Supermarket Magic: Creating Spells, Brews, Potions and Powders From Everyday Ingredients (18 page)

consulting a book on tea leaf reading is helpful.

Dream Pillows

Breathing in the scent of magical herbs and absorbing

their energies while you sleep is a wonderful way of un-

locking your psychic potential. An herbal pillow is the

best means of accomplishing this and the pillow that fol-

lows is easy to create.

Prophetic Dreams Pillow

• Cloth napkin, small pillowcase, or 2 five

inch squares of fabric (white, dark blue or

purple)

• Needle and thread (white, dark blue or

purple)

• 4 tablespoons bay leaves, crumbled

• 4 tablespoons chamomile

Psychic Ability and Divination 191

• 4 tablespoons peppermint

• 4 tablespoons thyme

• 4 tablespoon anise seed

• 1 tablespoon lemongrass

Stuff the pillowcase (or sew up three sides of the cloth

squares or napkin and stuff) with the herbs and sew up

the end. Charge the pillow with your desire for prophetic

dreams. Sleep with this pillow on top of your regular pil-

low to induce psychic dreams.

Oils

This oil can be worn on the body or used to anoint candles in spells designed to increase your overall psychic ability or candles used during divination.

Psychic Oil

• 2 teaspoons thyme

• 1 tablespoon lemongrass

• ¼ teaspoon cloves

• ½ cup olive oil

Warm the herbs and oil in a pot over low heat until

you can smell the herbs in the air. Remove from heat and

allow it to cool completely. Charge the oil with your in-

tent for enhanced psychic ability, then strain and bottle

for use. Cloves can be irritating to the skin, so they can
192 Chapter 11

be omitted if desired, but I recommend keeping them in.

Years ago, I read a recipe for an herbal charm for psychic ability using cloves as its primary ingredient. Skeptical, I tried it and was surprised at its effectiveness. There is something about cloves that seem to awaken the mind.

Oil Spells

Water Scrying

• Cauldron or black bowl

• Water

• Psychic Oil

• 2 dark blue or purple candles

Fill the cauldron or bowl three-quarters of the way

full with water. Anoint the candles with the oil. Use the

oil to anoint your third eye, wrists and back of the neck

as well. Place the candles far enough behind the caul-

dron so that their flames are not reflected into the water when you are gazing. Light the candles. Calm and center

yourself and gaze into the water. Relax your vision and

continue to gaze. This may take a few attempts but after

awhile, the water will appear to cloud over and images

will form. Interpret the symbols according to your per-

sonal reactions.

Psychic Ability and Divination 193

Foods

There is one food that can be used in an easy and time-

honored method of divination; eggs. The egg has been

employed to determine whether or not a pregnant woman

will have twins by rubbing it on her belly and then crack-

ing it open to see if there is one yolk or two. Studying

the condition of the yolk can also provide clues as to the health of the baby; a rotten egg or bloody yolk are omens

of ill health. There is also a method of scrying using an

egg and water. It is quite simple to perform.

Ovamancy

• 1 egg

• 1 clear bowl of water

Crack the egg into the bowl of water and study the

shapes that the egg whites take in the water. Look for

signs and omens. Again, these should be interpreted ac-

cording to your own intuition but, consulting a book on

tea leaf reading could be helpful.

Charms

A handy magic charm relating to psychic ability to have

is a pendulum. A pendulum can be easily made using a

nut and some thread. In Irish lore, the hazel is consid-

ered the tree of wisdom. The nut of this tree, the hazelnut or filbert, is packed with wisdom-enhancing energy and

194 Chapter 11

using one as a pendulum can help you find the answers

you seek.

Pendulum of Knowledge

• 1 hazelnut (filbert)

• White thread

• 1 sturdy needle

Carefully take the needle and poke a hole through

the center of the hazelnut. This may take more than one

try so, it is a good idea to buy several nuts and take your time. Once you have the hole through the center, take

the thread and feed it through the hole. Tie a knot in the thread so that you basically have a bead on a string. Cut

the thread to about 12 inches. Charge the pendulum with

your intent that it shall be a divinatory device and will

always tell the truth. It is ready for use.

Pendulum Divination

To use the pendulum, hold the end of the string between

the thumb and forefinger of your strong hand and ask

the pendulum to give you its answer for yes. It will swing.

Note the pattern of this swing. It may be back and forth

or in a circle. If a circle, it may turn in a clockwise circle or counterclockwise circle. No matter how it moves, not

that it is the pendulum’s “yes” motion. Now ask it to in-

dicate its no response. Note the swing of the pendulum

Psychic Ability and Divination 195

this time. Once you have clear indications of yes or no

answers, you may begin to ask questions. The swing will

indicate the answers to your questions. Take clear notes at all times so you remember what was asked and what the

answers were. This will give you a way to gauge accuracy

as you progress.

Witch Bottles

This spell bottle can be created to be a continual force of psychic-enhancing energy channeled to you.

Psychic Spell Bottle

• 1 tablespoon anise seed

• 1 tablespoon celery seed

• 1 tablespoon flax seeds

• 1 tablespoon mace (or nutmeg)

• 3 bay leaves

• Bottle or Mason jar

• 1 dark blue or purple candle

• Psychic Oil

Anoint yourself and the candle with the Psychic Oil.

Light the candle. Place each of the herbs into the bottle

and close the lid tightly. Hold the bottle in both hands

and charge with your intent of increased psychic ability.

196 Chapter 11

Drip melted wax from the candle over the lid until it is

completely covered to seal the spell. Keep the bottle by

your bed if possible so that you can absorb its energies

while you sleep.

