Weather magic has always been part of traditional witches repertoire of tricks. Being magicians of nature, and the walker between the worlds, witches traditionally possessed a very intimate relationship with the natural world around them, and thus, naturally will have a strong rapport with the spirits of Nature.

Thus without further ado, here are some spells to help in your weather rambles. Just remember that all of our actions have consequences, good or bad, and you must take responsibility for your own choices and decisions. Weather magic is not something to be done on whim, and only if you had a real need, it likely won't work when done on whim either.

A spell to bring rain:

To bring rain to a desired area, get a map (drawn, bought, etc) of the desired location or go to the desired location, a blue candle, some rice, a cauldron of water, rain drawing herbs like broom, fern, corn pollen, and/or pansy (if none of these are available, just using the rice will be fine); your broom (not the plant, the tool), blessing oil or a rain drawing oil.

1. Go to the area you wish to bring rain to, or at a cross roads with a map of the place you wish to bring rain to with all of the tools.

2. Purify the ritual area and yourself, then access the compass round if you feel the need, or draw a ring of protection around you at the very least.

3. Invite the spirits of nature and rain making to aid you in your magic, nature spirits that you have established a rapport to, or the traditional elementals of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. I just generally address the spirits of sky, rain and earth (Divine power) to aid me in my magic, that couple with my own inner witch flame (personal power), and the power of my tools (Earth power) is the driving force behind my magic.

4. State your intent to the spirits you have called upon, as well as the universe at large, and the tools before you. As you use each tool, Cleanse, consecrate, and empower them as needed.

5. Charge the candle, carve it with appropriate symbols that mirror your intent, and dress it with oil from wick to base, drawing towards you as you chant your intent. Light it to add power to your magic, and set the mood, tone, and focus for you spell.

6. Fill your cauldron with water, from a local river if possible, or spring water, but tap water would  be fine too. Not collected rain water or bottled water though, because you want the water to be from a flowing moving source. Putting the tap water in a bottle right before the spell to carry to the ritual site is fine.

7. Now begin sprinkling the rice and herbs into the cauldron while chanting and visualizing rain falling on the designated area, starting from a drizzle and working up to the desired degree. Make sure to include a time frame of how long the rain should fall in your chant and when.

8. Continue to focus on rain falling on the designated area in the desired degree and taking your broom, dip it into the cauldron water and begin to sprinkle the water around you  in a clockwise manner. Continue chanting as needed, making to include the time frame for how long the rains should fall, and when.

9. Keep on chanting and focus on the rain pouring in the desired amount until you feel your energy has reached a crescendo, then direct and release the energy into the sky, earth or where you feel it is needed. At the moment of release pour the contents of the cauldron onto the floor of the area where it is going to rain, or on the map of the area where it is going to rain, and bring your broom swiftly down upon it.

10. Seal you spell, and give thanks to the spirits with appropriate offerings and praises.

11. Honour the spirits in the usual way, and take down you compass round

12. Clean up.

13. Depart from the ritual site and have faith.

So here's the spell, enjoy, and happy rain making, but use with discretion.

You can use this spell, or the age old favourite or striking a wet rag on a stone outside while invoking the devil to make rain fall.

Blessings, and be wise,

Until next time :)

Witchweek422

This recepie is really good to serve in early spring, and is often used for Ostara.

Ingredients:

2 tsp pine nuts

2 tblsp garlic infused olive oil

1 bunch of kale, washed

salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

warm oil to medium, add pine nuts and toast (5 min)

add kale for a few minutes, and then turn off heat.

serve with rice or baked potato.

{jcomments on}

Larunda butterfly/ moth genus (pic from Wikipedia). These are the night pollinators who help moonflowers and brugs)

This deity is from the Roman pantheon, and is regarded as both a maiden and mother goddess.

