Llewellyn's 2012 Witches' Companion

by Llewellyn

  This leads me to wonder whether “sending energy” is a cop-out to make people feel better about not giving more tangible, recordable help. When you encounter a need, is it better to do magic for the cause or donate monetary help?

  What Do (Or Don’t) We Have to Offer?

  Don’t get me wrong. I’m well aware of the economic situation in the world right now. And it’s common knowledge that neopaganism is not a demographic with a particularly high median income (though there are more white collar and other well-paid workers in our ranks than some may assume), but we’re not all starving artists and baristas. And not everyone has the time to do things like event organization, between work, family, and so forth. So these criticisms don’t apply across the board.*

  It also seems as though there are a lot of hands stretched out for money these days. Whether it’s Pagan businesses struggling to stay open or individuals losing their jobs and needing help covering mortgages and other bills, a lot of folks are in dire straits.

  Perhaps that’s why so many perceive themselves as unable to donate money to any cause. Often it feels like we’re having to count our dollars just to make sure there’s enough left to still be eating at the end of the pay period. So we may not like letting even a few of those dollars slip away to something where we aren’t getting anything in return. (Why else do you think so many nonprofit groups sell T-shirts, stuffed animals, and other tangibles to make money, despite also taking donations?)

  Volunteering takes, obviously, time. And if you’re working a couple of jobs to make ends meet, or if you work and have children, or otherwise are really busy, it may feel like there’s simply no time to offer people you may not know very well, for little to no personal return beyond “a job well done.” And especially if you see your festivals and other Pagan events as vacation time, the last thing you may want to do is work, even if it’s volunteer work. It’s certainly easy to come up with excuses not to give away your time or your money.

  Does Magic Actually Work for this Stuff?

  To be quite honest, I have trouble seeing magic as an equal effort as compared to donations and volunteering. While I have been practicing magic for well over a decade, I see it as a much more fickle and less objectively dependable thing than more mundane efforts. I generally feel it’s better suited for particularly subjective and personal causes than something like “save the world!”

  Are you familiar with confirmation bias? A very simple and incomplete definition would be “seeing what one wants to see.” In the case of magic, most people who practice it want to believe that it works (especially on an objective level), and so, whether consciously or not, will emphasize results that favor that interpretation.

  For example, let’s say you do ten spells. Of those ten spells, three of them are followed by getting what you wanted, three with something sort of like what you wanted but not exactly, and four with not getting what you wanted. A 30 percent success rate isn’t all that great. However, confirmation bias may lead you to count the three kinda-sorta “results” as successes because they were in the neighborhood of what you wanted. And then you can come up with any number of justifications involving outside factors that led to the other four simply not working at all.

  With magic that doesn’t work, you can’t reliably trace whether it had an effect or not. In fact, you can’t even trace it necessarily when it does work. There’s no way to prove that the spell or ritual you performed actually had any effect compared to if you hadn’t done the magic.

  With donations and volunteering, on the other hand, it’s easy to see where the effort goes and what the result is. The exact dollars you give may be tough to trace, but you can definitely see where your volunteer time goes. I spent some time volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, and at the end of the day I could say “I nailed some hurricane strips to the roof” or “I painted a couple hundred feet of siding.”

  So, at least as far as being able to claim definite, measurable results, donations and volunteering has the upper hand.

  Magic As a Way to Assuage Guilt

  Most people want to be able to help others in some way. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. However, I think sometimes “sending energy” is used as a way to make a person feel better about not being able to give money or time. And, beyond that, I think “sending energy” is sometimes used as an excuse to not give time or money, even when those things are available.

  If you see the intangible effort of magic as equal to the tangible efforts of donations and volunteering, then it’s easy to make the excuse of “Well, I’ll just light a candle/say a prayer/do a spell.” Rarely do people spend as much time and money on a magical working as they would on a donation or volunteering effort. I generally don’t spend twenty-five dollars or more on candles and other supplies for a single magical act, and while I’ll happily spend seven hours on a Habitat build, I think my personal record for an ongoing ritual is something under two hours.

  Rarely do people spend as much time and money on a magical working as they would on a donation or volunteering effort.

  Let’s face it—for the most part, doing magic just doesn’t require as many resources as more mundane activities. And I think because of that a lot of people use magic as their excuse for not putting in the time or money in other ways. I’m not talking about people who are completely strapped for cash or spare time, but the ones who could give up buying a new tarot deck or watching a bad movie, even just once, to put those efforts toward something other than themselves. We do deserve nice things, but sometimes giving up an unnecessary bauble can make the crucial difference to someone who’s just trying to get by.

  Appraising Intent

  So, be honest with yourself. Whenever you’re faced with someone asking for your time or money and you opt to work magic instead, look at why you made that decision. Is it because giving even five dollars or less would seriously affect your finances? (Yes, this is possible.) Is it because you just don’t have the time or sanity to make one more commitment? (This is entirely possible, too.)

  Or are you making an excuse? Could you give just a couple of bucks or a half an hour of time, but instead choose to stay at home and light a candle? Are there places where you could give up some small luxury to make the money or time for someone else, but instead write down an intent on a piece of paper to burn? If you find you are making excuses, there’s no need or gain in beating yourself up about it. Just make different choices to the best of your ability, and move on.

