Cottage Witchery (6 page)

sea salt:
(And here I thought it was the Witches who came up with this idea.) Setting small dishes of sea salt around the home is thought to absorb negativity and bad vibes. According to Feng Shui practices, it is best poured into small white china bowls and placed in the northeast and southwest corners of the home. Remember to keep your bowls of salt out of reach from pets and small children.

aquariums:
Fish bowls and aquariums are thought to encourage prosperity and to ward the home from bad luck and accidents, not to mention all the water energy they bring in to your life. Actually, watching fish swim around in an attractive aquarium is thought to help lower your blood pressure.

books:
Have books arranged in clear view as you enter your home to increase insight. Wow, there must be a million insightful Wiccans and
Pagans out there. Have you ever been to a magickal person's home that didn't have a ton of books everywhere?

mirrors:
Hang up a round mirror in your bedroom to draw more love, compassion, and understanding into your romantic relationships.

flowers:
Arranging fresh flowers in the bedroom, kitchen, and the study or your home office encourages good luck. (You know I like this idea!)

move twenty-seven objects:
Some Feng Shui experts advise that moving twenty-seven objects in your home that have not been moved in the past year will break up stagnant energy and help you to move forward with your goals and life.

Experiment with the magick of color and the power of positive energy in your home. It's fun to be magickally creative; plus, it works. If this seems too complicated for you, you can always hang up those wind chimes or a crystal sun catcher. Or you can tie a red ribbon to the inside front door—it's an old Feng Shui trick to bring about positive change and good luck.

A house is a machine for living in.

Charles Edouard Jeanneret

The Rooms Where We Live

The living or family room is most often the place where the family crashes. And to me “crashes” seems pretty darned appropriate. The family watches television or reads there. If someone is home sick they can usually be found ensconced on the couch, tucked in with blankets and riding out their cold or flu bug. In the evening, after the dishes are done, we head to the living room to flop on the sofa and unwind. We entertain there, display most of our seasonal decoration there, and this main room is the one that sees the most action, coming in second to the kitchen.

Being the most lived-in room in the house, the living/family room is also the most prone to corruption. Shoes, beverage cans, empty glasses, newspapers, magazines, and mail always seems to be found scattered across the furniture. The animals usually claim a favored chair and the kids are typically sprawled all over any available horizontal surface. There are days when I feel like I need a whip and a chair to wade my way through my living room. And, like every other mother on the planet, I am constantly after my family to “pick up their mess.”

With all of this day-to-day living going on in this particular room, you might imagine it difficult to turn this mundane area into a magickal room. But actually it's very simple. First things first: try to keep the room as picked up as possible. Yes, I am aware that this is the toughest part, which is why I told you about my family just a bit ago. I live in the real world too, just like you do.

Your next step is to set up an area or workspace for natural magick supplies or accessories. Actually, I think of these as little personal altars. But the word
altar
makes some folks nervous, so call this magickal work area whatever you wish. In the living room/ family room, consider choosing a place like the mantel, a wall shelf, or an end table. I would not recommend setting up on top of a television or stereo system. This is
natural
magick—let's keep it separate from the electrical energy. It could play havoc with your entertainment system. Remember that natural magick does generate power.

Also, if the thought of setting up a workspace in the living room just doesn't appeal to you, then set one up in your private space—the bedroom. Try using a nightstand or a small section on top of your dresser. How about one of those circular tables? Toss a colorful tablecloth over it and you're good to go. Maybe you can arrange some pretty celestial fabric over a TV tray and set up a portable workspace/altar there. Or use a shelf on the wall or the top of a bookshelf for something more permanent.

If you keep your magickal tools and objects as natural as possible, it merely looks like a clever arrangement of earthy, beautiful things to the casual observer. Add seasonal touches throughout the year—perhaps a small African violet in the spring, a potted fern in the summer, and so on.

At my friend Morgan's house, on the wall between her kitchen and family room, she has a small wicker shelf that is in a half circle shape. On that little shelf she tucks in a small crystal cluster and a feather. On the top shelf there is a diminutive decorative tealight candleholder in a celestial theme, a shell, and starfish. There she has all of her natural representations of the elements displayed, and she adds seasonal touches to it as the wheel of the year turns. At Lammas she had a tiny corn dolly; at Mabon, she added an apple. When our circle went to her house to celebrate the autumnal equinox, I gave her some miniature pumpkins from my garden and she tucked the littlest one up there as the holidays rolled into Samhain. At Yule, she adds sprigs of fresh holly and ivy. That little wall altar is absolutely charming.

Here are some more crafty ideas for creating magickal workspaces or altars for the rooms that we and our families live in.

The sum total of heaven and earth,
everything in nature, is thus won to use and purpose.

It becomes a temple and altar for the service of God.

