Natural Witchery (10 page)

Come earth, fire, water, and wind,

Not to break but only to mend.

Pull the four elements in line equal and true,

Bring harmony and balance to all that I do.

Next, take the copy of your elemental worksheet, and read over what you have discovered about yourself. Take a few more moments to meditate and consider all the personal work you have already done to bring the elements back into a harmonious, working balance.

When you feel ready, continue with these lines:

By the elements earth, air, fire, and water,

I will remove all blocks and reclaim my power.

Now, remove all doubt, negativity, and fear.

I ask that the path to my goals be gently cleared.

Allow the candle to burn in a safe place until it goes out on its own. Ground and center, and then close the ritual with the following lines:

By all the powers of land and sea,

As I do will it, so mote it be.

Now that you've started the process of pulling the elements into balance and removing any blocks, let's discuss ways to raise and work with your personal power.

While with an eye made quiet by the power
of harmony and the deep power of joy,
we see into the life of things.

William Wordsworth

Finding and Raising Power
the Natural Way

Ooh, I said the magick word, didn't I?
Power
. There's the ultimate goal that captures
people's
attention and makes us search and study like crazy to gain this elusive quality.

As we've seen, magickal power comes from the elements and the constantly changing energies of the moon, sun, and stars. It grows from nature, and springs from deep inside of you. Everyone's personal power is as distinctive as a fingerprint. We are not all like little witchy cookies cut out of the same mold. Honestly, power is a funny thing. You either carry it or you don't. Here's another big surprise: no one can give you power and you don't “take it” from someone else either. Power is naturally in everything, and it is everywhere. This energy is literally a force of nature. The trick is to identify it—and to coax it into working harmoniously with you (which we have been diligently working on in this chapter). So celebrate this, and be proud of your individuality! It is important to recognize that each of us will find our power and direct it in our own way.

Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head,
and Learning wiser grow without his books.

William Cowper

Lessons Learned

I have a story I'd like to share with you. I think it will help you to understand and to remember a few important magickal lessons. Also, it will probably make you chuckle. Many years ago when I attended an intermediate class on Wicca, the leaders of the class asked us all to get up and to demonstrate our circlecasting abilities, one by one. Now, if memory serves, this class topic was on circlecastings—so I was surprised the class started off with this magickal show-and-tell instead of a lecture.

I watched with interest as the other students took their turns. Everyone seemed to be casting their circles in a similar fashion, but that didn't surprise me. They had all just taken a Wicca 101 class together. Only myself and a man were the new students here. As my turn rolled around, I stood up, walked to the center of the room, and closed my eyes. I silently asked the elements to lend their power to mine and began turning in a slow clockwise circle, stopping at each quarter. As I made my way around the circle, I pointed my finger to the ground and visualized a blue circle of flame running along the ground, totally surrounding me. I finished up, centered, and opened my eyes to look at the teachers.

The teachers seemed miffed, and a few members of the class were staring at me like I'd suddenly grown two heads. Embarrassed, I fell back on my best defense: attitude. “What?” I demanded.

“That's a lot of power to just be tossing around.” One of the teachers looked at me like I'd committed a horrible crime.

“You told us to show you how we cast a circle,” I said carefully.

“What energy are you using?” the first teacher asked suspiciously.

“Well, basically, I am using my own, along with—” I began.

“No, no, no, dear.” The first teacher interrupted and proceeded to look down her nose. “You
never
use your own power, and where are your gestures?”

She hadn't picked anyone else's performance apart … so how come I was so lucky?

“My what?” I asked.

At this point, the second teacher let loose a deeply annoyed sigh, accompanied by an eye roll. “Your
gestures
. Your salutes at each quarter.”

Jeez, they didn't have to be so snotty about it. “I suppose I am just a gesture-free kind of Witch,” I shot back with a grin, thinking immediately of one hand gesture I'd love to show both these teachers.

The request had been to show them how each individual would cast a circle. And hey, my circlecasting always worked for me. Who were they to tell me I was “wrong”? It was a nasty surprise to get up, do my thing, and then get harshly critiqued in front of the rest of the group. Thoroughly embarrassed and offended, I sat down so the next victim—I mean student—could nervously take their turn.

As I sat back down, a fellow classmate, the only other new person, leaned over, put his hand on my arm, and whispered to me. “You did fine. I think you really surprised them. So, you're a natural Witch, right?” Laughing softly at my stunned expression, he patted my arm in support. “You just called on the elements in your head.” He made that last bit a statement.

