Lift your head and face forward, saying, As outside me, and extend your awareness to the full sphere of space beyond yourself, extending into infinity.
Bring your arms and hands back to the prayer position, saying, So within me. Feel the infinity at the center of your heart, deep and boundless.
Say (or intone), Amen or So mote it be. Or intone, Om, feeling the vibration of the mantra in the center of your chest (with your thumbs resting against your sternum you will be able to focus on the vibration). I find that stretching out the word or phrase and vibrating it results in a deeper connection. Experiment and see what takes you deepest.
Remain standing or sitting, feeling and visualizing your heart as the center of the universe. Breathe slowly and deeply, joyfully experiencing yourself as the nexus around which all else exists. You are present in the timeless now, between the future and the past, the heavens and the earth, the inner and the outer. This is where the magic happens.
When you feel ready, slowly open your eyes. At this point, you can end the ritual by grounding (stomping your feet, shaking your body) or continue with further magical working.
If it sounds complicated, it isn’t. You will probably have it memorized after a week of daily practice. Don’t worry if you mess it up or get confused, just keep at it and soon it will be second nature.
Keep in mind we are dealing with metaphorical centering. Obviously, a literal line drawn through you vertically doesn’t extend into a limitless earth but emerges on the other side of the planet and extends into interstellar space. Instead, we are dealing with symbolic space—the starry cosmos above and the deep, dark regenerative earth below. The center is a spiritual principle, but also a deep, powerful “place.”
Some things to remember:
• You may substitute another word for spirit if it fits your beliefs or tradition better. There is a famous Christian prayer called St. Patrick’s Breastplate that uses Christ, and it fits perfectly into this scheme, for example. You may want to try energy, power, Goddess, God, or names of individual deities or angels, beings, and so on. Experiment and see what works best for you.
• Aim to keep your body relaxed. Don’t strain or stretch beyond your limits.
• If you have disabilities that prevent you from performing the physical aspects of the ritual, visualize yourself doing them instead. In fact, once you are competent at the ritual, doing it in your imagination (while lying in bed, for example) can be very effective.
• You can say the words aloud or internally. Aloud is best, but if you must be quiet, try to hear the words aloud in your head. Some people try different ways of saying the words—stretching them out, using a singsong voice, or resonating them. Experiment.
• Don’t rush the ritual. Take your time and really feel and visualize as you go.
• You may want to visualize lines of energy extending through your body vertically and horizontally and stretching into infinity. They come to a point in your heart in the center of your chest.
• You don’t need to face any particular direction. That’s the beauty of this ritual—it creates sacred space around you no matter where you are or which direction you’re facing. Later, we’ll discuss circumstance in which you may want to align yourself with the four cardinal directions and how to alter this ritual to do so.
• As you become more proficient, you can begin to expand the ritual by adding other directional attributes, including visualizations and sounds (as found in the correspondences section on page 226).
Group Centering Ritual
One person stands in the circle’s center and leads the group in the Centering Ritual. After the final So within me, the leader says, Spirits of the four directions, of the heavens, and of the earth, consecrate this Circle of Art and guide us in our work. So mote it be.
The group responds, So mote it be.
Centering Ritual Cheat Sheet
1. Facing ahead, prayer position. Spirit before me.
2. Sensing behind. Spirit behind me.
3. Sensing right. Spirit on my right.
4. Sensing left. Spirit on my left.
5. Sensing above. Spirit above me.
6. Sensing below. Spirit below me.
7. Sensing all around. Spirit outside me.
8. Sensing within. Spirit within me. Arms in orans position.
9. Between the future … Feel the future, full of possibility, waiting ahead.
10. And the past … Feel the past streaming behind you.
11. Turn head to right. Between the sun … Visualize the sun.
12. Turn head to left. And the moon … Visualize the moon.
13. Look to heavens. Between the heavens … Visualize the starry canopy.
14. Look to earth. And the earth … Visualize the depths of the earth.
15. Face forward. As outside me … Visualize a sphere around you extending into infinity.
16. Return hands to prayer position. So within me. Visualize infinite center of your heart.
17. Intone, Amen, So mote it be, or Om.
Consecration Ritual
Here is a basic spell to consecrate (make sacred) an object for ritual or other magical use. It can be used for everything from blessing salt for a purifying bath and energizing an oil, to charging a sigil and empowering your ritual tools. It is best done under a waxing or full moon.
Have the four elements represented on your altar (see the section on altars in Chapter Four), along with your incense censer. Use copal or frankincense (loose incense is best, but sticks and cones are fine).
Arrange three small white candles (tea lights are fine for this) in the center of your altar in an upward-pointing triangle. Light the candles to begin the ritual.
Stand or sit before your altar and perform the Centering Ritual.
Light your incense.
