The Witches' Book of the Dead (29 page)

• • •

Ritual: The Mourning Tea

This is a very unique event that Shawn Poirier and I created for Salem Witch Leanne Marrama as a way of sharing memories of the dead. Shawn, Leanne, and I wondered what it would be like to create a counterbalance to the Dumb Supper, an event that would function as a communal eulogy of sorts, where participants could share joyful and solemn stories of their beloved dead.

In keeping with the lush mourning traditions of the Victorian era, when widows wore black dresses for years and the hair of the dead was carried in cherished mourning lockets, we decided to hold the event as a three-course Victorian-style tea, held on the late Sunday morning before Halloween. A harpist was present to remind us of the mortuary rites of yesteryear. Guests brought photos and paper mementos of their loved ones, like they do at the Dumb Supper, but they were permanently placed into our “Book of the Dead,” a growing, annual compendium of memories for which there will soon be multiple volumes filled with photographs, newspaper clippings, hair, and even suicide notes. Death is not always pretty, and the Book of the Dead is a reflection of the whole of life. Participants are able to share stories of the beloved souls who have touched their lives and have helped make them who they are today.

If you would like to create your own Mourning Tea, we strongly recommend it. You can hold it in your dining room with friends, finger foods, small desserts, and, of course, tea! Your book of the dead can, like ours in Salem, be a simple scrapbook from a craft store that you add to over the years.

The most important ingredients of the Mourning Tea are you and your friends, whose stories will keep your departed loved ones alive in your hearts, and strengthen your connection to the spirits.

• • •

Ritual: Halloween Night

Every Halloween night, many of the Salem Witches gather on Salem Common, the large park area that has been a central hub of Salem for centuries. There, we educate tourists about the importance of honoring our dead. If you would like to honor this holiday, we present this ritual as a way of tapping into the energies of this sacred night, when the veils part and the spirits of the otherworld return.

To Prepare

The larger part of your ritual will take place either at your altar of the dead, or, if you're doing this ritual in a larger space, a temporary altar table in the western area of the room. The altar should be adorned with the skull, bronze dagger, yew wand, chalice of libation, pentacle of protection, offering cauldron, spirit powder, jar of honey, keys, spirit incense and burner, anointing oil, black candle, white candle, bowl filled with offerings for the dead, bowl of dry black beans (one bean for each participant), and any mementos and photos of the dead you wish to remember—especially items that remind you of those who have died over the past year. Participants should each bring a divination tool of some kind, such as the bronze
bowl of water or scrying mirror discussed in
chapter 6
, a candle for flame-scrying, a Ouija board, or simply a pen and paper for automatic writing. Halloween is the best time for divination!

Stand a large, full-length mirror—or a mirror placed on a table so that you can see your face in it while standing—just outside the room where the altar is placed. If the ritual is outside, then the mirror should stand about three feet away from the outer edge of the ritual space. A solitary black candle should light the mirror. Beginning at the mirror, create a path of eighteen jack-o-lanterns, nine on each side of the path (according to numerology, 1+8=9, the number of the moon), extending through at least one other room or, if outside, about thirty feet. The jack-o-lanterns should be lit just before the ritual takes place.

The Ritual

Have each participant in the ritual stand silently in line at the beginning of the path of jack-o-lanterns, beginning with you, as the leader of the rite. Each person should be breathing deeply and entering into a visionary state in preparation for the magic to come.

As the first person in line, you should slowly and solemnly walk the lantern-lit path, thinking thoughts of the dead, especially of those who have passed in the last year. As you come to the mirror, gaze deeply into it, allowing your visionary state to deepen. Look into your reflection and contemplate your own mortality. Spirits may or may not appear in the mirror during this time. Do not be alarmed if they do, for this is the nature of the evening. When you have finished gazing into the mirror, turn and silently beckon the next person in line to walk the path of jack-o-lanterns, while you proceed into the circle.

Go over to the altar, pick up the skull, and bring it over to the circle's edge before the next person enters. As each participant comes to the circle, hold the skull up before her face, eye to eye, and say,
Do you dare confront your own mortality on this night? Do you dare become like the dead?!
If the participant says no, she must be turned from the circle. If she says yes, usher her into the space, motioning her to take her place at the edge of the circle. As you repeat this with each participant, they should together form a circle with the altar within in the western quadrant. If the altar is against a wall, participants should use the altar itself to complete the circle. Once everyone is present within the circle, hold the skull above your head and call out,
On this sacred Hallows night, Let now the dead attend our rite! For each of us shall die one day. And they shall guide us on our way!

Place the skull back on the altar and take up the bronze dagger with your right hand. Beginning in the west, the place of the dead, draw a circle three times counterclockwise around the participants and the altar, visualizing a stream of pure white energy emanating from the dagger. As you cast the circle, say, aloud,
Here I draw the circle round. Let within this space be found, only Spirits pure of heart, while darker shades must now depart!

