AUTUMN EQUINOX - 2004
What more can we say about witchcraft, with so many hundreds of thousands of words alredy in print on the subject, so much knowledge available? I ask this question, from time to time. Today, my wise familiar answers me, like this.
"We dont really need many more words about magic. We need words that are magical. Spells that restore harmony in countless ways, by banishing what is ill or invoking what makes well. Spells are most needed for the wholeness of the world. For a rejoining of the separate threads in the cloth of the world's existance. Gashes have been made in it- like those in the ozone layer. Threads have been broken, such as those connecting an animal or a plant species with a locality or with each other. Stains have been placed in it by toxic waste.
Before this cloth disintegrates, sing to it, to mend it. Sing something like this.
SPELL
Let the cloth of life be mended.
Let the thread be linked again,
restored, cleansed - the forests growing,
native plants in field and fen.
Let the cloth of life, in beauty,
be restored by will to be.
People with the plants and creatures,
tending earth and sky and sea."
Many magical rites could be based on this type of simple spell, including things like the ritual washing and mending of a piece of torn cloth or else by knitting or weaving a new one. Or by the use of cords, which are knotted or plaited to cast a spell. (This is a traditional practise, amongst witches.) The spell can also be cast by just chanting it, nine times. An offering could be made for the spells success, afterwards, such as the care of a garden or work for an environmental charity.
I feel thoroughly answered now, on the subject of words and witchcraft. We are harvesting a realisation, collectively, that it is our world that is endangered. Not certain species but all of it, ourselves as well. Anyones spell might be a crucial one, starting a chain of events that bring massive changes. So anyones tiny magical rhyme might be extremely important. We need magical words in huge quantities. And that means words with a magical purpose (never mind the literary value),
Bright Blessings,
Rae
P.S. I have an apology to make, to the many people who have responded to my offer of teaching/mentoring online. I'm truly sorry to have been misleading but I can,t do it, at present. This is because i am being strongly called to do a lot more magical healing work. I must, so the Fae have told me, do more of the actual work of a witch, rather than teach about it. I am also planning another book. What with this and my other commitments the plan to teach has had to be dropped. But I will continue to give talks and the occasional workshop.
NEWS
I will be giving a talk in Bath on 29th Oct at a 4day Goddess conference called THE DIVINE ANCESTRESS. Ffi contact Helen Moore 01761 432786 (6-8pm only)
On Sun Nov 7th, I will be speaking at two day WITCHFEST INTERNATIONAL, in Croydon. Tickets Fairfield Halls Box office tel.0208 688 9291 or visit www.witchfest.net
The new book SPELLCRAFT FOR HEDGE WITCHES by Rae Beth, illustrated by Poppy Palin, will be published by Robert Hale in Nov 2004. If you like it, good reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.uk would be really appreciated ! This is because there has been some badmouthing of a malicious kind with the last book and this can damage sales.
Thank you...