The Modern Witchcraft Grimoire Read online

  Before you begin the spell, cleanse your space, and cast a circle. Call upon the goddess whom you’ve chosen to preside over your protection spells and ask her to assist you. Here’s a sample spell you can use to create a protection amulet for yourself or someone else:

  Protection Amulet

  Protection amulets are one of the oldest forms of magick. With this spell you create one to shield you (or someone else) from potential injury or illness.

  TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS

  A piece of amber (for protection from physical or nonphysical sources)

  A piece of bloodstone (for protection from physical injury)

  A piece of turquoise (for protection from illness)

  Pine incense (for cleansing and purification)

  An incense burner

  Matches or a lighter

  A photo of you (or another person if you’re doing this spell for someone else)

  A pen with black ink

  Essential oil of rosemary

  A white pouch, preferably silk

  A black ribbon

  Saltwater

  Wash the stones with mild soap and water, then pat them dry.

  Fit the incense into the burner and light it.

  Across the photograph write the words “I am safe” as you envision yourself safe and sound, completely surrounded by a sphere of pure white light. If you’re doing the spell for someone else, write “[person’s name] is safe” and envision her or him protected by white light.

  Dot each corner of the photo with essential oil. Inhale the scent of the oil and mentally connect it with a feeling of safety.

  Slip the photo into the pouch (if necessary, fold it so it’s small enough to fit).

  Rub a little essential oil on each of the stones and add them to the pouch.

  Tie the pouch closed with the black ribbon, making 8 knots. Each time you tie a knot repeat this incantation aloud: “Anything that could cause harm

  Is now repelled by this magick charm.”

  Sprinkle the amulet with saltwater, then hold it in the incense smoke for a few moments to charge it.

  Open the circle and thank the Goddess for her help.

  Wear or carry the amulet with you at all times to protect you from harm, or give it to the person you intend to protect.

  As you record the spell in your grimoire, be sure to include the date(s) when you performed the spell and describe the results. Each time you cast this spell, add more details and experiences in your book, including any changes you made from the original.

  SPELLS FOR HEALTH AND HEALING

  In the days before modern medicine and technology, people relied heavily on magick to promote health and healing. Even today, we realize that a patient’s attitude and beliefs influence his or her well-being and can have a huge impact on the person’s recovery. Like the beneficial nature of prayer, which Dr. Larry Dossey wrote about in his book Prayer Is Good Medicine, magick’s power can boost all sorts of healing. You may want to dedicate a section of your grimoire to healing spells and rituals. The best times to perform spells for health and healing depend on the nature of the ailment and your intention.

  Before you begin the spell, cleanse your space, and cast a circle. Call upon the deity who presides over your health and healing work, and request her assistance. If you’re performing a spell for another person, ask his or her permission before you begin. Here’s a sample spell you can use yourself or to aid someone else—even at a distance:

  Heaven and Earth Healing Spell

  This spell draws upon the powers of heaven and earth to help heal any condition. You can perform it anytime.

  TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS

  A magick wand

  After casting a circle around yourself, stand in the center of the circle with your feet about shoulder-width apart. (If you’re doing the spell for someone else and that person is physically present, cast the circle around both of you.)

  Hold the wand over your head with both hands, with your arms outstretched and straight, pointing the tip of the wand at the sky.

  Close your eyes and say aloud: “With this wand I draw down the healing force of the heavens.” In your mind’s eye see light flowing into the wand, filling it with cosmic energy and making it glow brightly.

  Open your eyes and point the tip of the wand at the afflicted part of your body (or the other person’s body). If the person for whom you are doing this spell is not physically present, aim the wand toward his/her location. Envision the light you collected from the heavens flowing into the injured or ailing body part, filling and embracing it with healing rays.

  When you sense that all the light has been transferred from the wand to the body, point the wand at the ground.

  Close your eyes and say aloud: “With this wand I draw up the healing force of Mother Earth.” In your mind’s eye see light flowing into the wand from the center of the earth, filling it and making it glow brightly.

  Open your eyes and aim the tip of the wand at the afflicted part of your body (or the other person’s body). Envision the light you collected from the earth flowing into the injured or ailing body part, infusing it with healing rays until all the light has been transferred from the wand to the body.

  When you have finished, thank the Goddess as well as the forces of heaven and earth for assisting you, and then open the circle.

  Be sure to include the date(s) when you performed the spell and record the results. Each time you cast this spell, add more details and experiences in your grimoire, including any changes you made from the original.

