Sexy Witch

by LaSara FireFox

  Ritual, ceremony, and magick are about consciousness. Our relationship with magickal consciousness can be highly intuitive. However, there are also strengths to formal practice as well. It is my desire to give you as many options as possible in this section so that you can find, build, or create the ritual format that works the best for you. It’s your magick—modify at Will!

  I have purposefully left the basic ritual outlines very minimal. From a minimalist Mindful Magick or Conscious Intuitive Magick perspective, the rituals work as they are presented. If you want to add more structure, you may. I have included many elements of ritual performance that can be added to the basic ritual outlines. If working with a more traditional approach is most effective for you, stick with it.

  Building Ritual, Sexy-Witch Style

  In this section I offer the tools to create rituals that are tailor-fit to your needs. I have included a description of Mindful/Conscious Intuitive Magick, a modified Lesser Banishing Ritual, some information on Wiccan circle casting, a few examples of ways to call the quarters, and then the more barebones, chapter-by-chapter ritual outlines. There are opportunities built into the flow of each ritual to read from journal entries and to consecrate artifacts created while working the chapters.

  Sexy Witch Saturdays?

  Try to allow enough time on your ritual days to really get into the material. You may wish to re-read your journal entries from the week, look at the artwork you have done, and reflect on how the work has been for you. You can also use this time to decide on which of your artifacts you will want to consecrate (see ritual outlines for directions), and which items you may want to add to your altar each week.

  You may want to plan on having a ritual meal or a taking a magickal bath before the ritual. Each ritual will be an initiation, which is both an ending of one phase and a beginning of another. Give yourself the time to delve in and experience your transformations.

  Doors of Perception

  These weekly initiations, of which there will be seven—like the veils of Salome, or the gates that Inanna faced on her journey into the Underworld—are designed to be doorways between the chapters. You will move through the material in the chapters, find your depth, and then move ever deeper, toward the very core of your self. Each ritual will be a doorway that demarcates the transition from one chapter to the next, and also demarcates the spiraling journey in toward your center. It will be the pause between breaths, the transition point, the recognition and the act of transformation.

  Tools: To Have, or Not to Have . . . That Is the Question

  I have never felt a strong need for many magickal tools, though I have made some of my own, had some made, and been gifted with a few over the years. I have consecrated them and kept them on my altars. But I truly feel that anything that a wand can do in magickal space, a finger or hand can do as well. It’s not the tool, it’s how you use it!

  I have my own superstitions about investing items with power, and feel most resourceful when my power is contained securely within my body. That is not to say that working with a wand doesn’t make working certain magick easier for some Witches. If you have tools that make you feel strong, by all means, use them! Again, I am just reminding you of many possible options. It’s your magick—own it!

  Ritual Garb

  I have more often than not been the Witch in street clothes. Or the Witch in a cocktail gown. Or the Witch in her birthday suit, if it’s warm enough out. I almost never feel the need, and rarely have the desire, to dress in Renaissance-era garb for ritual, or wear a toga or a chitan, or a big, fancy cloak (unless it’s performance ritual theatre, and costuming is required).

  Yes, you wanna feel good. So, what does a Witch wear to perform ritual? Whatever she damn well pleases! You can wear your best dress or your nicest lingerie, or you can wear your pajamas if it’s been that kind of week. The clothes do not make the Witch. Dress in whatever way makes you feel good. If that happens to be a ritual gown or cloak, more power to you. If it’s not, more power to you as well. If there is certain dress that may assist you in any of the following rituals, it will be mentioned in that ritual’s outline.

  What to Bring to Rituals

  This list is the main altar list. In the outline for each week’s ritual you will find an additional list that is specific to each ritual. Please make sure you have all items from this list and from the week’s more specific list.

  • Your altar—an altar space integrating all the ritual items. (Make sure there is space for the artifacts that you will place on the altar every week.) This may be your self-love altar (chapter one), or you may build a special altar for the rituals, which you may take down at the end of each ritual if you so choose.

  • A “source” or “mother” candle—a seven-day jar votive. This candle will live on your altar throughout the seven weeks of your initiation process. It will be lit during every ritual, and extinguished afterward. Jar candles can be purchased in most supermarkets, in mercados mexicanos (Mexican markets), botanicas, and some carnecerias. Some of these jar votives will have the Catholic Saints, Jesus, or Mary on them, but you will also be able to find some without any decoration. Choose your color with intention. Of course, if you have an affinity for the Mary (see Appendix II), feel free to choose the Mary candle. You may dress this candle, if you’d like. (For dressing instructions, see Appendix I.)

  • A smaller, individual candle. This is your candle. Tea lights or smaller votive candles are a good bet, and are available in most supermarkets. As the first one burns down, just replace it with another. You may dress these candles, if you’d like. (For dressing instructions, see Appendix I.) You may want to provide personal candles for your witnesses who will be present at your seventh initiation. (See the section “A Few Final Words Before Diving In” later in this chapter, and ritual seven in part 2, for more details about witnesses and their roles in your final initiation.)

