So... We all know witches used to wear black. Well, a lot still do. For similar reasons. It collects energy nicely. It blends well with the trees and bushes in the dark. Its washable. If you have anyone with a burning desire to persecute chasing you... you can BLEND AWAY... Black is the mixture of all colors- including white- and thus makes a great conduit for any magick workings. Black is warm and comforting, and it has the feeling of being enfolded in the arms of Mother Night.
But in the interest of good PR, many witches have switched to wearing white ritual robes. White is clean, and white light is still touted as being very important to many pagans. White is seen as that beacon of magic in the anytime of day or night. Spirit Energy. Pure Energy, some say.
Then there's me. I did try to wear a ritual sweatshirt for a while. It was good, to start. It was warm soft cotton, undyed, and comfortable in the winter months. I needed the extra ceremony to help my mind calm and focus, and the extra layer to keep the chill in my home from distracting me. It smells heavenly now, too, after the bonfires (tiny, safe bonfires) and the sage smudges (don't go overboard with this-- but aren't they YUMMY smelling??) and the burning of bits of cinnamon and other spices in my tiny cauldron... (Be careful- powdered cinnamon makes lots of pretty jumping sparks when lit, and the oils in some of the other spices can be highly flammable.)
But I'm not so into the ritual sweater thing just now. I am still attached to my ritual scarf, however. And this seems to me a much more practical piece of ritual gear, being adaptable to all kinds of weather, from snow to high summer... unlike the long sleeve full-length robe. Mine is a calm dark blue with dark purple splotches on it, and a few silver threads running through its length. Just the thing for night magick and the Moon. Of any ritual wear, the most important aspect is that it needs to be made of natural material-- cotton or silk or wool or linen or something similar-- and it needs to be something that doesn't distract you from your craft, but rather helps focus your energies in your craft practices. That clarifies for you when you are entering a formal ritual and renewal, and when you are simply enjoying your connectivity with Mother Earth.
I was at a budget fabric store today, looking around. I found a really beautiful soft silver-grey rough silk. And I bought some. Not much, because even at a discount, it was pretty expensive... It made me feel like ritual and Spirit Magick was coming, just by looking at it. The hard part is that I really don't know how to incorporate it into my practice. It did remind me that you don't have to find a "Magick Store" or an expensive boutique with one-of-a-kind cotton robes and such to put together your ritual gear. Goddess knows most of my stuff didn't come from a place like that.
If you need or want ritual clothing for your Sacred Circle work, go to the discount fabric store, and buy 1/8 yard of a fabric that speaks Spirit to you. Colors have the meanings we give them, so if you are a Green Witch, and you find a spring green fabric with a leaf pattern that just feels right-- it is right. Hem the edges, and you have a ritual scarf. Add special beads or buttons that remind you of the mental state you want to be in when you meditate. Just sew them right on the ends of your ritual scarf, and you'll see them when you go to put it on or walk around your circle in casting. I have a bell with a sweet resonating tone that punctuates my ceremony. I think it was 25 cents at the local import store. These personal little do-dads can help you focus just as well as the flashy sixteen-of-a-kind robe you could have paid all that money for.
Get an old wooden mixing spoon out of your kitchen, and add it to your altar. Use it to mix concoctions-- real or magickal-- use it to direct your Spirit Energy in the circle or as a focus for your home/hearth abundance meditations. Free altar object. Right there. Buy some inexpensive tea light candles for your ritual candles (but try to get good quality ones just the same-- they don't have to cost more, and you don't want lead smoke drifting up through your clean energy). Go to the thrift store or local Goodwill and pick up a couple of canning jars to contain them. You can leave them burning, which is nice (if you put them in a safe candle container, and watch them closely) as they go out on their own after about 4 hours. Very tidy. Easy to add a drop of scented oil or a sprinkle of kitchen herbs to the melting wax, too. And the flame is the same as the one that might come from an expensive hand-rolled pure bees wax 18" pillar candle or what-have-you.
Get a bit of muslin at the fabric store while you are there-- 1/2 a yard costs less than $4. Buy a silver crafts pen for about $2.50 and make your own altar cloth with any and all symbols that have meaning for YOUR RITUAL WORK... easier and more personal-- and more natural-- than many of the star-and-moon nylon altar cloths you can buy online-- and you don't have to pay for shipping...Take a walk in the part or the edge of the woods with a friend. Grab a fallen tree branch-- a small one, maybe 10-15 inches-- that feels good in your hand. Use it for your ritual dagger work. It has already got good energy in it from the tree and the wind and the rain and sun... you'll add your own Spirit energy to it as you use it over and over in the Circle. Not so much with a $50 pewter wand or black-hilted dagger that needs your energy to have any life.
If you find an expensive gold-trimmed cape or other specialized ritual item and it speaks to you-- and you know it's in your budget-- go for it. Many of these things are made with love and given a little energy by their maker. The connection you have with the items you use is the important part, not the price tag or the origin of the item itself-- though for some, these are a part of their magick potential, too. So these are simply suggestions. Going bankrupt or buying ritual items on credit is not good joo-joo, so to speak. Appreciating what you have is a big part of connecting with what is.
And my grey silk? I think the black of the night is as important as the white of the moon that shines in it-- and so for me, that soft ethereal grey is a Spirit-Point. I'm not sure what it will become yet, so I'm holding on to it until I figure that part out. Maybe it isn't even FOR me. Maybe it's a gift I get to give to someone else down the road. That's the fun part about the journey. There's always something new to learn or figure out or share with someone you enjoy.
Blessings Be.
Saphoro
This is a personal journey, describing the books I've read, how I find them, what resonates for me, my directions, what I've realized. Good stories, good people, good energy. Great Goddess, what is it NOT?
