Magickal Hours

The hours of the day are also influenced by the planets.

For example, if you were carrying out a love spell in which you wanted rapid results, perhaps for a special meeting, you could work on a Friday, Venus’s day, on both her hours – sunrise and the third hour after sunset.

If you wanted courage in love, you would use a Mars hour on a Friday.

If you needed to communicate your feelings, but found it difficult, you could add the energies of a Mercury hour to a Friday love spell.

If you wanted a banishing spell for shedding excess weight, you could use the last days of the waning moon cycle when it is in the sky during the morning before it sets.

The banishing lunar energies should take away the compulsion to binge that is keeping you from a healthy lifestyle and if you use them at the hour of Venus, this would increase your inner beauty and help to bring you to a state of self-love.

Remember that the beginning of the hour is always the most potent.

The times of sunrise and sunset are different each day.

Calculate the precise timings from true sunrise, which is the first hour of the magical day.

Alternatively, for a less formal spell, you can make an approximation.

Any good diary will have the sunrise and sunset for each day, but choose one also with the
moonrises and moonsets.

You will need a calculator if you decide to use the exact planetary hours.

You can calculate a week or even a month ahead if there is a period in which you intend to do a lot of
magical work.

In this way, you can maximize the energies of specific hours and choose a good time for
anything from asking for a raise at work to sorting out the budget with a reluctant partner.

Enter the planetary and angelic hours in your diary or the appropriate section in your Book of Shadows.

These calculations can also keep bored children amused on rainy afternoons – just tell them stories about the angels and planets first.

Children also adapt quickly to angelic time – after all, it’s far more fun if you change sad old bedtime into St Michael’s hour and have a bedtime story by the light of his golden candle.

To calculate the magical hours, you need to divide the time from sunrise to sunset and then the time
between sunset and sunrise by 12.

At the height of summer, the days are much longer than the nights, so each ‘day’ hour will be longer than the ‘night’ hours.

At the spring and autumn equinoxes, when day and night are equal, day and night hours will be of the same length.

As a shortcut, when you need instant magick, you can use the times of sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight and the day of the week energies, with approximations of hours if you wish.

Combine the day energies with the power of solar magick, which tends to be more immediate than lunar.

So if you are seeking a new beginning, go for dawn.

For full power or realize your potential, carry out your rituals at noon, the height of the Sun, and for banishing spells, try sunset.

You will know instinctively if it’s a solar or lunar issue and whether you need a blast of Sun power or clarity, or more subtle Moon bindings or unravellings.

Ritual Magick

Ritual magick is no different from any other activity that you may carry out in a systematic way.

Yes, it is true, it is more formal than folk magick: you are using special tools and following a series of preordained steps based on traditional practice.

But this does not mean that it has to be so complicated as to be beyond the capabilities of any normal person.

You do not need special powers; and the preparation is just the same as you would do if you were redecorating a room, servicing your car, or preparing your annual accounts.

When you decide to do any of these tasks, you set out the necessary equipment in advance, so you are not constantly dashing off to find what you need.

You check that it is all in working order and you probably consult a reliable reference book, computer software, or calculator to clarify the necessary stages and finer points of the method.

And that is exactly what preparing for ritual magick is like.

First, you need to collect any relevant information; for example, you must find out which tools, herbs, candle colors, etc. you may require.

Then you must check that your magical tools are charged with power.

You must check whether the hour and the day are well-chosen to benefit from the energies and are most aligned to the focus.

If you are working with a group, you must decide in advance who is to carry the salt and other elemental substances around the circle, and who will perform particular parts of the ritual, such as welcoming the Spirit Guardians.

This preparation is important, although.

You do not even need to belong to a coven to create beautiful rituals.

Indeed, practicing alone, you will find that as you increase in confidence, the natural rhythm of the ritual cycle will amplify your own innate powers and you will feel angelic or divine forces joining with you as you walk around the circle and hear their voices mingling with your chants.

You should not allow yourself to be overawed,  by books and practitioners who vaunt their knowledge of obscure magical phrases, measure their circles down to the last millimeter, and insist that only their form of working is authentic.

What matters is the actual connection you make in your ritual with the storehouse of natural and higher energies – and that can be done with a kitchen candle if the need is great and the intention pure.

