For I have been with you from Time's Beginnings and I will gather you in at its Endings Hail and Farewell... Blessed Be! Before you decide that you want to be a Witch, and that you want to follow these traditions, take some time to work through the exercises. Feel free to write your responses into this book, or start a journal for yourself. Writing things down often helps you clarify how you really feel about them. Remember, there are no wrong answers. The questions are important in examining who and what you are and what you want to be.
When you feel ready, get a calendar that shows New Moons, Full Moons and the Solar Holidays (Beltane, Litha, the Summer Solstice, the Equinoxes, Lammas, Samhain, Yule, the Winter Solstice and Candlemas.* Witchcraft is Lunar/Solar Oriented and you will need to know the most effective times for your rituals/spells. Usually the celebration is held on the eve of the feast.
*I prefer the accuracy of the Celestial Calenders produced by:
celestialcalendars@email.comQuicksilver Productions
P. O. Box 340
Ashland, Oregon 97520
Take the time from the new, dark Moon to the Full Moon to examine what you want out of your life. These exercises have been designed to help you look at things you may not have questioned before. Whether our families are "religious" in the conventional sense or not, we pick up certain attitudes. We may not need to get rid of all of them, but we certainly need to know what they are.
What were you taught about religion as a child?
How do you relate to the idea of creation?
How do you relate to the biblical story of Eve?
What are the things you like about your life now?
What would you like to change?
Have you attempted to make these changes in your life already?
How?Why do you want to be a Witch?
(Be honest, if you don't know admit it. Go from that point.)
Are you willing to take on the authority/responsibility for your own actions?The answers to these questions are vital. We need to learn to be completely honest with ourselves. Magic is an act of the will as well as an emotional focusing. For the will to operate effectively the mind has to understand the attitudes it holds, where they came from and what its goal is to be.
In your home environment, you need to have a place and time that are inviolate. At some point in the day, each day, you need to take time to examine the day and what you have learned from it. All too often we don't take time to look at the things that are right there in front of our faces. If the same things keep repeating in your life, what are they trying to teach you? Be willing to examine the possibility that there is something you need to learn about yourself or the way you relate to others.
Bathing can be used as a means of cleansing the body and the spirit. Save the feet from clean, old stockings/pantyhose, cheesecloth or muslin bags that can hold about a cup of dried or fresh herbs. Fill with dried lavender or rosemary they can turn your bath into a ritual with soothing aromas and allow peace to enter your soul.
Ritual Baths are used before the major Holidays. When you have decided to make your commitment to The Craft, use this method of cleansing your body and spirit before you begin. Surround yourself with candles, incense and music. You want to use this time to learn to love your self. From that love comes the ability to love others. Give yourself a little extra time to let all the aggravations of the day flow out of you into the water. See them like clouds in the water and release them to flow out of the tub. If you're being ecologically aware, use this "grey water" to water your plants or the lawn. See your problems being taken up, transformed into the beauty of live, growing things.
The idea of transformation is a good one in many areas. Transforming anger, pain and frustration into energy for growth is a positive way to deal with it. It may take you a little while to get the hang of it, but this technique will be one of the most positive things you can do for yourself, and your world.
Housecleaning is another thing that can be used ritually. We get busy and the clutter accumulates. Mess often creates a sort of psychic noise that short circuits our ability to work magic.
Quarterly, if not more often, go through and clean out clutter. We don't really look at our surroundings most of the time. Things become part of the landscape. We need to develop a clear vision that includes our homes.
Light the candles on your altar, burn an incense with pine in it to help cleanse the house psychically. Put three pinches of salt in your cleaning solution. Put some of the music you use for ritual on the stereo.
As you dust and polish, let your tables and bookcases know that you like them and appreciate the beauty they are bringing into your life. Wood is still a living thing and the Goddess takes notice of courtesies, even small ones. In effect, you are creating a temple for yourself and the Goddess and God within you so put a genuine effort into it.
If there are items in your home you don't like and don't use, get rid of them. Every time you look at them you're creating an irritation. Not necessary.Brush and/or bathe your pets, clean the fishtank and the car, too. All of them are part of your life and part of being generous to yourself.
Visualization is a tool. Being able to visualize goals, both material and spiritual ones, is the first step in achieving them. This is an valuable skill so take as much time as you need to develop it.
Take a rose or other flower. Look at it carefully. Examine it by smelling it, tasting it, touching it (flower, thorn and leaf) looking at the variations of color in each petal of the bloom. Examine the stem. Look at the variations in color, width. Notice the sections where new growth can occur, the thorns.
Now put it out of sight. Cup your hands in your lap and recreate the rose in your hands. Your eventual goal should be 10 to 20 minutes for this exercise. Do this on a regular basis until you can feel and smell the rose in your hands without actually picking it up first. Allow yourself plenty of time for this. Each of us progresses at her/his own rate of speed. Try this with other objects. Pick things that represent the elements, shells, feathers and stones. A candle or hearth fire can be examined in much the same way, without trying to hold it in your hand, of course. Work with them one at a time until you can hold the vision. After a minimum of two weeks, you should be ready to work with a visualization spell. See the section on spells. Some people are more oriented toward sound and touch than visual input. If this is the case with you, you might read Bandler and Grinder's "Frogs Into Princes". They suggest using a technique called "overlap" to develop the additional sensory clues. We've found the techniques useful.
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