Magical Color Associations •Black: absorption of negative energy, divination, banishing, protection, binding
•Silver: intuition, psychism, balance, spirituality, goddess energy
•Red: lust, fire, passion, strength, anger, power, courage
Place the fabric of your choice on your altar. Next, choose two candles and place them on the two farthest corners. If you like, place fresh flowers at the center of the space. Some Dark Moon magical flower choices are black calla lilies, ivies, or any dark purple flowering vine. You should also place a thurible, or magical incense burner, in front of the flowers (more on thuribles soon!) If you’ve not yet found a favorite incense, begin with the ancient essence of frankincense.
Your altar doesn’t have to be all about candles, flowers, and incense. To further personalize it, select objects that appeal to you symbolically—a goddess figure such as Isis, a photo you love of your favorite cemetery statue, or an iridescent abalone seashell you found one night on the beach. You can also place your birthstone on the altar, or a crystal or stone you treasure. Add anything that you feel adds good energy and represents your singular vibration. Purify the space by “smudging” or burning a bundle of sage over it. Anoint your third eye (the center of your forehead) with a scented essential oil such as the sacred resin amber or another that especially pleases you. Now, anoint the candles with the same essence. Light the candles and meditate in a prayerful way on all the positive and practical magic you will create at your altar.
Additional altar flowers include:
•Solomon’s Seal
•Moonflowers
•Stock, nicotiana
•Night-scented roses
•Delphinium
•Monkshood
•Black tulips
•Poppies
•Belladonna
White flowers are always the most highly scented and also glow under moonlight. Moonflowers are a good white flower choice, as they only bloom at night—perfect for nighttime Dark Moon rituals.
Herein is a list of Dark Moon varieties of flora for you to grow and procure. These plants emanate a power and magic all their own and make wonderful offerings for your altar, for deities, and for your home.
•Voodoo lily
•Vampire lily
•Black calla lily
•Andean silver-leaf sage
•Black mondo grass
•Corokia cotoneaster
•Black velvet nasturtium
•Black violas and pansies
•Papaver somniferum, var. black cloud
•Black hollyhocks
•Aristolochia (dutchman’s pipe)
•Pitcher plant (carnivorous)
•Flytraps (carnivorous)
•Harry Lauder’s walking stick
•Dracula vampira orchid var. Bela Lugosi
•Ipomoea purpurea (morning glory)
•Datura discolor var. Kniola’s black
•Bearded iris var. night queen
•Superstition
•Cotula “pratt’s black”
•Baby black eyes (nemophila meziesii “penny black”)
After you have been working spells for a bit, an energy field will radiate from your altar! Your altar is the one place you can return to again and again to concentrate your energy and clarify your intentions, so be sure to replenish, clean, and recharge your altar frequently with fresh flowers, candles, and objects. The more you use your altar, the more powerful your spells will be. This consecrated space will center and ground you and bring the beauty and bliss of magic into your life.
CAULDRON OF LIFE
The cauldron, which is also called the “Cup of Cerridwen,” comes down to us from the ancient proto-Celtic path where they were used for cooking, scrying, and ritual work. The cauldron symbolizes abundance and divine inspiration. Your cast-iron cauldron represents female energy and the Goddess. The round basin stands for the woman’s womb, the giver of life. A true magical cauldron should be able to withstand fire, which represents rebirth, the phoenix rising from the ashes of the past. Cauldrons are usually used in ritual to hold earth or water as elements for rites of spring. In winter, the cauldron is the sun and should hold fire. In the spring, the cauldron can be a rain jar or a flower-filled fountain. In the summer, the cauldron can be a cup. And in autumn, it can be a pumpkin. Cauldrons are also a very practical tool for mixing your herbs and essential oils. You can scry with a cauldron full of water and foresee the future by reading images on the surface of the water. You can also use this magical tool to burn papers on which you have written your intentions or a spell parchment. In doing this, you can send your wishes to the Goddess upon the smoke and flames. Cauldrons typically have three legs for ultimate stability, rather like a tripod altar. You can place a cauldron either on your altar or on the floor to the left of the altar. You can and should play with the idea of a cauldron for outdoor ritual and seasonal altars.
THURIBLES AND CENSERS
A thurible, or censer, is basically an incense burner. This ritual tool represents the elements of air and fire. Place your incense burner at the very center of your altar or in front of any offering you are wishing to bless, such as flowers or fruit, as a gift to the gods and goddesses. Your thurible should be used daily to purify your other sacred tools and to cleanse your ritual space. The evocative scent and smoke of the incense can also transport you in a sensory way.
This is the optimum mixture of essences to purify your home or sacred invoking space. Negative energies are vanquished, and the path is cleared for ritual. Open windows and doors when you are burning this clearing incense so that “bad energy” can be released.
Supplies:
•1 part