Larunda was a naiad nymph with a problem with loquatiousness. A naiad nymph is a water spirit, kind of like a sprite, which is associated with a particular body of fresh water (typically a lake, well or pond.) Whenever their water source dried up, they would die. Larunda was in charge of a well by the forum frequeneted by Juniper and his many paramors.

She was very beautiful, yet had a problem keeping silent, so was punished by the Gods, and lost her ability to speak. In some myths, she was punished for gossiping about Jupiter's libido and his wife found out.

She was sent to the underworld, but on the way, a trickster deity (per Ovid, it was Mercury) fell in love with her, hid her in a cottage in the woods, where she gave birth to cottage magic and her children, the house spirits. These spirits are called the Lares, and have a similar function to the Etruscan ancestor cults.

It is assumed that the Goddess Muta (the quiet one) is Larunda after her punishmnent.

The other theme of this story is that from a traumatic experience, growth and beauty can rise. Last week, there was a featured article in CNN about Combat Stress vs Combat Resilience. The basic premise is that some people develop a sense of purpose from their tragic events, and it makes them better people. The military is working with soldiers to teach them these life skills that will enable them to survive war on an emotional level so it does not cause shell-shock and lifelong depression and addiction.

Most modern people who study Egyptian theology focus on the weighting of the heart, and it being to heavy with sin as being an impediment for entering the Duat. This is obviously from growing up in a Judaeo- Christian society, and looking at other belief structures with their own cultural bias. Ammit will also eat hearts which are too light– ones without the experiences to make them full, rich souls deserving of entering an afterlife not of the human plane.

howver, this isn't often easy in practice, especially for those with ancestral wounds from their own childhood, or the knowledge that their own ancestors did something awful-- like burned witches in Salem, owned slaves in the American South, committed war crimes, etc.

So for those with less than perfect families, I offer this as a meditation. This comes from the typically Buddhist Metta ("LovingKindness") practice. (I discuss this on my blog as well, I use a similar version in order to humaize others on the road to combat road whining! It can also be used to connect to others-- people at work, people in your "Sanga" -- the Buddhist word for Circle or Coven, etc...)

Choose a short verse to repeat. A typical one offered is "may all beings be safe, happy, healthy and free from harm," but you can substitiute anything else, as long as it is well wishing and easy to remember.

First, think of yourself, and wish yourself well. This is a hard practice, so this is the most important step.

Next, think of an ancestor or teacher who taught you an important good lesson. This person is almost always thought of fondly and positivley. For me, this is always one of my grandparents. I remember my grandfather teaching me to meditate and to read, and my grandmother teaching me the tarot and both taking me to the museum when i was active and stir crazy. Then wish them well.

Then find a benign family member-- someone you dont have ill will toward who is experiencing joy and picture thier joy. Smile at their joy and wish them well (this helps cultivate equinimity-- an important componant of empathy, and a bridge to both compassion and clarvoince)

Then find a different benign family member who is experiencing sorrow and picture their sorrow. Contemplate on it, wish them healing for that sorrow, then wish them well. Also think about what you can do to ease that suffering if possible (this will cultivate karuna and also helps with honing healing energies)

Then find a family member who is younger than you. Ponder the fact that you are their ancestor. Think about what you can do to mentor them. Then wish them well.

Then find a family member who you have some difficulty with. Try to find something good about them. Wish them well.

Finally, chose a random person or animal in your life. Remember that we are all part of the same world-nature family. Wish them, and everyone well.

Close your practice.

Mandrakes belong to a large family of the plants known as the Solanaceae (nightshade) family. There are several different species within the mandragora genus, though the one most commonly used within witchcraft is Mandragora Officinarum.  They have oval shaped leaves, small flowers that vary in colour from species to species (the autumnalis variety has quite lovely purple flowers), and fruit that resemble tomatoes (another Solanaceae).

