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BOOK
OF SHADOWS
WITHIN THIS PAGE YOU WILL FIND
SOME
RITUALS AND SPELLS THAT I HAVE FOUND
USEFUL AND INTRIGUING.
I HOPE THEY WILL HELP OTHERS
I WILL ALSO INCLUDE SOME LINKS TO OTHER
WICCAN / PAGAN SITES I HAVE VISITED AND
FOUND TO BE VERY HELPFUL.
PLEASE
UNDERSTAND THAT THESE CEREMONIES
AND RITES ARE SOME
THAT I HAVE EITHER FOUND ON THE INTERNET
OR READ IN BOOKS USE
THEM OR MODIFY THEM AS
YOU FEEL .
CONSECRATION RITUAL
You will need the following equipment
- 1 PACK CONSECRATED SALT.
- 1 BOTTLE HOLY WATER
- 1 WHITE CANDLE
- 4 ELEMENTAL CANDLES
-
1 CIRCLE CORD
-
4 CIRCLE CANDLE HOLDERS
Place an altar cloth upon the altar along with the consecrated water and
salt, (if you are using a general-purpose table, this will need to be
consecrated first. In which case sprinkle salt around the table in a
clockwise direction and say the following words:
In the name of the Lord of Light and the Lady of the Moon I
exorcise
and consecrate thee of all impurities of the spirits of phantasm
The color of the altar cloth will depend on what ritual you are
working.
Place the elemental candles in the following order: green in the north yellow
in the east, red in the south and blue in the west. Place on the altar
everything that you are going to work with, i.e. subject links, candles,
parchment, inks, pens, money, book or paperwork, incenses, etc. Sprinkle
some consecrated salt over the items on the altar in a clockwise direction
saying the following words:
As I sprinkle this salt, so I cancel all evil and negative
vibrations, as I sprinkle this salt, so I increase my willpower. Consecrate,
purify and sanctify. I declare that this altar and these ceremonial objects
are cleansed, purified and made fit for the work now to be done
Lay down the circle cord around your working area in a clockwise direction.
Now in your mind’s eye see a ball of golden light at your solar plexus area,
(upper abdomen) and imagine that ball of light radiating out and surrounding
your aura, (an egg shaped area surrounding your body). Now see the light
growing in intensity and going down your right arm, (if you are left-handed
substitute left arm). Now hold your athame in this hand, (if you don’t have
an athame use index and middle finger and thumb held together), and imagine
the light extending before you. Now use this light to draw a circle clockwise
in the air around your working area. Using the Holy Water, sprinkle a small
amount in the east, south, west and north saying the following words at each
compass point:
Hear me O mighty ones, Guardians of the Quarters, I do summon thee
and call thee up to witness my rite and guard my circle.
Walk around the circle and light each elemental candle in turn. You are
now ready to perform a ritual and when you have completed the spell or
ceremony you need to walk around the circle extinguishing the elemental
candles. Say the following words in turn at each compass point:
Hear me O mighty ones, I thank thee for thy assistance during this
rite and bid thee farewell
In your mind's eye imagine the circle of light and with your athame
or fingers and thumb draw in the circle of light back into your arm and
return the light to your solar plexus area.
This closes the the circle and thanks the elements
for their presence at your ceremony.
I also have found this text
regarding
THE ATHAME
please enjoy
The Athame
by Wyn Summerhawk L.C.W. PhD. & Talisman Winterhawk L.C.W. U.L.C. PhD.
The Athame is the Black Handled Knife use to cut the necessary things for the
circle such as the pentagrams in the quarters and the circle. It should be
mentioned herein that the Athame need not be a black handled knife. It is the
opinion of the authors that it suit the person who uses it. It is also used to
invoke and banish things that are unwanted or needed in the circle. It is
considered to be an extension of the users "self". This includes will, spirit,
thought, emotion and manifestation as well. It should be mentioned here that the
Athame is never used for cutting things like meat, thread, plants or anything
else considered a solid object on this plane. (Use of this blade for self
defense will make it null and void for any magickal use again.)
The written history of the Athame as a magickal tool comes to us from the
Lansdowne Manuscript dated 1202 and the Sloane Manuscript dated 1307. Before we
go further it must be stated that the manuscripts above were great magickal
works and this information was evidently known and practiced well before these
manuscripts were written. These are considered to be the only survivors of the
book and Witch burnings of the inquisitions. The material contained in these
manuscripts is Quabalistic in nature. In the book The Key Of Solomon,
L.W.deLaurence's 1914 translation of the manuscripts states that the Black
Handled Knife,"...is for making the Circle wherewith to strike terror and fear
into the Spirits. It should be made on the day of Mercury, the Hour of Saturn,
tempered "thrice" by fire and dipped into the blood of a black cat and juice of
hemlock." Not something I want to do with my Athame today.
