Proofreading

I buckled down and finished most of my ritual. I managed to forget a whole section though! Now I'm into the proofreading stages. This is, easily, my least favorite.

If anyone wants to give it a read-through before it's posted here on the 21st, drop me a comment here and you can help proofread it.

Writing Rituals-Planning Stage

I'm writing a ritual for June 21st. It's for both Litha and for my own rededication and cleansing.

It's hard, particularly when some statues are on order and won't be here until June; I work better if I'm looking at the object. But, since I don't know how long shipping will take, and I'm hoping that they will arrive before June 21. Enough about that though.

I've got a rough list of supplies written, so that's a plus, right?

Grounding and Centering

I've seen countless differnet ways to ground and center yourself, either before a ritual/spell, or before bedtime.

So, what technique works best for you?

New Home Floorwash

This spell is for the first time you clean your new home. It basically gives you a blank slate for moving in. If you can, clean the floors, counters, and other surfaces before you unpack most of your stuff, so that you can clean all the residual energy.

1. Make a strong infusion from basil, hyssop, and pine needles
2. Strain and add to a bucket of rinse water, with vinegar
3. Cleanse floors and surfaces as needed

Psychic Protection Cleansing

Yeah, I'm a bit late today...I was out of town and am now exhausted.

Moving on.
Cleansing spells are important aspects of a Witches everyday lives. This is one to help clear debris in your third eye and thus improve psychic vision. If you read tarot cards, pendulums, or use other forms of psychic...ness, you will need to perform a pyschic cleansing spell at least once a month, but perhaps more depending on your own needs.
This one is fairly straight forward, and is a modifed Native American smudging ceremony.


You will need
- Smudge stick
- Bowl or shell
- Matches
- Large feather
- Crystal. Any crystal that aids in cleansing will do. Amethyst clusters and clear quartz are always good choices.

Smudge yourself and the room around you. Smudge your crystal too. Place your crystal close by you to absorb any negative energy in order to gather all the strength you need. If you are performing this cleansing before bed, keep your crystal by your bed.
Center yourself, breathe deeply and evenly. Now call on the four Great Animal Spirits to cleanse and protect your space. Say: “Great Eagle, spread your wings before me. Keep my safe.” Next say: “Great Bear, please stand behind me. May you sharp claws protect my back.”Now call on Coyote saying: “Great Coyote, stand on my right and may your sharp wits protect me.” Finally summon Buffalo: “Great Buffalo, please stand to my left and keep me and this place safe.” Imagine all four Great Spirits surrounded and protecting your space.
Carry out an aura cleansing ritual and spread the bright white light to encompass the spirits and your whole room. Thank the spirits and ask them to keep up their protection as long as is necessary.

Casting an Egyptian Circle

I went to the ROM yesterday, and had a fairly good time. My photos are on my aunt's camera, so you'll get them in tomorrow's post. They put on a new wing, and it looks good, but messes with perception, even inside.
What I was most impressed with was the gift shop: it used to be a dingy little afterthought with everything either too expensive or things you could get for kids. Now, they have all sorts of things, including reproductions. I got the four canopic jars. Why did I get them? Well, I'm a visual person, and the four sons of Horus (the canopic jars) are used in making an Egyptian circle, which is a ritual I'm going to share with you today.
I found this in a book called Egyptian Paganism for Beginners, which I reviewed here, but was modified a bit by me.
Any basic Wiccan circle can be modified to fit any tradition or theme you want.

You Will Need
- Four candles of tea candles for the four quarters. These may be placed in coloured holders, or the candles themselves may be coloured to represent the directions. Traditionally: yellow for air in the east, red for fire in the south, blue for water in the west and black for earth in the north. You may use whatever colours you feel symbolize the elements and directions
- Two candles for the altar or shine, these should be in the deity’s colours or white
- An image of the deity
- A wand
- A sistrum or rattle. You can use a singing bowl or drum if you can't find a sistrum. They can be hard to come by
- A compass if you need help figuring out directions
- If you are a visual person like me, you can get a set of the four canopic jars, and place the corresponding deity in each direction, to give a more visual boundary to your circle.
The shrine or altar should preferably be placed in the east, the direction of sunrise, or else so that you are facing toward Egypt. This might be hard to do if you have a permanent altar set-up.

