Spyrit Dancers' Musings On All Things Wiccan

While I was setting up for my full moon ritual last night, I took some pictures of my ritual space and altar.  Of course, as I state on my one picture, it is always at that time I remember that I still don’t have an altar cloth that will cover my table to the ground.  My altar currently consists of a sheet of scrap plywood that is atop a stack of cinderblocks that are stacked on top of each other.  I’m a firm believer in not spending a ton of money on things, so I use what I have on hand.  Eventually, I want to put some wooden 2×4 legs on my table so it is a bit more stable, and burn some images into it.  But for now it works.

This is a side view of my altar looking east.  For my directional candles, I use candles you can pick up in a grocery store usually in the Hispanic section.  I got mine at Albertsons.  They come in the correct colors too, and are inexpensive.  I ended up during the ritual taking the rocks they are on, putting them on end, to create a windblock.  It wasn’t too windy, but enough that they blew out initially.

My circle is big ,12′ across, for a solitary.  I do this as in the winter I wear heavier clothing, and have no desire to catch myself on fire from the directional candles when dancing around the circle.   This is one area of our yard we still have not put the weed cloth then gravel down.  I like too that I can see it out my office window, and I have a very clear view of the moon, even when low in the sky, from my circle.

This is a picture of my Altar.  I don’t have all my candles on it yet.  I put 3 white candles that are in jars for light, and my Goddess and God candles on the top of it by my “cock rock” and my Witchy Goddess.  I also had my mistletoe, and mint that I brought out to empower during the ritual.

You don’t need expensive tools and trappings.  My first athame that I used for years was a wooden letter opener.  I made the wand, the bell, the incense burner, and the salt holder.  I found my “cock” rock. The vace is a $1 vase from WalMart we spray painted copper.  I use bottled spring water for my water, and organic rock salt for my salt.  My book of shadows (not shown) is a 3 ring binder, because I find it easier to keep it organized.

Intent is the main thing.

My goal for next month is to have a cloth that drapes to the ground on all 4 sides.  If I don’t it doesn’t matter. The material works fine for me. Blessed Be everyone.

I keep adding more to my outdoor ritual space, and the ritual was beautiful.  It was great having the rocks around the ring to direct the energy into when forming the sacred circle.

When I performed the Drawing Down The Moon, I felt chills head to toe, and goose bumps. Reciting her words, my voice changes, and gets a timbre and tone I can’t duplicate any other time but during that ritual.  It was heavenly.

And I have to admit, I love my full moon ritual incense.  I sprinkle it on my charcoal tab in my cauldron, and I love the billows of smoke that comes out.  Shows I have a bit of ceremonial magick in me.

I hope everyone else’s full moon ritual went well too.

Isn’t it amazing sometimes how the Goddess works in our lives?  Last month, I took a stick and a string and scribed a circle in my back yard to have my full moon ritual in.  Yesterday, I realized we had rocks from a neighbor who moved away in a pile and I decided they would be great to put around the outside of the circle for the ritual.  These rocks were lovingly found by my neighbors over many years and since they were unable to take them when they left, they wanted us to have them.

So we took the wheel barrow, and hauled the rocks over yesterday.  I had just enough rocks to put them end for end touching, around a circle I drew, without thinking that some day, I’d put these rocks around the edge.  And 4 of the rocks were larger than the rest, and flat on top that I used a compass and set my 4 cardinal points.

Now that the weather is cooler, I’ll be working this next month to further improve my outdoor ritual space.  After having conducted full moon rituals indoors for years, it feels wonderful to do them outdoors.  I want to level the ground and eventually get broken flagstone to put on the floor of the circle.  We have a local rock yard that sells us broken chunks for very cheap, and they make great flagstone tiles.  We used a lot of them around our little pond we have in the back yard.  Eventually, I’ll have my circle set so my small mesquite tree is in my north point just outside my circle, and my pond is at my west point, just outside my circle, so I’ll have physical representations of the elements at those points.  I want to get a fire pit for the south too some day which would be great.  East, well there is always wind and wind chimes.   (which were quite loud outside our window last night, as it was pretty windy).