Ultimately, the power is within you, and as you become skilled with magick, you may find that the external form becomes less important.

However, formal magick does have its place, for a special need or for raising spiritual awareness, or for focusing magical energies through the accumulated power of tools charged and regularly used for a positive purpose.

Some people believe also that in the ritual you tap into the energies of all those before you who have created circles of power and protection, and within them have raised and called upon the elemental qualities to bring desires and needs from the thought to the material plane.

The Aims Of Formal Rituals

Rituals and spells at all levels cause a positive change or effect, whether for oneself, a loved one or the whole ecosystem, as they bring healing, peace, reconciliation or whatever is needed in the spellcaster’s life.

But over and above all these is the purpose of raising one’s own levels of awareness so that perhaps for a few moments you feel connected to a higher power, perhaps even the source of divinity, and this is best expressed through the more ceremonial forms of work.

The awareness you attain may be experienced as a sense of deep peace, of being filled with golden light, of floating through clouds or certainty of being loved and protected, perhaps even as a glimpse of a Divinity.

Formal rituals do not have to be focused on a particular aim, however.

Sometimes, you may wish to carry out a ritual without having any specific purpose in mind.

In this case, you can simply cast a circle and raise the energies gently through a natural focus of herbs, flowers or fruit, allowing wisdom.

Preparing Your Mind For Magick

As well as preparing the physical area for magick, you also need to prepare your mental state.

It is universally agreed that we have two hemispheres of the brain -the left, logical, and the right, intuitive, side – and that generally in the everyday world the left brain predominates.

This may be no bad thing; after all, buying golden sunflowers and oils pressed from fragrant herbs may lift the spirits, but they will do little for us if we are so disorganized that we fail to remember the cereal and cat food – and the yowls of hungry children and cats ringing through the early morning air are not conducive to relaxation.

These demarcations within the mind have not always been so clear.

Julian Jaynes, in his book The Origin of the Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, suggests that self-awareness in humans has existed for only about 3,000 years.

In stating this, he was defining self-awareness as the awareness of our own separateness and our private thoughts.

This state of mind, normal in adults, is very different from the more primitive state of mind of small children, who keep up a running commentary on their actions.

But young children are also incredibly skilled at mind-hopping and reading the thoughts of others.

This is precisely because they do not have the adult’s strong sense of the individual and private self.

In so-called primitive societies, the individual does not have the same importance: it is the collective responsibility that matters.

So the rituals that are carried out to ensure the fertility of the crops and animals and the community are performed in a group.

In a sense, magick is about using the bicameral mind, placing the brain’s right hemisphere in the driving seat, taking concentration, focus and determination from the more logical side as fuel and a map, and reconnecting our unified self with the undifferentiated universe.

You can carry out magick absolutely anywhere as long as you are in a positive frame of mind.

But many practitioners believe that by entering an altered state of consciousness, you remove all the conscious blocks and allow the intuitive brain free access to the unconscious mind and with it the repository of human and cosmic wisdom.

This brings about a state of mind in which energies can flow between the dimensions.

You are in your most relaxed state when your brain is generating alpha waves.

They oscillate about ten times per second (the range is eight to 13 cycles per second) and are less common in our modern stressful lives.

But they are naturally generated, for example, when you daydream, or sit by a fountain and let the rushing water fill your mind, or gaze into a candle flame, or have a lavender- or rose-scented bath.

Compare these with the traditional routine preparations of fasting and ritual bathing of practitioners of the craft and you begin to see why these are important.

Invoking your protective angels to stand at the four corners of your magical circle, performing the rituals of preparing your magical tools and, in more formal magick, casting a circle – these are all ways of marking the limits of the everyday world and the entry into this magical space in which all the normal laws are suspended.

There are many ways of reaching this state, techniques to still inner turmoil and outer demands that block the easy access to the deeper psychic states.

At times when you feel unhappy, tense or anxious, you may need tranquillity; alternatively, there may be times when you need an infusion of power to meet a challenge, restore confidence or gain energy when all you feel like doing is sleeping.

Breathing in light and colors is a method of creating a cone or vortex of power, that can be released as magical energy or healing power in the cosmos.

In addition, by absorbing the light of the Moon or Sun you may take in either tranquillity or energies for those moments when you are particularly in need.

