Book of shadows
Ritual&Practices
coming soon.
Ritual bath
The purpose of a ritual bath is to cleanse Yourself, from the inside and out, of negative energies and prepare your Physical, Mental and Spiritual Self for Circle. A ritual bath is a rite in and of itself. The rite is ideally done just prior to Circle, but this is not always the case. [An example of such is if you have to travel to the meeting place.] After the rite is completed and you must travel to another place for Circle, try to keep your mind in a Spiritual frame as this will aid you in Circle.
The bath water should be infused with salts, herbs oils and colors that are harmonious with the work to be done in Circle. To prepare for the bath:
Select the Herbs, [it is best to have your herbs in a satchel for easier clean-up] oils and salts [of the same color as the candle] that you will be using.
Have a censer and charcoal block ready to burn a corresponding incense on.
Anoint a candle of appropriate color [Possibly using the same oil as you are using in the bath water.] If you have a shrine set up in your bathroom there should be a Goddess and God candle present.
Have some Holy Water ready. [Holy Water is made from: 1/3 sea-water {river-water with sea-salt added will do if sea-water is unavailable}; 1/3 river-water; 1/3 spring-water {store bought is OK}.]
Have a tape recorder with meditation music in the bathroom with you, as its aid to visualization and meditation is invaluable. [Be cautious to have the tape recorder far away from any water and DO NOT TOUCH IT WHILE YOU ARE STILL WET.]
A glass of wine is also needed for consumption upon completion of the rite. And your libation dish for the libation to the Gods.
To begin turn out the lights and light the candle(s) and incense, turn on tape, fill the tub with warm water and add herbs, oils, salts and a cup or so of Holy Water. With your Athame draw and visualize a Water or Banishing Pentagram over the bath water. All of these tools represent the four Elements; Air/the incense and the scents from the bath, Fire/the heat of the bath, Water/the bath and Holy Water and, Earth/the herbs and oils.
Lower yourself into the water and visualize it cleansing you of all negativity. Know that these energies are flowing from your Physical, Mental and Spiritual Self into the water. Relax and enjoy the warmth of the water, the scents in the air and the feeling of being cleansed of all negativity, let yourself drift. Now concentrate and visualize on the purpose of the coming ritual and know that you are truly prepared. When you feel you are ready, pull the plug and stay in the tub until all the water has drained. As the water is draining visualize and know that the negative energies that are now in the water are going into the Earth and are grounded. Rise up out of the tub and do a Self Blessing like the following:
Anoint each area while saying aloud:
Blessed be my Mind, that learns of Your ways
Blessed be my eyes, that have seen this day.
Blessed be my lips, that utter Your names and keep Your secrets.
Blessed be my breast(s), formed in strength (Beauty).
Blessed be the phallus (Womb), for without which I would not be.
Blessed be my knees, that shall kneel at thy Sacred Altar.
Blessed be my feet, that have brought me in these ways.
Pour a libation to the Gods and drink the wine. When dried, robe, clean-up the bathroom and take the libation outside to return it to the Earth. The rite is ended.
So Mote it Be!
Meditation
Meditation is a healthy way to condition our minds and create balance and a better way of living.Magickal people (Us) have discovered that using daily meditation for about 15-20 minuts daily can enhance their personal power in all areas of magick and ritual.Scientists have also discovered that the happier we are the greater access we have to the sixth sence.The intuitive part of our mind that shapes our lives.
Meditation is an excellent vehicle that can help us to remove stress, focus on our mental and physical behavior to make positive change, and assist us in planning for a brighter future.So the happiness that these practices bring can streangthen our psychic abilities as well, meditation calms us, relaxes us, removes daily stress, streangthen our psychic abilities and can do so much more than that. Here is a basic meditation to get started:
*STEP ONE: Find a quiet, uncluttered place.Cast the magickal circle, Sit with a straight back and close you eyes. You can sit cross- legged or upright in a chair ( you may choose to lisin to soft music and light a white candle)
STEP TWO: Now focus on your breath. Breath in through the nose, and out through the mouth. What sounds easy but pretty hard to do at first, but with practice the mind will wonder less. If you are noticing everything but your breath, try vishulizing a loud, flower, the ocean, the sun, the moon or candle flames,etc, or try counting your breath by starting with "1" on an inhale and counting "2" on the exhale, remember in hale trough the nose and exhale through the mouth. Continue this for 15-20 minuts.
*Try to meditate twice a day or just once everyday for 15 minuts each.
