Cottage Witchery (9 page)

According to Ozark folklore, if a woman drops the dishrag on the floor, that is bad luck. This bad luck can be removed by throwing a pinch of salt over her shoulder. Some texts claim that you should bury the dishrag. Personally, I'd just throw it in the washing machine and bleach it. Empower the bleach to kill germs and to clean up any bad vibes, raging teenage hormones and melodramas, or negativity that might be hanging around the house.

In the old days it was thought that a “bad woman could not make good applesauce.” Sneezing before breakfast signals visitors before noon. Sneezing while eating breakfast is a sign that you'll have two visitors leaving before sunset. Oh, and if you sneeze on a Monday, you're sure to kiss a stranger before the week is out!

Spilling water on the tablecloth was supposed to signify rainstorms. Ditto for a coffeepot that boils over again and again. And should your kitchen apron come untied all by itself and fall to the floor while you're in the kitchen, your lover is believed to be entertaining some rather
intense
romantic thoughts about you.

All in all, the kitchen is a hotbed of magickal activity. It can be a charming room and a magickal workspace where enchantment, practicality, and everyday life go hand in hand. So live and work in this room with magickal intention. Dare to stir up your herbal and spicy spells with a special wooden spoon—go deosil (clockwise) to increase and to pull positive things into your life, and stir widdershins (counterclockwise) to remove obstacles and negativity. Work cottage witchery charms in the kitchen with conviction and magickal purpose. I'll bet that you'll create something magickal every day.

Take the information that was presented in this chapter and adapt it to suit your own magickal needs. And be yourself. Remember . . . magick is where you find it, and creativity is the key.

[contents]

Come, Vesta, to live in this beautiful home.

Come with your warm feelings of friendship.

Bring your intelligence, your energy, and your passion

to join with your good work. Burn always in my soul.

You are welcome here. I remember you.

—Homeric Hymn (translation by
Frances Bernstein)

4

Deities, Faeries, and Magick
of the Hearth Flame

The deities of the hearth are warm and inviting goddesses. These ladies symbolize the comforts, strengths, and loving magick of the home. The three goddesses that we will focus on here are traditional keepers of the hearth flame and the personification of the enchanting spirit of the magickal home.

Hestia and Vesta: The Sacred Flame

Hestia, or Vesta, was the Greco-Roman goddess of the hearth. Hestia was known as the “first of all divinities to be invoked.” Hestia was the oldest of her sisters, Demeter and Hera, but there are not a lot of mythological tales about Hestia as she was always tending the flame, whether it was in Olympus or the hearth fire of the ancient home. Hestia, called the “one of light,” was embodied by the flame—so there are few representations or images of this hearth-flame goddess. According to the ancient magician Pythagoras, the fire of Hestia's hearth was the center of the earth because she literally
was
the flame. Hestia represented the unity of family and state, hospitality, and the spiritual center of the home.

Vesta was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hestia. In Rome, Vesta's sacred flames were tended by the vestal virgins. The vestal virgins were thought to have served for thirty years, beginning their term in childhood. Afterwards, they were free to marry or remain within the ranks. The vestal virgins wielded quite a bit of political clout in their time. Should a condemned man happen to met a vestal virgin in the street, he was set free. The vestal virgins were protected and there were many dire consequences for accidentally injuring or harming a priestess of Vesta.

There is another school of thought that believes the vestal virgins may not have been “virgins” at all. They may have been a virgin in the sense of the word that they belonged to no one but themselves. They may have been free to choose their sexual partners at the temple. Lying with a priestess of Vesta may have been like being with the goddess herself. It wouldn't be the first time in history that men sought out the priestesses at the temples for sacred sex. It also may help to explain why the church was so eager to shut them down.

The goddess Vesta did have a couple of special days. One was March 2. This first festival was a day reserved for cleaning and purifying the temple and lighting a new ceremonial fire. Another festival called the Vestalia was celebrated on June 7. There were in later times a few images of Vesta found on Roman coins. Typically she was depicted as a veiled woman bearing a torch and a scepter. These vestal priestesses tended the eternal fire up until the sixth century, until the church acquired enough power to oust the priestesses of Vesta and remove their political and religious rights.

Hestia and Vesta were both significant goddesses, since in ancient times the hearth was a sacred place. Fire keeping, creating the food, and tending a home and family were among the most revered of tasks. As all of these activities centered around the hearth flame, Hestia and Vesta were an integral part of ancient home life. While Hestia may have been more of a quiet domestic-goddess type, she was still a revered one. Vesta's worship was more organized, political, and, some believe, sexual. Either way, they were both influential and powerful goddesses of their time. Symbols for Hestia and Vesta include the color red, the astrological symbol for the asteroid Vesta (
), burning candles, a cauldron, the fireplace hearth, and, of course, fire.

May the blessed sun shine upon you and warm your heart until it glows like a great peat fire—so that the stranger may come and warm himself, also a friend.