Perhaps you will find yourself in an artificially lit building, crammed on a commuter train or rushing to get the children to school and go to work.

At such times you may feel like one of the hags from Macbeth, ready to turn the entire carriage of commuters into toads – that’s when good magick is what you need.

Types of Magick

The overall idea of types of magic, like Black magic, or White magic, largely stems from applying Ceremonial uses of magic practice to Witchcraft.

The dark side of nature and the light side may naturally find balance in the world.

The idea that black magic is evil and white as good, with grey being somewhere in between, stems from assumptive mainstream ideas about magic.

Using dark power to harm another can be seen as going against a Witchcraft code.

The Yin and Yang of Oriental systems is much more applicable to the Green Witch: dark and light in equal measure, finding balance in the same space together.

We have the Lord of the Shadows (another aspect of the God), giving rest and caring for the departed, as well as the Dark Mother (another aspect of the Lady), leading us from this world and into the next.

Context and perspective need to be in place when trying to describe these things, which helps us to see the dark side of magic is not evil at all.

Magick and Science

Many contemporary writers on Witchcraft have pointed out the relevance of new discoveries in the physical sciences that seem to identify what Witches have always known to exist: a symbiotic relationship between mind and matter.

This relationship can be viewed from many angles and is probably not entirely understood by anyone, but its existence is clear to practitioners of magic as well as other mind/thought-based disciplines that bring about positive change in one’s life.

The traditional worldview of most of Western society for the past few millennia has held that reality is chaotic and inflexible, created by forces outside of human control.

It has also held that the mind is not a physical entity, and is separate from what we think of as “matter

”(The phrase “mind over matter” illustrates the fundamental opposition perceived to exist between the two.)

What Witches understand, and what science has begun to uncover, is that reality is flexible, and is co-created by and with everything in it, including the mind.

The mind is not separate from matter but is matter in its most basic form.

The power of thought has been illuminated in many books and videos about the “Law of Attraction,” a “New Age” topic that has recently found popularity among mainstream audiences, celebrities, and even business professionals.

The Law states that thoughts attract experiences that reinforce them, so that dwelling on negative circumstances can keep them in place while focusing on positive experiences creates improved circumstances.

Changing one’s thoughts is harder than it might seem, of course, which is possibly why so much information and advice regarding the Law of Attraction is currently available.

Frugal magick, Does it work

There are many books to read, pre-made spells, and lots of verbal advice about which herbs to use and how to create a spell using sympathetic magick.

Most of them call for supplies that are next to impossible to get in your area, unfamiliar to you, and, therefore, have little to no meaning to you, or are just plain expensive.

A lot of Pagan Witches live on a tight budget and don’t have the extra cash to purchase tools or supplies that a given spell may call for.

If you are thinking you must have money to be a witch, the truth is maybe you can be homeless, penniless, or just plain frugal and still work effective magick without buying anything.

So, how does a homeless, penniless, frugal witch do magick without even a candle?

What is the secret?

There are only a few things that are actually needed to work magick and these things are free.

You will need belief, imagination, will, focus, and desire and it is also good to have a moment of undisturbed time to work the spell.

These are the things that hold the power to your spells.

Do they really work without candles, herbs, and charms?

Yes, they do.

Using items to help you focus, believe, imagine, etc. are very helpful and do add a little ambiance to your spells but they are not necessary.

If you have a need to be frugal, you can also use items you may already have on hand.

An emergency candle, for example, is usually white and works with almost any spell or ritual.

You can perform a reflection spell that requires a mirror with an old compact mirror that comes with face powder.

This item is usually discarded, but you can always keep the little mirror.

You can clean it up, remove any dirt, smudges, or makeup left behind.

Something as plain as a disused makeup mirror is the only item that was needed for a simple spell.

You do not need to run out and buy candles, herbs, stones, string, or anything.

You can keep your spells simple.

Chants work really well for just about anything.

Ritual supplies are the same.

You can use mundane things such as a letter opener for your athame, a wine glass for your chalice, and most of your items you can make yourself such as a wand or staff.

The items you make can be as simple or elaborate as you want them to be.

Your finger works just as well to call guardians or cast a circle.

The gods and goddesses don’t really care about how expensive your tools are or how elaborate they are.

They don’t even care if you have anything at all.

