Communing with Your Coven

The path of Wicca can often feel solitary, but it doesn’t have to be. Witchcraft, which is in itself highly creative, is even more so when practiced in a supportive circle. Wednesdays are wonderful for getting together with like-minded folks. Invite four of your fellow pagans over.

Gather together

    * a censer or incense burner

    * 2 green candles

    * 2 yellow candles

    * palo santo incense

Place the ritual elements on a table that will serve as an altar. Stand in a circle near the altar, holding a censer or incense burner. Ask each of your guests to represent one of the four directions: north, east, south, and west. Give the people representing north and south green candles and east and west get yellow. Light the incense and bless each candle with the sweet-smelling smoke.

Bless the candle of the East, saying:

    Inspired by air.

Bless the candle of the West saying:

    Burnished by fire.

Bless the candle of the North, saying:

    Cleansed by water.

Bless the candle of the South, saying:

    Strengthened by earth.

Together, everyone chants:

    Blessed be.

After the ritual, sit in a circle and share your ideas and creative vision. Talk about how you can support each other in realizing your full potential.

Yule Ritual

Build a fire at five o’clock in the evening and have it burning brightly as your guests arrive. Place a big bowl of herbs, flower petals, and incense near the fire.

Create a circle around the fire and ask the eldest in the group to slowly draw a circle of sugar around the fire.

When the elder has moved back into place in the circle, each person should light his or her candles from the fire and place it in the sugar circle, creating a mandala.

Ask the youngest person to lead the group in this chant:

My life is my own I must but choose to be better,

vital breath of life I breathe

no more pain and strife!

Wise ones, bring us health and life

bring us love and luck

bring us blessed peace

on this Winter’s Day.

Into the fire, we toss the old,

into the fire, we see our future

on this, our longest night.

Harm to none and health to all!

Everyone should rattle and drum away, making merry and rousing the good spirits. The spirits of the wise elders will join you.

After the drumming, start around the circle, beginning with the eldest. Allow people to speak about what they want to release from their life, and have them toss their “letting go” paper into the fire. Then the eldest person should lead the group in a prayer for collective hopes for the coming your, and anyone who wants to add something should also speak out wishes for positive change, for themselves and for the world.

Thank the wise elders and ancestors for their wisdom and spiritual aid by throwing some chocolate into the fire. Be sure to keep some for members of the circle to share and enjoy. The Mayans held the belief that a plentitude of offerings to the ancestors would bring more blessings. They also believed that fire ceremonies helped support the planet and all the nations of the word. Gifts to the fire signal to the elders that they can return through the door and to the other world, until you call upon them for help in the future.

Midsummer Day

Essential elements for a Celtic-inspired Midsummer ritual are a wooden wheel, fallen branches and firewood, multicolored candles, multicolored ribbons, food and drink, and flowers for garlands. This ritual should be performed outside, ideally on a hill or mountaintop, at dusk. Call the local fire department to verify the fire laws in your area. You will likely need a special permit to light a bonfire, and certain areas may be restricted. Always clear the grass and brush away from your fire area, and make sure to dig a shallow pit into the ground. Circle the pit with rocks to help mark the edge of the fire pit as well as to contain the accidental spread of fire. Have a fire extinguisher, a pail of sand, and water bottles nearby in case the fire gets out of control. One person not directly involved in the ritual should be on hand to watch the fire at all times. Make sure the fire pit is far enough away from surrounding trees and other landscape features to allow for a group to dance around it.

Lay the wooden wheel down in the circle of stones, and arrange the fallen branches and firewood around the edge of it. The wheel represents the turning of the year, and the sun on its daily and yearly cycle. Tie the colored ribbons on the nearest tree. While these preparations are being made, the priestess to lead the ritual should meditate in the area where the ritual will be held, connecting to the goddess. The gathered celebrants should weave garlands of flowers while the sun slowly sets. Just before the sun vanishes completely, the priestess should direct the gathered celebrants to ready their candles, or more ideally, torches. The priest lights them, declaring:

The fire festival is begun.

Under this longest day of the sun. 

Let us go forth and make merry. 

The god and goddess are here!

All say:

Blessed be!

The priest leads the celebrants into the circle where the priestess waits, and directs them to throw their torches and candles in the bonfire. The priestess raises her arms and invokes the Goddess:

Great Earth Mother and Lady of the Forest, 

Be with us here and now!

On this night the Goddess reigns supreme. 

On this, our night of our midsummer!

All say:

Blessed be!