Great swathes of folklore surround the mandrake, as far back as Ancient Egypt where a myth recounts the goddess Sekhmet going on a great rampage against humanity. The gods were unable to reason with her, so they gave her wine with boiled mandrake root which knocked her out. The roots will often be split into two giving them a humanoid appearance (this led to stories of the roots looking like people) and it is said that anyone who hears the mandrake scream when it is uprooted will die. This led to elaborate rituals involving dogs pulling up the plant or loud instruments, such as horns, being played at the moment of uprooting (I will admit my slight disappointment when I uprooted my first mandrake when it didn't even wail).

Another key feature of the mandrake’s appearances in folklore is its uses in the flying ointments of witches. Mandrake roots- like many of the nightshade plants- contain chemicals called alkaloids, the main ones being scopolamine, atropine and hyoscyamine. These are what give the plant its mind altering effects. Interestingly (or at least I find it interesting…) atropine was named after Atropos, the fate who severed the thread of life, yet it is on the World Health Organization’s list of necessary drugs for its use in anaesthesia and as an antidote to organophosphate poisoning (think pesticides like DDT and Parathion).  

In the past mandrakes were often valued for their medicinal properties as well, generally as anaesthetics (remember that myth with Sekhmet?). They are mentioned in the Egyptian medical papyri and the Greek physician, Dioscorides, recommended giving mandrake wine to a patient before surgery. Both Pliny the Elder and Galen recorded the effectiveness of mandrakes in medicine, though Galen warned of the dangers of overdose.

During the Middle Ages mandrake roots grew so valuable that conmen shaped the roots of white bryony plants and sold them on as mandrakes to gullible customers (this is probably why recipes for sleep drugs like dwale list white bryony in their ingredients). Carrying a root will bring the bearer good luck and prosperity and the human-like shape of the root made it a common ingredient in love spells.

Growing mandrakes can be difficult as they take an absolute age to germinate (do not be surprised if it takes months). Most sources will recommend soaking the seeds (stick them in a small mesh bag in a small box of water in the fridge and change the water daily- just in case I always label the box TOXIC). I personally soak mine for around two weeks to a month (though some sources recommend soaking for up to six months) and then plant them, two to a small flower pot. Once the seedlings get to a height of a couple of inches repot them into larger pots that give them more root space (the root is the important bit and they need a lot of space). The soil needs to be aerated and kept fairly moist- not too wet and not too dry. Mine is currently sulking as I let the soil in its pot get too damp so it dropped its leaves and went dormant. Don’t worry too much if that happens- check the root, definitely, but if all seems in order replant and leave it to grow back. After a month or so you ought to see new leaves.  As plants native to the Mediterranean they are quite happy in shady to fairly sunny areas.

A warning:

If you choose to use mandrake in flying ointments etc. be aware that these plants are highly toxic and deserve your utmost respect. Do not overdose; a small amount will do plenty. The alkaloids can cause more than just hallucinations- they can cause malfunctions in your autonomic nervous system as well as give you serious diarrhoea. To translate: they can cause problems with both your breathing and heart rate and you probably already know the last one. I have heard of people who took datura (also a nightshade) and ended up having to consciously control their own breathing until the effects subsided- datura contains the same chemicals as mandrakes so it’s not too much of a leap to assume that similar symptoms might arise from mandrake overdose.

Plus, and I really hope that this bit’s unnecessary, please don’t use it at all if you are pregnant. Even if we ignore the stuff about the nervous system and what it can do to f***up your digestive system, it may lead to birth defects.

This book describes many experiments done on and about plants by various scientists, engineers, doctors and horticulturinsts. Some ofthe notable research is outlined below.

In the sections about electronic experiments, it was shown that plants can communicate with people and with each other. They also can pick up on human thoughts. One plant would always emit the same reading on the electronic sensor whenever a researcher thought about sex, so much so that it became a lab running joke! Plants could also sense when someone was intending to harm them, and the plant would wilt slightly.

In the plants and music experiment section-- people would play music for plants and they would grow bigger; however they do have musical taste-- they like Kirtan and classical but do not seem to care for deathmetal. Apparently, the soil near plants that were sung to was warmer than the quiet control plants.

In the plants and light section, plants were shown to have an internal clock. However, if plants were taken into a mine too far away from the sun, they went dormant.

There is a discussoin of an Odic force which runs thru all living things-- kind of like Wilhelm Reich's Orgone energy-- which links organic and inorganic energy. This energy, and electromagnetic energy of many forms, causes plants to grow faster.

Plants were shown to grow to align with the earth's magnetic field.

Plants have auras, as detected by Kirilian photography, and a dead leaf has no aura.After leaves are cut, they start to lose their aura until they arre dried up and have none. This aura was also detected with other instruments and was used by some foodies to determine freshness and potency for food.

In the Soil section, a link was made between monoculture and soil depletion (thi link was made before the 2nd world War, but there are whole states full of BT corn... Why?) Nitrogen fertilizer poisons groundwater and will cause soil imbalances but using manure would not. Organic farming was discussed-- the Law of return was defined that the soil will put out what you put in. There is a difference between farming and mining, this is something modern farmers have seemed to have forgotten.

Finally, plants grew better when they were prayed to.

Cleaning my closet and I just unearthed some books of shadows/ grimoires from my circle from high school and college. These contained class notes from my pre and early modern religion courses, Dante class, my tarot deck design sketches and meanings, photos, tools sketches, order notes from my Chaos Guild and Crowley days, some poetry, theory and hexes. Will post the interesting stuff as time permits; there's a lot of it.

This is back from my  "I have big hair I cried today to the cure" days... Was the 80s and early 90s and all....

Here are some of the spells:

Get an ex back spell
(note- it does work, a few of us used it more than i wish to admit. Never the best idea of course-- if the milk is bad today why on earth would it be good tomorrow?)

If you wish to enhance the spell, evoke Hera or erzulie  or Aphrodite or one of the other marriage or love goddesses and offer them a suitable offering.

Procure a small copper bowl
Put a small amount of your own bodily fluids in it and let dry
Add an activator herb like mandrake. Or rose petals
Bury in the dirt in an area they have to pass often

When at home during a new moon stand by an open window and burn some dragons blood incense and say the refrain below:

"Blessed one and blessed three have my lover return nigh to me"

Binding ritual (we used for the consecration of our circle, can be adapted for a handfasting as well)

Deities:
Moon deities, hecate persephone and Selene
Offer a rose
Friday
HP garbed in silver with a crown of nightblooming flowers

Incantation:
"Stars shining separated by a distance of eternal blackness
Our lady, traverse the distance and bring these bodies together as a constellation
In an ever entwining spiral whose apex is Love
So mote it be"

Tye hairs of the circlemates and place in the mortar
Cover with rose petals amber oil and sandalwood and daimianna leaves
Crush with pestle
Place a drop of the herbal mixture on the wrists of the circlemates

Say
"The seeds have been sown and in perfect love and trust ye be joined"

Bury the remaining materials on the coven grounds saying
"Into the earth the bond is placed
Hallowed this land
This sacred space
May this coven grow and prosper
Until now till forever after.
Do mote it be"

Ward
On a wood block carve a seal of soloman with s rose (or whatever power symbol you like-- we just used that one)
on the back a piece of paper with the mystical names of those working in the warded space)
Hang above door

Hex bag to aid in trancework and seeing
Green and red interlaced ribbon
Small emerald-- raw
Cross made of rosewood stick and oak stick (to represent the cross roads) lashed with black thread.
A small scroll with an intention written on it

String spells
Many simple spells can be done with embroidery yarn.

