Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All ... - reading...

148 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
170. Nine Woods for the Fire
Nine woods in the cauldron go,
Burn them fast and burn them slow.
Birch into the fire goes,
To represent what the Lady knows.
Oak gives the forest might,
The fire brings the God’s insight.
Rowan is the tree of power,
Causing life and magic to flower.
Willows at the waterfront stand,
To aid the journey to the Summerland.
Hawthorne is burned to purify,
And draw faery to your eye.
Hazel, the tree of wisdom and learning,
Add its strength to the bright fire burning.
White are the flowers of the apple tree,
A Flashy Spell for Any Occasion
By Crow Dragontree
That brings us the fruits of fertility.
Grapes that grow upon the vine,
Giving us both joy and wine.
Fir does mark the evergreen,
To represent immortality unseen.
Elder is the Lady’s tree,
Burn it not, or cursed you’ll be.
—Ellen Dugan
171. Burn Bright (for lighting the fire)
Burn bright, flame within me:
Kindled of eternal fire.
Of the people I do be:
And the people part of me,
All one in many parts:
A single fire of flaming hearts!
—Skye Ranger Nick (Nicholas Sea) 1982
Writing down a magickal intent and burning it in a fire is a magickal practice that appears
to have endured for centuries. My personal preference is to write my intent upon flash
paper with a colored felt-tip pen and ignite it in the flames of a colored candle. Flash paper is
chemically-treated paper often used by stage magicians to create a large, flaring glow when
ignited. Of course, this creates a rather remarkable impression during spellcasting, but the
real reason I enjoy using this is a bit more mundane: Flash paper gives off no smoke or smell,
so you can cast your spell in the house without annoying anyone else. In addition, flash paper
ignites and burns almost instantaneously and leaves no ashes, so there’s no need for a special
fireproof bowl, and no cleanup of messy ashes afterward. Nonetheless, it would still be helpful
to have a supply of water handy in the unlikely event that anything needs extinguishing.
To cast a flash-paper spell, you’ll probably want to have the associated colors in felt-tip
and candle handy. There are many, many tables of correspondences available that will provide
you with the various colors that are associated with a given intent (see pages 43, 266).
Although you may choose the candle and felt-tip of the same color, it might be more
effective to use two colors, emphasizing two different aspects of your intent. For example, if
you wanted to cast a healing spell, you may wish to use a green candle to represent healing,
but write upon the flash paper in red ink to represent strength and vitality.
Once you’ve chosen your colors and are set to cast the spell, light your candle, chanting
something to the effect of:
Here, I summon Fire’s light,
To aid me in my spell tonight!
Now, in the candlelight, write your intent in a clear, concise manner. This may be in
verse form, but flash paper pads generally give you pretty small pieces upon which to write,
so brevity may be very helpful here! Focusing on your intent, carefully place one corner of
the flash paper into the candle. As you do this, be prepared for a large flare as the paper
vanishes in a burst of flame. As it does so, call out something like:
I call upon the strength of Fire
To bring me that which I desire!
You should see some very vivid results rather quickly with this spell!