  It Really Doesn’t Take Much

  The saying “every little bit counts” is true. To give you a personal example, I am an artist and author. I sell my art and books at local Pagan events. While I have a lot of big, expensive, shiny objects for sale, like bone athames and elaborate totem dance costumes, I also have smaller, inexpensive things like little leather pouches and earrings. Sure, selling a couple of the big items can make my weekend a lot happier. But I sell a lot more of the little things, because that’s what more folks can afford, and those add up pretty quickly.

  When someone asking for donations says “Even a few dollars will help,” they mean it. Maybe you can’t offer fifty dollars, but three or four or five is more than nothing at all. If a whole bunch of people give that small amount, it does add up. But even if it’s just you, it’s that little bit more that the cause has to work with.

  The same thing goes for volunteering. Maybe you can’t spend hours organizing an event or cooking food at a festival. But maybe you can proofread some advertising copy, or post something promotional on your blog. Again, cumulative small efforts do add up, and putting forth a little effort does more than putting forth none at all.

  And, if after giving time and/or money you decide to work magic to “help things along,” there’s nothing wrong with that, either.

  Resources, Accessed August 2010

  Clark, Jennifer. “A C
all to Create a Rolling Thunder for Isaac Bonewits.” Examiner.com. http://www.examiner.com/paganism-in-national/a-call-to-create-a-rolling-thunder-for-isaac-bonewits.

  The Wild Hunt. “Pagan Community Notes” July 24, 2010. http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/07/pagan-community-notes-adf-fundraiser-isaac-bonewits-sj-tucker-and-more.html.

  Lupa is a neoshaman, Pagan author, and ritual tool artist living in Portland, Oregon. She may be found online at http://www.thegreenwolf.com and http://therioshamanism.com.

  Illustrator: Kathleen Edwards

  [contents]

  * Plus I realize that most people who see any resemblance to themselves in this article may be leaping to their own defense, perhaps even without thinking about it.

  Witchy Living

  Day-by-Day witchcraft

  Ten-Minute Magickal Meals

  Melanie Marquis

  I love magick, but it’s not always easy to find the quiet time required for complex spells and elaborate rituals. When I can’t enjoy the luxury of a full-blown magick session, I look for other ways to enrich my practice and embrace the witchy lifestyle. Magickal cooking offers a way to do just that: practice spellcasting techniques, promote magickal growth, expand awareness, and support positive change, all without taking up a single extra minute in an already busy day.

  Magickal cooking is the practice of directing personal energy and magickal power to produce desired results through the mechanics of food preparation, and it doesn’t take any longer than regular cooking. With these easy and practical ideas, you’ll be out of the kitchen in ten minutes flat, as an everyday chore becomes a pleasant opportunity to further experience the power that magickal practice brings to light.

  With magickal cooking, we get the most out of every meal, and it’s easy to master. All you need to get started is an understanding of three basic techniques—stirring, slicing, and heating—and a few handy hints and you’ll be reaping the rewards of magickal cooking in no time, infusing your practice, your food, and your life with new power.

  Magickal Mudra Mixing

  Adapted from a yoga technique, Hasta Mudras, or hand postures, can add powerful energy to your food while you stir. Forming the Mudras balances prana, the life force, and aligns our body, mind, and spirit into a harmonic and empowered state. Magickal Mudra mixing awakens and balances our personal energy, bestowing these same benefits on the food being prepared. Ingredients take on the energetic imprint of the Mudra as you stir, making for a powerfully magickal meal that feeds the spiritual body as well as the physical.

  The first step of Mudra Mixing is to choose a Mudra that corresponds to the vibration you wish to bring to the food. Try the Pran Mudra (touch tips of ring finger and pinky to tip of thumb) to increase the vital energy of your recipe ingredients. For stress relief and to impart a relaxing quality to your food, the Gyan Mudra (touch tip of thumb to tip of index finger) works well. For variety, check out a book on Hasta Mudras and don’t be afraid to

  experiment—only through exploration will you discover the Mudras that work best for you.

  Once you’ve chosen a Mudra, it’s time to mix. As you stir with one hand, form the Mudra with your other hand and hold it several inches above the bowl or pot. As the energy, or prana, in your hands is brought into an ordered alignment, visualize this same effect taking place within the food as you mix. I like to carry the visualization further, imagining in my mind’s eye exactly what I want to achieve. For example, when I mix ingredients while forming the Gyan Mudra, I visualize stress in my body and environment diminishing, spiraling off into the distance with each stir.

  Spellcasting With a Knife

  You can also add power to your magickal meals by slicing ingredients with an empowered blade, a knife charmed to cast your spell into the food with each cut. Hold the knife in your hand while focusing on what you want your magick to achieve. When the energy is at its height, cast it into the knife, sending it in through the handle to flow to the very tip of the blade. As you cut, feel the energies of the knife coursing through the food, charming it with your magickal intent.

