Stepping Back & Further Application
Anger is a secondary emotion that arises from another emotion, usually fear or sadness. The underlying fear or sadness behind anger is the main thing that must be analyzed in order for the anger to eventually lose power, and the reasons for these underlying emotions are different for everyone and every situation. Expressing and working with underlying emotions can keep anger from bubbling to the surface, and can help lessen its frequency by tackling the deeper subjects that require notice.
Anger can easily arise if a person feels they’re not being heard. It can perpetuate alongside a notion of proving oneself. Anger is often intricately connected to ego. Various substances can blow anger out of proportion and make communication even more difficult. Blame is a strong component of anger, often accompanying it, and is a method of avoidance. In arguments, try using only “I feel this way because . . .” statements to avoid a vicious and counterproductive blame-game.
Everybody gets furious now and then. However, some of us are more subject to our emotions than others. There is no shame in admitting that you have an anger problem—it’s common! If you and those around you believe that the levels of anger you feel are unhealthy, and yet you still can’t seem to get a hold on your emotions, I encourage you to consider meditation, therapy, and anger-management counseling. Such things can truly be lifesaving and can help a person get to the root of their anger—which is much more empowering than letting the anger run rampant! Know your emotions—know yourself.
Supplies
• 5 organic, cage-free chicken eggs (use only 1 egg if the performance of this spell is frequent, so as to not waste food)
• a red permanent marker and a black permanent marker
• any combination of the herbs dandelion and wormwood
• a few handfuls of sea salt
• 1 can or bottle of beer
• a bathtub or shower
Notes
• If you’re underage, substitute apple juice (or hops bath sachet) for the beer. (Beer is known to help dispel negative external influences.)
• There are very few ingredients in this spell for a reason. Like a bonfire, anger can arise suddenly. Thus, gathering tools for a ritual wouldn’t necessarily be practical. For those who experience the instantaneous rising of anger, skip to the very last portion of this spell (the bath) immediately when the anger starts to take hold.
Procedure
Don’t cast a circle for this spell; doing so in a moment of anger could upset the harmony of the elements/spirits at hand. Instead, immediately grab your egg(s).
With the red marker, draw the symbol for Mars 5 times on each egg. With the black marker, write your feelings. This can be anything from “being ignored” or “disrespected,” to “fuck you.” Write words that express your feelings and what you feel is wrong in the situation.
Go outside. Briefly hold each egg to your brow and take 5 deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. As you exhale, move the egg to your mouth and imagine fiery red energy being sent into it.
With your right hand, forcefully throw the egg(s) on the ground, smashing with all your might. Kneel on the ground and pound the egg and the ground, pulverizing the shell. Get messy and use lots of force. Purge the anger through the egg. Don’t hurt yourself, but do use force.
As you are pounding the egg, see bolts of red lightning exiting your fist, being absorbed by the Earth. While you are smashing, repeat:
Fiery fury, anger unjust,
get away from me you must!
Into the Earth this anger is caged,
this egg dies alongside my rage!
Once thoroughly smashed, put the herbs on the smashed egg. Put a few pinches of salt on the egg to fully ground the energies.
Go inside and wash with soap. If you’ve been at odds with another person, tell them you need to calm down and will discuss matters later. Grab the beer and salt, and draw a warm bath (or shower). When the bath is ready, dump in beer and salt (or dump them over yourself). Say:
Heated water, you shall chill.
Cool my anger: it is my Will!
While you are bathing, take deep breaths, soaking up the cleansing power of the water infused with fermented hops, yeast, and salt. Allow your anger to be transformed into peace and acceptance. Calm down. Know that you are taking the higher road by not giving in to your anger and are changing your state of mind for the better.
Jupiter
Zodiacal rulership: Sagittarius (and Pisces, classical astrology)
Color association: Blue
Sephira: Chesed
Number: 4
Day: Thursday
Archetypes: Teacher, Prophet/ess, Sky King
Themes: Expansion, abundance, philosophy, growth, luck, optimism, prosperity, freedom, opportunity, generosity, justice, higher purpose
The term ennui is French and refers to a state of disinterest, lethargy, and depression. Periods of frequent crying, feelings of mental and emotional numbness, and an attitude of apathy about life in general can be aspects of ennui. Christian mystic St. John of the Cross coined the term “Dark Night of the Soul” in his sixteenth-century poem of the same name, describing the experience of feeling the “absence of God.” In other words, the Dark Night is felt as absolute emptiness, a distrust in reality, and an indifference to anything and everything. The experience is extreme. Pain, despondence, and indolence characterize the constant sensations. Many people would simply call it depression to the extreme. The Dark Night is most certainly a process of initiation (“suffering to learn”), and this spell can utilize such an experience to a person’s advantage. It can also help with minor experiences that mirror the Dark Night—shorter periods of ennui are much more common than a severe and lasting sorrow. In fact, combating lesser slumps of ennui can help to prevent the onset of the Dark Night experience.