In Israel Regardie's book, "The Golden Dawn", 1984 the method of "making" the
Air Dagger is a very long ceremonial ritual. The Air Dagger is considered to be
the equivalent of the Wiccan Athame. This is where so many get confused as to
what direction the Athame should correspond to. The Athame my be used as an Air
Dagger but it is NOT an Air Dagger. Considering the age of the manuscripts that
deLaurence translated and the initial printing of "The Golden Dawn" in 1937
there was a change of attitude as to the Athame, i.e., no more blood used in
consecration. Further history shows a Greek vases with women commanding Spirits
with a short bladed knife. "The Clavicle Of Solomon" published 1572, mentions
the knife as a "Arthana" which Athame may be a subverted form of the word. For
more information on the history of the Athame I would suggest reading The
A.B.C.'S of Witchcraft by Doreen Valiente.
The Athame is nothing like it used to be . It is the considered opinion that the
Athame is of the Center and of the other four quarters as well, not just the
East. It is the controlling factor and extension of Self in magick that leads us
to that conclusion. We consider the Athame to be a tool of center, of self, of
evocation and banishing. The Athame is the tool wielded of one's own will,
thoughts, emotions, and intuition, over all of the Elements and over ALL. We use
it to command, even, the spirits that we evoke, invoke, and banish. The moment
one strikes a relationship with the blade is the beginning of it's consecration.
The purpose of consecration is to embedd in one's own mind and in the very metal
of the blade, the focus of it's purpose. Cleansing a clearing is the symbolic
refinement of the blade. Binding makes the blade truly one's own, and extension
of self in the center of the Universe. Charging is the energy from within the
self projected through the blade and outward in the direction of ones intent.
The consecration of the Athame...
Required for the ritual:
The intended blade wrapped in a black cloth (symbolically still unmined metal)
Juice of pimpernell (in lieu of sacrifice) in a cup of water
A basin of water large enough to wash the blade with salt
Solomon's Seal incense
A feather
A needle and candle to sterilize, to take a drop of own blood (optional)
Container of earth large enough to bury the blade
Brazier, Hibachi, or a torch and fuel to temper the blade (preferably a flame)
Lodestone or magnet
Beginning in the center of the consecrated alter in the center of a sacred space
(In the center of the Universe) three days before the new Moon;
1. Take the intended blade out of the black cloth as if mining the metal. Wash
the blade as if washing new metal from the Earth (optional brushing as well).
Thank the Earth for the metal.
2. Carry the blade to the East and smudge with smoke of incense and the feather.
Meditate upon the blade's purpose-extension of self with fine tuned intellectual
process behind it's use, consciously driven. Anoint the blade with oils from the
skin rubbing it from haft to point, visualizing it being formed into the shape
it should be in idea or design.
3. Carry the blade to the South. Heat in the brazier and temper in the cup with
juice of pimpernell three times. Meditating on the forging of the metal as per
the design, thinking it made as "mine" (A drop of blood from one's own finger
intensifies this concept at this time) then chant:
Blade of steel I conjure thee,
To ban all things as named by me,
And as my words, SO MOTE IT BE.
Say it until it sticks.
4. Carry the blade to the West. Bathe the blade lovingly in the basin of water
and anoint with own bodily fluids such as a tear, or saliva. Meditate upon the
emotional bond one chooses to build with the blade.
5. Carry to the North. Rub the blade gently from the point to shaft with the
magnet or lodestone chanting:
Blade of steel I conjure thee,
To attract all things as named by me,
And as my words, SO MOTE IT BE.
Say it until it sticks.
Ceremoniously bury the blade in the earth filled basin to rest as dead to be
reborn seven days later. Speaking over the new grave something like (it is
suggested it be one's own poem):
Thee of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth
Made as mine,
My will through thee,
Mastering all Elements,
My Servant
6. Seven days later recast the circle around the undisturbed blade in it's basin
of earth. This would be a good time to have a name ready for the 'newborn'
Athame.
7. Carry the Athame to each quarter. Introduce it to the Guardians by the name
that has been chosen.
8. The name of the blade, one's own name, and/or words of power in secret
symbols of one's own choice can now be embedded, painted, or engraved upon blade
and handle as one chooses.
LINKS TO WICCAN PAGES
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