Dark Moon Magic. Cerridwen Greenleaf
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hollyhocks
•Aristolochia (dutchman’s pipe)
•Pitcher plant (carnivorous)
•Flytraps (carnivorous)
•Harry Lauder’s walking stick
•Dracula vampira orchid var. Bela Lugosi
•Ipomoea purpurea (morning glory)
•Datura discolor var. Kniola’s black
•Bearded iris var. night queen
•Superstition
•Cotula “pratt’s black”
•Baby black eyes (nemophila meziesii “penny black”)
After you have been working spells for a bit, an energy field will radiate from your altar! Your altar is the one place you can return to again and again to concentrate your energy and clarify your intentions, so be sure to replenish, clean, and recharge your altar frequently with fresh flowers, candles, and objects. The more you use your altar, the more powerful your spells will be. This consecrated space will center and ground you and bring the beauty and bliss of magic into your life.
CAULDRON OF LIFE
The cauldron, which is also called the “Cup of Cerridwen,” comes down to us from the ancient proto-Celtic path where they were used for cooking, scrying, and ritual work. The cauldron symbolizes abundance and divine inspiration. Your cast-iron cauldron represents female energy and the Goddess. The round basin stands for the woman’s womb, the giver of life. A true magical cauldron should be able to withstand fire, which represents rebirth, the phoenix rising from the ashes of the past. Cauldrons are usually used in ritual to hold earth or water as elements for rites of spring. In winter, the cauldron is the sun and should hold fire. In the spring, the cauldron can be a rain jar or a flower-filled fountain. In the summer, the cauldron can be a cup. And in autumn, it can be a pumpkin. Cauldrons are also a very practical tool for mixing your herbs and essential oils. You can scry with a cauldron full of water and foresee the future by reading images on the surface of the water. You can also use this magical tool to burn papers on which you have written your intentions or a spell parchment. In doing this, you can send your wishes to the Goddess upon the smoke and flames. Cauldrons typically have three legs for ultimate stability, rather like a tripod altar. You can place a cauldron either on your altar or on the floor to the left of the altar. You can and should play with the idea of a cauldron for outdoor ritual and seasonal altars.
THURIBLES AND CENSERS
A thurible, or censer, is basically an incense burner. This ritual tool represents the elements of air and fire. Place your incense burner at the very center of your altar or in front of any offering you are wishing to bless, such as flowers or fruit, as a gift to the gods and goddesses. Your thurible should be used daily to purify your other sacred tools and to cleanse your ritual space. The evocative scent and smoke of the incense can also transport you in a sensory way.
This is the optimum mixture of essences to purify your home or sacred invoking space. Negative energies are vanquished, and the path is cleared for ritual. Open windows and doors when you are burning this clearing incense so that “bad energy” can be released.
Supplies:
•1 part sandalwood
•2 parts cinnamon
•3 parts myrrh
•3 parts copal
•3 parts frankincense
There are many types of thuribles to choose from that will please your inner Dark Moon magician—gargoyles, dark fairies, dragons, or skulls.
GOTHIC GRAILS
Your chalice is a goblet dedicated specifically for use on your altar. Like the cauldron, it is another vessel symbolizing the feminine, the Goddess, and fertility for women. Holding both fluid and the waters of our emotional body, it is elementally connected to water. Place your special chalice on the left side of your altar with all other representations of the energy of the female and the Goddess. A chalice is also a grail. After all, King Arthur’s legend recounts that the Holy Grail brought life back to the decaying kingdom at Camelot and restored Arthur and his people, giving rise to the rebirth of England itself. On your altar, your goblet can hold water, mead, wine, juice, or anything you wish to partake of or deem appropriate as an offering to share with the deities. For Dark Moon magic, especially fitting libations would be Transylvanian Vampire Wine or an absinthe from Eastern Europe.
Charging and Consecrating Your Ritual Tools
Once you’ve accumulated all your preferred ritual tools, you should design a tool consecration rite. This consecration will dedicate your utensils for the betterment of all and set a base of intention for all your good works. Perform this rite every time you acquire a new tool or treasure. If you’re a beginner, you can choose a simple “temple template” and build on it as you learn and grow. As your experience in your craft deepens, you can embellish the ritual with your personal preferences. Refer back to your Book of Shadows—is there a certain phase of the moon that offers you more clarity? Should you utilize the corresponding colors, crystals, essential oils, incenses, and herbs for your own astrological sun and moon signs? Is there a specific goddess or deity with whom you feel an affinity? Use these correlations in your rituals and begin designing the ceremonies and rites of your dreams. The more associations you learn and use, the more your effectiveness will grow. Time will tell, so keep good notes of your ritual work in your Book of Shadows. You will soon become a “maestro of magic.”
Now that you have selected your special tools of Dark Moon magic, you need to bless and dedicate them to your magical workings. This is an opportunity to fill your sacred implements with your personal energy; you are encoding them with your unique imprimatur. The more you use your tools, the more charged they will become.
Supplies:
•Incense for air
•Candle for fire
•Cup of water
•Bowl of salt
Directions:
1.Take the new ritual tool and pass it through the smoke of the incense and say:
Now inspired with the breath of air.
2.Then pass the tool swiftly through the flame of the candle and say:
Burnished by fire!
3.Sprinkle the tool with the water and say:
Purified by water.
4.Dip the tool into the bowl of salt and say:
Empowered by the earth.
5. Hold up the tool with both hands before you chant; and imagine an enveloping, warm white light purifying the tool, and say:
Steeped in spirit and bright with light.
6. Place the now cleansed and energized tool on your altar and say:
By craft made and by craft charged and changed. This tool (here fill in the actual name, whether it be the bolline, Book of Shadows, etc.) I will use for the purpose of good in the world and in the realm of the God and Goddess. I hereby consecrate this tool.
Other tools are more intangible—such as breath work, intuition, psychic powers, and the ability to focus your mental power and spiritual intentions—and as they are intangible, only your intention can purify them. You will use other physical tools, such as colors, herbs, oils, crystals, numbers,