  OTHER SPELLS TO INCLUDE

  The other categories you choose to include in your book of shadows will depend on your preferences, your objectives, and the types of spells you do most frequently. If you travel a lot, you might add a section for travel spells. If your career is a primary focus, you may consider devoting a section to spells for success. You could dedicate portions of your grimoire to spells for personal power, spiritual growth, creativity, good luck, peace and harmony, children and pets, or just about anything else that fits your needs. You might want to establish a “Miscellaneous” category for all those great one-off spells you like as well as those that have many potential yet undefined applications.

  Over time, as you become more proficient as a magician and collect more and more spells, you may even decide to create an entire book of shadows for each category. Or you could keep a big book that contains all your spells as well as a smaller one that holds some of your favorites.

  Each time you perform a particular spell or ritual, note in your book of shadows when you cast the spell, what you actually did, what tools and ingredients you used, what you experienced, and the results you got. How long did it take to see results? What went right and what went wrong? Was anyone else involved in your spellworking? If so, what impact did that person’s presence have? If you did a spell for someone else, how did she or he react? Also note anything you changed from your original working. If you did something differently, did this affect the outcome? How? Would you change something in the future? What and why?

  CRAFTING YOUR OWN ORIGINAL SPELLS

  In the beginning, as a novice witch, you’d probably be wise to stick with tried-and-true spells shared with you by spellworkers you respect. But after a while, when you are more comfortable with your knowledge and powers and have some experience under your magick belt, you’ll probably want to try crafting your own spells. That’s great! The more personal a spell, the better results it’s likely to generate because you invest more emotion in it. Each of us has unique needs, preferences, talents, and strengths—use them to your advantage.

  Readers frequently e-mail me and ask me to look at the spells they’ve designed themselves and to offer suggestions. In nearly every case, the writer has created a fabulous original work of art that shows he or she has invested a great deal of thought, time, and effort into the process. One of the most interesting of these was a woman who’d been nearly blind all her life. She explained
that she found it difficult to relate to the visual spells I’d included in my previous books and wanted to adapt the spells to make the best of her other senses. This amazingly creative woman tackled the challenge with enthusiasm and insight. She designed some beautiful spells I could never have imagined that used her individual strengths in very special ways.

  Planning Your Spells

  Carefully plan your spells before you attempt to cast them. The old adage “Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it” is never more relevant than in spellwork. Consider the implications of every nuance—the color of the candles you choose to place on the altar, the manner in which you have prepared your tools, the conviction with which you consecrate, the spirits you invoke, every word that you speak, and, especially, the intention you hold in your mind and heart.

  According to Wiccan theory, the energy you send out via a spell will return to you threefold. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to plan carefully before casting your spell into the world, so that you avoid unexpected or undesirable results you didn’t intend.

  Your Grimoire As a Spellcrafting Companion

  When you begin crafting your own original spells, your grimoire becomes an even greater ally than you may have realized earlier. It serves as your workbook while you build the framework of the spells you create. It lets you clearly define your intentions by writing them down—writing is the first step in bringing an idea to fruition in the manifest world. Your book of shadows also enables you to keep track of your steps as you progress on your journey. And it allows you to see whether you’ve gone astray or could have done something differently to produce a better result.

  As you set out to craft a spell of your own design:

  Write down your intention and the ideas you have about what you hope to accomplish.

  Research the implications of the spell you plan to craft. What have other spellcasters experienced? What challenges do you foresee? What outcomes?

  Give your ideas time to settle. During the next few days or weeks, you may gain additional insight, perhaps from your dreams or meditations, into what you could do to enhance or refine your spell.

  Make a list of ingredients and tools you’ll need. How will you acquire these? What do you need to do to prepare them for your spellwork?

  Will you include an affirmation or incantation? Practice writing it until it says exactly what you intend. (See the instructions in Chapter 11.)

  Do you plan to ask a deity to assist you? If so, which one? How will you invoke this deity? Write down the invocation you plan to use and study it to make sure it says what you want it to say.

  Determine the best time to cast your spell (see Chapters 6, 8, and 9 for more information).

  Decide where you’ll perform your spell, and prepare the space.

  Will anyone else be involved in the process? If so, discuss the details with that person to make sure you’re in agreement and clear about your intentions and outcomes, as well as what you plan to do.

  Organize the steps you’ll take in casting your spell.

  Try to anticipate what might transpire and how your thoughts, words, and actions may manifest.

  Approach your work with serenity and patience, rather than feeling a need for immediate gratification.

  Of course, after you’ve finished casting your spell, record everything in your book of shadows as soon as possible. Follow up with an explanation of the results and any other experiences related to your magick work. What occurred? How, when, where? In this way, you will gain greater confidence and a more personal understanding of the connections between each aspect of your process. You will be able to observe the results that manifest after you perform your spell. You’ll become conscious of your role in what transpires.