Wow. How did he know that? “Yes, I asked them to lend their power to mine,” I admitted. Now I was very intrigued. He was in the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids … maybe his knowing was a Druid thing.

“Thought so.” He grinned at me. “I could feel them in the room. Girl, you raised the hair off my neck.”

When it was his turn, he also cast a circle silently and without any hand gestures. The difference between his circlecasting and mine was that he moved around with a sort of grace that reminded me of martial arts.

Well,
I thought to myself,
isn't that interesting how our techniques are so similar?
It was simply awesome to experience, and it was the first time I ever felt someone else's power radiate out in a room. Impressed, I looked at him with new eyes, as the importance of this discovery about personal magickal power hit me like a ton of bricks.

Raising magickal power has nothing to do with your magickal tradition, fancy words, or grandiose gestures. Power comes from within (the heart and mind), and it comes from without (the four elements, nature, and the sun, moon, and stars). Whatever witchy flair or positive personal spin you choose to put on this is perfectly fine.

The idea here is to focus on how you raise and direct power, and how you interact with the four natural elements and the magick. Everyone has the right to express themselves differently with magick. This is something I call “magick with personality.” So be yourself. That distinctiveness and individuality add something special and extraordinary to your magick.

Skill comes from practice.

Chinese proverb

Practice makes Perfect:
An Energy Ball Exercise to Raise Power
and to Focus Your Intuition

Here is an exercise that helps students learn to raise power, to sense it, and to practice moving energy around. This exercise will help you tune in to your intuition and psychic centers, and teach you how to focus your personal power. Plus this is also a great ice-breaker and a wonderful way to help a class, circle, or coven get to know each other better. For this exercise, you will need a partner, a pen, and some paper to take notes on.

First, you'll both need to ground and center yourselves. For this exercise, you and your partner should sit on the ground and face each other. Then focus your power at the solar plexus area (just under the rib cage and above the navel). Tighten up those muscles and envision a bright yellow ball of energy there. Now one person begins to build an energy ball by raising and shaping their personal power.

Start by briskly rubbing your hands together. As soon as you feel your palms grow warm, slowly begin to pull your hands apart a few inches. You will feel some resistance, as if you were pulling taffy. Shape and mold the energy into a ball. The approximate size of the energy ball will vary, but think tennis ball or softball size.

Your next step is to program the energy ball with something positive. Since you are passing this to another, it has to be positive and enjoyable. It would be spiteful to fill an energy ball full of stress or anger, so you need to promise that you won't build anything that you wouldn't like to receive yourself! Visualize what lovely thing you want the ball to become. Some simple and elemental suggestions are twirling green ivy leaves, gossamer and multicolored fluttering butterflies, cool, blue waves of water, or warm, dancing flames.

Try other themes from nature, too, such as red rose petals, yellow daisies, white clouds, shining stars in a nighttime sky, etc. Just pick an upbeat and fun image—even something as simple as swirling pink paper hearts would be fine—as long as it is a positive image you feel that you can load into the energy ball easily.

Now that it's loaded, pass it to your partner. Once they have it in their hands, turn away and write down a few keywords, then tuck the paper out of sight. Give your partner a few moments to sense it. When on the receiving end of an energy ball, keep these points in mind:

• Go with your first impressions—don't overthink the process.
  
• Close your eyes as you sense the energy ball. (That forces you to gather impressions through your psychic senses instead of your physical ones.)
  
• You may find it helpful to focus on your third eye area (center of the forehead or the solar plexus), where your intuitive centers rest.
  

At this point, the recipient has the option of passing the energy ball back, taking it inside themselves, or giving it/ grounding it back to the earth. If they pass it back, the builder may then ground it in the earth. If the recipient chooses to keep it, they should simply press their hands to their chest, absorbing the energy. Lastly, if they wish, they may turn their hands over and give it back to the earth.

Now the receiver tells the builder what their impressions were. The builder should take out their notes so they can compare what the other picked up on. Finally, both the builder and the receiver should ground and center. Then switch roles. The recipient becomes the builder, and vice versa.

Once you get things rolling, see what results you get from mixing things up. Keep the pace quick, and if you are working with a group, have everyone switch partners and begin the exercise again. I have noticed over the years that sometimes established couples do wonderfully together. They can be impressive to watch. Since they already have a bond of emotion, they can be very quick to catch on and tune in. And then sometimes they just butt heads. So keep people switching around and the atmosphere light. This is a fun and quick psychic exercise; it doesn't take long. It makes people laugh, learn to build power, sense energy, and trust their own intuitive abilities. Plus, it really gets the group in a great positive mood.