Llewellyn's 2012 Witches' Companion by Llewellyn (chrome ebook reader TXT) 📗

on the stove and set the heat to medium-high. Thinly slice or finely chop any vegetables you plan to use, such as carrots, broccoli, squash, onion, or bell pepper, then add these to the beans, envisioning the magickal energies of the vegetables entering the mix. Add canned tomatoes and stir. Next add spices, empowered to bring out their magick, of course: cumin and garlic for strength, health, and defense; pepper for defensive banishing and binding; salt for purification, protection, and power; and chili powder for magickal energy, banishing, and passion. Stir using Mudra mixing or another magickal technique. Once vegetables are tender and beans are heated, the meal is ready to work its magick.

Prosperity Potatoes

Try this recipe to spark ideas for your own magickal meals.

3 small gold potatoes (for tenacity, strength, wealth, or health)

Pinch of basil (for money or general prosperity)

Pinch of rosemary (for prosperity or good luck)

Pinch of salt (for success, prosperity, or energy)

A few tablespoons of olive oil or other vegetable oil (for wealth)

1 can of dark red kidney beans (for strength or passion)

Heat the oil in a pan as you cut the potatoes into very thin slices, thinking of how you are slicing through all obstacles. Place these in the oil and using your hand or wand, trace dollar signs or pentacles over the potatoes. Add the spices as you think about your prosperity growing and wealth pouring down on you from many different channels. Pour in the beans and think of your tenacity and strength. Let this cook for about seven or eight minutes, until the potatoes are tender, then serve.

With just a little practice, you’ll quickly master the art of ten-minute magickal cooking and be able to reap the rewards on even your busiest days. You’ll increase your ability to direct energy, improve the quality of your food, and have a new effective method for magickally creating the life you desire.

Melanie Marquis’s bio appears on page 22.

Illustrator: Christa Marquez

The Sun Also Rises:

Dealing with Grief

James Kambos

As I write this piece, summer is at high tide and my garden is filled with color. Yellow coneflowers bloom along the old fence and the hummingbirds look like flying jewels as they flash amid the red bee balm. In the afternoon heat, the cicada’s chorus rises—it is the drowsy song of summer.

When a butterfly settles gently on a zinnia, I’m reminded how nature abides by an orderly sense of rhythm. Everything has a purpose and a direction, such as the pattern of the changing seasons.

Yet there inevitably comes a time in each of our lives when we seem to have no purpose and no direction—a time when the only season we know is the season of grief. Such a time came to me recently. A time when I thought the sun would never rise again. This period made me draw upon the wisdom of the Craft more than ever and tested my belief in magic. This is not an article written by an expert. This is only the story of one man’s journey out of the darkness, and I’m hoping my experience will help someone else.

Grief is a grim companion that can come to us in various ways. Death, the end of a marriage, and job loss are only a few of the causes. My own grief began after I dealt with a series of tragedies over a short period of time. My boss and friend of twenty-eight years was killed in an automobile collision, so I lost my best friend and my job. The final blow came when my mother, whom I had been caring for the last two years, died unexpectedly.

It was 5 am when I left the hospital the February morning my mother died. The moon was full and frost glinted on the windshields of the cars in the hospital parking lot. I placed my mother’s belongings in the backseat. I found it hard to believe she would never need them again.

On the drive home, I experienced my first magical encounter or “sign.” As I approached my house, three deer leapt in front of my car. They moved with silent grace in the faint blue light of dawn. Was this a sign from my mother? She had always loved deer, and the number three was symbolic since she had just completed her life cycle of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. As a totem animal, the deer also suggested to me to move cautiously and to trust my intuition.

Weeks later, after the blur of the funeral and dealing with the insurance companies had subsided, I began the hard part: living.

For witches, Pagans, and anyone living a magical life, we have some extra resources to draw upon when dealing with a crisis. It was going to be difficult, but I knew I had to have faith in my spirituality to change my circumstances in a positive way.

Unfortunately there isn’t a spell to completely destroy grief. Instead I found that you must listen to your inner voice and use your magical system to bring about small victories until you feel that grief is beginning to release its grip on you.

You must listen to your inner voice and use your magical system to bring about small victories until you feel that grief is beginning to release its grip on you.

What follows is a collection of advice and recommendations, both magical and practical, to help anyone who is finding it difficult to navigate the storm known as grief.

Let the Healing Begin

The hardest part in overcoming grief is taking that first step because you’ll have an “I don’t care” attitude. Along with pain, you feel a great apathy toward life. That is typical. The first spellwork I performed—and still perform—to relieve myself of grief and depression is speaking an affirmation or a devotional daily.

It doesn’t need to be lengthy. Just saying out loud that you’re not alone and that your loved one is still with you in some way is a great help. Whether they have passed