a Saturday evening alone when you already know the object of your desire? And why doubt your own power to attract love when a little herbal chemistry can make you virtually irresistible. Magic not only influences desired outcomes, but empowers one’s self and foster personal growth. What better way to begin this process than with spells for love: spells that create the potential for love, draw the attention and devotion of a lover, strengthen the union between an existing couple, invoke sexual magic, heal a broken heart, and perhaps most importantly, fill your own heart with love and compassion for yourself. Inside this book are secret recipes for aphrodisiacs, ritual celebrations for the high holidays of love, and insight into the mysterious realm of the moon and the stars.

 Your Shrine to Love

An altar is a place of power- your personal power- where you can make magic. It should be an expression of your deepest self, filled with artifacts that hold personal resonance. Allow your altar to be a work-in-progress that changes with the seasons and reflects your inner cycles.

To create your altar, find a small table and drape it in richly colored, luxurious fabrics- perhaps red satin or a burgundy velvet scarf. Take one red and one pink candle, and arrange them around a sweet-smelling incense such as amber, rose, or jasmine. Decorate your altar with tokens that represent love to you: a heart-shaped chunk of ruby glass, potpourri made with ROSE and AMETHYST, a photo of your lover. Fridays are the time for spelling love, right before dawn. Before you light your candles, anoint them with a love oil you select from the following pages. 

Scent your wrists, your throat, and your left breast over your heart with the same oil. Jasmine and rose have very powerful love vibrations to attract and charm a lover. If you desire sexual results, look into the flame of the red candle; if your desire is affection or flirtation, look at the pink candle instead. This simple spell, said aloud, will create loving magic:

Venus, cast your light on me,

A goddess for today I’ll be.

A lover, strong and brave and true,

I seek as a reflection of you.

Creating a Crystal Shrine

A stone shrine is your power center in your home.

You can create a place for daily conjuring, rituals, and thinking. This will set the stage for you to focus your ideas and make them grow. Having a shrine in your home allows you to rid yourself of personal obstacles and invite friendly spirits. Your shrine will spark your inner flame and bring daily renewal. The more use an altar gets, the more energy it builds, making your spells even more effective.

Create your shrine on a low table covered in a white scarf. Set rainbow candles in an arc and then add black and white candles. Place a heatproof bowl containing amber incense (good for creativity and healing), and place it in the center of the rainbow, surrounded by quartz. You should also keep a stick of sage or a seashell on your altar for cleansing the space every day.

Prosperity stones should be to the far left on the altar, in the money corner. Romance crystals should sit to the far right on the altar.

The rest of your altar should consist of meaningful, personal symbols. They should reflect your spiritual aspirations. I keep fresh wildflowers in a vase, a statue of a goddess, abalone shells, a magnetite obelisk, and a rock-crystal ball on my altar. An obelisk or pyramid on your altar can be used for writing out desires and wishes. You can use just about anything—photos of loved ones, religious images, and so forth.

With your altar, you can create a bridge between your outer and inner worlds. It can even be a place where you commune with the deepest and most hidden parts of yourself. An altar is where you can honor the rhythms of the season and the rhythms of your own life. An altar is a touchstone, a place to see the sacred and incorporate it into your life each and every day. It can be your special corner of the world where you can rest and connect with your spiritual center. Creating and augmenting your altar every day is one of the most soul-nourishing acts you can do.

Following it a table of different crystals and what their presence on your altar will mean:

Altar Crystal: amazonite, aventurine, carnelian, chrysolite, chrysoprase, citrine, green tourmaline, malachite, yellow fluorite

What They Mean: Creativity

Altar Crystal: amethyst, azurite, celestite, lapis lazuli, moonstone, selenite, smoky quartz, sodalite, star sapphire, yellow calcite

What They Mean: Intuition

Altar Crystal: amethyst, magnetite, rhodochrosite, rose quartz, twinned rock crystals

What They Mean: Love

Altar Crystal: bloodstone, carnelian, citrine, dendritic agate, diamond, garnet, hawk’s-eye, moss agate, peridot, ruby, tiger’s-eye, topaz, yellow sapphire

What They Mean: Prosperity

Altar Crystal: amber, apache tear, chalcedony, citrine, green calcite, jade, jet, smoky quartz

What They Mean: Protection

Altar Crystal: azurite, chalcedony, chrysocolla, green tourmaline, hematite, rutilated quartz, tiger’s-eye

What They Mean: Self-Assurance

Altar Crystal: amber, aventurine, blue jade, dioptase, Herkimer diamond, jasper, kunzite, moonstone, onyx, peridot, quartz, rhodonite

What They Mean: Serenity

Altar Crystal: carnelian, obsidian, quartz, selenite, sodalite, topaz

What They Mean: Success

Altar Crystal: agate, aventurine, bloodstone, calcite, chalcedony, citrine, dioptase, emerald, garnet, orange calcite, ruby, topaz

What They Mean: Vigor

Altar Crystal: emerald, fluorite, Herkimer diamond, moldavite, serpentine, yellow calcite

What They Mean: Wisdom