The Modern Witchcraft Grimoire Read online

  Turn to face north, and say aloud: “Guardian of the north, spirit of earth, we thank you for your presence here. Depart now and return to your home, harming none, and let there be peace between us. Hail, farewell, and blessed be.”

  Face west, and say aloud: “Guardian of the west, spirit of water, we thank you for your presence here. Depart now and return to your home, harming none, and let there be peace between us. Hail, farewell, and blessed be.”

  Face south, and say aloud: “Guardian of the south, spirit of fire, we thank you for your presence here. Depart now and return to your home, harming none, and let there be peace between us. Hail, farewell, and blessed be.”

  If you’ve asked for assistance from specific beings, include their names in your parting statements. For instance, if you’ve called upon the four archangels, say something like: “We thank you, Raphael [Uriel, Gabriel, Michael], for your guidance and protection during this ritual/rite.”

  In this way, you bring your ritual to a close in a pleasant way that honors those who have lent their energies to your joint endeavor. Just as you might say goodnight to valued guests after a dinner gathering, you thank these beings for their participation and wish them a safe return to their homes.

  Chapter 12

  VISUAL SPELLS

  Most of us are visually oriented people, and a vibrant image has the power to strongly impact us. Advertisers know this very well—just watch a commercial for some sort of drug, in which the pictures show happy, healthy people while the voiceover describes all the drug’s unpleasant side effects. The viewer’s mind reacts to the pictures rather than the words. Because images are so powerful, witches use them to enrich spells and rituals—when you’re doing a spell, a picture truly is worth a thousand words.

  You may like to add drawings, symbols, and other images to your book of shadows. A quick look at Pinterest will reveal lots of gorgeously illustrated grimoires and may give you some ideas for decorating your own. Many witches sketch in their grimoires. Others affix photos or visuals from magazines. I like to draw Celtic knots in mine because I’m of Irish descent. I also enjoy creating collages that combine pictures, words, fabric, dried flowers and leaves, and all sorts of other objects—the collages serve as spells in themselves.

  How about designing what’s known as a “vision board” in your book? Write an affirmation that describes your objective, and then decorate the page with pictures that show what you intend to bring about. Look at it in the morning and before going to bed at night to spark your mind’s creative power.

  CREATIVE VISUALIZATION

  In the late 1970s, author Shakti Gawain brought the concept of creative visualization into widespread public awareness. But witches have long known that visualization is the first step in working magick and precedes manifestation. Imagination is at the heart of a spell. If you can’t imagine something, you won’t be able to attain it. Forming a picture in your mind of the result you intend to manifest begins the process—in so doing, you mentally plant the seeds that will grow into the outcome you desire.

  Don’t think about the problem or condition you wish to change—instead, focus on the end result you seek. For instance, if your goal is to heal a broken leg, don’t think about the injury; instead, envision the leg strong and healthy. If you want to attract prosperity, envision yourself driving an expensive car, living in a luxurious mansion, flying in your own private jet—anything that signifies “wealth” to you. Give yourself permission to dream big! Enrich your mental images with lots of color and action—clear, vivid images generate faster and more satisfactory results than bland ones.

  Use Visual Aids

  When doing a healing spell for someone you know, paste a photo of the person in your grimoire next to the written spell. This helps you focus your mind and channel the positive energy of the spell to that person.

  THE POWER OF COLOR

  Most people aren’t aware of it, but we are constantly affected by the colors in our environment. Psychological studies show that our responses to color can be measured physically—red stimulates respiration and heart rate, blue lowers body temperature and pulse.

  Colors contain myriad symbolic associations too. Blue, for instance, reminds you of the sky; green suggests foliage, grass, and healthy crops; orange is the color of fire and the sun. The Druids considered blue a sacred color that denoted someone who’d achieved the rank of bard (a formally trained storyteller entrusted with the oral history of a group). Early Christians associated blue with peace and compassion, which is why artists often depicted the Virgin Mary wearing blue. The beautiful stained glass windows in European cathedrals drew upon color symbolism to convey information to congregations who were largely illiterate. Because these connections are deeply rooted in our psychology, you can use color to influence the mind in your magickal workings.

  The intensity of a color signifies its intensity in spellworking. Bright golden-yellow, for example, brings to mind the sun and fire; therefore it can activate and invigorate a spell. Pastel yellow has a gentler vibration that’s usually associated with the air element and ideas. Red denotes sexual passion in a relationship, whereas pink symbolizes a gentler type of love, affection, and friendship.

  The Power of Black

  Black, a color that witches frequently wear, has many negative connotations to the general public, including death and mourning. To witches, however, black represents mystery and power, for it contains all the colors of the rainbow. It’s also reminiscent of the night, the time when witches often gather to work magick.

  Color Symbolism

  Once you understand the energetic correspondences of colors, you can incorporate them into your spells and rituals. Witches often keep a stash of candles in various colors for spells and rituals. If you fashion medicine pouches or crane bags, use cloth in colors that relate to your objectives. Working with the plant kingdom helps you understand how flower colors can add meaning to spells—even people who know nothing of magick intuitively connect red roses with passion, which is why lovers give them on Valentine’s Day. Gemstones, too, come in a wide range of colors that can influence your spells. The clothing you wear during a ritual, how you decorate your altar, and the images you include in your grimoire may also depict your associations with colors. Choose colors carefully in order to bring their energies to the spells.

  Consider writing your spells with pens, pencils, markers, or crayons in colors that correspond to your intentions. As mentioned earlier, you may want to include colorful pages in your grimoire to denote specific types of spells: pink for love, green for money, and so on.

  Color Correspondences

  Red passion, anger, heat, energy, daring

  Orange confidence, activity, warmth, enthusiasm

  Yellow happiness, creativity, optimism, ideas

  Green health, fertility, growth, wealth

  Light blue peace, clarity, hope

  Royal blue independence, insight, imagination

  Indigo intuition, serenity, mental power

  Purple wisdom, spirituality, connection with higher realms

  Pink love, friendship, sociability

  White purity, clarity, protection

  Black power, wisdom

  Brown stability, practicality, grounding in the physical world

  In your book of shadows, describe your responses to colors. What emotions do different colors spark in you? What associations do you have with various colors? Do you find some colors more appealing than others?

  Colors and the Elements

  In magick work, each of the four elements corresponds to a specific color. So do the four directions, which we discussed in Chapter 11.

  Element Direction Color Correspondence

  Fire South Red

  Earth North Green

  Air East Yellow

  Water West Blue

  When you cast a circle, you may want to place a yellow object (such as a candle) in the east, a red one in the south, a blue one in the west, and a green one
in the north. If you set up altars at each of the four directions, consider decorating each in the appropriate color.

  Chakra Colors

  Holistic healing links the body’s main energy centers, known as the chakras, with the seven colors of the visible spectrum. Red is associated with the root chakra, at the base of the spine; orange with the sacral chakra; yellow with the solar plexus chakra; green with the heart chakra; blue with the throat chakra; indigo with the third eye; and purple with the crown chakra, at the top of the head. Knowledge of these chakra-color connections can help your healing spells.

  THE MAGICK OF THE TAROT

  The beautiful oracle known as the tarot provides a rich source of magick imagery that you can tap for spells as well as divination. Many tarot decks display colorful palettes, but the colors shown on the cards are not purely decorative—they embody specific symbolic, spiritual, psychological, and physiological properties as well.

  You’ll find many familiar—and some not so familiar—images on the cards in your deck. Tarot artists intentionally choose symbols from various spiritual, cultural, magickal, and psychological traditions to convey information directly to your subconscious. Like dream imagery, the pictures on the cards speak to us at a deeper level and trigger insights in a more immediate and succinct way than words can.

  The cards in the Major Arcana, in particular, offer powerful imagery, although many decks include vivid symbolism on the Minor Arcana cards as well. Some of the symbols are universal in nature, found in many cultures and time periods. Others may reflect the individual designer’s intentions or beliefs, rather than holding broader meanings for all users.

  The Suits of the Tarot

  Each of the four suits in a tarot deck is linked with an element: Wands with the element of fire, Cups with water, Pentacles with earth, and Swords with air. As we discussed earlier, each of the four elements corresponds to a color. Therefore, many tarot artists emphasize red on the cards in the suit of Wands, blue on the Cups cards, green on the Pentacles cards, and yellow on the Swords cards.

  Each suit also represents a particular area of life, so in spellwork choose cards from the suit that best relates to your intention. You can use cards from the suit of wands, for instance, in spells for career success or creativity. Choose cards from the suit of cups for love spells, pentacles for money spells, and swords for spells involving communication, intellectual pursuits, and legal matters.

  Spellworking with Tarot Cards

  Tarot cards make wonderful visual tools for spellcasting. Among the seventy-eight cards in a standard deck, you’ll find one or more cards to represent any objective you may have.

  I recommend purchasing a deck specifically for spellwork and another for doing readings. Some of the spells you perform require you to leave the cards in place, rather than returning them to the deck afterward. For example, you may wish to slip a card into a talisman or amulet pouch. To do the following spell, you’ll need to tape three cards together. Perhaps you’d like to paste some of your favorite cards in your grimoire. I have a miniature deck that’s perfect for this purpose.

  Tarot Triptych Love Spell

  A triptych is an altarpiece or decoration composed of 3 panels joined together. Perform this spell during the waxing moon, when the sun or moon is in Libra, or on a Friday.

  TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS

  3 tarot cards

  Tape

  Essential oil of rose, jasmine, patchouli, ylang-ylang, or musk

  Choose 3 cards from a tarot deck (one you don’t use for readings). These cards should depict things you desire in a romantic relationship. For instance, you might select the 10 of Pentacles if financial security is important to you or the Ace of Cups if you want to attract a new partner.