Self-Hypnosis
1. Relaxation
Your first job in the hypnotic induction is to slow the juices down and get yourself relaxed. But don't try to force your mind to relax (whatever that means)! If you get yourself physically relaxed, your mind will follow.
Relaxation – really deep relaxation – is an ability that most people have either lost or never developed. Some people can do it quite easily, though. They just let go of their tensions and let every part of their body become limp and relaxed. If you are one of these people, begin your self-hypnosis practice by getting nicely relaxed. Take your time. This is not something you want to rush.
The time involved for the relaxation phase of your self-hypnosis induction can vary from half an hour to just a few seconds. It is an important part of the induction and should not be slighted. As you get better and your skill increases you will recognize deeply relaxed states, and you will be able to achieve them in a surprisingly short time. But as a beginner, take your time. It will be time well spent.
A very popular method of deep relaxation is the Jacobson Progressive Relaxation procedure. This involves tensing each of the major muscle groups of your body (foot and lower leg on each side, upper leg and hip, abdomen, etc.). Tense the muscle group for a few seconds, then let go. (If you happen to have any of my books you will find a complete description of this process – I include it in everything because it is so important and beneficial.)
2. Deepening Procedures
Once you have completed the relaxation phase of your self-hypnosis induction procedure, you can begin to deepen the relaxed state. At some time between the deep relaxation and the deepening procedures you will move into a hypnotic state. You probably won't know it, especially as a beginner, but it will happen sooner or later.
One of the first hurdles a beginner must get over is the compulsion to "watch for it." That is, you will keep waiting for hypnosis to happen, for some change in your awareness or the way you feel that will say to you, "You're hypnotized."
Watching for hypnosis will definitely get in your way if you don't get it out of your mind. Going into a hypnotic state is, in this respect, similar to going to sleep. If you try to catch yourself going to sleep – if you try to be aware of the precise instant in which you actually go to sleep – you are much less likely to go to sleep. "Watching" keeps you awake.
In this same way you will not know when you go into a hypnotic state (but that won't be because you lost consciousness – you won't). Later, after you have been practicing regularly for a few weeks or a month or two, you'll be much more familiar with yourself and how it feels to be hypnotized.
Does it take everyone weeks or even months to get into a good hypnotic state? Definitely not. Some people have an amazing experience the very first time they try it. Others might practice for several days, noticing nothing, then wham! they have one of those great induction sessions in which they know something stupendously good happened. But if you happen not to be one of these people, don't worry about it. Just keep practicing and you will eventually get there.
One of the most popular deepening procedures is the count-down technique. Hollywood also likes this one. That is why you see it in so many movies. That and the swinging watch. I have used a swinging metronome, but never a watch.
To use the count-down technique you simply start counting downward from, say, 20 (or 100, or whatever). Adjust the countdown number to whatever feels right to you after you have practiced a few times. Imagine that you are drifting deeper with each count. Other images and thoughts will probably intrude themselves as you count. That is natural. Just gently brush them aside, continuing with your counting.
The speed with which you count down should be natural; not too fast, not too slow. For most people this means counting at a rate of about one count for each two or three seconds. Do it at a rate that feels comfortable and relaxed to you. Some people like to tie the count with their breathing. As they drift deeper their breathing slows down, so their counting also slows down.
Don't count out loud, just think your way down the count. You want to avoid as much physical involvement and movement as possible.
There are numerous deepening techniques. I believe my best description of alternative methods is in self-hypnosis, beginning on page 40. I also give some fun ways to measure your hypnotic depth in Chapter 3.
Measuring Your Depth of self-hypnosis
In general, results from suggestions are the best way to gauge how deeply you are going in your self-hypnosis practice. If your suggestions are working and you are getting results of the kind you expect, then you are achieving plenty of depth in your self-hypnotic trance.
3. Suggestion Application in self-hypnosis
Once you have reached the end of your deepening procedure you are ready to apply suggestions. What you have done during the relaxation and deepening procedures is increase your suggestibility. That is, you have opened up your subconscious mind at least a little bit to receive your suggestions. This works because of the particular, and peculiar, characteristics of the subconscious part of your mind.
The most common and easiest way to apply suggestions is to have them worked out ahead of time, properly prepared and worded, and memorized. It should not be too difficult to remember them because they should be rather short and you are the one who composed them. If you have them ready and remembered, you can simply think your way through them at this point.
Dialogue, or more properly monologue, is also okay. You just talk ("think" to keep your effort to a minimum) to yourself about what it is you want to do, be, become, whatever.
Don't say "you." You are thinking to yourself, so use the first person personal pronoun "I." Some suggestions can be succinctly stated in a somewhat more formal sort of way, like, "I am eating less and becoming more slender every day." Elaborated suggestions are generally wordier and more of an ad lib: "Food is becoming less important to me every day and I am filling my time with more important and meaningful pursuits than eating. It is getting easier and easier to pass up desserts and other fattening foods . . ." and so on.
Generally speaking, the most effective kind of suggestion is image suggestion. Image suggestions usually do not use language at all. To give you an idea of how important suggestion formulation and application are, I devote four chapters to them in my latest book. There is also a suggestion CD (which has the bonus element of Autoquestioning instructions on it) or tape (the Autoquestioning material is not included on the audio cassette tape; it is on a separate tape of its own).
Although people sometimes see immediate results from their suggestions, it is more likely to take a little time for them to kick in. So don't be impatient. On the other hand, if you have not begun to see some results within, say, a couple of weeks, you need to change your suggestions.
4. Termination
Once you have finished applying suggestions you are through with your induction and you can terminate your session. You could just open your eyes, get up and go about your business, but that is not a good idea. You should formally identify the end of every session. By doing this you provide a clear demarcation between the hypnotic state and your ordinary conscious awareness. A clear termination also prevents your self-hypnosis practice session from turning into a nap. If you want to take a nap, take a nap. But don't do it in a way that sleeping becomes associated with self-hypnosis practice.
If you are practicing at bedtime and don't care if you go on to sleep, that is okay. But still draw the line in your mind to indicate the end of your self-hypnosis session.
To terminate the session, think to yourself that you are going to be fully awake and alert after you count up to, say, three.
"One, I'm beginning to come out of it, moving toward a waking state. Two, I'm becoming more alert, getting ready to wake up. Three, I'm completely awake." Something like that.
By the way, over in the left column you'll find a link to a complete hypnotic induction script
Telikanisis practice
DERECTIONS:
1.Find utensil of choice
2.Hold utensil in hands
3.Sit quietly and relax however you are comfortable
4.Empty mind of all chattering thoughts-relax
5.With eyes closed,rub finger tips over surface of the object.
6.Feel,dont think about it.Feel what the surface is like -get into the flow of the atoms the molecules,its energy.
7.This may take a couple of attempts. You will feel the energy
8.At that very moment- when you and the object are a blend of energy- bend it.(sometimes you will have to bend in order for the object to bend)if you did correctly it will bend.
Note: Doing this takes a lot out of you but be strong and this power will be yours.Never apply pressure- either mental or physical.Relax this will come naturally.
Astral Projection
) Lay down in your bed.(It is quiet important that you are tired, and aren't full of adrenalin.)
2) Close your eyes, and start to think. Think that you are in "Space", in the "Woods", visiting "Grandma"..ANYTHING. Just make sure your thought is on projecting to that other world.
3)Dont force yourself into this world, it will only strain your eyes. Just completely relax, and try to release yourself from anything around you, including yourself.
4) At this stage, if you are still desiring your "Astral Location", you should begin to feel heavy, around your chest, and you might get some tingling sensation in your blood, some even feel a tugging, or vibration of their body. Make sure you are still thinking of the World you are about to enter.
5) Now, with-out force, simply try to wake "up" or "Float Up", without moving your concious self.Remember use your mind, not your body during this part.
6) The chest pressure, vibrations and tugging should settle to complete quietness. You will suddenly feel released, or "Free". You notice that you have "floated out" of your body, feel free to look back if you want, thought beware, seeing your concious self looking like a dead corpse could instantly bring you back to the real world.
7) Now you can do as you wish, you will feel a sense of eeriness, try not to think of it that way. Think that you are in "another world" and that you can return to your body "At Anytime". Try to do some silly things, try to spin around, or do backflips. You will notice that your hand will seem to "Go through" the walls. Dont feel too tempted to walk through the wall, you don't want to drift too far from your body. IF you are still in your room, with your concious self still there, you must have thought about "Floating up" instead of "Floating up- to a specific location". If you think about Location and Floatation, you will wake up somewhere different everytime.
8) If you feel endangered, or strange or simply dont like your experience, Go back to your body, turn around and align yourself to your body, this may not work instantly, do not stress. Simply drift yourself to "Sleep" in this Astral World, Do exactly what you did to get into this world, to get out of it, and you will very likely wake back up.
9) When you wake up, you may feel a head/chest or muscle ache, this is pretty normal, in some cases you barely have any of these "Side-Effects", other times the headaches could turn to a Migraine, but they do go away.
10) If you have gone this far, you are prone to having another "Astral Projection" if you really wanted to. Remember fill your head with the topic, and next time think about "Floating up" and "Where you will end up". - And it should be.
Grounding and Centering
Grounding and centering helps us put us in the upright frame of the mind befor and after magickal working, grounding means to feel secure,to root yourself to planet earth.To bring nature into yourself and yourself into nature.Centering means to find the ultimate, peacefull calm at the center of your bieng, Stretching out to the center of the planet, into the center of the universe.The practising of grounding and centering comes in handy for a variety of circumstances, including relaxation, preparation for magick and ritual, and removing stress and negativity from the body.Use grounding and centering when:
*Befor and after meditation
*Befor and after any spell casting
*Befor and after ritual
*When you are angry,upset or sick
*Each morning as a part of your daily devotions
Grounding and centering can be done while sitting or standing.It is easier to ground and center first few times outside.
TO GROUND: Take three deep breaths (in through the nose out through the mouth).Close you eyes, imagine that you are your favorite tree(or just any tree).And that your feet( your roots) grow deep into mother earth.Feel the stable, secure energy of the planet.
TO CENTER: Imagine that your energy is merging with that of the universe, allow the sounds and smells of the world around you to pass through you. Like you are floating in a magickal pool. Let your concentration center on your solar plexas area. Imagine there is a beautiful sun or ball of light burning their. Then when you are ready, release that energy to the universe, Slowly allow yourself to become one with the universe. This is the still point. Now you are ready for magick and ritual!
Cleansing,consecrating and empowering(CCE)
Witches make a practice of cleansing, consecrating, and empowering their working tools, and ritual substances, such as water, cakes and wine. Other things that are cleansed, consecrated, and empowered are Sacred Spaces, altars, herbal charm bags, herbs, gems, bottles, candles, and almost every thing we use in tthe Craft. Other religions consecrate their tools, but in Wicca, one notable difference is that the act of conscecration is not confined to the Priest or Prestess. In Wicca, the power to consecrate is regarded as inherent in every human being, and as beig effective if done sincerely. You could apply these three processes to everything, from your athame, to an old gym sock (although, you may want to mundanely cleanse the gym sock before you cleanse it magickally.) To better understand these prossesses, let us break them down. At the end of this document is a sample cleansing , consecrating and empowering ritual.
Cleansing
When we cleanse an object in the mundane world, let us say a dish, we remove any leftover food with soap; we don't want old food stuck on the plate! Then we have to wash off the soap (soapy food doesn't taste any good, I'll assure you.) Then we must dry the dish off with a dish towel. What I am trying to say here is that when we cleanse something, whether mundane or magickal, we must rid the object of negative things with positive things (cleaning the food off the dish with soap,) and then negate the object of all things, positive and negative (rinsing off the soap and drying the dish with the towel,) to return it to purely, what we had to start with (a dish.) Magickally speaking, rid the object of of negative energies, then negate the object of all negative and positive energies, so we simply have, an energy-free object. Got it? Good! Moving on...
Ways of cleansing objects:
- By use of Holy Water (Element of Water)
- By use of "cleansing" or "purifying" incenses (Element of Air)
- Passing through a flame (Element of Fire)
- Placing the object on the Pentacle (Element of Earth)
- Asking (nicely) the Element of Spirit cleanse the object
- Placing the object in the light of the sun/moon to be cleansed by its rays/beams
Usually, the elements, Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit are all employed when cleansing (meaning that you would use Holy Water, incense, flame, Pentacle, and Spirit to cleanse one object) except when using the sun/moon light technique, which is used to cleanse smaller, non-ritual tools and items such as crystal balls, gems and crystal points.
Consecrating
Consecration is a fairly (fairly) cut-and-dry subject. Simply, consecrating is the act of making it known to the Divine Goddess and God that these ritual tools (or other items that would be consecrated) will be used in acts of Their worship, ritual, spell or working. Conscecration has three basic purposes. The first is psychological; to set the tool or substance aside as something special, and thus to modify the user's attitude towards it -- which in turn strengthens his or her confidence, creative imagination, and willpower in any ritual in which it is used.
The second purpose an be called psychic, magickal or astral. Witches believe that objects have "bodies" on other planes sand levels; and that, just as a material object itself can be caltred, decorated, carved, melted, etc. all without robbing it of its identity, perhaps enhansing it. Often a very powerful astrsl oreven spiritual charge is carried by a material object.
The third purpose is that you are making the object sacred. You are blessing it and telling the Divine that "this ________ I name sacred in your Divine eye." Sometimes the Elements are again employed to consecrate. But of course, it can't be done in a no-class manner. Check the ritual further down in the document to see what I mean. Simply put -- consecration is the Act of blessing and making sacred in the Divine eye.