You may wish to have a copy of this ritual printed out with you while performing the ritual, in order to make sure you are following all the steps. It is also a good idea to do a couple “run-throughs” of the ritual, to get a basic feel for the ritual. In that way, you can also modify it to fit your own tastes before the actual ritual begins.

STEP ONE: Calling the Elemental Powers
Light the candles or tea candles at the four quarters, but leave the candles on the altar unlit when you start. Face the altar and compose yourself. Relax. Visualise a white light shining down from above. It comes from a divine source and bathes you and the room in its cleansing power, removing all unwanted influences from the vicinity. Image the divine light entering through the top of your head and flowing down your spine, awakening the latent psychic-etheric energy that is in your spine (like Chakras). A force also rises up your body form the earth. Imagine these forces within your body, imbuing you with power.
Take up your wand or use your finger, and turning clockwise, face east. Point your wand or finger toward the east and visualize the power flowing out toward where you point. Moving clockwise, draw the circle around your working area, from east to south, to west, to north, to east. As you draw it, visualize it as a line of bluish-white light flowing from the tip of your wand or finger, emanating from the power circling in your spine. Take your time to do this, pausing at each quarter is necessary—you may need to allow power to gather before you continue. When you have completed the circle, see it as a line round the circumference of a great protective sphere that encompasses you and your place of working, creating a sacred space within it.

STEP TWO: Calling the Sons of Horus
Always turning clockwise, take the sistrum, face east, and shake it. Sat: “Hail to you, Lords and Ladies of the East, Powers of Air! Hail, Lord Qubhsennuf! Please be present at this sacred place and witness this rite.” You need to project the words out onto the astral plane or realm of the imagination. The sound does not have to be loud in actuality, but it should be imagined as long enough to call the elemental air to you. As you chant the name three or four times, visualize Lord Qebhsennuf approaching in the form of a falcon—a golden bird of prey. He comes to rest at the edge of the circle as a tall, falcon-headed man, and behind him you can see a sunny sky with windswept clouds. You may “hear” clairaudiently a greeting from the neter. Reply politely, thanking him for coming (you may reply with your “inner voice” rather than speaking aloud).

Turn south, shake the sistrum. Say: “Hail to you, Lord and Ladies of the South, Powers of Fire! Hail, Lord Duamutef! Please be present at this sacred place and witness this rite.” Visualize him as a black jackal—a slim, doglike animal resembling a greyhound with erect, pointed ears and a bushy tail—approaching through a desert landscape. He comes to rest at the edge of the circle as a jackal-headed man (or woman as this neter is sometimes female), seen against a background of flames. If he greets you, thank him for coming.

Carry out a similar procedure in the west, calling on the power of water and Lord Imsety. See him as a bearded man standing on the seashore with the waved behind him.

Repeat the procedure in the north, but this time calling on the powers of earth and Lord Hapi. Visualize the neter approaching in the form of a baboon or ape. He stands at the edge of the circle as a baboon-headed man, seen against a background of plants and trees.
These four guardian spirits are the Four sons of Horus.

STEP THREE: Empoweing the Altar
Turn clockwise and face the shrine or altar. Shake the sistrum. Say:
The heavens are opened,
The earth is opened,
The West is opened,
The East is opened,
The southern half of heaven is opened,
The northern half of heaven is opened,
The doors are opened,
And the gates are thrown wide open to Ra
As he cometh forth from the horizon.

If performing the ceremony at night, you may wish to replace Ra with the name of a moon god such as Thoth or Khonsu.

