Walking the Pagan Path: Stepping Stones

For centuries, in group rituals and solo spells, witches have walked specific paths in the form of symbolic shapes that hold potent spiritual meaning. All you need for this ritual is a stone that brings you special inspiration.

Maybe it is your birthstone; perhaps it is your jade talisman or calming quartz or intuition-boosting amethyst or labradorite. Put the stone in your pocket and you are ready. You may find one walking pattern to be especially enriching for you. I recommend walking the figure eight, the “eternity” symbol from the magician card in the tarot deck. Otherwise, choose from among the universal shapes below. I suggest always walking sunwise, or clockwise. It can be a distance of your choice, in your living room, a bigger shape in your own backyard or whatever feels right to you, intuitionally. For the more complicated patterns you can draw them on paper and place it where you can see it to use as a guide:

    * Oval: The shape that designates the spirit and divine being.

    * Circle: The shape of the sun and moon, designates the whole, the complete, that which never ends and     encompasses all.

    * Cross: The form of a human figure with arms outstretched from the center. The importance of this             symbol predated Christianity by millennia.

    * Hexagram: In the Jewish tradition, the beloved. It is two triangles intersecting, the meeting of heaven     and earth.

    * Five-pointed Star: This resembles the human form with arms and legs outspread—Leonardo Da             Vinci’s favorite.

Prepare for your pagan pilgrimage, your walking meditation, when the moon is in Sagittarius, Aquarius, or your natal moon sign. These prayer walks represent a journey to our own center and back again out into the world, some of the inner work we witches need to do now and again. Keep your eyes closed for the first step, then open your eyes and pray aloud:

    Guide my steps; help me to walk in wisdom.

    What I seek on this day, I shall find as I go

    With an open heart and mind.

    Today, I receive the blessings of the sun.

Terrific Talismans: Personal Totems for Success

If you are preparing a major presentation to the team at work, showing your paintings to a curator, practicing for your dance performance, or pitching your book idea to a publisher, you can wear a talisman of your own making to ensure a positive outcome. Many performers, athletes, and musicians have lucky pieces of clothing or some token that gives them the courage to put themselves forth in the best possible manner. I have a Big Sur jade pendant on a length of leather that I wear on auspicious occasions such as these. Jade is about abundance and it is so smooth to the touch that it doubles as a soothing worry stone for me. I highly recommend you carry a jade talisman as it can be a major magical tool that can bring good fortune to you for many years.

To maximize the power of your jade talisman, consider the following tried-and-tested suggestions. Keep in mind that this will work even better if you place the item on your altar to imbue it with the right energy.

    * For a speech, presentation, performance, or show, wear a red garment.

    * If you are preparing for a potentially lucrative deal, you must wear green.

    * If you are trying to empower someone to see and share your creative vision, blue is the right hue for         you.

Dreaming Devotion

This charm will help you see whether a newfound interest will become long term. If you lack clarity on this issue, your dreams can guide you. Use this talisman for clairvoyance.

Gather together

    * a small red pouch

    * 1 teaspoon each of dried lavender, dried thyme, and cloves

    * bolline

    * 1 vanilla bean pod

    * 12 inches (30cm) red string or cord

Take the small red pouch and place the lavender, thyme, and cloves into it. Using your bolline, cut the vanilla bean pod into two pieces and place them in the bag. Now cut the red string or cord in two, using your sacred knife. Close the bag by tying it with the two sections of cord and hold the pouch in both hands until your warmth and energy fully infuse the potpourri inside. Recite:

    Venus guide my dreams tonight—is he [or she] the one?

    I dream of devotion and a lifetime of love.

    Please give me your answers from the heavens above.

    So mote it be. Blessed be.

Tuck your talisman under your pillow. Upon waking, think of your dream. You will receive your answer immediately.

Mineral Medicine

Since the dawn of human kind, people have carried stones and crystals as helpers and as talismans; for protection and good luck. In so doing, they have brought themselves a greater sense of security. For peace of mind, the strongest “medicine” consists of an amethyst, a rhodochrosite, and a turquoise. While they may sound exotic, they are commonly available in metaphysical stores.