All should dance in the direction of the sun (clockwise) around the fire, raise their arms, and clap and shout for joy for as long as they want. When people begin to tire, it is time for the feast. The priest directs the blessing of the food:

Blessed Lady of the Forest,

And old god and animals, spirits of the wild, 

Bless this food and drink,

That it may strengthen us in your ways.

All say:

Blessed be!

Everyone should share in the refreshments and eat, drink, and make merry. Another round of dance and song is in order. When the bonfire has turned to ash, the priestess declares the ritual to be over and says:

Our revelry this day is done, dear one. 

Gods of the old and spirits of nature,

We thank you for your blessings this night. 

This rite is done.

All say:

Blessed be!

Make certain the fire has completely gone out before you leave the ritual site. Soak the ashes with water and clean up the site. Always leave a natural area cleaner than you found it. 

Rites of Passage and Marking Time

People have a psychological need to observe rites of passage, from birth to the coming of age, graduation, marriage, and death. There are numerous rites of passage that are less acknowledged by our society, such as divorce and retirement, as well as other occasions. It is important to recognize the big firsts, such as a first job, adoption or birth of a child, and first home. These are special times in your life and deserve to be acknowledged publicly and privately. You can go a long way toward fulfilling this deep psychological need for yourself and the people in your life by creating rituals involving loved ones in them. By marking the special moments of your life, you can ensure better mental and spiritual health, and you can also build closeness to your family, your friends, and your “tribe."

In my spiritual community, we create individual rites and ceremonies to observe life passages such as the first Saturn return, which occurs for every person around age twenty-eight, when the planet Saturn returns to the exact natal placement where it was when he or she was born. Astrologically, this event marks a true initiation into adulthood since we are confronted with the major issues—career, relationships, and destiny—of adulthood. Often at this point in life people move long distance, lose a job, or experience a major breakup or other personal upheaval.

We also acknowledge a woman’s passage from Maiden to Queen or Mother and to Crone. To the contemporary aging population, croning rituals are becoming important and are wonderful opportunities for you to design special rituals for the special people in your life. As people grow older, they often become more isolated, which is a great loss for everyone. Older people have so much wisdom to share, and one way to honor this wisdom is through the medium of ritual.

Society does observe some rites of passage, such as birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, marriages, and funerals, but they have become gift-giving opportunities, mostly devoid of spiritual sophistication. Still, they are usually occasions for bonding and feasting and represent the last vestige of ritual for the masses outside of religion. Confirmation, baptism, and initiations conducted by secret fraternal organizations are also examples of ritual that have continued to the day. The bris practiced by those of the Jewish faith is a wonderful name giving ritual for babies, and circumcision is still practiced although it is now largely thought of as “hygienic” and has lost its ritual aspect. Bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs are jubilant community celebrations for young Jewish men and women to mark their passage to adulthood. This wonderful tradition ensures the greater community remains involved in people’s lives in much the same way tribes of older days did.

Early peoples would begin their rites at birth with magic, purification rituals and taboos, such as what foods could or could not be consumed and what length of time a baby and new mother were to be isolated for spiritual safety. Among indigenous peoples such as Congolese tribes, a youth was initiated as “a new person” with circumcision, headdress, tattoos, and special clothing in light of maturation.

In the Dark Ages, May Day was an occasion for ritual combat with jousting, races, and all manner of courtly exercise. Springtime combat between the Queen of May and the King of May in the fields recalled older fertility rituals, where the king of the land would make love with a representative of the Goddess in the fields to ensure health and fertility of the crops for the medieval Europeans.

Dance has long been an important aspect of ritual. Movement and rhythm are vital to many of the traditional ceremonies in this book and should also be included in those you design for yourself and your community. 

Spa Feng Shui: Sauna Serenity

The Scandinavians make sure their saunas have bunches of wonderfully fragrant silver birch branches hanging nearby that they can use to gently brush their skin to stimulate circulation. This sauna practice is deeply relaxing and can be a marvelous communal experience. No wonder Denmark is the happiest place on earth!

You can emulate this by hanging herbs from your shower rod or above your bathtub. This infuses the aromatic oils into the air as soon as the steam hits the herbs. We recommend bunches of lavender for tranquility and eucalyptus to aid with colds and congestion. A muslin bag filled with dried orange rind and dressed with orange essential oil will lift depression. Rosemary can help you process sadness and grief and activates your memory. A big bag of mint leaves is a major mood booster and sends concentration levels soaring. After a few uses, these herbs can be dried by laying them on a baking sheet and setting them aside in a cool dry place for two weeks. Once dry, tie into a bundle with twine and add it to a bonfire for the high holidays. Enjoy the holy and sweet-smelling smoke as it ascends into the heavens!