Shopping List

Here is the list of ingredients used in this chapter.

❏ Anise

❏ Cloth (white, ❏ Needle

dark blue or

purple)

❏ Bay

❏ Clove

❏ Nutmeg

❏ Bottle or

❏ Cornstarch

❏ Olive oil

Mason jar

❏ Candles

❏ Eggs

❏ Orange

(white, dark

blue, purple)

❏ Celery seeds

❏ Flax seeds

❏ Peppermint

❏ Chamomile

❏ Hazelnuts

❏ Tarragon

❏ Chicory

❏ Lemongrass

❏ Thread (white,

dark blue or

purple)

❏ Cinnamon

❏ Mace

❏ Thyme

all witches know the importance of the Sabbats (solar

and seasonal holidays) and the Esbats (lunar cel-

ebrations and non-Sabbat gatherings) and that each one

has a different form, focus and feel to it. These holidays are a witch’s way of keeping connected to the rhythm of

the universe, but they are also more than this; depending

on tradition, each Sabbat (and sometimes, each Esbat)

has a rich history of ritual observance delving deep into

the myths of that particular culture. Given how varied

the Sabbats and Esbats can be, I will mostly speak of

them in general and basic terms. There are many differ-

ent things created for each of the holidays such as oils,

incenses, powders, brews and foods. It would be overly

redundant to include tons of food recipes for the differ-

ent holidays though, I will include a few. We all already

197

198 Chapter 12

know that food can be purchased at the supermarket. The

main focus of the food sections will be on lists of ingredients and food ideas for the different holidays that you can combine in your own way for your holiday feasts.

The Sabbats are holidays that are celebrated eight

times a year in the following order:

• Samhain (sow-en) October 31st

• Yule (y-ool) December 21st

• Imbolg (imm-olg) February 1st

• Vernal Equinox March 21st

• Bealtaine (bee-el-tinna) May 1st

• Summer Solstice June 21st

• Lughnasadh (loo-nasa) August 1st

• Autumnal Equinox September 21st

Please note that each of the Sabbats is known by

many variant names (again, depending on Tradition), but

these are fairly common names and how I will be ad-

dressing them on the following pages. I will focus on each Sabbat individually and follow up the section on Esbats.

For now, let us begin at the beginning and for Witches,

Samhain marks both the ending and the beginning; our

new year.

Sabbats and Esbats 199

Samhain

This holiday is generally celebrated on October 31st and

is the main origin of the secular holiday of Halloween.

In the old calendar, Samhain marks the beginning of the

dark half of the year, the third harvest; which is the meat harvest, the opening of the veil between this world and

the otherworld, and is a time to honor the dead. Even

though these may seem like bleak or spooky reasons to

mark a holiday, this night is always celebrated with joy

and is usually a favorite day of Witches. In many tradi-

tions, this night also honors the crone Goddess and many

Witches pay homage to her on this night. I, myself honor

the crone Goddess Cailleach (Kyle-ee-ock) on Samhain,

for it is said that at this time she is reborn and begins

summoning forth the powers of winter. She is the ancient

Celtic Hag Goddess of winter and is a possible derivation

of the “green-faced witch” so prominent in modern Hal-

loween decorations today. She has a blue-black face and

the old Scottish word “glas” meant blue-black in some

instances but green in others, so it has been suggested

that a mistranslation may have led to “witch hags” being

given green faces for the word cailleach is still used today as another word for witch. That being the (possible) case, I have made my peace with the green-faced witch and

have decided to add her to my own Samhain/Halloween

decorations with the intention of honoring the Cailleach.

Other modern Halloween customs also find their origins

in the distant past.

200 Chapter 12

Costumes, Jack O’ Lanterns (originally and some-

times still made of turnips), apple bobbing, ghost stories and even trick or treating all have historical and Pagan

significance. I personally choose to revel in the secular

side of Halloween before I have the formal Samhain rit-

ual later that night. Celebrating the modern public side of Halloween helps lend that feeling of tribal acknowledge-ment of the day to my Samhain experience. Anciently,

when these festivals were first celebrated, everyone in the community; indeed, everyone in the Celtic (and other)

nations acknowledged and usually took part in their rites.

Now of course, newer religions have pressed the Pagan

holy days into the shadows and they are only celebrated by small, spread out groups with little public fanfare. Luckily, through the mask of Halloween, Samhain has retained a

large public presence. Even though non-Pagans usually

do not have any idea of the holiday’s true significance,

the energy of so many people all participating in one of

our holidays leaves me at least, with a wonderful feeling

of community.

On this night, it is traditional to release the energy

of the old year, honor the dead, honor the crone God-

dess, ask for protection through the dark half of the year, work divinations to foretell events in the New Year and to make a wish for the future. There are many variant ways

to do these things and I will give a few examples. For

divinations, the methods described in Chapter 11 can be

used as part of your Samhain celebration.

Sabbats and Esbats 201

Brews

Special brews to help you embrace the energies of the

season can be created for each of the Sabbats. These are

now known as attunement teas.

Samhain Attunement Tea

• ¼ teaspoon allspice

• 4 cups apple cider

• ¼ teaspoon sage

• ⅛ teaspoon cloves

Warm the apple cider in a pot to just under boiling

and add the herbs. Remove from heat and cover. Allow

to steep for ten to fifteen minutes before straining and

drinking. As you drink it focus on letting go of the past

(the old year) and connecting to the future.

Powders

This powder can be sprinkled in circles around the altar

candles to enhance your attunement to the power of this

day during ritual.