Gather together

    * a small sky-blue bag

    * an amethyst crystal

    * a rhodochrosite crystal

    * a turquoise crystal

Place the crystals in the bag. When you are ready, hold the pouch in your hand and incant:

    Stones of the earth,

    warmed by the sun,

    Clear away trouble,

    Help and healing is now begun.

I recommend leaving your pouch on your altar where it can be at the ready whenever needed.

All About Talismans

A talisman is decorative object, or objet, that also provides protection and has magical properties. A talisman can be any article or symbol that you believe has mystical qualities. As we know, many gems and crystals have special innate powers. With a talisman, the special powers can be naturally present or instilled during a ritual. People often confuse amulets with talismans, but they differ in this significant way: Amulets positively protect the wearer from harm, evil, and negativity. Talismans actively transform the wearer to have certain powers. For example, the supernatural sword Excalibur, imbued with supremacy by the Lady of the Lake, gave King Arthur magical powers.

Grimoires (spell books) offer instruction on making talismans. The reasons for using talismans are many—for love, for wealth, for luck with gambling, for the gift of a silver tongue, for a good memory, for the prevention of death. Whatever you can think of, there is probably a talisman for that exact purpose!

Jewels of Wisdom

• Agate worn as an amulet around your neck will ensure that you speak only your truth. It can also attract favors from powerful people!
• A black agate on a short chain or in a ring will ensure success in business and athletics.
• If you wear moss agate while gardening, you will have a healthy harvest.
• If you wear amazonite while gambling, you will have great luck.
• Amber will attract love into your life and increase sexual pleasure if you wear it during lovemaking.
• If a man wears an amethyst, the stone will draw a good woman to him.
• Apache tear in a pendant will protect a woman in her pregnancy.
• Frog-shaped jewelry is the ultimate traveler’s amulet; pilots, stewards, sailors, and anyone who frequently travels across water should wear aquamarine in frog-shaped jewelry for enhanced safety and protection from drowning.
• Wear bloodstone in court for victory in legal matters.
• Carnelian jewelry will keep you from being struck by lightning.
• Cat’s-eye worn as a ring will retain your youthful beauty and lift any depression.
• Ladies, coral earrings will attract men into your life. Pacific Islanders believe this “nature’s jewel” contains the very essence of life.
• A diamond with a six-sided cut will offer you great protection; set in platinum, it will ensure victory in any conflict.
• Jade carved into the shape of a butterfly will attract love into your life.
• Lapis lazuli beads strung on gold wire will offer health, growth, and protection.
• A diamond set in onyx will overcome sexual temptation and incite the loyalty of a partner.
• Opal earrings will awaken your psychic powers.
• A red pearl ring or pendant will heighten intelligence.
• A dark peridot ring will bring you more money and raise your spirits, allaying any melancholy.
• A geode as jewelry will attract love and help a woman avoid miscarriage.

Practical Virgo

 

First Half: August 22–September 5

The power talisman for first-half Virgos is labradorite, a lovely iridescent stone that originated in Labrador. Like Geminis, Virgos are ruled by Mercury, and the quicksilver, peacock-hued labradorite is good for providing the mental swiftness Virgos need to accomplish all of their goals in life. This type of feldspar can reflect every color of the spectrum and help Virgos from becoming too task oriented—too focused on one thing. No one can work harder than Virgos, so labradorite can prevent exhaustion from overwork and can also ensure that early Virgos activate a variety of talents.

Magnetite, also known as lodestone, is the optimal heart stone for first-half Virgos. Another glittery, surface-changing rock, magnetite contains a lot of iron and, thanks to its common occurrence and adaptability, is popular in jewelry. Virgos are associated with health, medicine, and nursing, and magnetite has become a good healing stone because of its magnetic qualities. If you are a Virgo, wear this stone and give it to people you love for good health and prosperity.