  • A bead. The weekly outlines will state what each week’s bead should represent.

  • Candle holder for tea light or smaller votive (be conscious in choosing your color).

  • Your copy of Sexy Witch.

  • Your journal.

  • Any works of art or writings created while working the chapters that you want to consecrate. One of these may become your weekly additional altarpiece for your altar.

  • A small pouch to put beads in.

  • A censer for the incense.

  • Charcoal for the incense.

  • Incense (see Appendix I).

  • A chalice for water.

  • A chalice for wine, if desired.

  • Wine, if desired (see Appendix I).

  • Water.

  • Cookies, bread, or other edibles (see ritual outlines for details).

  • Tissue or a hanky in case of tears.

  • Any specific items mentioned in the ritual outlines.

  • Don’t forget things like matches or a lighter, a corkscrew (if needed), water, and a glass.

  • Also, make sure you can tolerate scents and smoke in an enclosed space. Incense can be intense and can alter your senses in a good way, as long as it’s not triggering an asthma attack or allergies.

  Always read the ritual outline in advance so you have all the necessary items at hand when it comes time to perform your ritual.

  Recording Prompts from Outlines

  Before performing the rituals, you may wish to record the ritual prompts and visualizations so you don’t have to read them while working the ritual. If you do record these, record—rather than read in circle—any prompts and directions that you think may distract you if you have to read them in ritual space.

  Some words are for you to say out loud in ritual, and this direction is written into the outline. If you prefer not to read at all during ritual, you may use whatever words come to mind in place of the ones I have written, or you may say in th
e recording, “Repeat this out loud,” before or after each piece that is preceded in the outline by “Say:”.

  Remember to build in a length of silence after each prompt so you have time to perform that section of the ritual without pressing the pause button.

  A Few Final Words Before Diving In

  In working Sexy Witch, you will have many choices to make. One of those is about how much time you want to dedicate to your ritual work over the next seven weeks. Another is how many aspects or layers of ritual you want to use in your ritual format. You will need to invite witnesses to the seventh initiation—who might these people be? (For more information on this aspect, see chapter seven and ritual seven in part 2.) I encourage you to explore the extent to which you are able to make space in your life for the ritual aspect of Sexy Witch, and to create ritual outlines and weekly schedules accordingly.

  In the ritual outlines, there are words to recite. Of course, as always, the words I have written down are optional. You can use mine, or you can make up your own if you’d like. You can make them rhyme, or not (I have not). Also relevant is that I have included a more stable liturgy in the solo rituals. The flow, words, and outline don’t change as much from ritual to ritual, because with one person (you) performing all the rituals (instead of rotating facilitators—see Rituals II for more information), you may be able to memorize more and read from the page less. If you prefer to have the rituals be more specific from week to week (most notably in the bead consecration), please feel free to lift pieces for the group rituals in Rituals II .

  The words I’ve put down on the page are not based on a secret formula. The magick that will be done in these rituals of initiation is you working ritual, and doing so with intention, focus, and growing skill. The magick is your intentional work toward growth and transformation. It’s your magick. Work it!

  Mindful Magick

  In my magick working, I often take a minimalist approach to ritual. It’s what currently works for me. I call it Mindful Magick, Mindfulness Magick, or Conscious Intuitive Magick. I do a lot of focusing inward, breathing, centering, sensing, and being.

  Some of the concepts that I’m working with in creating ritual space at this time include recognizing space as sacred, rather than creating a space that is sacred. I focus on my body as a sacred space, and center in that. I focus on the world around me as a sacred space, and honor that. I encourage you to work with these concepts as well.

  Use the outlines I have provided, but follow your intuition. Do what feels right. It’s your magick. Create it. Shape it. Ride it. Follow it.

  A Witch’s Banishing Ritual,

  Modified from the Ceremonial Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

  The Lesser Banishing is a simple and profoundly effective way to clear ritual space, cast the circle, and call on the guardians of the gates in one fell swoop. It is a beautiful piece of ritual when executed well, and can be modified to encompass your orientation.

  This modification of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram was created by myself and assorted ritual partners over the years. Throughout the instructions I will give you options that will allow you to modify it even further yourself, and ideally to make it your own.

  The Basics: To cast the circle, walk clockwise, also known as sun-wise, or deosil. To open (remove, dissolve) the circle, walk counterclockwise, otherwise known as widdershins. In many traditions, clockwise is the direction of building, and counterclockwise is the direction of dissolution.

