The Mabon ritual welcomes the coming second harvest and gives thanks for the first harvest. A designated leader may say the words that guide the group through the ritual or the speaking portions may be divided among group members. If you enjoy this ritual, you can learn more about the CUSP (Climbing Up the Spiral Pathway) tradition at our website or in the book called CUSP: A New Way to Walk An Old Path. (more…)
Emotion is what fuels magical practice because spell work begins with what you want to have happen. If you cannot feel, then you cannot want and feeling is emotion. All intense emotion is high energy and you can, with rational thought and careful planning, direct all the intensity of that energy toward your goal. Passion will spike energy right off the meter, whether that passion comes from lust, anger, fear, or exultation. High emotion of all kinds: love, fear, sadness, anger, frustration, etc, can fuel your magical energy like a stoked furnace. But should you? (more…)
Set Up: The ritual area is decorated with sheaves of wheat, corn on the husks, fresh vegetables, and brooms. The participants make corn dollies ahead of time. Corn dollies are actually, in our limited artistic ability, more often “corn joints” than “corn dollies,” so the aesthetics are not vital to the magic. We use corn husks, purchased in the Hispanic section of the grocery store for tamale making, as the wrapper for our corn dollies, then combine aromatic herbs affiliated with each of the five elements (earth, air, fire, water and spirit) into five different potpourri blends. I recommend books like The Master Book of Herbalism by Paul Bereyl and The Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham to determine the elemental affiliation of different herbs. Sympathetic essential oils may also be added for increased scent. (more…)
It can happen to all of us, although thankfully, not usually to the degree we see in the graphic above. Rituals fail. It is easy to raise one knowing eyebrow and say that it failed because it was intended to fail and all things are exactly as they should be and blah, blah, blah, but there is a huge difference in knowing that rituals sometimes do not go as planned versus understanding why rituals sometimes go in the ditch and how to manage that inevitability. (more…)
In certain rites of passage, in high energy, advanced magical work, and in rituals such as sweat lodge ceremonies that demand endurance and stamina to maximize the spiritual benefits gained, we expect to be tested up to or sometimes past our own limits. In most rituals, however, we seek out personal fulfillment that comes at an easier price. I have found that the enjoyment a person derives from ritual comes from the blending of the personal meaningfulness and relatability of the content with the overall comfort level, spiritually and physically, within the circle area. These sustain the interest and focus required for a strong, impacting ceremony. In this post, we explore some of the components that make a ritual enjoyable and worthwhile to the participants. (more…)
A ritual is a specific set of actions, performed for their symbolic value. The words “ritual” and “tradition” are tied tightly together and are often deeply embedded in culture and family life. The usual purpose of ritual is to focus our intent and to connect to our Higher Self and Deity, as well as one another. In ritual, every act is deliberate and meaningful, always leaving room for The Divine to move through the ritual spaces and bring Its own influence. In this two-part series, we explore fundamental structure of ritual and considerations that help create a ritual that is moving and effective. (more…)
Most people find themselves in circumstances from time to time where a little more money is needed. Here are some quick and reliable spells, all personally vetted for effectiveness by the author, for upping the level of financial prosperity in your life and/or generating quick funds from sources expected and unexpected. (more…)
During this time of Spring Cleaning and the purging, it is important not to overlook home cleaning of a different kind. Just as we track in dirt on our shoes and hands, so do we bring in psychic debris from our ventures into the outside world. “Smudging” is the act of using the smoke from an herb to cleanse away negativity and is an important part of self-care. (more…)
In Monday’s blog, we talked about the feasibility of working magic toward a positive outcome using the food we prepare. In this posting, we will discuss the nuts and bolts of how to do it. When working magic through food, there are two categorizations to consider. (more…)
Creating a particular outcome through the use of food is a practice as old as eating itself. It is less about ideas such as “Apricots will make you flirty” and “Eating bananas will draw in a lover” and more about the way energy operates in the world around us. Where there is energy, there is magic. (more…)
Eighteen years ago, my priest/husband/co-author and I outlined a spiritual path that got to the bare bones of the agricultural sabbat cycle and created a plan for positive life change through magical manifestation. What was born of those long nights of drinking, writing, drinking, researching, drinking, and plotting was CUSP (Climbing Up the Spiral Pathway). Little did we realize that it would turn into a practice used worldwide and by practitioners of many faiths. It influences our lives daily. (more…)
Thursday’s blog post discussed ethical considerations such as the power of intent and working for others without their permission. Today, we move further into the subject, beginning with Karma and Three-Fold Law…
There is much to say about magical ethics, especially when you consider the variances from tradition to tradition and spiritual path to spiritual path. A person’s head could explode trying to keep track of what candle to put out first or which way to walk in circle without courting disaster. (more…)