Second Half: September 6–September 21

Virgos in this group celebrate iolite as their precious soul gem, which is associated with their ruling planet Mercury due to its crystalline composition of two dark and two light metallic elements. Iolite is named after the Greek word ios, meaning “violet.” Formed under enormous pressure in extremely high temperatures, iolite has high vibration. The stone can help Virgos stay out of career ruts and achieve their true spiritual natures.

The heart stone for second-half Virgos is obsidian, a glinting black and extremely hard natural glass formed by volcanic activity. Virgos are always helping other people and sometimes become vulnerable because of this. Using obsidian pieces as home decorations can help them keep all of their energy from going to others and causing imbalance. Some obsidian samples have stripes; in ancient Mexico, where obsidian was plentiful, the striped variety was believed to prevent negative, or dark, magic. Virgos can be extremely self-critical, and having obsidian nearby can absorb their negativity and help turn it positive. This is an essential stone for the September-born!

Create Your Own Lucky Talisman

If you are presenting your paintings to a curator or pitching your book to a publisher, you can wear a talisman of your own making to ensure a positive outcome. Many performers, athletes, and musicians have lucky pieces of clothing or some token that gives them the courage to put themselves forth in the best possible manner. I have lucky scarves that I have woven with golden thread and scented with my personally auspicious aroma of amber.

To maximize the power of the talisman, consider the following suggestions, which I have used to great success. Keep in mind that this will work even better if you place the item on your altar to imbue it with the right energy. On a new moon night, or at least seven days before you perform or present your work, place your lucky scarf, glove, sock, or kerchief on your altar. Now, here is where a bit of candle magic comes in. Light a green, red, or blue candle, depending on your intention. Green is for abundance, red is for fame, and blue is for creative vision. Burn the candle for one hour every evening. When the big day comes, you will be ready. 

For a speech, presentation, performance, or show, wear a red scarf. If you are preparing for a potentially lucrative deal, you must wear green. If you are trying to empower someone to see and share in your creative vision, blue is the right hue for you.

Roadside Wisdom

 

Prosperity and purification go hand in hand. One of the greatest tools for purification is sage. While every metaphysical store has it in quantity, I highly recommend gathering or growing sage yourself. Aromatic sage dries quickly and can be bound into thick “smudge sticks,” which you should keep at the ready in a fireproof clay dish. To make a smudge stick, take dried sage leaves and bind them with green and gold thread wound nine times around the bundles and knotted at each loop. Leave room for a handle at the base of the wand, where you wind and knot the green and gold threads thrice more. This will honor the three Fates who hold the thread of our destiny in their hands: Clotho spins the thread of life; Lachesis chooses its length and outcome; and Atropos cuts the thread.

Use your smudge stick at any time purification is in order, especially if you’ve moved, started a new job, bought a new car, or purchased any second-hand clothing or furniture. This will help remove any energy that might be clinging from the previous owner. Light your smudge stick and, moving clockwise, circle the area or items to be purified. Speak aloud: 

Great Spirit, with this smoke, your blessed protection I invoke. Out with the bad, in with the good. Harm to none and blessings to all.

As you travel through your life, you will acquire many sacred things, items which call to you and form part of your ritual equipment. By honoring those found items, you honor also your voyage, and Nature herself. Value these sacred things; they serve as your connection to your past, and your travels. The destination is often less important than the journey itself. The journey is the adventure that enables you to grow and gain in wisdom. Creating amulets and talismans and designing your own rituals are unique ways to fully experience your journey through life.

Sacred Stone Shapes for Talismans and Amulets

Shape: Ankh-shaped stones
Use: Represent the key to life; develop creativity, wisdom, and fertility 

Shape: Clusters
Use: Bring balance and harmony into your life 

Shape: Diamond-shaped stones
Use: Attract riches; bring energy of wealth/abundance 

Shape: Egg-shaped stones
Use: Give new ideas to wearer; denote creativity 

Shape: Heart-shaped stones
Use: Promote romance, self-love; love energy 

Shape: Holes that form naturally in stones
Use: Can see visions/spirits if you look through the hole by moonlight

Shape: Human body-shaped stones
Use: Bring energy and strength to whatever body part they look like 

