Yesterday I spent a lovely day at Enchantments, first conducting our Summer Solstice ritual, a week late, but I was recuperating last week and yesterday was a perfect day to celebrate the sun! Don't get hung up my 'witchlings' on stressing about celebrating the Sabbats at the exact moment! The God and Goddess care not what we mere mortals do, while we play in the playground they created for us. As long as we're happy and we love, I think that's what makes them happy. So, yesterday was a perfect day with the sun shining and the warmth returning, actually right after the ritual concluded it became quite lovely out.
The Magickal studies class held on saturday mornings at Enchantments made poppets before the ritual and we blessed them in the circle, then went upstairs to the classrooms of Enchantments and had a Sabbat feast with all sorts of goodies! After everyone went off to enjoy their weekend I found my day open and free. So, I went to the local plant nursery and bought a few flats of beautiful annuals and I spent the day planting and watering and getting muddy and loving every blessed moment of it! I felt well and truly happy!
One beautiful little annual plant I found and fell immediately in love with was a pink flower, also in red, called Pentas. Penta from the Greek meaning five. We see this root word in our words of Pentagram and Pentacle, meaning our five pointed star that we use in modern witchcraft. These tiny flowers are truly star shaped and grow in compact clusters about 6 inches tall and in diameter. I planted over 60 of these pretty little plants and look forward to seeing their happy little faces all summer. Here are some pictures of these great little plants!
Well, the topic of this discussion today is the nature of spell casting. I started to think about this as I was waiting at a large intersection yesterday, and noticed a car in the lane next to mine. It was a small car and the back window had been painted with white and blue letters proclaiming the class of 2011, and the school the graduate (presumably driving the car) graduated from. I then noticed the side window towards the back of the car had "Health Tech" painted on it, carefully and unlike most graffiti, this car and many like it are carefully designed with pride. One can safely assume the driver had graduated from this school, this year (just the day before we had graduation in our town) and had dreams of becoming a health technician and was planning on going to college for this goal.
Well my dear, everything about this little car shouts spell casting to me! Now, now the driver most likely has NO idea that his or her carefully designed and decorated mode of transportation could be construed as a spell!! Some might be 'horrified' to think so, but let's discuss, as I see the elements of effective spellcasting in this persons car decorating scheme.
Firstly, I'll assume for ease of discussion that the driver was female, as I couldn't quite see. Firstly she chose colors, color magick, from her school colors as I know the school she graduated from has the colors white and blue. Using the school colors strengthens the energies she was putting into the decorating. Yes, red, yellow or florescent orange might have been more vivid and eye catching, but the school colors create a magickal bond with the driver and her school, she is leaving to pursue a higher education. Then she boldly stated her intention or magickal goal, to become a health technician. She obviously put some thought into what she wanted to pursue, as many graduates are unsure and take general studies the first year or so of college to find out what may work best for them.
She decorated her car, carefully as none of the needed windows for visibility when it came to safe driving were affected and she then drove the car around as she went on her day, instead of say for example, she parked it on her front lawn for people passing by to see. It went everywhere she did. She would see it every time she went to drive her car, reinforcing the image and the concept that she will become a health tech.
Following my anatomy of a spell, as described in my book 'Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies' on pg 133, let's see how the future health tech did when it came to crafting an effective spell.
1. Magickal Goal, she wants to be a health technician and that was clearly stated in white paint
2. Method, in this case she used her car, a personal item.
3. Charge, enchant, incant - she painted her car, personalized it and used the school colors and it was obvious she put some time and effort into it, as it was nicely done.
4. Cast the spell - Ah, this she did by leaving the painted words on (and not washing them off immedietly after graduation) and driving the car so others could see and most importantly she would see the car everyday, hopefully for a week or longer thereby reinforcing her desires and goals within, every time she sees her car.
5. Trust - we can only hope she believes in herself and her dreams and from what I know of young people they have tremendous belief in their dreams because they are many times too young to have allowed life to make them bitter and jaded by their experiences yet.
Everything about that little car, proudly emblazoned with her accomplishments, a graduate of the class of 2011 and her dreams of the future tell me she will achieve her dreams and I personally wish her the very best of luck. Whomever she or he may be.
We see this type of spell casting in other areas of our lives, especially in the superstition ridden arena of professional sports. Have you seen the sports fans painted the colors of their teams, especially all over their faces and bodies. This is a modern reflection on the ancient tribal magicks as employed by aboriginal tribes around the world. \
I have also often felt and seen direct correlation to superstitions and magickal practices for many years. When someone knocks on a piece of wood for instance, throws some spilled salt over their shoulder or insists you eat chicken soup when sick, these all have more magickal practices to them than mere superstitions can explain.
We, many of us, employ magickal spell casting at least once a year, every year. When you blow out the candles on your birthday cake, you have cast a spell that goes back over 5,000 years ago to the Greek temple of Artemis and the wish you wished, if she's listening to you, will be answered.
Ah, soooooo, what spells will you cast today?
Peace and Happiness
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© 2010-2011 Enchantments, LLC Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website.
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