They are simply there for you.

That means, that whatever meaning you put on your tools if you even choose to have tools, is what truly matters.

To be a witch, you don’t have to dress in black or any specific way or own specific items or any of that.

A witch can dress and acts the way they feel, believe, enjoy, or just their own style.

Some have short hair and some have long. Some dress professionally, some wear jeans, and some dress like a neo-hippy, goth, or even steampunk.

It doesn’t make them any more or less of a witch.

And this includes both male and female witches.

Who and what you are comes from within you and so does your power.

The Magick Alphabet

It is probable that all alphabets were originally magical.

Only in later times did they come to be reduced to the more prosaic transactions of mere record and trade.

The names which the letters were given often concealed some secret, which they enshrined in an abbreviated form.

Also, the number of the letters, and their divisions into consonants and vowels, had inner and arcane meanings.

A frequent proportion found in old alphabets is that of twenty-two letters, whereof seven are vowels.

This conceals, in a rough approximation, the relation of the diameter of an Alphabet magick.

Examples of alphabets from The Magus by Francis Barrett.

Alphabets, Magical circles to their circumference, which is today mathematically expressed by the Greek letter TI.

Moreover, before numeral figures were invented, the letters of the alphabet also served for the figures of numbers, such as A = 1, B = 2, and so on.

In this way, a word or a name was also a number.

Hence the study of what is today called numerology is a very time-honored practice.

The Hebrew alphabet, in particular, contains mystic meanings in this way; and the study of these, and the use of numbers to express transcendental ideas, a kind of spiritual algebra, is called the Qabalah, meaning traditional knowledge.

This word is sometimes spelled Cabala or Kabbala.

It has become an important part of the mystic and magical tradition of the West.

The Arabic alphabet, too, is used in this way, by the Sufis and other arcane brotherhoods of the Near East.

The Greek alphabet also lent itself to such use and interpretation, in ancient times.

In Britain, the Celtic Druids made use of the Ogham alphabet, which had several forms.

These have been studied extensively in our day by Robert Graves, in his now famous book, The White Goddess (Faber and Faber, London, 1 961).

He found them to throw a flood of new light upon the religion of Ancient Britain, and to show among other things that Britain was by no means a benighted and savage region, as often
previously taught, but a country in touch with the philosophy and religion of the greater part of the ancient world.

When the Angles and Saxons and the rest of the northern invaders settled in these islands, and Celtic Britain became Anglo-Saxon England, another magical alphabet found its way to this country.

This was the Runic alphabet, or Futhork (so-called from its first six letters).

This alphabet has given us the word ‘rune’, meaning a magical rhyme.

Originally, the Runes were the letters it was written down in.

Each of the Runic letters had a magical meaning.

Runic inscriptions were cut upon the hilt of a warrior’s sword, to make it powerful and victorious in battle; and this may be the origin of the ‘magical weapons’, knives and swords with mystic sigils and inscriptions upon them, which play such an important part in medieval magic.

The magician uses such weapons to draw the magic circle and to command spirits.

Though the witches of ancient Thessaly also used short swords as magical weapons.

It was because of their connection with pagan magic that the old Ogham and Runic alphabets were regarded with disfavor by the Christian Church.

With the spread of Christianity, these old alphabets fell into disuse and were replaced by the Latin alphabet, upon which our present-day alphabet is based.

The use of Ogham, however, was continued by the Bards of Wales, in order to write down the traditional knowledge they claimed to have Amulets received from the Druids.

They also evolved their own Bardic Alphabet, for the same purpose.

The Middle Ages saw the invention of a number of secret alphabets, which were used by magicians and witches exclusively for magical purposes.

These were mostly based upon the twenty-two-letter Hebrew alphabet; though there is one, the so-called The ban Alphabet of Honorius, which is based upon the Latin alphabet.

Consequently, this is a favorite magical alphabet of the witches, whose magic generally is not Qabalistic; and the Theban alphabet is often used by them today.

It takes its name from a legendary great magician of the past, Honorius the The ban.

To write something down in a magical alphabet serves two purposes.

Firstly, it conceals the secret of what has been written and hides it from the uninitiated.

Secondly, it compels the magician or the witch to concentrate more upon what he or she is writing, because they have to use unfamiliar characters to express it.