Shape: Obelisks
Use: Energy activators

Shape: Octahedrons
Use: Good for analysis, organization, healing; bring order to chaos

Shape: Pyramid-shaped stones
Use: Bring energy upward

Shape: Rectangular rocks and crystals
Use: Energy of God; symbolize male energy; protection; good for love/sex spells 

Shape: Round stones
Use: Universe, the Goddess; spirituality, femininity, pregnancy; used in love spells to promote attraction

Shape: Square stones
Use: Bring prosperity; plenty; represent the earth

Shape: Triangular stones
Use: Protect wearers; guardians

All About Talismans

Talismans, like amulets, are decorative and magical objects. If you’ve ever read the story of King Arthur, you’ll remember a supernatural sword, called Excalibur, which was given special powers by the Lade of the Lake. It is this sword, a talisman, which gives King Arthur magical powers.

Unlike amulets, which are passive protectors, talismans actively transform the wearer to hold certain powers. Crystals and gems already hold power, but with a talisman, special powers can be naturally occurring, or you can instill powers during a ritual. A talisman can be any object or symbol that you believe possesses mystical qualities.

Talismans are used for many different reasons. They can bring love, luck, wealth, and protect you from death or harm. For instructions on creating a talisman, consult a grimoire, or spell book. Here is a list of sacred stone shapes for amulets and pendulums when you are trying to figure out how you want to create ritual talismans and charms.

To maximize the power of the talisman that you design and make, consider the following tried and true suggestion: Keep in mind that this will work even better if you place the item on your altar to energize it. On a new moon night, light a candle that corresponds with your intention or hope. Green is for abundance, red is for power and love, blue is creative and spiritual vision. Burn the candle for one hour every evening.

I also like to create gifts of love for the special friends in my life. I like to gather seeds and herbs in my travels. If you create good luck talismans for your friends and loved ones, your good intentions will be repaid many times over. I keep a stock of tiny muslin drawstring bags on hand to make the talismans, but the talisman can be even more powerful if you sew the bag by hand and stuff the dried herbs and flowers inside. For a courage talisman, use mullein and borage; for safe travels, use comfrey; for protection, use snapdragon; for healing, use rue; for success, use woodruff; for strength, use mugwort; for beauty, use an acorn. In the appendix on page 320, there are many other options you can choose from in the Language of Flowers chart.

Keep these herbal talismans with you at all times and advise your friends to do the same. These bring good luck when you carry them in a purse, pocket, or even in a string around your neck.

Rituals for the Road: Making Your Own Talismans, Amulets, Charms

Before you travel for work, study, and pleasure, it’s good to create charms and talismans of power. You can also craft your own ritual tools from what you gather in your travels. Nature will often provide you with tools: shells, bark, and stones. In addition, you may also meet new spiritual teachers as you make your way on the pilgrimage that is life. Pay attention and you will learn much and receive many gifts.

A Medicine Wheel shamanic group run by Brooke Tarrant taught a group of drumming novices, myself included, how to make rattles and drums from recycled leather and sheepskin. In fact, all the materials we used to decorate our rattles and drums were found objects: crystals, sand, tiny shells, and sticks from the forest floor. Last, we used “feather medicine” and decorated the rattles with rawhide and found feathers, each with personal totemic meaning. With a final drumming circle and fire ceremony, we blessed the drums and rattles and each other. During the ceremony, we used both the new and old rattles and drums in some immensely powerful energy cleaning and healing. Even physical aches and pains were alleviated with these new tools. Rituals for the road should also be recorded in your Book of Shadows: what you find, who you meet, and what you create. When the spirit moves you, you should be creative. You can construct a sand mandala or take photographs on the beach to preserve your inspiration. One lovely custom from long ago: Upon your return home, create shadowboxes, which are really like little shrines of the sacred objects from the road.

Altar Herbs

Refer to this list whenever you are setting up your altar and setting your intention for ritual work. It is a concise guide to the enchanted realm of herbs, essences, plants and plant properties.