Place the dagger back upon the altar and take up the anointing oil. Anoint the skull first; then, going to each participant counterclock-wise, anoint each forehead in an “X” with the oil, saying,
You are blessed by the spirits, for you are a creature of spirit yourself
.

Take this time to call on particular deities of importance to you and your group (see
appendix B
for a list of deities of the dead and their offerings). You can also use this time to talk about the meaning of
the holiday. I purposely leave this period of the ritual for inspired words from the heart, because it is important to have the spark of spontaneity in ritual. This can also be a time for participants to share their own feelings about the year that has passed and the year that is coming, for this is a time of prophecy.

When everyone has finished, go to the altar and raise the bowl of offerings above your head, and say,
This we offer to the dead. Let it be your holy bread!

Place the bowl back down and pick up the other bowl of dry beans. Again, going counterclockwise, hand a bean to each participant and say,
Let this spark of life fuel your visions and dreams with magic!
Return the bowl to the altar that the dead continue to draw from their energy.

Each participant should now go up to the altar and cast a spell for the coming year by placing his right hand upon the skull and speaking what he wishes to come to pass. This can be done silently or aloud, depending on the level of comfort within the group. (I do not tend to perform blood magic in group settings for health reasons.) Once everyone has done this, go to the altar and take up the yew wand with your right hand. Stand before the altar and raise the wand high, saying,
Let every spirit present here; Now make our magics come to be; With wings of haste and will of might; On this, our sacred hallows night!

Now is the time when you must honor your dead, especially those who have died during the past year. There are two ways to do this. If each coven member is comfortable speaking (and I hope they are!), then you should begin by calling out the name of someone you have
lost into the direction of the west. Then, the coven as a group should speak names in their turn so that the energy of the beloved dead is drawn into the circle. If participants are less comfortable speaking alone, or if you have a very large group of people, then you could all call out the names loudly on the count of three. The latter is how I do this at my annual Witches' Ball.

Place the wand back on the altar and take up the bronze dagger with your right hand. Now, moving clockwise, draw the circle once around the participants, saying,
Spirits of the mighty dead; Sated now with holy bread; Go forth and let our will be done; As rising moon and setting sun!

Now that the formal ritual is over, time should be taken for repose, reflection, and divination. Each participant should sit, if possible, and use his divination tool of choice, or simply meditate on the spirits, awaiting the voices of the dead to come through.

• • •

Afterword … and Beyond

To journey to the realms of the dead is to undergo one of the very same great labors that Hercules himself endured. The spirits will not suffer fools and you will be challenged if you travel on the roads of the dead. Since I began seriously writing this book, I have faced incredible adversity that seemed to indicate that, were I to continue, the spirits would throw all that they had at me. I can almost hear the voices of the dead whispering, “So you think you're going to teach people how to truly commune with us? Let's see if you can withstand the arduous trials that accompany any expedition beyond the veil.”

This book tested my strength to the core. When I first decided to write it, I began to suffer the deaths of my closest confidants, including my best friend and even my own mother. Death was now more than just a spiritual concept to be pondered and explored; it had become hard, unforgiving, and accompanied by somber speeches from physicians recommending that life support machines be turned off. Later, when I announced an actual deadline for the book, old enemies began to surface in hopes of tearing me down and preventing its release. Close friends and family members came upon hard times and needed my help. I even suffered physically debilitating injuries. It seemed as though a force was set against this book ever reaching the hands of its readers.

Finally, on the very day before my deadline, my dear cousin Becci passed away from heart failure. We were raised together as children. Our mothers were best friends who considered one another sisters and so we considered one another cousins—the kind of family made by the bonds of love. It is no accident that the finality of this book was tied to the finality of Becci's life. She was a powerful Witch who traveled the paths of the dead and knew that someday she, too, would pass into the sweeter realms.

So, I see no better way to honor our forty-one years of cherished memories, love, and the deepest loyalty than to end this book in memory of her and how she has indelibly touched my heart and soul.

With death comes loss, but it is also a gift. The creation process of this book is now dead, and I must let it go and be transformed into something that will be the property of all who read it—interpreting and reinterpreting it to further their own journeys. Becci's journey to the next world reminds me that she, too, will become transformed, as each of us will when death comes for us in our turn. We who are left behind must move forward and be strong. Those of you who have lost someone to death's clutches must come back from the pits of grief, embrace the desire to search for meaning and connection with those you have lost, and face the challenge of finding new ways to continue the relationship. As you find ways of reaching out to those in the spirit world, know that once you have passed into the other realms, those you leave behind may someday be reaching out to you.