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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in incantation
A Happy (and Hoppy) Household Blessing

When you or a friend move into a new home, place a wreath or bundle of dried hops and eucalyptus on the front door. Walk through the door, light your favorite incense and a brown candle, and lie down in the center of the front room. Whisper:

House of my body, I accept your shelter.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

 

Thunder to my right hand

Lightning to my left hand

 

Fire before me

Frost behind me

 

Heaven above me

Earth below me

 

Earth to Heaven

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Using Quotes in Spellwork

I tend to use a fair number of pop culture quotes in my spellwork.  “Make him an offer he can’t refuse,” “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it,” “I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you.”  Why? Because the people whose profession it is to come up with powerful words that stick in your head forever are better at doing so than I am.  Well crafted quotes can trigger deep emotions and connect to deep energies in ways no words I could come up with would ever do.  The story context, emotional cues, and place in popular thought can make the right quote become the best set of “magick words” imaginable.

A spell is, more or less, any deliberate action designed to focus your intent and project it out into the world in order to manifest that intent.  The actions you take in the process of casting your spell are designed to: 1)  focus and energize your intent, 2) direct the intent to your target, and 3) send the intent and energy to the target to manifest.  Arm the missile, target the missile, send the missile.  There are almost limitless forms that spellwork can take and almost all of them use either written or spoken words.

Although words are not a requirement, most spells do involve words in some form or another.  The majority of the world uses words as their primary form of communication; our brains expect words to narrate and explain what we do.  This makes words the natural choice for defining our intent in magickal workings.  In spellwork this is most often done via incantation - the words spoken during a spell; quite literally your “magick words.”  We use words to define and focus our intent, to describe where we want our energies to go, and often as a trigger for sending that energy out into the world.  Quotes can be used in any of these steps if they're appropriate.  For some practitioners, particularly the writers and speakers among us, the incantation can be seen as the magick itself.  Incantations often use archaic language, rhyming, and specific mental imagery to best connect to our core being.  The right quote can do all of those things automatically.  The more points of connection in our minds between the words and actions in the spell and what we want that spell to actually do, the greater the volume of energy we transmit to our working and more easily to boot.  

Using an appropriate pop culture quote can increase the success rate of spellwork without any extra energy from the caster.  A movie quote, song lyric, book passage, etc., can have a lot of power beyond the mere words spoken.  Of course, in terms of using quotes in spellwork, the words are the primary basis of power.  It’s critical that the words of your quote mesh completely with your intent.  It’s better to modify the quote slightly than to use it verbatim and risk it pushing your intent off track.  For example if I wanted to use the quote “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope,” while petitioning a specific deity I might exchange “Obi Wan Kenobi” for the name of the deity in question.  Further, I wouldn’t want to use a quote spoken in a negative context, no matter how beloved or appropriate the mere words seem, in a success spell (i.e. just about any line from season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer).  Be certain the words of your quote totally and completely mean what you intend. 

Beyond the words of the quote is their context and the emotional weight they carry with you.  Movie, television, and video game quotes are particularly potent when it comes to the weight they carry within individuals and in popular consciousness.  When supported by music, imagery, or movement words become even more powerful as we engage with them more fully.  A pivotal line spoken against the backdrop of striking imagery and powerful music becomes iconic and striking (think “‘Till the end of the line”, “As you wish”, or “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you”).  Then one must examine the personal context for the quote.  Did you see the movie once and kinda like it; does the song lyric get stuck in your head; have you recited these lines more times than you can count since childhood; are they so important to you that you’ve literally tattooed them on your body?  While it might not work as well for someone else, as someone with a deep love of the Iron Man movies in general and Phil Coulson in particular I might use the following quote in a binding spell: "If you try to escape, or play any sort of games with me, I will taze you and watch ‘Supernanny’ while you drool into the carpet."  The emotional power of the movie you watched over and over during the best summer of childhood or the album that was the soundtrack for your first love taps deep into our souls and personal power, making their words that much more potent. 

