The following is a contribution from a Mage named Weasel. Any and all perspectives and views are that of the contributing author and is not necessarily that of Shepherd Mage and/or the Big-Magick website.
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Green Magick

Greetings fellow mages & beginners

This is going to be a brief explanation about green-magic .

But before starting it , I’d like to specify some points I am going to talk about

First what is magic??

Well , I don't intend to write too much about it as there have been lots of things said (both right & wrong) and written about it. I will simply say its a type of energy that flows through out the universe and belongs in every substance you can see. There's a small bit of magic in stones , trees , plants , animals and even you. Everything has energy in it (either kinetic or potential) therefore everything contains a little magic in it.To make magic happen , you must concentrate , channel it and focus on it ,let the energy build up in you , let it flow through you , divert it into the course you want and let it explode out of you. But to do these you must follow some of these steps. After a while you may notice you don't have to do step b and later maybe step a & d and after a long time you will find out you only have to concentrate and , voila , it will happen. But first lets go with baby steps.

Also lets get another point straight. Green Magic isn't Wicca. Wicca has a branch called green Wicca but mostly its feminine and the males feel uncomfortable working with it. Green Magic deals mostly with the nature. The herbs ,trees ,animals, the elementals ,nature spirits , also people from the fae make up the main components of Green Magic. Its actually a mixture of druidry , Wicca and natural spells. Its neither feminine nor masculine oriented both sexes can do it and both get good results from it.

Will power

First to make these spells happen , you must believe in yourself and magic. Think it like this. You are going into very hard exam and although you have studied hard you just don't trust yourself. Most probably , because you have demoralized yourself , you will not be able to pass the exam. The first step is essential. If you have the attitude " Oh I don't believe this stuff. Lets try it if it happens I will try again later" you wont be satisfied. The spell may not work or even if it works you may think its a coincidence and forget about it. Everybody has that special energy inside but if you don't have the will how can you manipulate it??

Before passing on the other step I would like to give you a glimpse of the magic world.

Your life may seem like you are on a road. You will have to choose between the pavement or the highway. The pavement is your real life. Safe secure boring and out from all the dangers. The highway is the magic life. Fast dangerous insecure but very exciting. You will have to choose a path after a while. You will find out that you have to live on the pavement , because all your friends and family is there , but you will have to learn to slide to the highway and challenge and meet friends and foes.

Purpose

If you have understood this lets continue with the other step. Okay you got the will , well what's your purpose??Do you want to help a person , put a curse on somebody , heal the world win money or attract girls?? Well , actually you can do all of these things. But first you must be reminded about the consequences.

Witches believe in the "whatever you do it will return to you 3 times more powerful" rule. Some people believe in the karmic rule. My belief is a lot more simple. Have you ever wondered why you have the same types of friends?? Why a killer wont have a police friend or why does a sweet girl make friends with other cute girls. This is called the attraction rule in physics. You will make friends with guys / gals with similar tastes , you will eat the foods you like , you will go to the movie if it has blahblahblah in it. The same rule applies to magic. If you are a good person and want to help people , the people who will train you will be those sorts of people. If you want to be a devil worshipper , your teacher will be a devil. This will change the results. If you help a person one day he will pay you back, if you are evil natured a more powerful person may challenge you for your power.Act wise and choose your position wisely.

This doesn't mean "Hey brother , love everyone , let peace be with you". You can do whatever you want , its your will. If a dickhead is bothering you all the time and turning your life to hell go and summon an elemental and let him be bothered for a while.

Anyway I think you get the picture so lets continue with the next step. While I was writing this article I kept remembering things so you may feel like watching a flashback sometimes but , really its important.

The tools & rituals

We got the purpose , we got the will now lets get into the dirty stuff. As I said at the beginning we may not these tools after a while but as we are approaching with baby steps lets get on with it.

