How to Become a Witch by Amber K. (large ebook reader txt) 📗

fancy blank books. Your local metaphysical bookstore will have them, or a blank book from your local stationery shop will work. Some books will be simple, usually black; some will be embossed with a pentagram, the Tree of Life, or another symbol on the cover. You may want to buy a really nice pen for writing in your Book of Shadows, a special one for that purpose alone.

Before you use your new book and pen, you may consecrate them to the service of the Goddess and the God. Pass them through incense smoke or over a candle flame, and sprinkle a few drops of saltwater on them while saying, “I cleanse and purify this Book of Shadows and Pen of Art to the service of you, the Lady and the Lord, that I may write in your honor during my studies and in my practice of the Craft of the Wise. So mote it be!” (“So mote it be” is a witchy way of saying, “Make it so!”) The smoke, candle flame, salt, and water bring the energies of the four elements to witness your words and imbue the whole spell with their power.

Although it is traditional to keep a physical, paper-pages Book of Shadows, many modern Witches keep a virtual Book of Shadows on their computers. As long as you write in it faithfully, you can use either. But we suggest that you start with a physical book, since there may be part of you that really enjoys the feel of an actual book; you can always switch to the computer if you find you aren’t using the book.

Back to the pentagram.

The pentagram is a five-pointed star with the lines of the star overlapping. It is the symbol for everything—the five elements bound together, often drawn within a circle that connects them all. It has been used as a symbol of protection from ancient times: the pentagram was found stamped on the sides of grain jars in Sumer, and it was used by the Egyptians, Celts, Kabbalists, Christians, and Gypsies. Used upright, it stands for spirit ruling the world of matter—also life, health, protection, and the human being as a microcosm of the universe. Inverted, it can stand for the Hornéd God, or for Spirit hidden in matter or subject to it.

The five points can represent the limbs of our bodies with the head above, the five senses, the five stages of life (infancy, youth, maturity, elderhood, and old age), or the states of consciousness (deep sleep, light sleep, trance or meditation, ordinary waking consciousness, and ecstasy). The top point is spirit—our connection to Deity.

Different Witchcraft traditions place the elements at different points on the pentagram. In ours, the right upper point is water—emotion and intuition. Below it is fire (think an underwater volcano)—our will and vitality, energy and passion. The left upper point is air—our intellect and imagination; below it is earth (think the earth beneath the sky)—our bodies, health, prosperity, Earth herself. Let’s tour the pentagram, point by point.

Earth

Earth corresponds to the physical earth, with its mountains and valleys, fields and meadows, trees, rocks, and plants; to our physical bodies; and to all solid and material things. It also corresponds to the health of this planet and our bodies, and the abundance of the universe in all forms, including food, money, and possessions.

Why get your Earth-plane stuff together first? Because that’s the world we live in most of the time. We may spend some time in our thoughts or embroiled in emotion, but we always need food, shelter, and clothing. So, some pertinent topics to write about in your Book of Shadows would be: What would your life be like if you had all the shelter, food, health, income, and possessions you need? What could you then turn your attention to? And what steps can you take to bring physical well-being and abundance?

Exercise in Grounding and Centering: Go to a place outdoors in nature—your back yard, a nearby park, or out into the countryside—and find a quiet place to sit. If it’s winter, make sure you dress warmly so you can stay outside for several minutes. (If you can’t get outside, do this exercise in your mind today, and make a date with yourself to do it later for real.) Simply sit and let the sights, sounds, smells, and energies of nature flow around you and through you. Breathe the air, trace the outline of a nearby leaf with your fingertip, and feel the ground beneath your feet. Just be. Then reach out to the rocks, plants, and animals of this place, and listen for any messages they may have for you.

For the next few minutes, feel your connection to all of nature, then picture and feel a golden cord extending from the end of your spine down into the ground, down and down until you reach the heat at the earth’s core. Wrap the golden cord around that core to anchor you, and bring your consciousness back up the cord to where you are sitting. This is grounding, the first magick a Witch should learn, for you will use it in every magickal act you perform, every spell you set, and frequently in everyday life when you simply need to calm yourself.

When you can feel the serenity that comes with grounding, send your consciousness into your body, into that part of you that feels like your center. For some people it is the solar plexus, for others it’s a couple of inches below the belly button—you’ll know where it is for you. Feel the stillness there—that deep knowing that you are, and you are okay. Feel the peace of your center radiating out until it envelops you and meets the serenity of nature around you. This is called centering, and it is the second half of “grounding and centering” that you will do before every ritual and all magick. So, sit in nature, grounded and centered, for about five minutes. Then pick