  1. The practitioner enters the circle.

  2. The Tree of Life, performed at the center of the circle.

  a. The practitioner points the index and middle fingers of her right hand, folding the other fingers.

  b. Touching her forehead with the extended fingers, she says:

  I am I,

  c. Pointing to the sky, she says:

  in harmony with the heavens,

  d. Pointing to the ground, she says:

  with the earth,

  e. Touching her right shoulder, she says:

  with the sun,

  f. Circling to her left shoulder, she says:

  and with the moon,

  g. Bringing her hands to the prayer position, she says:

  forever and ever.

  h. Placing her left hand, palm down, on top of her right hand, palm up, she says:

  So it is.

  3. The banishing.

  For the banishing, you can use whatever words make you feel that the guardian, entity, energy, or intention of a direction has been brought present. This can be done by assigning a Goddess to each quarter (e.g., Aurora in the east, Pele in the south, Oshun in the west, and Kali in the north); or by saying the name of the direction, or an idea that the direction represents (e.g., inspiration in the east, passion in the south, regeneration in the west, wisdom in the north); or you can use any of the words that have been used by any of the Ceremonial magickians. There are many formulas and phrases, and you can easily find them by doing a web search on the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

  a. The practitioner walks to the eastern edge of the circle and draws a pentagram in the air with her finger or her wand. In drawing the pentagram, start at the left lower point, and draw upward to the apex on the pentagram. This is the basic earth-invoking pentagram, but can be used at all quarters.

  b. Starting with her arms at her sides, the practitioner slowly raises them, focusing intently on the pentagram she has drawn in front of her, and the word she will use to invoke the direction.

  c. Once her arms are pointing out from her shoulders, parallel to the ground, the practitioner brings her hands to the sides of her face, palms facing back.

  d. Next, she steps forward with her right foot, and while forcefully thrusting the energy with her hands towards the direction she is facing, she says the word out loud.

  e. She will then step forward with her left foot meeting the right, and bring the index and middle fingers of her right hand to her lips in the sign of “shh…” (This is the sign of the initiate. For more information on the significance of this sign, do your research.)

  f. Next, the practitioner will go to the south, and do the same, using whatever word she has chosen for the south.

  The Basics: The calling of the quarters and deities or energy forms can be done in many different ways. Many traditions have their own script for callings. Another way to do it is just to focus on the representations that the entities hold for you, the practitioner. If you want some correspondences for the quarters, see “Correspondences: Quarters, Elements, Directions, and Other Entities” in Appendix I.

  g. The same in the west.

  h. And in the north.

  i. And she completes the circle at the east.

  4. The center.

  Again the practitioner stands in the center of the circle, facing east. She stands with her arms outstretched at her sides, parallel to the ground. She says:

  Before me the rushing wind, behind me the raging sea, to my right hand the leaping fire, and to my left hand the cool and trembling earth. For about me is the omnipresence of Her body, and within me is the consciousness of the continuity of existence.

  5. The Tree.

  a. The practitioner performs the Tree again, as in step 3.

  Wiccan Circle Casting and Opening

  Depending on your orientation, you may perform only this circle casting, and then move on to the rituals as I have written them for this book. Or, you may perform the circle casting and the calling of the quarters (see the next section), and then the ritual. Or, you may perform the banishing just described, then this circle casting, and the calling the quarters (and deities, if you’d like), and then the ritual.

  You may also choose to do none of the above, and use just the simple format of the rituals written here. Remember, it’s your magick! Perform it as you W
ill.

  Many Witches use the Rule of Three as a basis for ritual and magick. The circle casting for most Witches relies on a three-time circumambulation. To cast a circle in the Wiccan, Dianic, Faerie, and many other traditions, you walk the perimeter of the circle three times clockwise to cast the circle, and three times counterclockwise to open it. Depending on the tradition, you will have different assignations for the three times around.

  To cast a circle is to create a bubble, or sphere, of sacred space. Many practitioners use an athame to cast and dissolve the circle. With a blade (or a hand, used with intention), it becomes the “cutting” of a circle. You are cutting yourself out of the mundane world, and into a space that is amplified, protected, and sanctified.

  Casting and opening a circle, as with any magickal act, must be done with intention as well as the actual function of movement. As you cast—and then open—the circle, visualize these things occurring. As you cast, envision the circle becoming a protective sphere. As you open, envision the sphere of sacred space dissolving into nothing.

  You may choose to invoke Maiden with the first circle, Mother with the second, and Crone with the third. Or you can just “cast the circle, three times round . . .” You may do this as you voice an incantation (which you can write yourself, or find on web sites or in any number of books), or you can do the casting and opening in silence. Whichever route you take, employ the energy of visualization in the casting and opening. You can lend your energy to the casting and opening without even saying a word.

  Calling (aka Invoking) the Quarters

  and Spiritual Entities

  The calling of the quarters is a widespread Wiccan and Neopagan practice. It is also employed in the Ceremonial, Faerie, and many other traditions. Calling the quarters is asking the elements (or “guardians of the watchtowers”) to be present in your working. Calling the quarters is performed as an aspect of the banishing, but if you choose to not perform the banishing, calling the quarters may be done in concert with circle casting.