For diffusing negative energy, we would create an 9 knotted black bracelet to be worn on the right wrist.
Say

"Free from harm
And Free from greed
Free from want
And Free from need

Free from gossip
And free from dread
Free from lying
And free from dead

Free from ill will as we see
Love below will will set me free"

A red and pink cord with 7 knots worked well to attract love, ESP when anointed with libra oils

Binding a person from harming you was done by tying an object associated with a person with a white cord (6 knots if possible)
"Depart from here
Let me be!
Leave me in peace
Do not harm thee!
Find your own pathway
On a different highway !"

1. Wand and/or Staff (required tool)

physical representation of power.. it is a focus-- can be made of any type of wood but it must be personalized to really work. represents the active will, action, fire and creation.

2. Dagger and/or sword (also a required tool)

traditionally there were 2-- a white knife and a black. the white knife was used for cutting (and all it implies) and was a defensive weapon and the black handled one was used formystical purposes only-- as a manifestation of intellectual will, used for circle casting, for air and invoked force.

one participant believed there should only be one knife-- and it should be used for everything-- eating, wortcutting, circle building-- to remind everyone that all parts of life are magickal. a magickal sword can be used in both ritual and for defense.

another person said that if you eat or use it for mundane purposes, you need to do cleansings of it in order to remember what it is.

3. Cup or Chalice (also required)

the cup represents the emotions. it is an openended container for holding "stuff". water element. Can store energy for short term-- ritual duration. drink from it at celebrations. Cleanse often.

4. The Disk (required)

as the cup holds the drink of the goddess, the disk represents the food of the gods. earth element. the product of a ritual. grounding and "earthing". functions like a hearthstone. a plate. 

5. Thurbel (insense burner, not required)

a specific burner is not needed, especially for outside rituals. incense is ofte used for things such as cleansing and for entering a trance state. this represents fire of air elementally.

6. Lamp (not required)

another fire element tool. you need to be able to see for ritual. many rituals use a particular number or variety of candles for their mystical significance. 

7. Altar and Temple

This is an earth element "tool". alters can be indoors or outdoors, as can "temples". this is simply a dedicated place to practice and to store equipment. The area needs to be safe-- warded, cleaned and cleared from clutter and debris. Often people like practicing in natural settings. Needs to be respected. IIs a place to learn, to enter the silence and to celebrate. 

8. Self castigation tools

in some of the older Cerimonial books, self castigation tools were used to focus the mind. Most participants believed that this came from a Puritanical mindset, and was archaic. Crowley did include these in Gems from the Equinox and Magick in Theory and Practice, but he was writing in a different time period. we believe that life punishes people enough for not focusing their mind, we didnt need to add insult to injury.

9. the circle

In many Cerimonial books, a perminant circle is recommended for the alter or temple room where a coven practices. Typically, there would be names of deities, angels, and elementals  .many modern covens will create a circle outside-- some will setseasonal plants at the quarters and cross quarters for the  seasons when they are harvested. others will put torches at the quarters and an altar in the middle. it is not necesary, but is a nice to have. 

It judges, presides, inspires Everything in its empire; It is perhaps a fairy or a god? When my eyes, drawn like a magnet

To this cat that I love…

--Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil (1857), “The cat”

 What is a Familiar?

The Wikipedia definition of Familiar is "In European folklore and folk-belief of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, familiar spirits (sometimes referred to simply as "familiars") were supernatural entities believed to assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic." (They cite this book as their source: Wilby, Emma (2005). Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.)

 A few of the Webster definitions of familiar are “:one who is often seen and well known; especially : an intimate associate : companion” , “ one who is well aquainted with something “, “one who frequents a place”, “spirit or demon that serves or prompts an individual “ and “the spirit of a dead person invoked by a medium to advise or prophesy”

In the Torah, the familiar spirit was an ancestral spirit that sorcerers or necromancers used to answer questions or perform mystical duties. In Christian mythos, familiars are “evil” spirits, and are dangerous.

 So, for all the definitions, a familiar is a spirit that aids a magickal practitioner.

Types of Familiars

However from historical accounts, what TYPE of spirit differs from story to story.