The altar

The most important thing is to find a place where no one can disturb you. This place should be preferably an empty spot in the forest but as we all nearly live in a concrete jungle , an empty room should be quite sufficient. As we are practicing Green Magic it is best to performed in the forest but performing a ritual has its advantages and disadvantages. Firstly curious people may bother you. But mostly animals will watch you , or some nature spirits may join you and as you are still a new beginner these cam disturb your concentration. As we are gathering all the energies while performing the energies of animals ands spirits may distract the purpose of your spell. Lets give an example here. While performing a love spell if a curious crow starts watching you , and you attract its energy the spell will go bonkers as a crows energy is full of deceit , disorder and despair. Also if you invoke a spirit accidentally it may attack you , and believe me I have seen some attacks from nature spirits , its not a nice experience. If you don't piss of the spirits you wont have trouble.

If you want to perform a ritual in your house , I suggest you use a room which is usually kept empty. Your bedroom may be a good place , but I don't suggest you to use a place where you spend most of your time. The most important thing is you shouldn't be disturbed while performing a ritual. So try to choose a nice , empty and quite place.

The sword (or knife)

The sword or the knife is a tool greatly used in magic. It is used in cutting herbs plants , and used at rituals while drawing pentagrams in the air or circles on the sand surface. The trick is to buy one and carry it with you all the time. Although some may disagree and tell you to only use when you are performing a ritual , you never know when you will see a plant that you will need and also, the more you carry the tool, the more you become familiar and .the more energy passes from you. Also I advice you to protect the knife from salt water and stuff. Even stainless steel gets rusty so dry your knife and oil it at regular time periods.

The Cup:

To be honest I don't use one. It usually is used to mash , mix and boil the herbs in it. It isn't essentially necessary but it wouldn't hurt to have one.

Focusing objects

As spoken before , you will need to channel your will power and is done by concentrating. You can use any object to concentrate. Mainly used objects are crystal balls , candle , light resources , and even rhythmic devices. If it doesn't irritate you in the long run you can use any of them . Also some people (like me) prefer not to use anything while concentrating thus concentrate on themselves. This can be done also.

After providing all these items I would suggest you to meditate on them a bit and let your energy flow on them. As you use them more you will get more familiar to them. This will make your ritual easier to perform. This process is also called "marking your tools". Now before we pass on the herbs trees animals lets flashback and talk about the "purpose"

The purpose of your spell , usually helps you if it is written somewhere. Usually it is written on candles , clothes , carved on wood or simply written on a piece of paper.Although it is a tradition to write " O great Akhurime , I your worthless servant mayhap want your advice blah blahblah..." Don't do this. Write your purpose out in simple words. You can use any language or symbol you want to while writing it. If you want to feel gothic write it out in Latin , If you want to be a bit aggressive write it out in German. I prefer using old Celtic Runes. It helps me to concentrate whaler writing and because it needs a bit thinking and working on it , a lot of my energy passes on it. Shortly write in any language alphabet (or even draw ) but let it be simple.

Now lets pass on the tools.

Look at the purpose of your spell again. What is the wish?? What's the main wish and what's the motive behind it??Lets say the wish is "I want John to get rid of his sickness and feel better" A noble wish. Now the wish is to heal. Why??because he is your friend. Thetas the motive. This is also the second wish "Not to lose a good friend"

Usually spells will contain a primary wish (in this example healing a sickness) and a motive or as we call it the hidden wish ( not to lose a loved one). Again mostly the hidden wish is friendship , love or just the opposite, hate.Of course if you want to call down an angel or communicate with a spirit the wish is also the motive . The reason to specify the wish and motive is to choose the proper tools. The tools you will need must be for the wish. It doesn't hurt to gather tools for both the wish and motive , but if you gather tools for just the motive , you will not get the appropriate solution.

After separating your wish and motive , choose a deity(angel , god , spirit , demon etc...) that you believe will aid you .Remember these beings are powerful energies , so search before just choosing one. You must be sure you have called upon the right type of energy being. It is always good to concentrate on one deity. It doesn't matter where you have found the name . It can be shamanic , Celtic , wiccan , druidic etc...Just make sure its the right deity. If you find more then one deity that will aid you in your ritual then you can turn to your motive and see which one fits better or just trust your instincts . Remember while writing out your wish to add the deities name and also your name . A typical written spell should look like this. " I , George , want the help of Haskiti , as I will be sailing through a dangerous storm tomorrow"

To make it more powerful you can add the wiccan word "So mote it be " at the end.

