The Witch's Heart

by Christopher Penczak

  2.Perform steps 1–6 from the journey to the Temple of Love exercise on page 90.

  3.In the Temple of Love, call upon the goddess of love. She is the goddess of sexuality and sensuality as well. She holds the keys to sexual power. Ask for her help and her healing. While we most strongly associate with the Venusian figures in this temple, the astrological sign of Libra is also ruled by the planet Venus in astrology, and so the figures of Athena, Themis, and Lady Justice, carrying the scales and the sword, might manifest in this vision.

  4.Look for your temple mirror. Call forth the first name on your list. Ask the energy, the higher self, of this person to come forward. Feel, see, hear, or know his or her presence in the mirror. Tell yourself you are releasing all energy that you retain from this relationship that is not yours to keep. You still keep all the blessings—the honest exchanges, memories, and lessons you learned—but if on any level you are holding on to the power of the other person, you are releasing that power now (even if you didn’t realize you were holding on to it). Feel the unnecessary energy leave you. You will not be holding on to inappropriate energy from any relationship.

  5.Then state your intention to reclaim your personal power from this person, if indeed the lover holds any. Feel the power return to you through the mirror. Not every past lover will be holding on to your personal energy.

  6.Then ask the goddess of love to help you dissolve the unhealthy connections between you and this lover. The goddess’s power might manifest as gentle waves of water that dissolve the cords between you and the mirrored figure or as the blade of the goddess of justice, severing the cords and dissolving them away in the light. Feel the connection release, freeing you from any inappropriate relationship with the past lover. Not every past relationship will have inappropriate cords to release.

  7.Repeat steps 4–6 with the next name on your list. Repeat this cycle until you’ve healed the relationship with as many past lovers as you feel appropriate at this point.

  8.When done, thank the goddess of love for her help and healing aid. She may have a special message for you or ask a boon, or quest, of you in return for her help, involving her mission of love in the world. Listen carefully and do as your heart and soul dictate.

  9.When the deity is done communing with you, you find yourself moving back through the tunnel. You come out of the tunnel, through the gateway of the mirror that is before you, and the gateway closes.

  10.When done, count yourself up from one to thirteen and then one to twelve, with no visualizations. When you reach the last one, feel your fingers and toes, arms and legs. When you are ready, open your eyes.

  11. Bring both hands above the head, with palms facing the crown. Sweep down the front of the body, over the face, neck, heart, belly, and groin, pushing out and then down toward the ground. Say:

  I release all that does not serve my highest good.

  Repeat the sweeping motion two more times, following each with one of these two additional statements:

  I am in balance with myself.

  I am in balance with the universe.

  12.Ground yourself as needed. Feel your feet extend into the ground, anchoring your physical body in the physical world.

  ritual} The Sexual Feast

  The sexual feast perhaps should be renamed the sensual feast, as it’s a ritual that has little to do with specific magickal acts as we know them. Rather, it’s an exploration of the senses, to heighten our awareness and enhance sexual relationships. This in itself is quite a powerful form of magick.

  A couple must prepare, individually or together, a variety of sensory experiences for themselves and their partner. Foods and drinks that are sensual and enticing are laid out, such as whipped cream, chocolate, berries, caviar, champagne, cordials, and anything else that seems like a good idea at the time. The sensual feast is not just food, it is feasting with all the senses. Play music that will put you both in the mood. Have scented oils or massage creams. Have feathers, silk, leather, and other textured materials.

  Share these items of sensual experience with your partner. Feel each other. Anoint each other with oils. Even trade different temperature experiences, using heat (perhaps through herbal preparations that warm) and ice to vary the sensation on the skin. Do so in an erotic and playful manner. Build up with intensity, starting with the most playful and benign sensory experiences, and then gradually introduce the most intense tastes, smells, and sensations. Use this entire sensual process as an experience in itself or as foreplay to build up to sex or any ritual of sex magick. Give yourself time to receive as well as give, switching which partner is active and passive so you can fully immerse yourself in the experience.

  The senses are the keys to magick. Each sense is linked to one of the five elements—touch/earth, taste/water, smell/air, sight/fire, and hearing/spirit. Use this experience to awaken the magickal senses, through the stimulation of the physical senses. Only through embracing the material world, including our sexuality, do we come into completeness.

  Fertility and Pregnancy

  Though the conception of children is rarely the intention of traditional lust magick, it is often the result, and fertility magick is a part of traditional magick. The stress a couple experiences trying to get pregnant or keeping a pregnancy under difficult health circumstances takes its toll on the health of a family and the love between a couple. Much of my own practice in counseling couples has been around issues of fertility and family planning, usually when the couple has run out of mainstream medical options.

  From a magickal perspective, fertility has a lot to do with your own energy level and ability to be present in the body. Those potential fathers and mothers alike who are exhausted due to work and other commitments simply don’t have the life force to commit to bringing a child into the world. Often the solution is resolving this imbalance in life and getting one or both potential parent to find a more harmonious lifestyle that is filled with more enjoyment of the present moment.