 Witches' familiars would be described as either demons or demonically possessed animals and cunning folk's familiars were either "pets" or "fairees". (Since there was not much distinction in writings about the practices of either group, it is assumed that the “witch” spoken of was someone not well liked by the author, while the “cunning folk” was someone not ill regarded.)

Often in ceremonial magick, a Familiar is either an animal helper who is a real, live companion animal of a practitioner that had by magickal rites and rituals been imbued with certain abilities and charged with specific duties to aid the practitioner (and purr loudly and keep their sanctum mouse, spider, moth and ball of string free) or a golem spirit created for a similar purpose, minus the purring (i hope.)

 The concept of the Familiar Spirit is a mainly European one; however other cultures speak of animals in their mystical traditions.

 Indigenous Shamans (specifically Native Americans, Arctic Peoples and Australians) believed in Totem Animals and personal guardian animal spirits. Personal totems were regarded both as part of the human's "soul" from former incarnations and are separate spirit guides/ helpers. According to some sources, there is a differentiation between helper spirits and teacher (guides) spirits-- and the divide is on whether the spirit will take guidance/ orders or give council and tests.

 There are temple cats all over Asia who help the priests in rites, divine the future,  and keep the temples mouse free;  and many eastern Religions believe in animals having a Deva-- a totem spirit for that type of animal, and that Deva can aid humans toward aims. In Japan, there are numerous stories of cats and dogs  as being helper spirits and protecting humans from harm.

Typical familiar animals in mythology are cats, owls, spiders, jaguar, hare, rats, bats, toad, and raven.

My Familiars

My cat who passed (Aszdra) was a familiar in the whole John Dee way, and also my best friend. She would cast circles (I really didn’t train her, she just followed a few times), would do some divination (cat divination is pretty common in folklore-- dreaming of cats, cats telling what the weather will be, how long you live, etc. But this isn't what I am talking about. I was able to teach Aszdra to point to things with her paw, and to shake her head yes or no when asked questions; typically my friends and clients for tarot readings would ask about their love life, and typically she would sadly shake her head no, then kindly rub against them in some sort of compassionate consolation,)and would protect the house and me for malign entities—both human and otherwise, so much so that we joked that we were going to dye brown spots on her head to make her even more of a Rottweiler.

 We adopted Aszdra from the San Francisco SPCA. She was a purebred grand champion Black British Shorthair (http://www.cfa.org/client/breedBritishShorthair.aspx,)  who someone couldn’t keep for some unspecified reason (I would assume illness, since there was a lot of people living with HIV in the area during the mid 90’s before there were good antiviral treatments and the SF SPCA had a program where they would re-home cats for people when they got too sick to care for them.) A friend who was in training to be a veterinarian volunteered at the shots clinic there, and told us of her.

We brought her home, christened her with her name (yes, from a John Dee book) in an elaborate ritual that would have made Uncle Kelley proud, fed her lots of expensive cat food and eggs on dishes suited for the Fancy Feast commercial cat, and she lived a very pampered life. She was very affectionate and would sleep on my pillow nightly.

The current cats are not as trained as familiars in the same way as Aszdra was—the big orange one is very much an empath, and will offer comfort when people or the other cat is sick. The will also sit next to whomever is the most right during an argument. (He was adopted from under a bush when he was 2 weeks old, and was hand weaned. His mother, brothers and sisters were all found homes with friends.) The Bengal (left; http://www.bengalbreed.com/public/index.php) is more independent, so will NOT cast circles or the like. However she senses spiritual presences and will tip us off to weird energetics, and seems to be able to communicate non-verbally with the 5 year old.

Thing one and Thing two 

 Note: I am most attuned to cats and reptiles, mainly because I served as a priestess of Baast for many years, and my Kemetic beliefs are in tune with reptiles (also my family was more "reptitle postive" than cat or dog positive since my mother is OCD and afraid of fur and my grandmother allergic.)