Hence, more power of concentrated thought goes into an inscription so written and makes it more magically potent.

Magick As Self-Care

One of magic’s main focuses is healing—healing of the self, healing of the earth, healing of humanity and nature.

In this sense, magic and self-care go hand in hand.

Self-care is a way to maintain your health, heal your spirit, and maintain or optimize your emotional, mental, and physical health.

Magic helps with self-empowerment and exerting control over your life, encouraging a focus on yourself as the best person you can be.

These are all things that can resonate well with the general goal of self-care.

The practice of magic seeks to establish or balance the connection between an individual and the environment.

If a spiritual aspect is added, then magic also seeks to balance or maintain the connection between the individual and the Divine.

Incremental Self-Care

There’s a tendency for people to say, “Oh, just exercise; your depression will vanish” or “Take up yoga and you’ll be a much better person spiritually!”

That’s not how self-care works.

Self-care is a complicated interwoven combination of hundreds of small acts and an attitude shift.

Using just one of the rituals, spells, or practices is not going to solve your problems.

But each magickal act will make you feel a little better and hopefully help you see that you are worthy of self-care and deserve to take the time and attention you need.

Even though it may not make your fatigue vanish completely, taking care of yourself is still a valuable thing.

Cleaning up a room won’t eliminate your anxiety, but it will make the atmosphere healthier and more comfortable to be in, and that’s important.

Fighting the Stereotypes of Self-Care

The media pushes self-care “solutions” in the form o sspa days and retail therapy.

It’s frustrating because these solutions assume that you are of a certain class with certain options available to you.

They assume that you have disposable income; they assume that you actively desire these things and deny yourself for some reason; and they assume that you have the time to engage in these activities, even as a treat.

These media suggestions also assume that engaging in these kinds of activities will fill a gap in your life, implying that you are somehow not normal if engaging in one doesn’t fill the void in your heart.

Take courage! The media view of self-care does not have to align with your sense of self-care, and, in fact, it’s probably healthier if it doesn’t.

Self-Care Guilt

Another stereotype of self-care is of someone lazily lounging on a sofa eating chocolate and ignoring chores.

This stereotype is harmful in that it suggests taking a few minutes to yourself between tasks is letting an unspecified “everyone” down in some way.

It implies that if you’re not wholly immersed in handling things, you are failing somehow.

This is one of the most harmful stereotypes associated with self-care because you are being told that you aren’t taking things seriously enough if you aren’t always working for the benefit of someone other than yourself.

It tells you that if you take a moment or two for yourself, you should feel guilt

The Practice of Magick

Candle magick may be the most basic form of magical practice.

It can be very simple, prayer and lighting a candle before an image or in a special place.

Or you can anoint the candles with herb-infused oils to draw upon the power of the herb devas, and inscribe the candle, dedicate it to a magical purpose, and light it with the ceremony.

Candles can be added in with any other work you are doing.

Many mainstream religions already incorporate candles into their workings.

Catholics often light candles for prayer, and may even see this as the main purpose for attending mass.

Candles and incense are both lit for Buddhist practice.

But while you can certainly use candle magic in these settings, you don’t need an incense-laden shrine or wall of candles to work your candle magics.

You can do this from the privacy of your own home, in your own way. in fact, intuition matters quite a lot.

Intuition will tell you what you need to do in a given situation.

For example, the traditional ritual before magic working is to take a purifying bath and dressing in ceremonial robes before doing your spellwork.

But if your intuition says it’s not really necessary to do the ceremonial bath first, or you are a come-as-you-are type who doesn’t change clothing, etc, there’s nothing wrong with that.

You should learn to listen to that intuition/gut feeling/impulses, at all times!

It is something that you just start to do after a while until the craft becomes part of your daily life.

Green level practice is not the same as Shamanism, though they do have commonalities.

To require near-death fasting and exposure to become closer to the spirits, and its original purpose was to help the sick by entering the spirit world to fight the spirits of the dead, over these sick and dying people.

This practice exists within some Buddhist practices but is not quite the same as witchcraft.

Witchcraft and Shamanism share certain elements, such as with connection to a spirit guide or power animal.

But the difference lies in that Green Witchcraft focuses on the union with nature, above all else.

Magical Journaling for SelfCare

Journaling is a therapeutic practice.

It’s also a valuable part of working magic.

Keeping records of your work allows you to consult notes regarding herbal or incense blends, timing, successes and failures, origins of ideas, references, and experiments with energies of various
supplies and components.

Partnering or uniting the concepts of reflective self-care journaling and magical journaling in pursuit of self-care just makes sense.

You’ll have more than one magical and/or self-care journal in your life, so don’t get too caught up in finding the perfect one to last forever.

Any blank journal or notebook that is pretty and makes you happy or relaxed when looking at it is good.

Do you already keep a magical journal, recording your energy work, spells, and rituals?

Decide if you want to have a separate self-care journal or if you’re going to use your existing magical journal for that purpose.

Do what feels right for you.

You can always start one way and switch later if your initial choice doesn’t work for you.

A self-care journal tip:

Glue an envelope to the back cover, or use washi tape to tape the bottom and side of the last two pages to make a pocket open at the top.

This allows you to keep loose things in it.

The following rituals will help get you started with your journaling practice.

The first is a simple technique to bless your new self-care journal.

The second establishes optimal conditions to allow a productive journaling session.

The Modern Magical Revival

The modern magical revival has been unfolding for over a century.

As a spiritual movement committed to the resurgence of esoteric knowledge or gnosis in the West, it first began to gather momentum in the final decade of the 19th century.

Magick has since seeded itself around the world in fascinating ways, spawning divergent esoteric groups and organizations.

In terms of actual historical beginnings, however, the story of the 20th-century magical revival commences with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, arguably the most influential esoteric organization in modern history.

All modern occult perspectives—including Wicca, Goddess spirituality, and the Thelemic magick of Aleister Crowley—owe a debt to the Golden Dawn for gathering together the threads of the Western esoteric tradition and initiating a transformative process that continues in the 21st century.

Established in England in eighteen eighty-eight, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn drew on a range of ancient and medieval cosmologies.

It incorporated them into a body of ceremonial practices and ritual grades centered on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, an important motif within the Jewish mystical tradition which, as a unified but nevertheless complex symbol represents the sacred ‘emanations’ of the Godhead.

In addition to the Kabbalah, which occupied a central position in the cosmology of the Golden Dawn, the organization also drew on the Hermetic tradition which had its roots in Neoplatonism and underwent a revival during the Renaissance.

Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and the medieval Tarot were also significant elements.

Magickal Correspondences and Invocation

Magick teaches us that everything in the Universe is connected.

Correspondences are magickal associations.

They link herbs, animals, crystals, colors, lunar phases, and so on with specific energies, and thus with intended magickal results.

Correspondences are powerful keys that help to open specific doors, and thereby direct magickal energy in desired ways.

For those who have prior knowledge of magick, an understanding may be formed of why certain herbs, candle colors, and so on are used in the spells.

They may also understand why it is recommended that some spells be cast on particular days or during specified phases of the Moon.

If you have no understanding of these things, you can nonetheless make use of magickal correspondences by simply following the directions for the spells.

Names of deities are ancient Words of Power, so we invoke gods and goddesses to boost the magickal power of our spells.

Different deities have dominion over different things, so we invoke them in accord with the intent of our spells.

If you have studied mythology, you may understand why this god or that goddess is called upon in a spell.

If you know nothing about mythology, you can still access of the power of invocation by following spell directions.

Magick: The evils of Magick

“Magic is supernatural.”
“Magic is evil.”
“Magic is dangerous.”
“Magic is illusion.”

These statements, all false, have been passed down to us by earlier generations of nonpractitioners.

Only those who haven’t worked magic believe these ideas to be true.

All of the statements have also been made about many other practices in earlier times: mathematics, chemistry, psychology, psychics, astronomy, and surgery.

These and many other arts and sciences have been pushed from the darkness that lurks behind such statements into the light.

They are no longer considered to be supernatural, evil, too dangerous, or illusionary.

At least two aspects of our lives haven’t yet been ushered into this august group: magic and the religious experience.

Hardline scientists and those sharing their worldview lump these two together because, to them, they’re fantasies with no basis in fact.

Magic, to them, can’t possibly be successful, because there are no known laws governing the mechanism at work in magic, and no known force that could empower it.

They often view the religious experience with a similar mixture of amusement and contempt.