To the immense well of a quote’s personal meaning, you can also add popular weight.  The beauty of pop culture magick is that you can add the power of everyone else who knows and loves your bit of pop culture to its intrinsic power.  How well known are the words of you quote?  Is your quote a bit obscure, but perfect?  Is it from something mildly popular or are the words so ubiquitous that everyone and their grandmothers know them (think “may the force be with you” or “live long and prosper”)?  The qualities of appropriateness, personal weight, and popular weight of a quote can give your incantation a lot more bang for your buck than you might think.

Keep in mind that there can be too much of a good thing.  Using one or two mindful quotes will serve as powerful exclamation points in your spell.  Using too many quotes may have the effects of either diluting their power or muddling your intent as you get wrapped up in your own cleverness.  Better to use just a few quotes as attention grabbing flourishes.  Is it possible to do a potent and effective spell with a ton of quotes?  Of course it is, but it would have to be extremely carefully crafted and probably wouldn’t end up being any more effective than a spell consisting mainly of original language with one carefully curated quote.  Then again, a spell or ritual made up of tons and tons of quotes and references could be a fun experiment if you’re willing to do the work to get it right.  My personal preference is for just one or two quotes because I want my spells to feel like they’re mine: my words, my emotions, my energies.  Using too many words written by others makes me feel like my energy gets diluted.  Be mindful of quote density and be sure that your intent is being expressed as fully and powerfully as it needs to be.

b2ap3_thumbnail_wordsGoblins.jpg
Say your right words and you can enhance the power of your spellwork with the weight of popular stories, their emotional cues, and their place in the popular mind.  The right quote has built-in connections to immense reserves of power both through individual significance and their place in the greater currents.  Used mindfully, pop culture quotes can give your spells an instant and effortless boost in potency and joyfully take your magick to the next level.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • M.T. Noah
    M.T. Noah says #
    "I aim to misbehave." "We can't do something smart, so let's at least do something right." (misquoted, I'm sure, but you may know
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    That line "I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you" sounds wonderful. What movie is that from? I think it would be eve
  • Emily Carlin
    Emily Carlin says #
    That is from the TV show Firefly, the episode was "Our Mrs. Reynolds."

Posted by on in Studies Blogs

Speech is one of the oldest forms of magic. I’m not just talking about the fact that it’s long been used in incantation or divination (runes being one example); it’s much more fundamental than that. Words are vessels designed to contain thoughts and transfer them across time and space from one mind to another. If that’s not magical, I don’t know what is.

On its surface, the process appears simple. We insert a thought into our chosen vessel and send it on its way. We trust that it will arrive at its destination, dutifully delivering its precious contents to our intended recipient(s).

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Ted Czukor
    Ted Czukor says #
    "It’s not enough just to know how to communicate; we have to know how to communicate with the people to whom we’re speaking." Exc
  • Cat
    Cat says #
    Looking forward to your words, sir!

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Tea and Incantation

Once per month on the 4th Tuesday at 8pm, I host a Tea and Chanting session at my shop, The Sacred Well in Oakland, CA. For each session, I prepare an intention for the group to consider, a new tea recipe to try, and a mantra that we will all chant 108 times. We then settle in to our meditation space, sip tea, chant, and increase our overall wholeness, wellness, and quality of energy with this practice. There is something really satisfying about this ritual. It clears and opens significant channels of energy and healing via the throat chakra.

I extend this experience in myTea and Incantation class in The Witch's Garden series as an exploration of how the art of drinking tea and chanting can positively affect the body, mind, and spirit. The throat, an important gateway of speech, song, breath, and consumption of food and drink, deserves lots of warm, kind, honeyed love. How many times per day do you find yourself talking, talking, talking or listening, listening, listening, and longing for silence? How often do you feel like you can't even catch a breath because you feel overrun and overwhelmed? We all feel that way sometimes. Drinking tea and chanting can be a great antidote to a loud and stressful environment, job, or life circumstances.

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