  Lay the cards face-down, side by side, and tape them together.

  Dab some essential oil on each card, while you envision yourself enjoying the loving relationship you seek.

  Stand the triptych up on your altar or in another place where you’ll see it often. (If you know feng shui, put it the Relationship Gua of your home.)

  If you have a mini deck or a third deck, you can affix three cards from it in your book of shadows when you record the spell. You might also want to dab a bit of essential oil on the page where you write your spell. You can adapt this spell for other intentions too; simply select three cards that symbolize your objective.

  RUNE MAGICK

  Like tarot cards, runes serve as symbols that you can incorporate into your magick spells. In Chapter 5, we discussed different types of runic alphabets and the significance of these images. If you wish to use runes as a secret code when you write in your grimoire, that’s fine, but they also have many other applications in spellcraft. Like the tarot, runes speak directly to your subconscious, bypassing the analytical, left-brain part of your mind. That’s one reason why they come in handy in magick work.

  Runes in Spellcraft

  One of the beauties of runes as visual elements in magick work is their simplicity. You don’t have to be a Rembrandt or a Michelangelo to draw runes. Most runes (Norse, Ogham, etc.) can be formed with a few lines, yet their stripped-down imagery doesn’t detract from their power. In fact, sometimes a very simple graphic can best convey your meaning. Consider the logos companies choose to represent them—a great logo depicts a company’s mission via a strong, uncomplicated, and meaningful design that you can easily remember.

  Witches today, like spellcasters centuries ago, use runes in many ways. Divination is one popular practice––see the rune reading example in Chapter 7. However, you can also draw runes on paper, stones, or pieces of wood and add them to talisman and amulet bags. Inscribe them on candles. Decorate your magick tools with runes. Embroider them on ritual clothing or altar cloths. (See the charts in Chapter 5.)

  Using Rune Imagery in Your Grimoire

  In your grimoire, sketch runes in the margins, alongside your spells and incantations—anywhere you like—to represent your intentions. Not only will these designs dress up a page, they also help you focus on your objectives and imprint your subconscious with their energy. Of course, you’ll want to write down the spells you perform using runes, as well as your rune readings. But you can incorporate runes into your book of shadows in other ways too:

  Choose a rune to define the nature of each spell you do and draw that rune on the page where you record that spell. The glyph serves as a visual shortcut for the spell.

  Have you chosen to organize your grimoire according to the types of spells you perform? If so, you could separate the categories with divider pages and draw a rune on each of those pages to signify the subject. The Norse rune Gebo, which looks like an X, could illustrate love spells. Berkano or Fehu could introduce the section where you record spells for abundance.

  Write your intentions in Ogham runes as a decorative border around the pages in your grimoire. Centuries ago, people in Ireland and the British Isles carved rows of Ogham script on standing stones in this way. Even if you don’t comprehend the meanings of the glyphs, your subconscious will understand.

  Drip hot candle wax on a page in your book and imprint a significant rune in the wax.

  SIGILS

  A sigil is a uniquely personal symbol you draw in order to produce a specific result. The word comes from the Latin sigillum, meaning sign. In a sense, a sigil is a way of communicating with yourself via secret code, because no one else can interpret the symbol. Although there are various techniques for designing sigils, the easiest one involves fashioning an image from letters.

  Creating Sigils

  Start by writing a word or a short affirmation that states your intention. Delete any letters that are repeated. For example, the word SUCCESS contains three Ss and two Cs, but you only need to put one of each into your sigil. Entwine the remaining letters to form an image—this is where you get creative. You can use upper- and/or lower-case letters, block or script. Position them right-side up, upside down, forward, or backward. The end result depicts y
our objective in a graphic manner that your subconscious understands. You’ll instantly recognize its meaning at a deep level, and that reinforces your intention.

  The following sigil combines the letters S U C C E S S to create an image. Of course, you could configure the letters in a zillion different ways, according to your own preferences, and each design would be uniquely powerful. That’s what makes sigils so special.

  Sigils in Spellwork

  The processes of creating the sigil and applying it are magick acts. Treat them that way. You may wish to design the sigil as a spell in itself. Or you can fashion the sigil and then use it later as a component of another spell. In this way you both craft and cast, and both produce effects. You can incorporate sigils into spells in myriad ways. For instance:

  Draw a sigil on a piece of paper and slip it into a talisman or amulet pouch.

  Display a sigil on your altar to remind you of your intention.

  Hang one on the door to your home to provide protection.

  Carve one on a candle, and then burn the candle to activate your objective.

  Draw or embroider a sigil on a dream pillow.

  Add them to paintings, collages, or other artwork you create.

  Paint one on a glass so it can imprint water, wine, or another beverage with your intent.

  Have a jeweler fabricate your sigil as a pendant or pin and wear it as a talisman.