  The soul of a potential new child who might want to incarnate through a couple wants the most perfect moment of conception and birth, for those moments influence the course of the child’s life. If such a being wishes to come through a couple, there is little we can do to stop it, regardless of the best birth control. Some souls are simply determined to be born through specific people. Likewise, if no souls want to come through a particular couple, nothing can be done. Often it seems that a soul wants to come through, but that soul is waiting for the couple’s health—physical and emotional—to improve, to allow the conception of the new baby with full life force and personal power.

  The following herbs have associations with fertility and birth, and can be used in magick to aid conception. Consult with a qualified herbalist before using them medicinally to treat any fertility or virility conditions.

  Almond—Almond wood is used in wands for increasing fertility and healing. Sweet almond oil can be used in the base of any fertility potion.

  Ash—The ash tree is associated with both male virility and female fertility. Associated with the Norse world tree, ash is a powerful tree, capable of reaching between the worlds and drawing forth spirits to be born into the world again.

  Basil—Basil is an herb of male virility and power.

  Chestnut—Like many nuts, the chestnut is associated with fertility. The spirit of the chestnut protects the user from malign influences and brings peace and tranquility.

  Club Moss—Along with spells for protection and power, club moss can be used to enhance male virility and, due to the reproductive spores, increase sperm count.

  Dock Seed—The seed from the yellow dock plant is used for increase, from prosperity to female fertility.

  Mistletoe—Due to the Doctrine of Signatures, the white berries of mistletoe indicate they can be used magickally to enhance male virility.

  Nettle Tea—Al
l parts of nettle, particularly the leaf and seed, are nourishment for the womb. In magick, it can be used to prepare a woman to become pregnant.

  Oak—Although the oak tree is traditionally associated with Jupiterian storm and lightning gods, the acorn of the oak tree is used in fertility and love magick.

  Orange Blossom—The orange, particularly the orange blossom, is associated with both fertility magick and conception.

  Periwinkle—Periwinkle is also known as sorcerer’s violet and can be used to open the psychic channels for inner vision, but it also is used in love magick. Specifically, it can call spirits to be incarnated in the flesh, drawing them into the material world to be reborn.

  Pomegranate—The classic fruit of the underworld that keeps Persephone in the realm of Hades for half of the year can also be used to reincarnate the souls of the underworld in new flesh. The essence of this plant is the power of the Goddess and empowers all aspects of women, including the reproductive system.

  Raspberry and Blackberry—The leaves of raspberry and blackberry are both strongly associated with the Goddess and reproductive power. In herbal teas, they are tonics for the feminine reproductive system.

  Red Clover—Red clover is another tonic for the feminine reproductive system. As part of its Doctrine of Signatures, the leaf itself looks to have the image of a uterus printed upon it, revealing its power in feminine health and reproduction.

  Watermelon—Through the principle of correspondence, we see that the watermelon is a natural association with pregnancy, as the pregnant belly looks much like the shape and size of a watermelon. Watermelon seeds and juice can be used in magick for conception and sustaining pregnancy. Watermelon flower essence, in particular, is used for conception.

  powder} Fertility

  1 tablespoon periwinkle leaves

  1 tablespoon cinquefoil

  1 tablespoon vervain

  Grind the ingredients into a fine powder. Add two pinches to red wine, let it steep for at least twelve hours, and then drink before, during, and after lovemaking to induce pregnancy.

  charm} Fertility

  9 watermelon seeds

  1 tablespoon parsley

  1 tablespoon mugwort

  1 tablespoon raspberry leaf

  1 tablespoon red clover

  1 piece of silver (ring or coin)

  Put this mixture in a silver, white, pink, or green bag, and carry it or keep it under the mattress to increase fertility powers. For both genders.

  charm} Fertility Charm No. 2

  3 acorns

  10 pomegranate seeds

  1 tablespoon nettle

  1 tablespoon dock seeds

  1 pinch of rabbit hair from a live shedding rabbit

  Like the first charm, carry this mixture in a pouch or keep it under the mattress to increase your physical fertility. Note that it is overkill to do both fertility charms, as that will dilute the magick too much. Either put a charm under the bed or carry charms (either one each or one just for the woman), but don’t do both.

  charm} Male Fertility

  1 acorn

  1 tablespoon basil

  1 tablespoon club moss

  1 tablespoon licorice

  1 tablespoon damiana

  1 tablespoon mistletoe (mistletoe berries alone are preferable, but any part can be used if berries are unavailable)

  1 pinch dragon’s blood resin

  Carry this in a red charm bag or place it under the mattress to increase the male’s power of fertility.

  Crystals and Pregnancy

  The following crystals can be useful in healing fertility issues, particularly when they are rooted in the emotions and mind around issues of love, motherhood, and family. These crystals include moonstone, selenite, unakite, quartz, rose quartz, amber, carnelian, kunzite, and hematite.