Shake the sistrum. The circle is now cast. Light the candles on the shrine or altar. Say:
The shining Eye of Horus cometh
The brilliant Eye of Horus cometh
It cometh in peace;
It sendeth forth rays of light unto Ra in the horizon
And it destoryeth the powers of Set according to the decree.
It leadeth them on and it taketh possession of him
And its flame is kindled against him
Its flame cometh and goeth about and bringeth adoration;
It cometh and goeth about and bringeth adoration;
It cometh and goeth about heaven in the train of Ra
Upon the two hands of thy two sister, O Ra
The Eye of Horus liveth
Yea, liveth within the great hall;
The Eye of Horus liveth
Yea, liveth!

Thus, the circle is ready for work. Be sure that if you invoke a deity, you should thank them at the end of the rite.

STEP FOUR: Closing the Circle
Go round the circle counter-clockwise, stating in the east and pausing at each quarter to thank the respective elemental powers and neter. For example, in the east, shake the sistrum and say: “Lords and Ladies of the East, powers of Air, and Lord Qebhsennuf, thank you for attending this rite. Hail and farewell!” Visualize the neter departing, taking the elementals with him and the door to the elemental world closes. Extinguish the candle or tea candle as this happens. Use the energy to send a word or blessing to the elementals. Othewise, send a healing thought to those in need—candles in this rite should not be blown out unless they are used in this way. If you do not send a blessing, snuff out the candles on the altar.

Magical Days: Friday

Well, this post is scheduled for eight am, so if you're reading it at that time, it means I've just gone under for my wisdom tooth extraction. I probably won't be online much today, but please send me your healing thoughts! I'm terrible with pain.

As it is Friday, I should be posting a Blog Prompt, but I can't stop focusing on the mundane of my surgery, so I'm going to give you a bit of information about the magical associations of Friday.

Friday is the day of Venus, and is appropriately associated with romance, the female, and art.

Friday is a good day for love spells, as it is the day of romantic love, marriage, friendships, beauty, affection, soulmates, relationships, partners, alliances courtship, and dating.

Friday is also good for the arts, being the day of artistic abilities, decorating, gardening, architects, artists, beauticians, chiropractors, dancers, designers, engineers, entertainers, fashion, music, painting, poetry, and household improvements.

Friday is also the day of harmony, grace, luxury, social activity, cosmetics, gifts, income, growth, planning parties, and my favorite, shopping

One last note: tomorrow is my 100th post! Any ideas for what we should do to celebrate? Anything you guys want to see on my blog?

Consecration and Dedication Ritual

There are so many consecration and dedication rituals it's not even funny. Well, maybe it is a little funny.
Here's one ritual. Feel free to adapt it to whatever your needs are.

1. Choose a substance or object to represent each of the four elements: air, earth, fire and water. Commonly used are: incense for air, a candle for fire, a cup of water for water, and a bowl of salt for earth. These are just tradition, and other things may be substituted. Let your instincts guide you.
2. Take the object and pass it through the wafting smoke of the incense and say “now inspired with the breath of air...”
3. Pass the object swiftly through the fire of the candle (or as safely as you can over it, if the object is flammable) and say “...burnished by fire...”
4. Sprinkle the object with water and say “...purified by water...”
5. Dip the object into the bowl of salt and say: “...empowered by the earth.”
6. Hold the object with both hands before you chant and imagine an enveloping, warm white light purifying it. Say “Steeped in spirit and bright with light”
7. Place the object upon your altar and say: “By my hand, charged and changed. This (object) I will use for the purpose of good in this world. I hereby consecrate this tool.”

Separate Ceremonies

Taken from Pagan Blog Prompts:
If you were to plan your own Wedding or Funeral ceremony, would you create two separate ceremonies for pagan and non-pagan folk, or would you just plan a ceremony around your own personal beliefs? How would you feel if any non-pagan friends or family did not wish to attend such a ceremony?

My cousin got married on August first, which is also the day I’m writing this. Her husband’s parents are both Christian ministers, and thus the ceremony was obviously Christian.
The church, funny enough, was the same church my parents got married in. It is a nice enough church, but very old fashioned. On the main altar, there was the triple moon symbol, which made me laugh, because it’s a symbol of the Triple Goddess. What really freaked me out was the “Flag of a Christian Nation” they had right beside the Canadian flag. I didn’t expect it.

