Tuesday 12 April 2011

Cleansing Rituals

Surf the net and browse through books and you will come across many cleansing rituals. It can be confusing but in the end they all do the same thing, cleanse an object of negative energy. There are those who say this is not needed, that may be true but I like to cleanse things, do what feels right to you.
I see it this way energy is all around us and we leave our energy on things we use and touch. So if you buy fabric it has be handled by many people all leaving their energy  behind. With that in mind I like to make sure any negative energy is removed.
This is my formula for rituals :


Purpose of the ritual in this case Cleansing
Write out the ritual (it makes it easier)
Gather your tools together
Prepare your Altar
Prepare your body

Cast your circle
Call the Quarters
Invoke the Deity or Deities
Perform the ritual
Partake of cakes and wine in my case cakes and fruit juice I don't like alcohol
  
Thank the Deity or Deities
Release the Circle
Tidy everything away.

Sounds a lot but it is simple to do.
What I use for Cleansing and object
Water (Element of Water)
Incenses (Element of Air)
Candle flame (Element of Fire)
Salt (Element of Earth)
Ask the Element of Spirit cleanse the object
Ask the Deity to bless the object
I also use tools like my Wand
Don't forget to have something to light the incense and candle with.

Now some of you may be thinking that is fine if you can use things like Incense and Candles and I  certainly do not have a wand or athame yet.
No problem tools are a prop they are not needed they are nice to have but not an essential. I know some would disagree with this.
So you cannot use Incense or Candles so how do you go about invoking the Element of Air and Fire?
For Air use your breath, a fan, or your hand to create a breeze.
For Fire rub your hands together briskly until you feel the heat and hold your hands close to the object.
No Wand or Athame?Use your index finger on your power hand ( the hand you write with) visualize energy coming from you to create the circle.
What to say
There are no right or wrong words to say, take a look at various rituals that you can find on the internet and you will find a host of different ways to word a ritual.
I like to keep things simple and to have my rituals rhyme. So once I have cast my circle  called the quarters invoked the Deity I am ready to begin my ritual.
To cleanse the item, lets say it is some thread I am going to use,  I first of all hold it up and say
This thread that you do see
Please free it of negativity
Then starting with salt for Earth sprinkle some of it onto the thread saying
May the Element Earth drive out all negativitity
and fill it with positive energy


Now pass the thread through the smoke of the Incense saying
May the Element of Air blow away all negativity
and breath into it positive energy

Now pass the thread through the heat of the candle flame  not the flame itself and say
May the Element of Fire burn off all negativity
and warm it with your positive energy


Now sprinkle on some water saying
May the Element of Water wash away all negative energy
and fill it with your positive energy
Now ask Spirit to cleanse the thread
By the powers of Spirit which is Divine,  
remove all negative energy and leave only positive behind.
 Empowering the object

 Call upon the  Deity to bless the thread with their love and energy
Beloved ( use the name of your Deity you work with) Bless this thread that you see
and fill it with your love and positive energy.

Partake of cakes and wine or cakes and fruit juice

If I have a lot of thread to cleanse I do what I call a bulk cleansing. To do this I pass the incense over the threads and do the same with the candle trust me this is a lot easier than doing it individually when you have thirty embroidery cottons to cleanse.

Writing out the ritual first gives you a chance to see how it feels and reads before you use it. Using your own words is always better but you can use mine if you like I don't mind.














 

Tuesday 5 April 2011

My Needlework

I love to make things for my Friends, Family and the home. Being a Solitary Hearth Witch I add Magickal Inent to my cooking, Housework, Gardening and Neddlework.
I do this in many ways, I will be adding more to my blog as time goes on so keep coming back to take a look at what I am doing.
I love to Knit, Cross stitch and Sew, I have yet to master Crochet but I keep trying.
I will explain how I make things and add Magickal Intent to them. Feel free to use my ideas and alter them to suit you.
I have a wonderful book that inspired me to create some of my own ideas and I would not be without it. It is now hard to get hold of but if you can get it you would find it well worth the effort.
  Click here  Magical Needlwork
I have used some of the ideas and patterns in my work and have asked permission of the author to use them. See the side bar in Please Read.  
If using any of the patterns from the book by Dororthy Morrison please adhere to the copyright I am not responsible for your actions so please do take care when using anything from her book, Thank you.
I am not an expert just an enthusiastic amatuer so everything I make is easy to do. Lots of things I make are hand sewn, I do have a sewing machine for crafting so it is not a heavy duty one and is really simple to use. I am not great with complicated things. All my machinery from the washing machine to my sewing machine is easy to operate the fewer parts to go wrong the better.
My sewing machine, it does all I want it to do and is so easy to use even for a novice.