Telling an individual who has established a personal relationship with a deity that deity doesn’t exist will produce predictable results.

The same is true of magicians: they don’t believe that magic is effective; they know that it is.

Slavery in Magick

I do not come to bring absolute truths and no discourse that opposes the personal path of each one.

But we need to talk about slavery in magic, the worst thing is that slaves are slaves to themselves.

Not neglecting any modern magic systems and strands.

But neophytes, interested in the occult, beginners owing to the great mass of “selling ideas” have taken on essential values ​​and principles.

What is said a lot by opening up possibilities has enslaved the magical personal development of many people.

Do not take sides by names and labels, do not be disconnected from the material, and despise your potential power to see the magic on a daily basis.

With training, studies of course.

But what has been seen is people seeking magickal outside help and neglecting themselves.

Not training their minds and adhering to the day-to-day, even if with less effort, personal change.

Which is the basic part of the magician’s life.

Strength and confidence in oneself are given by efforts but they bring ease to all processes because then we feel more secure.

Expecting everything from something that moves and does for you can become a cycle and comfort zone.

Can it lead to disconnection from themselves because if through the personal lens the light and power and “gains” come only from outside where our true importance and recognition of our efforts come in?

Let us be sensible.

Not conniving with illusory ideas and people who call themselves masters, etc.

Try to be a master of yourself and get used to admiring what you add. Do it for yourself, move your energies and we begin to be more aware of the importance of personal work

Different Kinds Of Magick

What is certain is that whether folk customs or more formal ceremonies are used, the underlying principles of all types of magick are the same throughout the world,

Some of these can be categorized under the following headings.

Sympathetic Magick

This involves performing a ritual that imitates what you would desire in the outer world, so bringing on to the material plane a desire or need or wish from the inner or thought plane.

This is done using appropriate tools and symbols. So in a spell for the gradual increase of money, for example, you might grow a pot of basil seedlings (a herb of prosperity) and light a green candle.

Contagious Magick

This involves transferring and absorbing power directly from a creature or an object, such as an animal, a bird, a crystal, a metal, the wax of an empowered candle or even the Earth itself.

This principle is central to the potency of talismans and amulets; for example, traditionally, hunters might wear the pelt of a lion to bring them the beast’s courage and ferocity.

So, by the same token, if you wished to become pregnant, you might make love in a newly ripening cornfield (near the edge so as not to damage the crops); alternatively, you might try one of the ancient power sites of Earth, close to the phallus of the chalk Cerne Abbas fertility giant that is carved in the hillside at Cerne in Dorset.

Attracting Magick

This type of magick embraces both sympathetic and contagious magick to bring you something you desire.

For example, you could scatter pins across a map between the places you and a lover live and with a magnet collect them, while reciting:

Come love, come to me, love to me come, if it is right to be.

You would then place your pins in a silk, heart-shaped pincushion or a piece of pink silk, also in the shape of a heart, and leave it on the window ledge on the night of the full moon, surrounded by a circle of rose petals.

Banishing And Protective Magick

This involves driving away negative feelings, fears and influences by casting away or burying a focus of the negativity.

For example, you might scratch on a stone a word or symbol representing some bad memories you wished to shed, and cast the stone into fast-flowing water.

Alternatively, you could bury it, together with quick-growing seeds or seedlings to transform the redundant into new life.

Binding Magick

Binding magick has two functions, one to bind a person in love or fidelity and the other to bind another from doing harm.

This may be done in various ways, using knots in a symbolic thread, or by creating an image of the object or person and wrapping it tightly.

But all binding can be problematic in terms of white magick, for whatever method you use, you are very definitely interfering with the person’s karma, or path of fate.

However, it is tempting to think that if someone is hurting animals, children, the sick or elderly, you may be justified in binding them.

And what if your partner has deserted you on the whim of passion, taking all the money and leaving you and your children penniless?

Connected to Magick

Magic, entities, gods, strands, oracles, everything connected to magic, we first have to understand that it is our work directed also in search of our true transformation that dwells in magic, that moves.

We live in times of working the warrior and resilient archetype. Search our strength in destruction.

It doesn’t matter who you name your son and don’t make and don’t sow to reap.

There are those who skip phases since I prefer to experience from the sickle to the sun, I am not talking do not use magic.