Empowering
Empowering is what it says it does. It empowers, that is, gives the object power. Remember -- when we cleansed the object, we got rid of all of its power. Now we will give it back powers -- magickal ones.
When we empower, we have to raise power to put it into an object (ex: We need actual gasoline to before we can put it into our little Volkswagon Bug and go putt-putt around town. If we all could conjure up a little fuel oil out of nowhere, none of us would complain about the price of it.)
To raise power, we need to draw it up (just as if we needed gasoline, we'd draw up the oil out of the ground) and fine tune it (refining the oil to make gasoline.) One way of raising power, particularly useful in empowering an object, is to use our visualization skills and see the energies in the room or area around you focus on a point and form a bluish-silvery ball. As the energies form the ball, filter out any harmful or uneeded energies. When you have collected and focused the energies, you will "push" the ball into the object. Visualize the now empowered object glowing with energy.
Another way of empowering is to aspect Divine energy into the object, that is to say that you call the Goddess, God, or Both to bless the object with with Their energies. There are many ways of empowering. Wherever any useful (and good) energies may come from (the Sun, Moon, stars, Earth) that energy may be used to empower. You must always thank the source of the power for its use. The tool will gradually take in some of your energies, but try not to employ them intentionally. Using your own energies, (whether in empowering or any magick or ritual,) is unwise, as it will drain you, leaving you how you are when you are tired -- fatigued, irritable, maybe even depressed. No one likes a cranky Witch. Defined -- Empower is to give power to something.
Now for the ritual...
Cleansing, Conscecrating and Empowering Ritual
You can use this ritual to cleanse, consecrate and empower your tools, charms, or any other thing that may need it. You can even modify it a little to be a house blessing ritual.
In the invocation, you may substitute specific Gods or Goddesses for the generis version I gave you. Just make sure of their attributes before you call on them. Moon phase: New or Full
Moon signs: Aries or Sagittarius.
Day: Monday, perhaps Friday.
Items needed:
- Holy Water
- "Cleansing" or "purifying" incence (ex: frankincense, cloves, cinnomen etc.)
- One candle (white)
- Altar Pentacle
- Objects to be cleansed, consecrated, and empowered
- Self-confidence (very important, non-substitutional)
Do a short meditation with the God and Goddess. Ask for Their strength and guidence.
Invoke the God and Goddess:
Hail, oh Goddess and God
Luminous Lady and Radient Lord
I call you to come into my circle
To witness and guide me in this ritual
Blessed Be!
Light the incense and the candle.
Place the tool on the pentacle and lay yor right hand on it. Say:
'Goddess and God, diegn to bless and to consecrate this _________ that it may obtain the necessary virtue through you for all acts of love and beauty.'
Pass the object through the incense, saying:
'I cleanse this ________, so that I may rid it of any negative energies. By the powers of Air witch is Her sacred breath, I remove all energies, positive and negative.'
Pass the object through the flame of the white candle, saying:
'I cleanse this ________, so that I may remove any negative energies within it. By the powers of Fire which is Her spirit, I remove all energies,positive or negative.'
Dip your fingers into the Holy Water, and sprinkle it on the object, saying:
'I cleanse this ________, so that I may remove any negative energies within it. By the powers of Water which is Her essence, I remove all energies, positive or negative.'
Place the object on the Pentacle, saying:
'I cleanse this ________, so that I may remove any negative energies within it. By the powers of Earth which is her Sacred Body, I remove all energies, positive or negative.'
Hold the object to the sky, saying:
I cleanse this ________, so that I may remove any negative energies within it. By the powers of Spirit which is Divine, I remove all energies, positive or negative. So mote it be.
Place the object back on the pentacle and say:
'Goddess and God, bless this instrument prepared in your love and honor.'
Next, raise energy but drawing the positive energies around you to focus into a ball. This is done through visualization. This is where you must use the self-confidence you have hopefully not forgotten to bring into the circle. See the energies coming together to form a silvery-blue ball, about eight to ten inches long. See it spinning in a deosil (clockwise) motion, slowly lowering it onto the object. Then see it and the object meld together, and the object now glowing with the power of the universe. Say:
'I empower this __________ with positive energies so that it may aid me in my worship of You, and in ritual of love. So mote it be.'
You have now cleansed, consecrated, and empowered one item. If you have any more, repeat the whole process again with the next object. If not, or when you are done:
Dismiss the Goddess and God
Dismiss Quarters
Take down the circle.
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