To experience such slumps from time to time is quite natural to the human experience, and can provide room for inspiration to be reborn from depths of mental isolation. However, the experience can also be held on to—even for an entire lifetime. Unfortunately, many people surrender to the energy of ennui, feeling as if there is nothing else to be had in life.
If a person regularly expends too much energy, slumps of depression and drainage are certain to follow. Not maintaining a balance of energetic exchange can give way to extended depressive slumps. Periods of stagnation can make a person feel worthless, unaccomplished, or guilty for such feelings, simply because the rational mind is telling them to behave oppositely.
Periods of ennui can teach us to reevaluate our lives and prioritize our experiences. If our path has a blockage, we must get to the root of the blockage and remove it accordingly, even if it’s difficult, and even if it requires serious life changes. The road must be opened and cleared for success.
Jupiter is attuned to energies of luck, opportunity, and personal growth. Aligning “anti-stagnation” intention to this generous planet’s energy is highly beneficial. The theme of this spell is regeneration and new beginnings.
Because Aries is a sign of new beginnings and growth (including flora), one could integrate the energy of Mars with this spell too. However, because of Mars’ war qualities—which may be best avoided during a dark time—I feel that Jupiter is more appropriate.
During a depressive tide, all of life can seem hopeless. Paradoxically, during a period of blissful happiness, all of life can seem perfect. Neither view is entirely true; there is always a middle ground. Getting away from the listless energy of ennui requires that one remember life’s balance and find reasons to develop the motivation to move forward.
Stepping Back & Further Application
Deconstruct the reasons for this mental and emotional rut. What factors have contributed to your coming to this state of being? Are you making
the experience worse by feeling guilt? Are periods of stagnation a common occurrence in your life? How long have these feelings lasted, and are you actually ready to propel yourself out of it now—or are there still lessons waiting to be learned?
This spell can help a person jump out of a stagnant cycle. At the same time, various things in life need to be changed accordingly. This working will help jump-start the energies of motivation, but the practitioner must follow through. Take steps: do things that will get your creative juices flowing. Take a walk, make some plans, immerse yourself in things you enjoy. While you muster back your balanced energy levels, contemplate the things in your life that should be dismissed or released to allow these changes to come to fruition. Honor your period of stagnation as a natural settling of energies, knowing that a sluggish demeanor and bleak outlook are only temporary.
Supplies
• a small potted plant (see Notes)
• 2 small, all-natural pieces of paper
• a ballpoint pen
• a small bowl of warm water
• a small, regular rock
• a timepiece (a timer, clock, cell phone, or watch)
• a blue permanent marker
• a long, transparent glass vial
• any combination of the herbs bayberry, dandelion, dill, eyebright, hemp (or marijuana if it’s legal in your area), High John the Conqueror root, jasmine, lavender, lemon balm, lemon verbena, marjoram, mullein, rosemary, St. John’s wort, sunflower, thistle (milk or blessed), willow, and yarrow
• 1 piece each of blue agate and orange calcite
• your own hair and fingernail clippings
• a spoonful of honey
Notes
• It would be ideal for the practitioner to buy or transplant a potted plant that is one of the herbs on the list. For example, a person could purchase a potted dill or lemon balm plant, put a garden-growing sunflower or lavender plant into a pot, or find wild mullein or yarrow to transplant.
• Before taking care of a plant, research proper gardening and maintenance techniques. One must make every effort to keep the plant from dying. If the plant does eventually die, discard the biodegradable contents (soil, spell, and all) into a body of flowing water.
Procedure
Begin by casting a circle, calling the quarters, chanting, or raising energy as you normally would, performing protective exercises, and altering your consciousness. Clear your mind, bring focus to your breath, and meditate for at least a few minutes. When ready, begin the spell.
Cup your hands around the potted plant. Declare:
I charge and enchant this [name of plant] with the energy of the cosmos. This represents the conquering of my ennui and the growth from the depths of this rut.
Press your fingers into the soil. Say:
This soil is my sorrow. This soil is my stagnation. This soil is my slump.
Put your hands gently on the plant, feeling its leaves and vibrant energies. Say:
This [name of plant] is my strength. This [name of plant] is my springboard. This [name of plant] is my salvation.
On one of the pieces of paper, write down everything that characterizes your ennui. Use adjectives, emotions, and fears. Use both sides of the paper, writing words, sentences, symbols, scribbles, and anything else that channels your feelings.
Put this paper in the water. If necessary, weigh it down with the rock. Immediately take note of the time (write it down on your hand). Loudly shout the following into the water at the top of every minute for 16 minutes, beginning at the moment you clock the current time:
Resolve! Transform! Solve et Coagula! Albedo! Albedo! Albedo!