  You can also add numerology to the slicing process, cutting food into a certain number of slices best suited to your particular working. For example, if you’re making a meal to enhance natural beauty, slice your ingredients into six pieces (or if large, cut in sets of six), the number associated with beauty and perfection. Here are a few key words to get you started:

  1. Leadership, Courage, Creativity

  2. Cooperation, Understanding, Forgiveness

  3. Sociable, Charming, Friendly

  4. Reliable, Determined, Loyal

  5. Adventure, Intelligence, Humor

  6. Persuasive, Peaceful, Angelic

  7. Mystical, Thoughtful, Artistic

  8. Power, Success, Wisdom

  9. Excitement, Curiosity, Spirituality

  Turn Up the Heat, Turn Up the Magick

  You can add a touch of nature magick to the cooking process by charming your stove to mimic the power of the sun or the fire element. Simply call on these forces and invite them into your stove, asking that the appliance be charmed and blessed. If you like, place a candle or a symbol of the sun on the stovetop. As you heat food, be it on the top of the stove or in the oven, think of the magickal energies in the ingredients expanding. Visualize the activity of the molecules within the food as they become excited when heated, increasing their speed and motion and activating your magick.

  You can add the magick in with a dash of spice or a wave of your wand right at the end. Or, you can make every step of the process magickally aligned with your goal …

  Designing Ten-Minute Magickal Meals

  A meal can be made magickal with one little touch or with magick infused in every step of the process. You can add the magick in with a dash of spice or a wave of your wand right at the end. Or, you can make every step of the process magickally aligned with your goal, choosing every ingredient based on its attributes and preparing the food while fully focused on your intent and the working at hand. It’s up to you and how much energy and attention you want to devote to your magick in the ten minutes of cooking time.

  Not every ingredient needs to be in line with your spell goal, but if possible it’s nice to have at least two ingredients that compliment each other magickally. You can choose spices based on traditional attributes found in an encyclopedia of herbs or vegetables based on color attributes, associated symbolism, or folklore; use your imagination and trust your magick!

  Now of course, getting in and out of the kitchen and working magick while you’re at it in just ten minutes flat is no easy task. Many foods require a longer cooking time and aren’t going to work when you’re in a rush. But there are a few staples that can be widely adapted to a variety of recipes and that cook very quickly. Pastas, wraps, and chilies are three of these secret foundations for a ten-minute magickal meal.

  Pasta Power!

  Quick to cook, noodles are a mainstay of the ten-minute kitchen witch. Associated with good health and longevity in China, pasta is both wholesome and magickal. It’s also very versatile, and you can choose what herbs and vegetables to add to your sauce blends based on the magickal attributes of these ingredients.

  To start, fill a pot with water. Hold your hand over the pot and think about the magickal pasta you’re about to cook. If it’s a joy-inducing spaghetti, conjure an energy of happiness and send this power out of your hand and into the water. If it’s defense noodles you’re making, summon protective forces to infuse the water with incredible strength. Place the pot on the stove and turn on the burner, invoking the element of fire or calling on the energies of the sun as you do so.

  Now grab whatever herbs and/or vegetables you want to use in your recipe and get to washing and chopping and whatever else you need to do to prepare the ingredients for cooking. Make e
ach step of the ingredient preparation process an act of magick, purifying energies as you wash vegetables and fresh herbs, infusing ingredients with your magickal intent as you peel, cut, or tear. Slice vegetables into thin pieces for quicker cooking.

  Once the water comes to a boil, put in your noodles. To keep the recipe under ten minutes, choose angel hair pasta or thin spaghetti, and use whole wheat noodles for greater health value and greater magickal power. While the noodles boil, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and add any vegetables you’re using, then any herbs. Think about the magickal energies of the ingredients you’ve chosen seeping out into the oil as the heat magnifies their power. Drain the noodles while the vegetables and herbs finish cooking. Once vegetables become bright in color and herbs begin to release their scent, pour the mix over the noodles and toss gently to coat. For a lo mein, add soy sauce. Empower the finished dish with an extra enchantment: think of your magickal goal and send a feeling of success and certainty into the noodles. If you like, affirm out loud the food’s purpose, saying something such as, “These joyful noodles will bring happiness to everyone who eats them.” Serve and enjoy.

  That’s a Wrap

  Wraps—sandwiches that forgo bread and are instead rolled in tortillas—are a fast, fresh, and fun way to make a magickal meal in no time. Choose vegetables such as yellow squash, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, or cucumber. Charm the vegetables to enhance their natural power: simply connect with the energies in the food and call out the attribute most suited to the magick, magnifying the ingredient’s inherent qualities or color associations. Prepare the vegetables using a magickal slicing technique, then either put them fresh into the tortilla or quickly saute them in a little butter, letting the heat magnify the magick of your empowered ingredients. Add protein with a bit of cold tofu salad, a nice vegetarian assimilation of chicken salad—just drain a package of firm tofu and mash it up with a little mayonnaise and curry powder. If you’re a meat eater, simply add sliced turkey or forkfuls of tuna. Serve rolled in wheat or spinach tortillas, adding cheese or honey mustard if you wish.