So, this begs the question, what would I do for my wedding?
I actually have a couple of scenarios.

Let’s say I marry someone with a very open mind, and is willing to have a pagan ceremony. First off, I’d work on finding a pagan priest or priestess who was legally recognized by the province of Ontario. I know there are some, probably in Toronto. If I was unable to find a priest or priestess who is officially licensed by the country, I would have a small civil ceremony at a courthouse with the immediate family, and the witnesses (if they weren’t a sibling), and have a religious ceremony after the fact.
I would like to get married in the early fall, dead winter, or late spring, so mid-October, January, or the end of March. For the legal pagan ceremony, I would opt for late spring or early fall, so we can have the wedding outdoors.
I would rent a good hall (I’ll let my mom handle that one!), and make sure it would have a nice set of grounds attached or right near there, so we would have the actual ceremony outside. Then, we would have some photography there, or some at a studio. Dinner would then be served in the hall which would be decorated in Egyptian fashion using Egyptian colours like gold and lapis blue. We would have good food (Italian if we can get it). On the table, there would be plates as centerpieces with little glass votive holders for lit candles, and instead of a mirror, or glass beads, I would have Jordan almonds as decoration around the candles for people to munch on throughout the night. As a take-away, I would give everyone a votive candle in one of my “colours”. Wrapped around each candle would be a piece of paper with a general wellness candle spell. If people don’t want the spell, they can just toss the paper and keep the candle.
I wouldn’t have traditional “pagan” music, because I don’t like that sort of thing, but I would probably have Egyptian/Arabic belly dance music because I love it!
Also, instead of clinking glasses or something like that to get us to kiss, I would suggest naming a deity from the Egyptian pantheon. People know the main ones, and if people know ahead of time, they can just Google “Egyptian pantheon” and write a few down.
I would probably be a little disappointed if my non-pagan family chose not to come to my wedding, because they are my family and I have respected their beliefs for ceremonies like weddings and funerals, no matter how insulting I find them. So, if I respect them, I would hope that for my wedding, they would respect me.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m very lucky in the fact that my family is generally open minded, and for something like this they would let me have 100 percent say because it’s my wedding, and I could have a pirate, or a superhero wedding, and they would respect it.
My mother has mentioned before: as long as my marriage is legal, either through the religious ceremony, or a small legal “signing of documents” in the courthouse, it doesn’t matter what I do. As long as it’s legal.

Of course, knowing my luck, I’ll marry someone with
A) Religious parents
B) Is rather religious himself
C) A combination of both
Okay, so, I don’t mind that much. In this case, I would do one of two things.
In the first case, we still have the more Egyptian pagan reception, and I would agree to be married in the religious ceremony of my future husband. I would make the request to change “God” to “Spirit”, and maybe ask if they could say “in the name of the Father, Son, and Sage or Spirit” instead of “Holy Ghost”, if the religious leader would agree to that. I know that my childhood ministers would agree to adapt a marriage ceremony to fit my needs, so I would hope that the groom’s religious leaders would be willing to have a more blended ceremony. I would still be okay if they did not want to d a blended ceremony. I would, however, request something along these lines, with just a rough guide for times
1pm-groom’s religious ceremony, probably the “legal” ceremony as well.
2pm-pagan ceremony
6pm-dinner and reception
In this case, if non-pagans did not want to go to the pagan ceremony, or non-(insert groom’s religion) did not want to go to that ceremony, I don’t think I would be as upset, because they would at least go to one wedding, and of course to the reception which would be Egypt themed, not really pagan themed (except the candle take-away).

In the best case, I would assume and hope that my fiancée and his family would at least respect my wishes to have my religious beliefs at least honoured in a wedding ceremony, either by combining beliefs, or having two ceremonies.

I suppose we’ll deal with that hurdle when we get there.

Makeshift Egyptian Ceremony

Date: August 1st, 2009.
First Month of Akhet, Djehuti, Day One
Location: Howard Johnson in Leamington
Written On: July 31, 2009

So, today is the Egyptian New Year, and one of three New Year ceremonies I celebrate. Today is also the day of my cousin Melissa’s wedding. So, because of that, I’m in Leamington; a small factory town just about 45 minutes north of Windsor.
So, I can’t have a big ceremony and feast for this New Years, which kind of sucks because I was hoping my mom and I would cook up a big feast with all of our favourite foods.
But, instead, I’m in a hotel room.
So, as to not break any possible rules, I’m writing a ritual for New Years without any candles or incense. How exciting! See, I love my candles and incense, but I also don’t want to get in trouble by the hotel staff, or have angry neighbours pounding on my door for “stinking up the floor”. But, this will help me be in touch with my oils and stones.

First off, I’m going to make a list of what I’ve packed, so that if I ever get caught in this situation again, I can refer to this list.
Basics
- Sea Salt
- Mini Egyptian statues (Bast, Anubis, Thoth and Isis)
- Large ankh
Oils
- Eucalyptus
- Bergamot
- Lemongrass

Stones
- Carnelian(1)
- Amethyst
- Zebra Agate
- Lapis Lazuli
- Malachite(tower and tumbled stone)
- Rose Quartz (ball)
- Hematite (1)
- Moonstone (1)
- Citrine (1)
- Sodalite
- Apatite
- Sunstone
- Ammonite
- Clear Quartz

Let’s plan the ceremony now!
I am going to put actions in regular type, and words spoken either verbally or mentally in italics.

Before this, take a nice bath or shower, and don’t get out until you feel really clean. Imagine the water washing away all the impurities from the past year. Dress either in ritual garb, or in comfortable clothes.
We arrange a mid-size work area. Upon our altar cloth, we lay out our stones, our bottles of oil, our holy water, our ankh and our miniature statues. Hopefully, we will have Timbits as an offering and New Years “feast”. Music is optional.
I like to position myself with my back against a wall or object that is against the wall, like a bed, so that I have a complete view of the area without having to worry about my back.
I am far from my home, and my temple, but today, the first day of the first month of the new year, I still must honour the Gods. Today, the star Sothis will rise over the homeland of Egypt, signalling the flooding of the Nile, the bloodline that sustains the country.
With your little finger, pick up a bit of the salted water and place it on the statues. Also, place some on your forehead. Sprinkle a little over the Timbits as well.
Though I am far from my temple, I ask for the Gods and Goddesses to join me in this ceremony. I also invite all spirits pure of heart and soul to join me here.
Center yourself. Feel the Gods, Goddesses and spirits. Let them speak to you, and greet them.
Today is also the day of my cousin’s wedding. This is the happiest day of her life, so please make this day and every day with her new husband joyous.
For the coming year, I don’t know what to ask for, so I’m going to cover the basics: happiness, love, health, and spirituality. I want to really become the person I should be.
Put a little bit of Bergamot oil on the statues, and over your heart. Bergamot is an oil of protection, money, and prosperity; all things we want for a New Year.
Eat a Timbit, slowly.
I thank the Gods for my “feast” of Timbits, and I invite everyone present to indulge in the offering.
Stand up, and place the Timbits on a surface for the spirits to eat. Return to your little “nest”, and start dealing your tarot cards for the upcoming year. I’m going to use the Animal Companions deck, and the Wheel of the Year spread, the second variation. Before you deal the cards, place a mixture of the oils eucalyptus and lemongrass on your third eye, to aid in psychic vision.
After you’ve dealt the cards, write them down in your traditional manner. Clean up your area, and pack everything up, except the Timbits (let the spirits indulge, and have a couple more yourself! This is your New Years feast, after all). You don’t have to analyse the cards just yet, as long as you have them written down, but if you wish, you may.
Now that everything is cleaned and packed back up, find a comfy place and relax; read a book, watch TV or a movie, analyse your tarot reading, anything.
-----
Well, this is the closest thing I could do to a real New Year’s celebration. I’m out of town, and in a hotel room. It’s rather spur of the moment, and there are probably a lot of elements that either don’t belong or are missing.
Think of this as a traveling ceremony, requiring small, compact things that fit in a suitcase.