• 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 a protection herb and 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 should be used for love and purification.
• Frankincense is another spiritual essence that purifies and protects.
• Lavender is a plant for happiness, peace, true love, long life, chastity, and is an excellent purifier that aids 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 fertility. It also supports personal wealth and security.
• 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 dispenses 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.

Angelica, the Digestive of the Heavens

Angelica, said to first bloom on the Archangel Michael’s name day, is part of the carrot family and is a tall, hollow-stemmed plant with umbrella-shaped clusters of pale white flowers, tinged with green. Candying the stalks in sugar was an old-fashioned favorite; angelica was also traditionally used to cure colds and relieve coughs. Nowadays, seeds are used to make chartreuse, a digestive and uniquely tasty liqueur. This heavenly guardian flower is a protector, as one might expect for a plant associated with archangels, and it is used to reverse curses, break hexes, and fend off negative energies. An angelica root, dried and cured, is a traditional talisman that can be carried in your pocket or in an amulet to bring long life. Many a wise woman has used angelica leaves in baths and rituals to rid a household of dark spirits. If the bad energy is intense, burn the angelica leaves with frankincense to exorcise it from your space. While you are protecting yourself and your home from negativity during this angelica smudging “session, you will also experience heightened psychism. Pay close attention to your dreams after this; important messages will come through.

Tips ’n’ Tricks: Malachite Bone Soother

One healer recommends this malachite bone cure: Using tape or a soft cord, create a band with a small piece of malachite. Tape or wrap the band to the injured or bruised area and leave it overnight. The benefits should start within one day as the inflammation is greatly eased by the miraculous coppery green crystal. I have a bad ankle from a really bad sprain and a subsequent really bad break, and my malachite ankle band is invaluable when the ache-inducing rain is coming on.

Lapis Lazuli

 

As long as I can remember, this has been one of my favorite stones. The mysterious blue and extremely compelling surface is like no other, both smooth and rough at the same time. Some lapis lazuli specimens are even flecked with fool’s gold, pyrite, giving an irresistible glitter. Still others are swirled with streaks of white calcite.

Through lapis lazuli, I feel a connection with all things ancient. I associate lapis lazuli with the Egyptians, but it is now most often found in Russia and Afghanistan. The Egyptians favored this handsome rock immensely, and it was their most highly regarded talisman, considered to be most magical. Lapis lazuli is the gateway to unlocking your own intuition and, as such, is invaluable.

As with any other crystal, it must be used with thoughtfulness and caution, but do double your vigilance with this one! It is one of the major mental stones; lapis lazuli is a thought amplifier very nearly second to none. Lapis also enhances psychic power and can open the third eye by being laid very briefly on your forehead in the place of the third eye.

In this day and age, almost all of us are overextended and become so busy that we get away from our core. There is a danger with this: We can get off track and stop living our lives—our lives are living us. We can get so caught up in the business of work and home and family obligations that we are not living out our destinies. Lapis lazuli is a stone that will help you always stay in touch with your essence, with who you are supposed to be becoming. Blue is always the color of peace, spirituality, and tranquility. Lapis lazuli is a guide to be listened to in absolute stillness. In today’s world of endless distraction, I urge you to dive into the pool of blue that is lapis lazuli and restore yourself. This gem will help you regain your balance. Lapis lazuli is such a powerful healer that it has even been used to dispel hallucinations.

Lapis is a cleansing stone, which is of great aid to the lungs, the blood, the liver, the kidneys, the nervous system, and the immune system. Lapis is also a great pain reliever and can simply be applied to the spot in need of relief. This gem has been used to treat migraines for centuries. According to sage wisdom that has been passed down about this special stone, lapis lazuli must be worn above the waist to that energy is passed upward. Wear it near the throat for best effect.

Jade

I can’t help but marvel that I’m writing about jade on Chinese New Year. Jade is held in the highest regard by the Chinese and has been for thousands of years, thought to bring good luck and prosperity. Jade is a harbinger of purity and tranquility. The Chinese so adore this tone that they carry little talismanic pieces with them everywhere they go. Other cultures—the Maori of New Zealand and the Japanese—also hold jade blessed. Jade is a soft stone, perfect for carving. Both the Chinese and Japanese decorated royal personages with exquisite jade jewelry. Jade comes from Myanmar, Russia, Italy, China, and North and Central America. It is so affordable, I urge you to explore all the magical colors—yellow, orange, blue, red, purple, white, brown, and classic jade green—and powers of positivity.