I just want to make it clear, make mistakes, search, dive into yourself, and then start experiencing the magic.

Many perform magic, others experience the opportunity that is sometimes dark and painful but filled with surprise.

Live and feel what you do.

Don’t do it in vain.

We have to hold our whips tight and keep the direction.

We have to go through the books, the ring, our alliance.

We need to stay in the tower and without it we build a rock under our feet.

You will always be the home that needs the most care

Apples for Mabon

Apples are the perfect symbol of the Mabon season.

Long connected to wisdom and magic, there are so many wonderful things you can do with an apple.

Find an orchard near you, and spend a day with your family.

As you pick the apples, give thanks to Pomona, goddess of fruit trees. Be sure to only pick what you’re going to use.

If you can, gather plenty to take home and preserve for the coming winter months.

Mabon: A time for welcoming the Vine Gods

At this time of year, grapes can be found everywhere. Bearing this in mind it is no great surprise to find that the Mabon season can be a popular time for winemaking as well as celebrating the deities connected to the growth of this particular fruit.

Whether you see your particular deity as Bacchus, Dionysus, the Green Man, or some other vegetative god, the god of the vine is a key archetype in harvest celebrations.

Maybe as a way of furthering your Mabon celebrations, you could try your hand at making some of your own wine. If possible perhaps you could take a tour of a local winery to see what they do this time of the year.

If you’re not into wine, that’s okay; you can still enjoy the bounty of grapes, and use their leaves and vines for recipes and craft projects. However you celebrate these deities of vine and vegetation, you may want to leave a small offering of thanks as you reap the benefits of the grape harvest.

Count your blessings at Mabon

Mabon is a time of giving thanks, but sometimes we take our fortune for granted.

Sit down and make a gratitude list.

Write down things that you are thankful for.

An attitude of gratefulness helps bring more abundance our way.

What are things you’re glad you have in your life?

Maybe it’s the small things, like

“I’m happy that I have my cat Peaches”

or

“I’m glad my car is running.”

Maybe it’s something bigger, like

“I’m thankful I have a warm home and food to eat”

or

“I’m thankful people love me even when I’m cranky.”

Keep your list some place you can see it, and add to it when the mood strikes you.

Mabon

Autumn Equinox, 2nd Harvest, Falls Between September 21 – 23
Mabon, (pronounced MAY-bun, MAY-bone, MAH-boon, or MAH-bawn) is the Autumn Equinox. The Autumn Equinox divides the day and night equally, and we all take a moment to pay our respects to the impending dark. We also give thanks to the waning sunlight, as we store our harvest of this year’s crops. The Druids call this celebration, Mea’n Fo’mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth.

Various other names for this Lesser Wiccan Sabbat are The Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Feast of Avalon, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Alben Elfed (Caledonii), or Cornucopia. The Teutonic name, Winter Finding, spans a period of time from the Sabbat to Oct. 15th, Winter’s Night, which is the Norse New Year.

At this festival it is appropriate to wear all of your finery and dine and celebrate in a lavish setting. It is the drawing to and of family as we prepare for the winding down of the year at Samhain. It is a time to finish old business as we ready for a period of rest, relaxation, and reflection.

Symbolism of Mabon:
Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance.

Symbols of Mabon:
wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, vines such as ivy, dried seeds, and horns of plenty.

Herbs of Maybon:
Acorn, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passionflower, rose, sage, solomon’s seal, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables.

Foods of Mabon:
Breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Incense of Mabon:
Autumn Blend-benzoin, myrrh, and sage.

Colors of Mabon:
Red, orange, russet, maroon, brown, and gold.

Stones of Mabon:
Sapphire, lapis lazuli, and yellow agates.

Activities of Mabon:
Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honor those who have passed over.

Spellworkings of Mabon:
Protection, prosperity, security, and self-confidence. Also those of harmony and balance.

Deities of Mabon:
Goddesses-Modron, Morgan, Epona, Persephone, Pamona and the Muses. Gods-Mabon, Thoth, Thor, Hermes, and The Green Man.

Mabon is considered a time of the Mysteries. It is a time to honor Aging Deities and the Spirit World. Considered a time of balance, it is when we stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of our personal harvests, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with the hussle-bussle of everyday life. May your Mabon be memorable, and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing!