The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga by Taliesin Govannon (top 10 novels of all time .txt) 📗

                The path wound slowly downward, back to the house.  Gaia gave me a hand when my dress made the rocky parts challenging.

                I really need some out-door clothes!

                Gaia didn’t release my hand, and I didn’t push it. I didn’t know why, it just felt… right.

                The tropical forest was almost pitch black by the time we made it back to the house.  We walked out of the treeline into the small clearing that would serve as tonight's temple.  Behind another line of trees, I could see the house sitting in all of its three-story glory.  The pool and hot tub that were also new additions lay on that side of the property as well, along with the dance-floor and everything else needed to throw a bitchin' party.

                Definitely Vincent’s work!

                In the center of the clearing burned a small fire, dutifully tended to by Jack.  He had wanted to head back with Katsu at first, but she had convinced him to give himself a break with his friends. The fact that he wasn’t glued to a joint twenty-four-seven showed that it was working.

                I walked over to the altar, which had been set up by the fire.  Raina was just finishing the altar arrangement as I arrived.

                “Nice altar.” I said admiringly.

                “Thank you!” she said with a grin.  “You haven’t seen my Wiccan work for quite a while… it’s improved.”

                We had decided to go old-school... for us, anyway… for this ritual.  Last year, we had gone with a Druidic framework because we were trying to make contact with my ancestors, and ancestor work was very common in Druidry.  Raina, however, was Wiccan at her core and had enlisted both Jack and me on multiple occasions over the years to help her in her spiritual quest.

                With all of the strangeness in my life these days, a little modern Neo-Pagan Witchcraft seems like a haven of normalcy! I thought.  I feel like a retreat into the normal is just what the Demigoddess ordered!

                I looked at the elemental representations on her altar… the censer for air, candle for fire, salt for earth, and the crystal goblet of water for that element… and noticed that they all glowed with elemental colors.

                “Fae elemental magick?” I asked.

                “Woah yeah!” Raina quietly exclaimed.

                “Nice!” I nodded.

                “So, are we going traditional Gardnerian, Alexandrian reconstructionist, or more of a political, Reclaiming style?” Gaia asked, displaying her recent studies of human Wiccan history.

                “Uh, none of the above.” Raina said.

                “This is more of a ‘Raina constructed’ method of working.” Jack added, walking up.

                “We witnessed its evolution." I said as well.

                “This is just a way of working that I know works for everyone.” Raina explained.  “It’s a home-spun Wicca that we kind of built together.”

                “But I thought you guys weren't Wiccan." Gaia said, glancing at Jack and me.

                “Not personally, no.” Jack said.  “But Raina’s our friend, and if she needed help, we helped her.”

                “The fact that Raina’s Wicca is a no-judgment zone, unlike most religions, really helped a lot.” I added.

                Gaia smiled and nodded.  “Well then, are we ready?”

                “I am.” Raina said.

                “Good to go.” Jack chimed in.

                “Let’s do this.” I said, smiling at my friends.

                We took positions around the altar, one person in each direction.  That’s another thing about having a guest here… Wicca’s into arranging things by elemental power, and Gaia being here means that, for once, nobody has to double up.

                Raina approached the altar from her place in the west, facing east as was her custom.  She picked up her athame, a double-edged ritual knife, and pointed it at the charcoal block, glowing in its censer.

                “Blessed be, oh element of fire." she said commandingly.  "We feel you in the heat of our bodies.  Be here with us as we erect the ancient temple.  So Mote It Be."

                “So mote it be.” we all said in unison.

                She then sprinkled incense on the charcoal and pointed at the rising smoke with her blade.  "Blessed be, element of air.  You are the breath of our bodies.  Be here as we erect the ancient temple.  So mote it be."

                We answered her again, and I could feel the heat coursing through my body.  Each breath evened the warmth out and balanced what I felt.

                “Blessed be, element of water.” she said, her athame in the water glass.  “You are the blood of our bodies.  Be here with us as we erect the ancient temple.  So mote it be.”

                “So mote it be.”  I could feel the blood moving through my veins, and every heartbeat made it flow with more purpose.

                “Blessed be, element of earth.” Raina said, blessing a bowl of salt with the blade.  “You are our bones and flesh.  Be here as we erect the ancient temple.  So mote it be.”

                “So mote it be.”  I could feel my bones vibrating with the earth beneath my feet.

                She finished by scooping three measures of salt into the water and stirring with her athame. “So mote it be.” she said softly.

                “So mote it be.”

                Raina then traced the outer edge of the circle with her athame.  I knew that she was drawing the sacred circle with her own energy, so even though this part was silent, it was never quiet.  Her energy left an audible hum behind.

                Well, audible to ME!

                After she was done, Raina handed Gaia and jack the water glass and censer respectively.  They then purified the circle with the elements, and it indeed felt brighter in the circle when they were done.

                “Let us now call the elements to be fully present in the circle." Raina said, looking at Jack.

                Unlike the Druid ritual last year, where Jack had needed notes to feel confident, he was an old hand at Raina’s Wiccan rituals.  “Element of air, spirits of the east,” he began easily, facing east, ”be