Hildegard von Bingen

Natural Magick Altars

Create a small altar on your mantel or a shelf by adding a few subtle natural magick touches. Arrange a striking red candle into a holder and snuggle around its base smooth pebbles or sparkly crystal clusters. Scatter a few seashells within the stones to symbolize the element of water. Lastly, look for fallen feathers and tuck one or two into your display. As you light the candle, you have all four magickal elements represented and at work within your room. If you lay claim to a wall shelf, then add taper candles at either end. Between the candles arrange your chosen natural and elemental items in a casual and pleasing way.

You can always refer to the Feng Shui practices and add a representation of each of the five elements. Try adding a piece of lucky bamboo for the wood/tree element, a silver-edged round mirror to represent the element of metal, and a small glass dish of spring water and a square terra-cotta dish filled with topsoil for the water and earth/soil elements, respectively. For the fire element, light a tall white candle.

For a more Wiccan theme, you could arrange a piece of deer antler to represent the God, and to symbolize the Goddess you could slip a rose into a vase. Try driftwood or shells for your water element, and smooth, round pebbles for earth. To represent the air element you could add a glass dish of fragrant potpourri. For the element of fire you can either use the candles or work a piece of lava rock or a chunk of volcanic glass into your display.

Perhaps you have a favorite print or artwork to use for your God and Goddess representation. Go with what you find pleasing. On the mantel in my living room there is an altar. However, it's subtle enough that most folks don't have a clue as to its actual purpose. To them it's simply an interesting arrangement of items that changes from season to season. Typically what is up there permanently includes a framed picture of the triple goddess Brigid; a small piece of deer antler that my husband found while walking out in the woods, to represent the God; a tiny cauldron—just big enough to hold a tealight; and a trio of candles. At the moment there are smaller pumpkins, autumn oak leaves, and gourds arranged across the mantel, as it's just a month away from Samhain.

Bottom line, arrange things to suit your own tastes in whichever rooms appeal to you. Perhaps you would prefer all green plants and maybe a small statue of a faerie. Believe it or not, I have that on a shelf in my bathroom. And why not, I ask you? It's the place I take ritual baths and Goddess knows the family is always in there washing their faces, brushing teeth, or fixing their hair. Seems like a good place to me for a little enchantment.

What if you wish to display your wand, ritual cup, or pentacle? Go ahead. It's your working area, after all. No matter what style you choose, bold or discreet or somewhere in between, or what theme you decide to use, just be creative and look to the environment around you for ideas and inspiration.

Here's a thought: if you live in the Southwest, then you'd probably want to include things indigenous to your area, like a small potted cactus, a dried piece of sagebrush, or a few tumbling stones of turquoise arranged in a handmade basket. A pottery dish of desert sand and another filled with spring water would be awesome. Maybe you live along the coast and you'd enjoy having seashells and starfish arranged with bleached-out, twisted pieces of driftwood. Possibly you prefer a more cottagey look . . . a pair of hand- dipped tapers in wooden candlestick holders for fire; a place to safely burn your incense and a small salt- glazed pottery bowl full of water to honor that element; another dish full of salt to represent the earth. Perhaps a hanging cluster of fragrant herbs that are drying or a rustic handmade broom that sets nearby. Both the broom and the herbs could be used to represent the element of air. See? It's easy.

Setting up this small arrangement of natural representations for each of the elements helps to keep you connected to the earth. When you incorporate natural items such as flowers, crystals, plants, stones, shells, and other seasonal fresh items into your living space, this helps to link your magick back to the beauty and wonder of nature. By celebrating these natural tools and earthy supplies of magick we honor our magickal roots. The four elements can bring many magickal energies into our lives, such as stability, creativity, enthusiasm, and love. This simple act of creating a sacred workspace to perform your spells and to connect with deity helps to connect us to the earth magicks of the cunning men and wise women from many years before.

So, now that you've got this far, why not try out one of these natural magick charms to consecrate and bless your new natural magick workspace.

four elements consecration charm

Set up your altar and repeat the following charm three times:

Earth, air, fire, and water, now combine through time and space,

By the elements four I consecrate my working place,

Bless all magick I perform, empower the spells that I cast,

Create peace, harmony, and contentment that will surely last.

Close this charm with:

By all the powers of land and sea,

As I will this, then so shall it be.

five elements charm

If you prefer, try this Feng Shui-style elemental charm. Repeat three times; the closing line is already worked into this charm!

For some, there are five elements of magickal power,

Come metal, wood, fire, water, and earth, in this hour.

Positive energy will flow, and darkness does now flee,

Bless this Witch's home, with the power of positive chi.

His house was perfect, whether you liked food,
or sleep, or work, or storytelling, or singing,
or a pleasant mixture of them all.

J. R. R. Tolkien, the Hobbit