Call your friends together before the surgery. The ritual can be at your home or any place that feels safe and secure. I highly recommend raising healing energy at the home of the person who is to undergo the surgery, as it will create an aura of restoration. Ask each person to bring something to comfort, reassure, and cure the celebrant: soup, fixings, a soothing eye pillow, sleep balm, a hand-knitted scarf for warmth, body lotion, herbal teas, books, or lavender-infused slippers are all wonderful gifts. Form a circle of care around the celebrant and light candles. Unscented soy candles are probably best for health reasons (and if a gift is scented, it is wise to check with the healing recipient whether that’s okay in advance of the gathering). As you go around the circle, ask each person to give his or her gift of caring to the celebrant and say what it represents. As examples:
I give you this herbal tea mix so you can sip tea and draw from it
Salts from the sea have been used to decontaminate the body by way of ritual rubs since ancient times in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. From Cleopatra to Bathsheba, these natural salts have been used to exfoliate the skin and enhance circulation, vital to overall body health. While there are wonderful imported Dead Sea salts readily available at most bath and beauty stores, many witches prefer whipping up their own healing beauty magic. To create your own cupboard cure, combine the following:
Here is a handy spell for physical well-being as well as a self-esteem boost. For this witchy approach to preventive medicine, take a green candle on a Friday, dress it with clary sage oil, and speak the following three times:
I advise any witchy gardener to have a rain barrel to make the most of stormy weather; you can use it to water your pots of herbs and your garden during sunnier days and dry spells. On the first day of seasonal rainfall, place a blue glass bowl outside as a water-catcher. Once it has filled with water, bring it inside and place on your altar beside a lit candle. Speak:
As a healer, you will sometimes perform spells for those who are not present. You can set up another altar to represent the recipient of your magic or where you can have candles dedicated to the ailing one.
Begin by setting up two altar candles—one in the northeast and one in the northwest. Light them, then place three red candles on the east side of the altar and one orange candle on the west. The red candles stand for health and strength, while the orange candle lights the way for optimism and encouragement.
For a dreary day and a dark mood, use the strength of this olden unguent to release both mind and body. This desert plant produces a protective gel which works as both a sunscreen and a moisturizer. Combine the following oils with either four ounces of unscented body lotion, or two ounces of olive oil or sweet almond oil:
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
Erin Lale
Here's another link to a pagan response to the Atlantic article. I would have included this one in my story too if I had seen it before I published it...