Jade brings with it the power of love and protection. It is also a dream stone, promoting prophetic and deeply meaningful dreams.

• Purple jade heals the broken heart, allowing understanding and acceptance in and pain and anger out. If you are going through a breakup, purple jade will help you with the heartache.
• Green jade is the counselor stone and can help relationships that aren’t working become functional instead of dysfunctions; this shade is also a boon for the brain. Green jade helps with getting along.
• Red jade promotes the proper release of anger and also generates sexual passion. Serve your lover a passion potion in a cup of carved red jade while wearing only red jade. Sparks will fly!
• Blue jade is a rock for patience and composure and for conveying a sense of control. Wear blue jade pendants for serenity.
• Yellow jade is for energy, simple joy, and maintaining a sense of being a part of a greater whole. A yellow jade bracelet or ring will help you feel that all is well in your world.

Jadeite and nephrite are two varieties of jade, with the far more translucent and rarer jadeite being the more popular. Their healing properties are very much the same, however, and the different colors manifest different curatives. All jade brings positive energy. In 2001, a 2,000 ton boulder of jade was discovered in Ptiakant in Myanmar—now that’s a whole lot of love!

Tips ’n’ Tricks: Space Invaders

Do you have nosy neighbors or a nightmare roommate? Combat other people’s cluelessness with crystals! If you have problems with the people next door, place jet at your door or bury it by the fence. If you have an intrusive housemate or guest, place jet on the mantle or bookshelves and wear jet jewelry to take back your personal space straightaway.

Chrysoberyl

This under-known gem has two siblings, alexandrite and cat’s-eye, that have stolen all the attention away from the lovely but less showy green, yellow, and brown transparent type of chrysoberyl. The stone occurs in Canada, Norway, Australia, Ghana, Burma, the Ural Mountains in Russia, and the other gem havens of Sri Lanka and Brazil. It appears in rare instances as a cyclic crystal that looks to be hexagonal but is a triplet of three twins called a trilling.

Cousin cat’s-eye, also called cymophane, occurs in colorations ranging from honey gold to bright green. It usually comes in a domed cabochon shape. If intense light is shone in a cat’s-eye, one side will look milky and the other will remain golden; this is known as the milk-and-honey effect. The eye effect is the result of infinitesimal needle-like inclusions that refract light, creating a line of light that runs through the center. A handful of other stones, scapolite, spinel, quartz, tourmaline, and corundum, have a similar appearance as a result of those inclusions, but only chrysoberyl can be called just cat’s-eye; the others require the stone name in front of cat’s-eye. Cat’s-eye has been used to manifest destiny and direct fortune for centuries and makes an excellent talisman.

Healers prize chrysoberyl because it can double the power of other stones and reveal the causes of illness. It can assist with lowering high cholesterol and the hormonal surges of adrenaline. Chrysoberyl is a crystal used for compassion, forgiveness, and emotional release and has been called the stone of new beginnings. This is one of the few crystals that can enable one to see both sides of an issue and get over blocks and stubbornness. If you are harboring a grudge against a coworker or loved one, chrysoberyl will cut right through the old anger and help you to move on.

Amber

The color amber is named after the stone, indicating how long people have been using this gem. A fossilized resin, amber comes from the sap of trees dating back millions of years. It frequently contains other fossils—insects, plant fragments, and rocks. Amber is prized for its honey gold color, but Baltic amber has a green color. Amber has been held in high regard as a power and protection talisman for thousands of years and has been used just as long as a healing stone, said to draw out disease, particularly afflictions of thyroid, inner ear, spleen, brain and lungs. You should clean amber after you use it because it draws in energy, which could include bad or negative energy from the body or the environment. Due to its organic origins, amber is an earth stone. It is so grounding and centering that you should not wear it all the time.