Energy
Coming here recharges me. Where do you go to heal? As long as you know, I don't need to. Go there. Set aside time for YOUR HEALTH.
Likely Links
Corrections:
...And by the way, if you are a practicing Pagan or Wiccan, and I got something terribly wrong, or you want to share another version or another vision of something I wrote-- PLEASE let me know which it is, and give me the info in a comment on the related blog entry! I'll post it as quickly as possible. After all-- until I gain a free-flowing connection with Universal Knowledge, I have only my own to draw from.
Witch Word Was It?
- Yuletide/Winter Solstice: Dec 20-23; Holy night of rebirth and turning toward the light-- the longest night of the year is when we may first welcome the return of the light. Very much a Christmas Celebration.
- Widdershins: Counterclockwise. Also means "to go backwards." Used to disconnect, banish, reverse, etc.
- Wiccan: of or pertaining to the practice of Wicca-- the modern inerpretation of Witchcraft (which also exists as a seperate practice); The Good Witches
- Tripple Goddess: Most Wiccans/Witches view the Goddess as the Moon, and celebrate her three aspects: Full Moon (Mother), Waxing-- getting bigger--Moon (Maiden), Waning-- getting smaller and the darkness of no moon-- Moon (Crone).
- Tools: Well, with Christian religions, many people wear a cross on a necklace, or hang a likeness of Jesus on the cross on their wall. They might finger rosary beads or light a candle to add power to a prayer or blessing. Well, in Wicca, we have tools and symbols, too. Ours are just anywhere from 2,000 to 8,000 years older than theirs. We have our altars to help us focus on the Great One they represent, and our sacred stones to finger while we meditate or conteplate the Goddess. We light candles to add power to our spells or blessings. We hang brooms and dried herbs on our walls to signify our connection with the Earth or to help us meditate on our own personal version of Abundant Living. We have sacred cups to drink holy water from, and we ritually cleanse and consecrate our sacred tools, too. But it is a totally different energy and purpose we invoke. It is not about some far off GOD, it is about ourselves and our Will and our Goddess.
- Spring Equinox/Eostara: March 20-23; Time of balance, when the light and dark visit in equal measure and the Earth swells with new life. Symbols (prior to the invention of easter) are Egg and Hare-- fertility and new life-- as the world is reborn.
- Skyclad: Means Naked. Some of the more "traditional" forms of Pagan worship require you to go naked. But only some.
- Sacred Circle: it is the temple in which a wiccan worships-- but it is a temple of Energy and Spirit, and we create it and dismantle it each time we go to worship or meditate. It is to help us focus our energy and our magick, and to provide a safe space in which to be and do.
- Sabbat: Wiccan/Pagan holyday, of which there are eight each year.
- Ritual: any activity you plan in advance, or do in a Sacred Circle, to aid connection with Spirit. In Pagan and Wiccan belief systems, this usually includes dancing, singing, lighting candles, and calling on the four or five elements. No sacrificing a cat at midnight. We hold life to be sacred-- as a part of the inevitable cycle of birth, growth, death, decay, and regeneration.
- Pentacle: the five-point star, point-up, inside a circle. This is the traditional witch's symbol, a symbol of power and protection, and representative of the five elements and the sacred circle (and sometimes the Moon).
- Pagan: Usually an Earth-Centered Religion, the word once refered to people living on the outskirts of villages-- people who lived on the land, so to speak.
- Night of the Witches/Beltane: May 1; as is the Mayday tradition, this is a festival of passion, complete with winding round the maypole, frolicking in fields and forest... the night of the Great Rite, and one of the most important Wiccan Holydays.
- NeoPagan: The modern interpretation and recreation of ancient Pagan religions; the label we often use to encompass Wicca, Witchcraft, Fairie, COG, Native American Spiritualities, Native Alaskan, Native etc, Shamanic, Druidic, etc
- Midsummer/Summer Solstice/Litha: June 20-23; the longest day of the year, and thus the day the year begins to wane (to grow shorter and darker). A festival of growth, high magick, and change.
- Lammastide/Lughnasadh: August 1st; First of the three harvest festivals. This marks the end of summer and the first harvest of the grain. We give thanks for the bounty of the harvest, and begin preparations for winter.
- Esbat: monthly coven meetings.
- Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. These have many representations, and I've seen three different versions of which direction is which element. Because the books I most respect to date all agree, I work with North as Earth, East as Air, South as Fire, and West as Water.
- Deosil: Clockwise-- often used to describe the direction of walking to cast a Circle, calling on the Elements (N-E-S-W-N), or stirring a concoction. It is the direction of connection and embodyment, of manifesting that which you are meditating upon.
- Coven: a group of Witches or Wiccans who practice their Spiritual Celebrations and rituals together. A group of really close friends who share their spiritual journey.
- Candlemass/Imbolic: Feb 2; Feast of Lights. This marks the return of Spring. It is a time of cleansing, purification, and preparation for the abundance to come in the new year.
- Autumnal Equinox/Mabon/Harvest Home: Sept. 20-23; Night and day are again equally balanced. Rest, feast, rejoice and give thanks for the second harvest festival of the year.
- Aspects: While most of us believe there is only one Goddess, we use her many names to describe an aspect of the Goddess that we most want to connect with or draw energy from. One aspect might be Hestia-- the Greek Goddess of Hearth and Home. One might be Kali, the forceful protectrice from India. One might be Brigid-- the tripple Goddess from Irish Celtic lore. And so on.
- All Hallow's Eve/Samain: October 31; The third harvest festival, and the last day of the Witche's year. A time to honor departed ones and play host to Spirits. In this aspect of the year, the Goddess is the Crone, and the veil between worlds is thin. It is our oldest and most sacred Sabbat, as it honors death and life, the present and the past. Restore your soul and await rebirth at Yule.
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