Hold your object (container of salt, mojo bag, vial of oil, sigil, ritual tool, etc.), then say,
Bless this (name of object), powers of earth (touch object to your earth symbol), water (touch water to your extended index and middle fingers and wet the object with them), fire (hold over your fire symbol), and air (hold in rising incense smoke or touch to feather); spirits of the heavens (lift toward sky) and of the underworld (lower toward altar or ground).
Then hold it in both hands in front of you. Say,
Consecrate this (name of object) so that it may serve its purpose well, for the highest good. So mote it be.
Lift the object and blow into it. Feel your personal energy, the breath of life, moving into it and awakening it. Say,
Awaken.
Place the object in the center of the triangle of candles. Place your palms over it. As you inhale slowly, feel and visualize energy pouring down from the cosmos and into the top of your head, then down to your heart (the center of your chest). At the same time, feel and visualize energy coming up from the earth, entering your feet, and meeting in your heart, where it mixes with the cosmic energy and glows brightly.
As you breathe in, feel the light energy pouring into your center, and as you exhale feel those energies from the heavens and the earth swirling, mingling, and glowing ever brighter.
Then, when it feels like the energy has reached a peak, inhale deeply.
As you exhale, see that powerful energy pouring out of your heart, running down your arms, through your hands, and into the consecrated object.
Let the energy flowing from your palms subside with your exhalation. Slowly bring your hands together in a prayer position over your heart. Feel and visualize the heart energy contracting, and then clap your hands three times. The third clap ends the ritual.
Shake your hands, as if flinging off water. Stomp your feet and shake your body to ground yourself.
Leave the object inside the triangle of candles for a few minutes, or longer, exiting the room if possible
(and if safe to do so with candles burning). This is when it “cooks” and its energy settles into the new form. After a while, you should feel that it is ready. Extinguish the candles and place the consecrated item in a safe location on your altar (if you know it will remain unmolested by other people or pets), leave it under your pyramid, or tuck it safely away until you need it. You may want to wrap it in cloth for safekeeping. You should be the only one who touches your consecrated items—unless, of course, you’re consecrating objects for other people.
You may want to occasionally reconsecrate items as a way to recharge them. Use your intuition. If a particular object seems to have lost some of its energy, do a reconsecration and you’ll often see a noticeable improvement.
On the Casting of Circles
I’m going to say something that goes against the grain of many traditions, particularly witchcraft and Western ceremonial magic. It may be shocking and heretical to those of you who are long-time practitioners.
You don’t need to cast a circle to do magic.
Witches, please don’t throw the book across the room. Allow me to explain.
Magical circles are used for group workings in many traditions and, in fact, the idea of doing a group ritual without a circle would seem ludicrous. A primary reason is that the magic circle is used as a “container” to hold the rising group energy before it is released to do its work.
My philosophy differs. From my experience, group energy is just as effective when it remains contained within the individuals until it is consciously released. Instead of filling up the circle or sphere with the combined individual energy (and how does that happen anyway? Does it leak out during the ritual? Is it gradually released?), the participants build the energy up within themselves until the ritual’s climax or peak, when they discharge it to do its work.
Unless your system demands otherwise, there’s no need to “banish” negative energies or to work within a protected magical circle for your safety. You can work magic safely and effectively at your altar without going through a ritual to create a protective bubble. Nothing will hurt you, and your magic will be just as effective.
So why do so many traditions claim otherwise? While doing magic within a circle goes back to ancient Egypt (at least), the traditions that focus on banishing—and most of them fall broadly in the category of Western magic (traditional witchcraft, Wicca, and ceremonial magic that grew from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Freemasonry)—emerged from a narrow set of historical European systems in which spirits or demons were evoked and the circle served as a barrier to protect the magician from them. Many of these traditions treated the evoked entities with arrogance and cruelty, binding, bribing, and coercing them to do the bidding of the magician. It’s no wonder those magicians needed magical protection! Unless you’re doing goetic magic or working in the classical grimoire traditions, that hierarchical, patriarchal model should be abandoned.
That sort of magic is beyond the scope of this book anyway. We won’t be doing necromancy (summoning the dead) or conjuring demons to cajole them into running our errands. When our magic calls upon spirits, it is in the context of respect and cooperation. Attuning yourself with the Centering Ritual and working in service for the highest good of all is protection enough.
And if you use incense with protective qualities, such as frankincense or copal, you’re further cleansing and protecting your environment.
Now, having said all that…
Although I part with many established traditions when it comes to the emphasis on circles, banishing, and protection, there are times when it is prudent to create a circle (actually, an enclosing sphere). Such occasions may include when you feel the need for protection, either physical or mental/magical, when you have the need or desire to close off the outside world and minimize its influences, and when you are doing group rituals and want to sanctify your working space.
Let’s face it—activism and resistance can be dangerous. Your opponents, whether they are corporations, politicians, or a group of reactionary individuals, can be actively aggressive against you. In my days as a peace activist during the first Gulf War, I was run off the road by other drivers (on multiple occasions), my car and property were vandalized, and one night after work I was followed home by a group of drunks and pepper sprayed as I got out of my car (they didn’t like my “No Blood for Oil” bumper sticker). I know many people who have been subjected to physical abuse by police or counterprotesters. So doing some protection magic when you may be facing aggressive opponents is prudent (and see Chapter Five for other methods).
Your opponents may also use magical techniques against you. This is extremely rare but not unheard of. Alt-right groups during the 2016 presidential campaign employed chaos magic techniques against Hillary Clinton and her supporters, for example (and for a fascinating history of the magical battles of that election, see Gary Lachman’s Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump). A number of right-wing Pagan groups and magicians actively sought to oppose those of us doing the Trump binding spell (though their results were far more comic than troubling).
Beginning magicians and witches, particularly those with strong natural abilities, can sometimes generate energetic weirdness in their environments. It’s not harmful, but can become bothersome and annoying. It tends to manifest as unusual visual phenomena (like creatures or shadows moving in one’s peripheral vision) and can, on rare occasions, cause physical manifestations (noises, movement of objects, and other poltergeist-type effects). When I first began practicing Kabbalistic magic, the overhead lights in my basement started turning on and off by themselves. It was maddening to be in the midst of a deeply meditative candlelit ritual only to have bright fluorescent lights pop on. Talk about killing the mood! When I stopped doing the heavy ceremonial workings, the lights returned to normal and never exhibited that odd behavior again.
These low-level phenomena can also manifest as unpleasant, bizarre dreams or nightmares. This is quite rare, but if you find it happening to you, the protection ritual below should calm things down energetically. If that fails, just stop your practice and engage in social and nonmagical, mundane activities for a while.
When it comes to group workings, circles are a natural, nonhierarchical formation for gatherings. Doing rituals within a circle allows everyone to take part, and ritually defining the boundaries of your operation facilitates the proper atmosphere and serves to sanctify group space. The Hermetic Seal is an all-purpose circle or sphere spell you can use whenever and however you wish.
Spheres of Protection:
The Hermetic Seal
The ritual employs a charged symbol—either an equal-armed (Greek) cross or a pentagram —drawn in the air with a lit stick of incense or with your extended index and middle fingers. I recommend the incense stick for beginners, because in a darkened room the burning end will leave optical “tracers” that will help you visualize the symbols better. Any incense stick will do, but copal or frankincense are my go-tos.
First, a word about the cross. While Christian magical practitioners may certainly use the cross in an explicitly Christian context, the cross as a spiritual symbol long predates Christianity, with the earliest depictions dating from the late Paleolithic. It is found in religious iconography of the ancient Egyptians and the Maya of Mexico and Central America and is a powerful religious symbol of the African Kongolese, who revere it as denoting the crossroads between the cycles of death and rebirth. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’s Rose Cross ritual, which is much more complex but very similar in its protective effects to the Hermetic Seal, utilizes the Christian cross. If cross symbolism has negative associations for you, use a pentagram. Either will work equally well, as will an image of a rose.
I advise trying the cross first because of its geometry. You will be creating a spherical, 3-D matrix of protective energy, and the cross plugs in geometrically to the six points of that matrix.
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Where you see the , use your glowing incense stick (or extended index and middle fingers) to trace it in the air before you, beginning with the top of the vertical arm to the bottom, then with the left end of the horizontal to the right. Visualize the symbol glowing red as you trace it, and see it lingering in space before you, a powerful ward against any intrusion.
If you use the pentagram , begin at the lower left corner, moving upward to the top center, down to the right, across to the upper left, and so on. This is known as a “banishing” pentagram, common to both Kabbalistic magic and a number of witchcraft traditions. In this case, you’re not actually banishing anything, merely sealing up your space with the symbols serving as a set of locks, guards, or wards.
This may all sound complicated at first, but when you try it, you’ll see how it all comes together logically and intuitively.
You will be moving clockwise and creating a sphere around you, so you will need to judge the required space. In a small space you may take a step or two forward from the center to begin the circle, whereas in a large room (such as for a group ritual) you will walk forward several steps farther to begin. If you are forced to do the ritual in a tight space (say, a bathroom), just turn in place. The effects are the same whether you’re casting the sphere for yourself or a large group.
If you’re casting a circle while standing at your altar, you can simply turn in place.
You can also set up the circle with white candles before you begin the ritual—it looks beautiful and reinforces the energy of the spell. I use twelve tea lights, starting with four in the cardinal directions and filling in two in each quarter.
Unless your tradition specifies otherwise, begin facing east (or in that general direction).
First, do the Centering Ritual (page 152) to get into the proper level of consciousness.
1. Light the incense stick and hold it in front of you in your folded hands at heart level.
2. Say,
I call upon thee, spirits, and ask for your blessing.
Magic for the Resistance Page 14