I’ve asked my husband to take a picture of me in my ritual circle after I construct it.  I’ve always been curious, would you catch anything on film of the circle we construct in the world between the worlds?  Wouldn’t that be cool?  I can feel it, and the energy I put into it, rather strongly.  Even sitting where I had my ritual last month, I can still feel postive energy there that has soaked into the ground.  I know over time, it will get even more apparent.  Although he is not Wiccan, he supports me in my endevors, which I appreciate.  I know others have to practice in secret because they have family members that just wouldn’t understand or approve.  He might not understand all the aspects, but he feels anything positive for my life I do is all good.  For a Christian, that is a wonderfully open attitude, and I appreciate it.

So how about everyone else, what are you doing for your full moon ritual?  Do you construct a circle, hold it outdoors, or indoors? (I used to construct the circle in my office, which over the past years is the happiest place for me to be in the house).  Do you have family that you have to practice in secret, or are they ok with your choice? I have always wished I had a partner that was also a Wiccan, but that hasn’t manifested in this lifetime.  I’d love to hear from you.

My full moon ritual was awesome last night.  For whatever reason (mainly weather) I haven’t performed an outdoor ritual in a long time, so last night, given the weather was mild, I held my ritual outdoors.  I chose a corner in the back of my yard (which has a privacy fence) for privacy, and scribed in the gravel (yes, its the desert, we have a lot of rocks in our yard) a 12′ circle to give me more room to move around.  The normal table I use for an alter is a bit rickety, so I used a 4′ fold-out table for my altar, and placed all my tools on it before sundown, so I could see better.

Shortly after the moon rose, I began my ritual.  It was cloudy, and the moon played peek-a-boo with the clouds. It was still a bit windy, so I couldn’t get my directional candles to stay lit, but was able to get 2 small candles that were in glass jars lit on my altar to help me see my BOS.

I conducted a ritual where I spoke with Aule the smith, and asked his blessing and empowerment on all my rune stones, then one set at a time, cleansed them with salted water, and sage to cleanse them with all four elements.

When I finally finished with that, and wanted to do my prosperity and protection of my property part of the ritual, the moon burst out from behind the clouds.  It was an awesome sight, and I was able to look up at the moon and tell the Goddess my desires.  So much better than performing in my cramped little office!

When I was finished, I took a large couldron full of empowered salted spring water, my sage, and got my husband, and we walked our entire property border, concentrating on keeping anyone wishing to do us harm out of our property, and inviting happiness, prosperity, and good health into our property.  I sprinkled the salted water, and he used the sage wand.  We have an acre, so it took us awhile to do it…something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile.

We have had break-ins three streets over from our house, and we wanted to create a barrior that no one that wished us harm could cross.  I’ve done this countless times in my home, but this was the first time we’ve done it on the border of our property.

Both of us were pretty tired today…I have a feeling we both expended a lot of personal power during the ritual.  But more than that, we felt an overwhelming feeling of peace in our home.  I remember reading a book by Ellen Dugan saying that you could always tell a witches home.  Not so much by the decorations, but by the good feeling you get walking in the door.  We’ve had that for awhile, but it has been greatly magnified since yesterday.

And prosperity! Our income from our business is on an upward track.  If it continues, we will have our best month ever.  Stay tuned on that one.

I mentioned back on Wed, the Goddess lead me to a book through a series of events called Silver’s Spells for Abundance.  In it, I found a meditation to help draw abundance into my life.  One of the “Enhancements” to the spell (she usually has several for each one) was to start it on a full moon, and perform daily until the next full moon.  So today, I start.

I have summarized the spell below, and this is from her book.  If you would like more of her wonderful prosperity spells, and some banishing poverty spells, pick up Silver’s Spells for Abundance today.Prosperity Devotion

A devotion is a simple prayer or meditation done every day with the goal of putting you in a positive frame of mind while connecting with the Spirit.  Here is Spirt’s Prosperity Devotion I plan on doing every morning and evening starting today, and until the next full moon.  If you cant start this on a full moon, start it on a waxing moon.

Sit in an area you won’t be disturbed. Close your eyes.  Take 3 deep breaths.  Begin by saying either mentally or aloud:

At this moment, there is no yesterday.
At this moment, there is no tomorrow.
At this moment, there is only today.
Goddess of abundance, come to me, come to me.

The devotion goes on with different chants to say as you slide deeper into meditation.  It is all about positive visualizing of what you wish…abundance…to come into your life.  I will let you know in a month how this works in manifesting abundance into my life.  In the meantime, feel free to pick up Silver’s Spells for Abundance
to try it in your own life.