Using the same philosophy , choose the herbs and plants you want to use in the spell. Here it is okay to use more then one. Actually its even better to use more then one.My suggestion is this , don't burn , mash ,mix or try to eat or drink these things. We are not doing shamanic magic here and we are not trying to get high. You might poison yourself.The only reason to use herbs and plants here , is to feel their power and let them be another focus point while concentrating.

Many Green Magicians use colors. You may also use a color that symbolizes your wish . You can either take a cloth in the color you need or just wear a plain simple t-shirt. It really does help you during the spell.

Wiccans use candles in nearly every spell. Druids don't. We leave it to our decision. But I usually prefer using one. Its good to concentrate on , so you can use it as a focusing object ; you can buy them in any smell you want , which helps you relax while meditating ; you can carve what you want on it ,and you can buy it in any color you need for that spell. I always use a candle , because of all the reasons I have explained, its cheap to buy , and also I have never seen a witch or magician film where candles aren't used (heh)

If you want to use some additional help from the animals , and if you are in a room , find a good picture of that specific animal , imagine it , concentrate and call it to to your help.If you are in a forest , and if its a animal that can be found in that forest , just call it to your help.You may not see it but be sure it will come to your help. The same can be done for the nature spirits as long as you don't try to bind them or piss them off.

According to planetary magic , the rituals are best done at specific seasons , specific days and hours. I am not saying it isn't true , but I don't prefer to use this as it is usually a loss of time. If you want to do an urgent ritual on Tuesday and the planets position is best on Sunday, well what shall you do??We cant just say “ well bad luck “ and wait until Sunday , right ?? What I do is , if it isn't an urgent spell I look at the calendar. If it will be suitable inside a week (and working hours) I will wait, but if its an urgent spell, I just do it.

As a nature mage , an important step is to find the right tree. There are different thoughts on this topic, so I will write down what I was taught.

1. Do your research and perform the spell under the right type of tree.

2. While browsing around just find a tree you feel comfortable with. Meditate under it and try to feel its good vibes. If you think its good perform all your spells under that tree , when you cant find that right type of tree.

3. If you cant do it in a forest or an area with trees around then find a fresh leave from a tree and place it on your altar while doing the spell.

This the order you should proceed.

Also stones or gems can be used in Green Magic. Again do your research and choose them under the philosophy explained before. To be honest I cant be bothered buying them as they are usually expensive , are not the back-bones of Green Magic , and if you collect all the herbs and plants , call the deity and animals , sit under a tree, I don't see what a big difference a small stone will make.

Now as you have noticed I have written the word "research" a lot of times. This is because I am not going to write about the specific herbs , plants , deities , animals etc... This alone would hold around 50-60 pages. If you really want to practice Green Magic , I would advice you to download this information from both wiccan and druidic web sites , as not to be one sided. Generally everybody agrees about the meanings of herbs and stuff but from time to time you may face a different point of view for the same plant. In this case , leave it to your instincts. Both are right probably , but you will know what is more right for you.

Here comes the most exciting part , the ritual.Here we have a lot of different ideas as Green Magic is a bit of a mixture. Some practitioners prefer to use high magic rituals ,some prefer to use wiccan ceremonies. I suggest you to use whatever feels right. The only rule in Green Magic is that everything should be simple. Our usual ritual consists of these parts.

As all tools and ingredients are prepared stand before your altar.

Make a quick and simple prayer to whichever deity you are going to call upon.

Draw a circle on the ground . It should be big enough so we can sit inside it.

Put your focusing object in front of you and your herbs and plants to your sides. If you have a candle , now is the time to burn it.

