parts cinnamon
•3 parts myrrh
•3 parts copal
•3 parts frankincense
There are many types of thuribles to choose from that will please your inner Dark Moon magician—gargoyles, dark fairies, dragons, or skulls.
GOTHIC GRAILS
Your chalice is a goblet dedicated specifically for use on your altar. Like the cauldron, it is another vessel symbolizing the feminine, the Goddess, and fertility for women. Holding both fluid and the waters of our emotional body, it is elementally connected to water. Place your special chalice on the left side of your altar with all other representations of the energy of the female and the Goddess. A chalice is also a grail. After all, King Arthur’s legend recounts that the Holy Grail brought life back to the decaying kingdom at Camelot and restored Arthur and his people, giving rise to the rebirth of England itself. On your altar, your goblet can hold water, mead, wine, juice, or anything you wish to partake of or deem appropriate as an offering to share with the deities. For Dark Moon magic, especially fitting libations would be Transylvanian Vampire Wine or an absinthe from Eastern Europe.
Charging and Consecrating Your Ritual Tools
Once you’ve accumulated all your preferred ritual tools, you should design a tool consecration rite. This consecration will dedicate your utensils for the betterment of all and set a base of intention for all your good works. Perform this rite every time you acquire a new tool or treasure. If you’re a beginner, you can choose a simple “temple template” and build on it as you learn and grow. As your experience in your craft deepens, you can embellish the ritual with your personal preferences. Refer back to your Book of Shadows—is there a certain phase of the moon that offers you more clarity? Should you utilize the corresponding colors, crystals, essential oils, incenses, and herbs for your own astrological sun and moon signs? Is there a specific goddess or deity with whom you feel an affinity? Use these correlations in your rituals and begin designing the ceremonies and rites of your dreams. The more associations you learn and use, the more your effectiveness will grow. Time will tell, so keep good notes of your ritual work in your Book of Shadows. You will soon become a “maestro of magic.”
Now that you have selected your special tools of Dark Moon magic, you need to bless and dedicate them to your magical workings. This is an opportunity to fill your sacred implements with your personal energy; you are encoding them with your unique imprimatur. The more you use your tools, the more charged they will become.
Supplies:
•Incense for air
•Candle for fire
•Cup of water
•Bowl of salt
Directions:
1.Take the new ritual tool and pass it through the smoke of the incense and say:
Now inspired with the breath of air.
2.Then pass the tool swiftly through the flame of the candle and say:
Burnished by fire!
3.Sprinkle the tool with the water and say:
Purified by water.
4.Dip the tool into the bowl of salt and say:
Empowered by the earth.
5. Hold up the tool with both hands before you chant; and imagine an enveloping, warm white light purifying the tool, and say:
Steeped in spirit and bright with light.
6. Place the now cleansed and energized tool on your altar and say:
By craft made and by craft charged and changed. This tool (here fill in the actual name, whether it be the bolline, Book of Shadows, etc.) I will use for the purpose of good in the world and in the realm of the God and Goddess. I hereby consecrate this tool.
Other tools are more intangible—such as breath work, intuition, psychic powers, and the ability to focus your mental power and spiritual intentions—and as they are intangible, only your intention can purify them. You will use other physical tools, such as colors, herbs, oils, crystals, numbers, and all manner of ritual correspondences and associations which have been passed down through the centuries. Crystals can also be charged, but those tools that come from nature and from the Goddess, such as flowers, stones, and herbs, are not man-made but of divine design, so they already contain an intrinsic magic of their own that may be used.
Your tools will become inculcated with the magic that lives inside of you, instilled with your energy and stored at an altar or in your sacred space. They will become a power source for you and will magnify the ceremonial strength of your ritual work. Your altar should be a place of peace and meditation where your spirit can soar. Adorned with your treasured objects and the tools of your practice, it is a place of extreme focus where you can enrich your life through ritual. You can create a wellspring of spirit so you can live an enchanted life every single day.
You are now creating magic to work important changes in your life and to become more connected to the world around you. Wicca is, after all, an earth path, so working in harmony with the elements of which the earth is made is an important step in your personal practice. Just as there are specific influences in the stars and planets astrologically, rhythmic phases of the moon, and a range of crystalline color powers in stones, there are very particular powers in the elements you can call on in your ritual work.
Earth, air, fire, and water are the four elements of the ancients and were developed during the time of the original long-ago Goths. The ancient philosopher Empedocles of Sicily refined the theory of earth elements between 420 and 410 BCE, and despite our many modern beliefs, we still hold with the basics of early metaphysics, where science and spirit conjoin.
Earth
Earth is the manifestation of the solid. It is real and tangible matter. The earth gives us intransigence, constancy, and durability. All beings on this beautiful planet are made of earth, and we are part of a natural, magical system. Earth is a stable material and element. To embody its presence, you can grow a flowering plant to place on your altar, or you can place some sand in a shell on your altar to represent this element. And at the end of our lives, we once again return to the earth. You should call on the element of earth when you want to become more grounded or to manifest a new tangible aspect into your life.
Earth signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn should perform earth rituals on a regular basis to stay centered. Earth signs are always thought of as the most stable, practical, and organized of all the signs, and then there is the other side of the coin that often manifests in those drawn to Dark Moon magic: the sensual, quiet type who works and prefers to entertain at home and has the enviable lair. Tried and