And wow am I behind, lol.  I’m trying to get more rune sets carved up so I can empower them tomorrow night, and getting my etsy shop set up, along with struggling with a cold, has left me behind.  But today I’m feeling a lot better, so I sense a lot of carving going on.

The full moon of February helps you prepare for rebirth of the earth.  Seeds are deep under ground, silent under the snow, waiting for warmer weather to spring forth.  I had a hard time with this visualization.  We had had very warm weather for this time of year…until the last few days.  Now we are back with highs in the 40s, a lot of rain, and a tremendous amount of snow in the mountains.  It is much easier to think of winter now, and celebrate the coming warm days.

If you are planning on celebrating the full moon, today is a good day to think on what you want to do during your ritual.  I know that I will be visiting Aule the Smith again, asking him to bless and empower my rune stone sets.  And I’ll be asking the Goddess and God to empower my new batch of ritual oils.  But I also plan on celebrating the return of spring by burning some green candles on my altar signifying the green that will be coming soon.

Actually for me, with all this rain, green weeds will be coming soon, lol.  Last time we had this much rain in January, we had what they call 50 year blooms in Death Valley down the road.  Flowers that hadn’t been seen in 50 years that need a wet January gave a glorious show.  I’m expecting it to be another 50 year blooming year this year too.

Whether all you do is light a few candles, go outside and bask in the light of the full moon, or do a full on ritual, tomorrow is a day of celebration for all Wiccans.

One of the craft items I’ve been wanting to make and sell are sets of rune stones. So last night, during the full moon, I crafted three sets I’ll be putting up on eBay later on today.

What makes these stones special is not so much the stones, they are plain black tumbled stones, but the fact that they were made on a full moon. I then took them into a ritual circle, and called on the elements from the four quarters, the Lord and Lady to come and bless the stones and give the caster true seeing from them.

Then I went into meditation and met with Aule the blacksmith in his underground cavern, and asked him to bless the stones, and tried to charge them with as much magickal energy as I could.

Finally, I rolled them in sea salt, washed them in spring water, then smudged them with sage to remove any possible negative energy left from where ever the stones came from.

I really felt good, and as luck had it, I timed the casting of my circle with the exact time of the full moon… 10:27pm.

So whoever gets these stones should have the most powerful set of runes I can make…well, at least until I make more on the next full moon.

This is the type of crafting that I love, and I hope that the lucky buyer really loves them too.

Tonight is the full moon. It is called The Cold Moon, (apt name in most of the US), The Wolf Moon, or The Quiet Moon and occurs at 10:27pm EST.

According to Llewellyn’s 2009 Witches’ Spell-A-Day Almanac this moon name in the Elven path is called (translated) the Moon of New Fire, celebrating the return of longer days, and was alinged with Alue the Smith. (Sorry the u has a special character over it, but I don’t know how to type it) who lives in the ground and resonates with metals, gemstones and other forms of creation and crafting.

I read this after I spent the morning searching for gemstones to make rune stones and wands out of. I have always felt blessed by the Goddess and she gently guides me down the path I should take, and this is just one example of her working in my life. I love stuff like that!

I am planning on performing a ritual tonight to bring health and prosperity into my home. (always a good full moon ritual) but after reading today’s spell, I decided to also do the ritual listed to meet Aule and ask his protection and guidance on selecting the best stones to work with personally, and to sell to other Wiccans.

The ritual (paraphrased from Llewellyn’s 2009 Witches’ Spell-A-Day Almanac )goes like this:

Light a black, gray or brown candle, and hold rocks, crystals, gemstones or metal items. Sitting comfortably, close your eyes and visualize being underground in a cave. The walls glow, and you see the beauty of the exposed metals and gemstones are reflecting light from the fire inside Arda our Earth.

You then approach Aule, who is crafting in these fires a beautiful creating, and he asks you what you wish to mainfest this year. List your goals to him, and upon hearing your goals, he creates a symbol of these goals which he has engraved on a wonderful item. It can be a stone, or a piece of jewelry, or a metal work. When he hands it to you, he shows you the item, the symbols and tells you their meanings and you feel the strong powers coming from it. You know that the strength of that power will help your goal to become real. (written by Calantirniel)

Thank him for his blessing and gift. Come out of your meditation. I plan on visualizing his symbols and drawing them, or possibly etching them on some of my gem stones that I have all over my desk and altar. (I cannot resist pretty stones and rocks, lol).