Attain the right mind state. Close all of your 5 senses to the outside world. Slowly start meditating. Suppers your feelings. Try not to think about your lover , friends or family. ( there are many different types of meditations that can be used. These can also be found from the net. I personally like using the breathing-counting and heartbeat meditation method)

After you have attained the right mind state open your eyes very slowly and look at your focusing object, while touching the herbs with your hands. Don't look at them. Just concentrate on the focusing object. (If you are experienced with this stuff you may try to see the energy flow and the energy collecting above you somewhere. Don't force yourself)

Now call upon the deity for help. You may chant , sing , talk or just think about the deity. You may feel the deities presence after a while , but even if you don't assume the deity has come and tell him/her your wish. Concentrate on your wish.

As you are using the candle and the herbs , while concentrating on your wish , try to feel the energy that's building up around you. When you feel like you have attained the right amount of energy channel it to the deity you have chosen. Let the energy flow through you like a funnel , to the deity .

As now he/she has been given the wish , explain why you chose him/her and start bargaining about the price. This is mostly known as sacrifice

Before continuing lets explain this sacrifice bit. Its usually a give and take principle in the universe. You want something from the deity , you will have to pay and no they don't accept visa. It also doesn't mean you have to sacrifice a living being. This sacrifice can be done in 4 different ways.

1. Offering your services to the deity.Lets say you are performing a love spell . While you are making love the next time (I don't mean sex , I mean really performing a love act with your partner) dedicating that to the deity will be accepted .

2. If you have done the ritual in a forest by leaving small gifts you can make the animals nearby and the deity happy.I would suggest to leave sweet things like honey or fruit. If you have called upon the fae also leave some sea shells.

3. To understand the suffering of a friend deeply will show the deity that you are deeply interested in this spell. For example a friend of yours has a prostate problem and you want to heal him with this spell. Don't go to the toilet for a day or two. After some time you will feel the same urge and the same pain. If you do the ritual in this mind state because you can deeply sympathize with his pain the deity will try the best to help you

4. If you really think its necessary to give a living sacrifice then do it according druidic rules. The sacrifice must come willingly and it mustn't feel any pain. I guess that's a big difference then Satanists cutting cats.

Now as everything has finished first start to relax. Let all the energies you have called upon return to their own places. Ground the extra energy if you have any left in you.

Let your mind state turn back to normal. Start to look around more carefully and try to hear the noises from outside. Slowly open all your 5 senses back.While doing this don't hurry just try to relax. (Again if you want to you can perform a closing ritual if you feel like.)

Gather all your tools , erase the circle . and leave the altar. Let the candle burn till all the candle melts. Later clean it up.

As now everything has finished you will notice some signs of being tired. These rituals are tiresome so do whatever you believe is good for you. Eat . drink take a bath or go to sleep , however I wouldn't advice you to sleep right after a ritual.Now you can continue with your normal life , god help you.

Closing note 1:

Some mages disagree about the deity usage. Personally I usually channel the gathered energy directly to the person without using the deity as a messenger. I ask the deity only to empower me while I am sending the energy. Its more tiring and more uncertain , but you will get the results more quicker.(Either way you will have to pay the deity) Of course it depends on your point of view. One of the basic points of Green Magic is , if you don't know a ceremony for a specific need , then make up your own ceremony and use your own words and herbs.

Closing note 2 :

No offense folks , but I am completely against love spells. If you fancy somebody go and talk to him/her, don't bother the angels or deities for these sorts of petty things. Interesting thing is I believe deities play games on these types of people. A friend of mine performed a love ritual to get a girl , but after 2 days that girl fell in love with another person and a week later my friend was dating a completely different girl he hadn't even thought about. My friend is still with that girl and they love each other and they are happy but when you come down to the point that wasn't the girl he wanted while performing the spell.

My advice is don't be a wanker , you want somebody , go and tell that. If you get turned down there are millions of people around still looking for love.

I greet you luck if you will choose this path. Hope we will meet again , this time not on the pavement but on the asphalt.

Weasel.