While you are waiting 16 minutes (remember to watch the minutes on the clock and say the preceding line a total of 16 times!), take the other paper and write the positive things you wish to develop in your life. Take note of all your talents, strengths, and abilities, and write goals that you are aiming to manifest over time. Sidestep any feelings of worthlessness in order to bring out your positive qualities. When you feel a sense of completion, use the permanent marker to draw a very large symbol 13 on one side of the “positive” paper and a very large symbol 14 on the other side, covering the words.
With one hand, dig deep into the soil. Take the soaked paper of ennui words and bury it deep in the soil. Put the other, positive piece of paper into the vial, having folded it multiple times. Add your hair and fingernail clippings.
Fill the vial to the brim with the herbal mixture. When finished, stick the uncapped vial into the potted plant with the closed end up (so the herbs at the brim touch the soil). Push this down as far as you’d like, ensuring that it’s stable without hurting the plant’s root structure. Place the two gemstones in the soil in a similar fashion. (The rock that weighed down the negative piece of paper should be thrown in the trash.) Eat the spoonful of honey, feeling the love and joy of the Universe entering your body and soul.
Close the circle as you normally would and take good care of the plant (water, sunlight, conversation) as you ease your way out of the slump. Remember that death feeds life!
Fear is a killer. In many ways, our everyday experience is determined by our own internal battle of confidence versus fear. When someone feels able to accomplish something—even the smallest thing—they are likely to follow it through with ease; if someone feels fear toward something, the easiest response is to just give up.
Fear is greatly unconscious and isn’t restricted to fears of spiders, heights, and clowns. Fears can be anything from fear of abandonment or fear of relationships to fear of acceptance or fear of a bad public image. For everything that is, there are people who fear it to some extent.
Anxiety and depression go hand in hand, and anxiety is greatly borne of fear itself. These emotions are intricately interrelated, though fear is usually categorized as being more survivalistic and base-emotional, as a response to a threat against one’s well-being.
Whatever the wording, fears and anxieties can inhibit our everyday life by making us reluctant to even try. The belief in helplessness and an unavoidable outcome will discourage a person from even attempting to conquer fear. The fear of failure is a heavy weight that can inhibit a person from walking a fulfilling or destined path in life.
Combating fears isn’t easy. It takes emotional work—and proof of success—to work with one’s trepidations. It’s necessary to have both the knowledge of one’s own fears and the determination to work with them. Without determination and direction, fear can never be fully released.
All things in reality change. That which was painful at one point in time does not have to continue its cycle of inner torment. The body and mind are constantly regenerating, and it’s our decision whether or not we hold on to negative belief systems of the past. By getting to the root of fear, the mind can choose to disallow it. For those wishing to sever the restrictive ties of the past and rocket into freedom (with the help of Jupiter!), this spell can be a good starting point in the process.
Stepping Back & Further Application
Fear is not only a painful inner demon, but one of illusion. Fears can bring about ideas of failure, discouragement, and the belief of impossibility. Fear can give rise to irrational and even absurd reactions to things that don’t legitimately pose a threat. Additionally, the self-judgment and behaviors of avoidance that accompany fear and anxiety can continue to build on themselves, making a person’s reactions to their environment even more divorced from reality. Fear can trigger self-isolation, panic attacks, and suicidal impulses.
Getting to the root of the fear is where the greatest solution to the problem lies. Perhaps a past incident caused a negative imprint of the thing now feared. Maybe you’ve witnessed someone else fail or somehow sustain injury from a thing or person and have come to fear it yourself by extension.
T
esting your fears is important. The fear may actually be gone or changing at this point in time. Taking small steps to combat the challenge can reverse your reluctance in facing the situation, and seeking encouragement from outside sources can provide courage.
Supplies
• a blue candle
• a number of 4-inch-square pieces of paper
• a blue ballpoint pen
• any combination of the herbs basil, nettles, red clover, and St. John’s wort
• a burning bowl or dish
• many yards of all-natural string or cord, such as jute, hemp, or even cotton (black if possible)
• approximately 1-inch polished stones; 1 each of amethyst, bloodstone (or carnelian), opal, and quartz
Notes
• When writing your fears, feel welcome to write down things that you feel may or may not qualify. Even if you’re uncertain whether or not something classifies as a fear, it’s best to focus on its banishment as a safeguard.
Procedure
Begin by casting a circle, calling the quarters, chanting, or raising energy as you normally would, performing protective exercises, and altering your consciousness. Clear your mind, bring focus to your breath, and meditate for at least a few minutes. When ready, begin the spell.
Ignite the candle. On each piece of paper, write one fear. It’s likely that you’ll be able to think of a few right off the top of your head. After your most prominent fears are written, journey deep into your mind to discover more.
Mentally rewind through the years. Think about instances where fright, anxiety, and uncertainty got the best of you. If you remember any significant, emotionally draining occurrences, take note of the accompanying fear.
Once you have mentally purged all the deep-seated fears you can, set the papers aside and put the herbs in the bowl. Put your fingers in the herbs and mix them around, saying:
Planetary Spells & Rituals Page 17