Irish Blessing

Brigid: The Bright One

The triple goddess Brigid is known by many names: Bride, Brigit, Brighid, and Brigitania. The Celtic pronunciation of her name is b
reed
. A popular goddess with Witches, Pagans, and Druids, she is occasionally referred to as the patroness of the bards, the “bright one,” the “bright arrow,” the Flame of Ireland, or the Triple Brigits. This titan-haired goddess of the flame and the hearth fire was important in the Celtic pantheon. Brigid was the daughter of the Dagda, and Celtic mythology claims that when she was born, a tower of flame rose from the crown of her head straight up into the heavens. The light was so bright it was thought that the cottage where she was born might be on fire.

The household fire was also sacred to Brigid, and she was often depicted as either holding flames within the palms of her hands or being surrounded by a fiery halo of light. Brigid is traditionally a goddess of smithcraft, poetry, and healing. And if you think about it for a moment, the traditional magickal aspects of this triple goddess are all related to the element of fire. A smith needs heat and flame to create his iron and steel. A poet calls on her inner fire for inspiration, and a healer works with the energy of fire for transformation to bring about a positive change and a healthier patient.

To keep things interesting, Brigid is also associated with sacred wells and springs. (Probably due in part to her association with healing.) Among the many qualities this goddess presides over are childbirth, fertility, arts and crafts, education, and psychic abilities. However, her position as a deity of the hearth is in the forefront. Similar to Vesta, Brigid also had priestesses (some say nine, others insist nineteen) who tended her eternal flame in Kildare, Ireland.

Brigid's sacred day is the Sabbat of Imbolc celebrated on February 1 or 2, depending on the magickal tradition. Off the coast of Scotland, in the Hebrides Islands, there is a festival for Brigid called Lá Fheill Brighid. On this day the female head of the house chants over and blesses an image of the goddess Brigid. The dolly is typically made of straw or corn husks and is dressed in maiden white. A crystal is placed over the dolly's heart and she is placed in a cradle-style basket. This annual ceremony invites the spirit of the goddess Brigid into the home and asks for her blessing for the coming year.

Imbolc is a major Sabbat in the Wiccan tradition and is also known as Candlemas. It marks the cross-quarter day and halfway point of winter and spring. Symbols for Brigid include snakes, swans, milk, purple spring crocus, the white snowdrop, a blacksmith forge, a cauldron, a four-spoke cross made from rushes (called a Brigid's cross), white stones, three intertwined circles, the number nine, and the triple goddess colors of white, red, and black.

a hearth goddess charm

To invoke the benevolence of the hearth goddesses and invite these deities into your home, try this candle charm. Even if you don't have a fireplace, you can still re-create a miniature hearth. Find a safe, flat surface to set up on and make your own magickal hearth area. Feel free to work this charm at any time throughout the year: at sunrise, the full moon, a new crescent moon, or at one of the major Sabbats. When you light this candle and say these words, you are calling in the goddesses to protect and watch over you. Basically you are welcoming these ladies into your life. See what sort of stability, warmth, and enchantment they bring to your days.

Gather these supplies:

* One red pillar candle

* A candleholder or small plate

* Nine white, small, smooth stones

* A pinch of salt

* A lighter or matches

Arrange the nine white stones around a red pillar candle and its holder. Dust the stones with a pinch of salt to consecrate them. Take a moment to visualize your miniature hearth. See it glowing with warmth, magick, and hospitality. Light the candle and repeat the following charm three times:

Goddesses of the home and the sacred hearth flame,

Brigid, Hestia, and Vesta, I call your names.

A candle for fire, a ring of stones becomes your hearth,

Bless us with warmth and security from this Witch's art.

Close the spell:

By all the powers of the earth and fire,

This spell is sealed by my will and desire.

Allow the candle to burn for a few hours. When you are finished, snuff the candle and relight it whenever you feel the need to reconnect to the goddesses of the hearth and home.

I am of a little world made cunningly

of elements, and an angelic sprite.

John Donne

Household Faeries: The Brownies

Tell folks that you believe in the faeries, and that will get you some very strong reactions. Tell them you've seen the faeries and they'll wonder how to get you into therapy. Others will look at you with very wide eyes and make a condescending remark, or they think you're teasing them. Some people may believe you. Others may be comfortable with this thought because they imagine a stylized, popular culture's rendition of faeries and picture a type of romantic earthbound angel. I think that mindset comes from an old European legend that the Fae may be angels who were bound to the earth for not choosing sides during the big rebellion in heaven.

However, what we are speaking of here is the more classic folktale-type of elemental spirit. These characters are more earthy and elemental than romantic and imaginary. The faery realm is within our reach, it just takes a different level of sensitivity to experience it. For this type of natural magick you need an open mind, a loving heart, and a willingness to believe. Oh—and enough common sense to keep yourself out of trouble.

These faery or elemental energies are discernable, but you are much more likely to sense the faeries long before you ever catch a glimpse of them. Still, it doesn't hurt to have the lay of the land, so to speak, when it comes to common house faeries and elemental beings.

I once had a problem with the household spirits, or faeries—whichever term you prefer. I thought it would be fun to invite them in, just to see if it would really work. Okay, I admit it. I was a novice Witch, young and cocky. Boy, did it work. I landed myself a crash course in faery etiquette from that experience. Bottom line: know who you're inviting before you go and open up that magickal door into your home. And be prepared for the consequences. With the faery kingdom, there is no such thing as a free lunch.