  Animal Fertility Charms

  Rather than go the herbal route, some people appeal to animal spirits that are said to increase a woman’s chance of getting pregnant. I was given a carved rose quartz rabbit by a student who realized it was a fertility charm, as rabbits are known for their ability to reproduce. She gave it to me for safekeeping, as she did not want to get pregnant. I used it in a ritual with another woman to aid her conception, and she was soon pregnant. Carved stones, traditional tribal fetishes, and even drawings of certain animals can aid the conception process. Rabbits, frogs, cows/bulls, horses, serpents, salmon, and bees are totems of fertility. In some traditions, dragons and other serpents represent fertility.

  recipe} Pregnancy Essence

  Though I’ve had great success with couples using straight watermelon flower essence alone, in difficult cases I’ve used other essences in conjunction with the watermelon. Giving essences to both the man and the woman of the conceiving couple to be able to handle the emotional and mental issue around conception is very important, and each person’s issues will require a different blend of essences.

  For particularly difficult conception issues, this blend has worked very well for couples. I’ve used it twice, and both times it resulted in conception.

  9 drops watermelon flower essence stock

  7 drops pomegranate flower essence stock

  4 drops red clover flower essence stock

  5 drops raspberry flower essence stock

  3 drops rose quartz gem elixir stock

  Place all of the drops into a ¼-ounce dropper bottle filled with one-fourth apple cider vinegar and three-fourths spring water. Shake it up every time the woman seeking to conceive takes a dose—I would suggest either three drops three times a day or nine drops once a day.

  A stock essence is the level of dilution one can purchase at a holistic health food store or online, and these essences and elixirs are available from a variety of suppliers online. If you have access to the flowering plants, you can also learn how to make your own. Detailed instructions on making essences and elixirs can be found in my book The Temple of Shamanic Witchcraft, and simpler instructions may be found in this book.

  recipe} Lady’s Mantle Spagyric Tincture

  For the toughest healing issues around pregnancy, conception, and motherhood, I’ve found an alchemical tincture of lady’s mantle to be incredibly healing. However, it should only be used in the strongest of circumstances, when the recipient is prepared to do deep magickal healing work and has a competent support system of physical, emotional, and psychological care. It has worked wonders in aiding the healing issues of past sexual abuse, miscarriage, and parental abuse, any of which can be an energetic block to physical fertility.

  Lady’s mantle is one of the premier Venusian herbs for women and Goddess-related magick. It is reputed to unlock the secrets of nature and creation as well as physically heal the feminine reproductive system. An alchemical tincture known as a spagyric tincture is a bit more complicated to make than a traditional herbal tincture. The process is said to unlock the deepest power of the herb. Tinctures are made by soaking the herb in alcohol to extract the healing medicines from the herb and preserve them. The herbal matter is usually discarded. In alchemical processes, the herbal matter must be purified, revitalizing the entire mixture.

  Here are simplified instructions for the tincture. Ideally, it should be done on a Friday, Venus’s day, at sunrise, Venus’s hour. The process of making the tincture is just as important, if not more important, than actually consuming it. Making it yourself allows you to enter into a relationship with the plant world and heal on a very deep level.

  1.Fill a Mason jar one-fourth full of dried, ground lady’s mantle. If you could have grown, picked, and harvested the lady’s mantle yourself, so much the better, but good-quality herbs from an herbal shop will still work. Grind it up, ideally by hand. Even if the herb is already powdered, still go through the process of grinding it in the mortar and p
estle, adding your energy and connection to it. When grinding it, think about the power of the Goddess and your own healing.

  2. Fill the Mason jar full of high-proof alcohol. Everclear, at 190 proof, is excellent for this work.

  3. Put plastic wrap over the mouth of the jar before you seal it, especially if the cap is metal.

  4. Shake well. Keep in a warm, dark place and shake it every day. After you shake it, hold it; feel its energy, and think about the process of working with the spirit of nature, the Goddess, your own healing, and the power of lady’s mantle.

  5. After four to nine weeks have passed (nine is ideal for this operation, as the number of months in a pregnancy), again ideally on the day and hour of Venus, strain the herb by using an unbleached coffee filter. Seal the jar again with the plastic wrap and lid to prevent the tincture from evaporating.

  6.Empty the wet herb into a Pyrex glass baking dish, spread it out, and throw a lit match on it. The herb should burn, though you will probably have to repeat lighting it on fire a few times. You might have to open the windows or do this outside, as the herb can smoke a lot. Turn the herb to black ash and, when cool, grind it to a powder in your mortar and pestle. Still be mindful of the healing process: you are helping break down blocks in your own being as you do this.

  7.Place the ash back into the glass baking dish, spread out as finely as possible. Heat the ash in your oven at a very high temperature, and let it heat for most of the day. Again, keep the windows open, as it might still smoke. This is known as calcination, the first of the alchemical operations to purify.

  8. The ash should turn lighter, from black to gray or white. When cool, powder it again in your mortal and pestle. Add the ash back to the tincture. Store it in a warm, dark place for four to nine more weeks, and shake it every day.