  In time, you’ll notice patterns and synchronicities. You’ll learn what works for you and what doesn’t. You’ll develop your techniques and expand your repertoire. You’ll strengthen your magickal muscles and move into the next phase of proficiency. How amazing is that?

  Chapter 11

  VERBAL SPELLS

  When you utter a spell aloud, you create a resonance that begins the process of manifestation. Sounds produce vibrations that echo through the cosmic web that connects everything in our universe. These vibrations stimulate effects in the visible world. Words also act as verbal symbols that convey your intentions. Even a word from a language with which you aren’t familiar can serve as a magick symbol. In fact, many spellcasters choose to use words from ancient tongues, such as Sanskrit or Arabic, or from cultures other than their own because for them these words have no mundane associations.

  It’s safe to say that the earliest spells were most likely spoken ones, intoned by witches and wizards, shamans and sorcerers long before the advent of writing. Verbal spells figured prominently in early grimoires. They owed their popularity, in part, to the fact that the magick worker needed nothing other than a voice to cast the spell. Even if the magician couldn’t read or write, he or she could memorize the words and say them at the appropriate time. Our ancestors called upon gods and goddesses, as well as angels, spirits, demons, and other nonphysical entities, via invocations, spoken charms, and incantations.

  Witches today still use verbal spells to request the assistance of deities and other beings. Because affirmations, incantations, chants, charms, and blessings continue to play an important role in magickal workings, you may choose to devote a section of your grimoire to spoken and written spells.

  Evoking and Invoking

  When you evoke an entity—a spirit, an elemental, a ghost, or another nonphysical being—you summon it to appear before you and instruct it to do your bidding. When you invoke an entity, you invite it to actually enter your body. The entity becomes part of you, temporarily, and works or speaks through you. (Mediums also do this in séances when they channel spirits.) Witches sometimes invoke the Goddess or God in rites, and for the duration of the rite the deity abides within the witch until released. Before you evoke or invoke any being, it’s a good idea to learn all you can about that entity so you know what you’re getting into. An old saying warns: Don’t raise any spirit you can’t put down.

  CHANTING

  What comes to mind when you think of chanting? Medieval monks singing Gregorian chants in European cathedrals? Buddhists dressed in saffron robes sitting in lotus position, uttering the Sanskrit phrase Om Mani Padme Hum? Chants are typically phrases or words repeated aloud for a particular purpose. Saying a rosary is a form of chanting. So are the cheers sports fans shout to encourage players on the field.

  Some people chant mantras while meditating. A mantra is a group of sacred sounds repeated for spiritual purposes. The mantra not only helps you to focus your mind; it lets you become aware of the spirit housed within your body. Witches sometimes chant in their rituals to raise energy and to unify all the participants in the ritual. Maybe you’ve heard this popular chant, for instance, or intoned it yourself: “The Goddess is alive, magick is afoot.”

  The repetitive sounds in a chant—as well as the actual words that compose it—act on your subconscious to generate results. Interestingly, chanting has the power to quiet or enliven. It can help you concentrate, shift your consciousness to an altered state, affect physical processes such as blood pressure and heart rate, connect you to the divine realm, and more.

  “She changes everything she touches,

  And everything she touches changes!”

  Do you have a few favorite chants that help you get into the mood for magick? Some that you recite to calm your mind before meditating? Perhaps you chant to cleanse sacred space or to chase away unwanted energies before spellworking. In your book of shadows, jot down the chants you find valuable. You can use them alone or in conjunction with other magickal processes.

  Consider setting some to music or accompanying your chants on a hand drum to boost their power. Although most chants are quite simple, you could add bits of sheet music to accompany the words in your grimoire, or sketch
the notes yourself on the pages of your book—this adds both an instructive and an illustrative element. If you are raising magickal children, you may enjoy singing favorite chants to your kids just as you would sing nursery rhymes.

  “We all come from the Goddess

  And to her we shall return

  Like a drop of rain

  Flowing to the ocean.”

  AFFIRMATIONS

  In the last few decades, affirmations have gained popularity in psychological and self-help circles, as well as among spellcasters. Affirmations are short positive statements that you formulate to produce a desired result. They express clearly and succinctly what you intend to attract, eliminate, manifest, or change in your life. Whether you write your affirmations or say them aloud, putting your intentions into words helps to focus your mind, clarify your objectives, and empower your spells.

  Designing Effective Affirmations

  As is true with anything else in life, some ways are better than others when it comes to designing affirmations. These tips will help you to word yours effectively: