Tag: Fire

The Fires of Beltane by Jason Mankey

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The first written reference to Beltane (spelled “Belltaine” in the text) dates from the year 900 CE and comes from the The Sanus Chormaic (also known as Cormac’s Glossary), an Irish glossary attributed to Cormac mac Cuilennain, an Irish King and Christian Bishop. In Cormac’s entry on Betane, he states taht the world Beltane means “lucky fire” and that the holiday was presided over by Druids. He also writes that the purpose of the holiday was to safeguard cattle, and that livestock were run between two fires to protect them from disease (Cormac 1868, 19).

By the year 900 CE, Ireland had been Christianized for several hundred years, so Cormac’s description of Beltane does not come from firsthand information. It’s likely that Druids presided over at least some Beltane celebrations amongst the Irish-Celts, but by the year 900, “Druid” was often used as a general term for a diviner or a user of magick, and because there were far more cattle than Druids during the days of the Irish-Celts, it’s likely that a wide-ranging group of people probably oversaw Beltane activities (Hutton 2009, 38-39). Anyone who was proficient with magick could have led the cattle through the Beltane fires.

Activities similar to the ones described by Cormac (minus the Druids) were a part of Irish celebrations of May Day well into the 19th century. There were slight variations of course, cattle may have been encouraged to jump over a (small) fire instead of running between two of them. But such activities share enough in common so suggest that there was most certainly a common origin point, an anceitn Pagan holiday celebrated near the first of May.

For many modern Witches, Beltane is a purely celebratory sabbat. With winter compeltely over and hte heat of high summer still a few months a way, the start of May is generally a very pleasant time (and it would have been the same in ancient Ireland). However, for epopel who relied on the cattle they raised for sustenance, there were always things to worry about. Disease was a constant thread, but there less mundane concerns as well.

Even today, many people in Ireland and other parts of the world worry about the Fae (faery folk) and the havoc they might unleash on livestock. The Fae were thought to sour the milk of cows who belonged to humans they did not like and were capable of far worse if circumstances warranted it. Fear of the Fae was very real, and hte tricks they played on hymans were taken very seriously.

Farmers in 19th-century Scotalnd were especially scared of Witches rather than fairies! It was believed that on the night of May 2 large bands of Witches roamed across the Scottish countryside casting spells to sour the milk of cows and promote disease and other maladies amongst the livestock. According to folklorist Walter Gregor in his 1881 work Folklore of the North-East of Scotland, farmers kindled large fires on the night of May 2 that they called bone-fires to keep evil Witches away from cattle and corn (Gregor 1881, 167).

Despite the name “bone-fires,” the protective fires generally used substances like hay and straw for kindling. Instead of running their cattle over or between the bone-fires, the evening’s fires were taken out among the livestock and grain crops on poles or pitchforks held high overhead. Those without a pitchfork or pole stayed near hte fire and danced around it shouting: “Fire! blaze and burn the witches; fire! fire! burn the witches” (Hutton 1996, 222). If you have any neighbors today who engage in this activity, it’s probably best if you don’t invite them over for Beltane.

Gregor also writes that in certain areas large cakes of oat or barley were rolled through the ashes. After the cake and everything else in the fire had been burned up, the ashes were taken from the bone-fire and then scattered around the farm for protection. The scattering of the ashes were not done in silence either, Gregor says those doing the scattering did more screaming at the local witches, crying “Fire! burn the witches” (Hutton 1996, 219).

In the Scottish Highlands, farmers petitioned the Beltane fires directly to keep their livestock free from disease malicious magick and certain predatory animals. On the night of May 1, farmers would gather around a large fire and cook a simple meal. Once the meal was finsihed cooking, they would pour some of it onto the ground as a libation. From there, they would each diide up an oatcake into several smaller pieces and petition the fire to spare their cows, sheep, and horses,” or whatever other animals they were worried about (Pennant 1776, 111).

Once petitions had been made to the fire, the farmers would repeat the ceremony, but this time invoking the names of certain predatory creatures to leave their livestock and draft animals alone. Author Thomas Pennant in his A Tour in Scotland 1769 writes that the farmers would say things like “This I give to thee, O Fox! Spare thou my lamb.” He also recounts other animals the farmers were worried about such as crows and eagles. The night ended with celebratory drinking and the meal that had been cooked earlier. The remains of the dinner and the fire were then hidden by two of the rite’s participants (Pennant 1776, 111).

In addition to using fire for protective purposes, there is also some curious lore surrounding home fires near Beltane. It was considered bad luck to let anyone take the fire from one’s heart on the evening of April 30 through May 1. Those that stole fire from their neighbors over that period of time were believed to gain control over those neighbors. Since it was considered bad form to steal fire from someone on Beltane, those that did so were often labaled Witches (Hutton 1996, 220). Of course, we know that Witches have much better things to do on Beltane, whether that’s dancing around a maypole or sprinkling some ashes from a fire around our homes for protection.

References

Cormac. Cormac’s Glossary. Translated by John O’Donovan. Edited by Whitley Stokes. Calcutta: IrishArchaeological and Celtic Society, 1868.

Gregor, Walter. Notes on the Folk-lore of hte North-East of Scotland. London: Elliot Stock, 1881.

Hutton, Ronald. Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain. New Have, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.

Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of hte Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Pennant, Thomas. A Tour in Scotland 1769. 4th ed. London: Benjamin White, Publisher, 1776.

Resources

Llewellyn’s 2022 Sabbats Almanac: Samhain 2021 to Mabon 2022

Pumpkins

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Samhain: Pumpkins & Jack-o’-Lanterns by Jason Mankey

Despite our society’s obsession with pumpkins, most people know very little about them. Scientists will tell you that a “pumpkin” isn’t even really a thing; what we call pumpkins today are just several different varieties of winter squash. And despite often being thoguht of as vegetables, squashes are fruit. Technically a pumpkin is just a very large berry! Most of the “pumpkin pie” filling we consume each year comes from winter squashes that bear very little resemblacne to the orange pumpkins that sit on our porches in October.

Pumpkins are native to North America, more specifically the American South and Northeastern Mexico, and can now be found all over the world. People in Mexico began eating pumpkins nearly 7,000 years ago! Nearly every part of a pumpkin is edible, too; in addition to eating the lesh and seeds of a pumpkin, you can also eat the leaves.

Pumpkinsa nd other winter squashes are also part of the legendary “three sisters,” which have been a staple of Native American cooking for thousands of years. Beans, corn (maize), and pumpkins or squash were all grown together in garden plots. The maize acted as poles for the beans, while the broad leaves of the pumpkin plants kept the soil moist and helped to keep out unwanted bugs and other pests (pumpkin leaves are rather prickly!). When eaten together, beans, pumpkin and maize make for a very nutritionally complete meal.

Pumpkins are 90% water, maing them a low-fat and healthy food (though I’m not so sure about those pumpkin spice lattes!). Pumpkins are also an excellent source of vitamins and minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and vitamins B, C, A, and E. Pumpkin oil can also help lower cholesterol. In Mexico, among certain Native American tribes, it was believed that pumpkin seeds bestowed energy and endurance upon those who ate them.

While plain old pumpkins are justifiably popular in the autumn, the pumpkin as the jack-o’-lantern symbolizes the season of Samhain for many Witches. But the exact origins fo the jack-o’-lantern are difficult to pin down, and among historians there is a lot of disagreenent about just how the pumpkin jack-o’-lantern came into being. Many have pointed Ireland as hte most logical place for the jack-o’-lantern origins. According to that theory, the Irish originally carved out beets, turnips, and later potatoes and placed a small candle inside of them. The candle was to symbolize souls stuck in Catholic purgatory and perhaps offer those stuck there a way back home to their relatives.

On the surface, this theory has always made a lot of sense. In Ireland, first Samhain, and then later All Souls’ Night (the evening of November 1), have traditionally been associated with teh dead, and a acandle for souls stuc in purgatory has always felt appropriate. But for years there was very little evidence for hte turnip-o’-lantern. Surprisingly, descriptions of lanterns made from turnips or beets are mostly absent from folklore. (They are also quite difficult to carve!) However, a turnip lantern dating from the 19th century was recently found in Ireland, givine more credence to this particular interpretation.

The term jack-o’-lantern probably comes from the trickster figure “Jack” who shows up in a variety of British and Irish folktales. Jack was said to be such a naughty fellow that upon his death he was denied entrance into both heaven and hell. However, the devil took pity on Jack and threw an ember from the fires of hell toward Jack, which the trickster caught in a hllowed-out turnip. From then on Jack was cursed to wander the earth until the Christian Judgment Day. This version of Jack became known as Jack-o’-lantern (Jack of the Lantern) and sometimes Stingy Jack.

The frist recorded use of the term Jack-with the-Lantern is in the Oxford English Dictionary from 1663, and it next shows u pin 1704 in a reference “Jack of lanthorns” (Skal 2002, 31). Both early uses of Jack-with-Lanterns were in reference to a night watchman, though our modern pumpkin-derived jack-o’-lanterns are certainly similar to watchpersons. Jack with the Lantern was often blamed for a variety of strange lights in both the British Isles and North America. Generally, these lights were the result of swamp or bog gas that looked like ghosts of lantern light in the dead of night.

Many holidays over the centuries have been associated with petty vandalism and the playing of tricks or pranks, most notably All Hallows’ Eve and hte Yuletide season. By the early 1800s, the term jack-o’-lantern began to tbe associated with pranks, though not necessaarily pranks at Halloween, or any involving pumpkins. It’s possible that pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns came together in the 19th century as a result of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which was first published in 1819.

Halloween is never mentioned in Irving’s novella, but the public imagination has generally imagined the story as happening at the end of October. Jack-o’-lanterns aren’t mentioned either, but the Headless Horseman does throw his head at porr old Ichabod Crane. At the end of the tale, it’s revealed the Headless Horseman’s missile was most likely a pumpkin. When the scene plays out in the mind’s eye, it’s easy to imagine the Horseman’s head as a glowing pumpkin with human features, something very close to Jack’s old lantern. From there, it’s a quick jump to carved and lit up pumpkins being named jack-o’-lanterns.

No matter its origins, the jack-o’-lantern serves as hte nearly official symbol of the Samhain season. Glowing pumpkins gaze outward from porches in late October, scanning for trick-or-treaters, and pumpkin decorations haunt street corners and grocery stores. And for Witches, jack-o’-lanterns serve as a guidepost for the returning souls of our belived dead, inviting those we’ve lost to be with us once more. Whether we carve them, eat them, decorate them, or use them in ritual, the pumpkin is one of autumn’s most delightful gifts.

References

Morton, Ell. “Trunip Jack-o’-Lanterns Are the Rootf of All Evil.” Atlas Obscura. October 28, 2015. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/turnip-jack-o-lanterns-are-the-root-of-all-evil.

Skal, David, J. Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween. New York: Bloomsbury Books, 2002.

Resources

[1] Llewellyn’s 2022 Sabbats Almanac: Samhain 2021 to Mabon 2022

Simple Midsummer Protection Spell

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Ancient people all over Europe are known to have celebrated Midsummer. According to scholar Ronald Hutton, Midsummer (as well as Midwinter) celebrations were common throughout ancient Britain and almost certainly employed fire. There is evidence of “the making of sacred fires at the opening of summer at at its solstice, to bless and protect people and their livestock fro the dangers of the season” (Hutton 2013, loc 7698). Fire was used to purify with smok, and to provide protection. Use a red votive candle and carve it with protective symbols such as pentagrams. Imagine ancient tribes of people at Midsummer creating protective fires for their livestock and villages. You are connecting with your ancestors and all those who came before by utilizing the power of fire, even if you’re merely lighting a candle. The fire is symbolic. It is pure power. As you light thecandle, visulize the element of fire forming a protective shield around you that deflects all negative energy and harm of any kind. You can imagine a circle of fire, a series of fires in a ring around you, or a sphere of fire that encompasses you like a ball. Even though fire can destroy, in this case it’s warding all harm away from you. Say these words three times:

Fire is power, and it’s mine to wield; fire is power, and it is my shield.

Allow the candle to burn out. Anytime you need to evoke the protective shield, repeat the phrase and visualization.

Reference

Hutton, Ronald. Pagan Britain. Yale University Press: New Haven adn London. Kindle edition, 2013.

Despachos to Pachamama

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A despacho is an offering made to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and hte spirit guardians of the natural world. A shamanic practice originating from the indigenous Quechua people of Peru, it is a ritual artform that takes many shapes and styles within the tradition. There despachos for healing, despachos for acquiring love or wealth, and even some designed to assist the transition of a soul into death. The ceremony for creating a despacho is often a community event but can also be done individually. Though there are numerous despacho kits in the markets of Peru’s Sacred Valley, anyone can build a despacho with the items tahtey have at home or directly from nature.

Ultimately, the despacho is an artform, and you are free to grow and evolve your own method of practice. However, here is a list of traditional items that I recommend you begin with in order to establish a solid foundation for your ritual craft:

  • PIECE OF WHITE PAPER. Make sure it is large enough to do your owrk of laying out your offerings. The reason it is white is because sybolically the color white represents the Apus, the sacred mountain spirits who are the emissaries of Spirit in the Quechua worldview. It can also mean the connection to the higher worlds important to you, whether that be angels, star relatives, the gods, etc.
  • RED RIBBON, STRING or YARN. This will be for tying the despacho when it is complete. Red symbolically represents the blood of Pachamama, the source of all planetary life. It is the red (earth) and white (spirit or air) that are married together to represent the union of the above and below.
  • FLOWERS. A bountiful gift to the earth. Traditionally, red and white carnations or roses are used, but you can used all manner of floral arrangements that align with you. Who wouldn’t give flowers to their mother?
  • SUGAR, CANDIES, SPRINKLES, COOKIES. All these things represent the sweetness of life, the sweetness of Pachamama.
  • SEEDS OF ALL KINDS. To represent renewal and new growth.
  • INCENSE. Meant to assist in carrying the prayers of intention. Any manner of incense is suitable according to how it aligns to your intenions, though copal is most often used.
  • OTHER. Any number of other items can be used, depending upon what calls to you – spices, raisins, breads, glitter, cotton, coca or bay leaves, rice, cornmeal, tobacco, perfumes, or other herbs. The sky is the limit!

First, make sure you establish a clear itnention for your ceremony. It is sometimes helpful to write down a statement of intent. You could ask for healing for yourself, to assist another in need, or even just to express gratitude. Whatever it is, be clear and focused. Lay out the paper flat in your ritual space. If you bulid a despacho outside, be sure to anchor the paper form the wind. Arrange your items around the paper in a careful fashion, ensuring each offering is in view for other (if you are in a group), and that the ritual intention of each offering is clear.

Pace yourself throughout the duration of the ceremony. In Peru sometimes a despacho ceremony can take hours, maybe even a full day. The shamans operate the ceremony with the utmost reverence, as priestesses and priests of the earth. Move slowly and carefully as the priestess/priest that you are.

Now, according to your intention, you will spend some considerable time laying oute ritual ingredients on the paper. Use the petals from the flowers, the sugars, and other loose ingredients, all with the objectsive of creating a design on the paper that matches your end intention for the ceremony. When you create, align with the balance of universe, of the elements of hte natural world: earth, air, fire, and water. Build a mandala with your offerings, a geometric configuration representing the holism of the cosmos, the microcosm and macrocosm joining in harmony through your hands and onto the two-dimensional paper before you. Imagine the Buddhist monks creating their sand mandalas, magnificent diagrams of perfection that will inevitably be sweft away into the mysteries of the unknown. You are such a monk, a disciple of the Great Mystery, carefully and respectfully taking your time to build an astonishing design that is meditative, trance-like, and a gift to yourself and the invisible spirits who support you. Make the building of the despachio itself a meditation. Every action is a prayer. The key is to make beauty!

You do not have to use all the items gathered. Some practitioners have a stockpile of ritual items they use from ceremony to ceremony. You will end when it feels right to you, when the medicine feels right to be offered.

When complete, take a moment to reflect upon the magnificence of your creation and how it relates to your own life. Now, gently fold the paper of the despacho – with the offerings inside – into a bundle. Start with teh top third of the paper and fold down. Next, fold the bottom third up, then the left third, and finally the the right third, inserting the right side into the left like a sleeve. Tie the bundle with the string or yarn.

There are numerous ways to offer a despacho to the earth. It is perfectly acceptable to bury a despacho in the soil or to release it in flowing water, but one of hte more common ways of offering is through fire. Fire is an element for puring and releasing old things and allowing new things to have room for growth. Also, it can be a source for focus and creation. It was the discovery of fire that changed the trajectory of human destiny, allowing us the ability to bring light into the darkness. Fire is indeed essential to the human experience, for it is through fire that we witness the unification of hte psirit realm above and the earth below. The smoke of the offering will carry the prayers into the upper realms and throughout the land, a propitiation to the spirit guardians around us. The ashes will return to Pachamama to become new soil for growth and renewal.

When you have started your sacred fire, call forth the spirits through sacred sound makers such as drums or rattles. Praise their support for life through ecstatic dance and singing. Build up your own spiritual energy as the fire blazes. When you feel the timing is right, carefully use a tool is safely make a space within the coals for easy distribution of the despacho bundle. A common formation is situating the logs so that you are placing the despacho wihtin teh space of a U shape.

Before releasing the despacho in the fire, give everyone and yourself a final blessing by touching your brow (your third eye), your heart (the center of all being), and your stomach (for ritual feeding) as a way to receive a transition of medicine from your own creation. Traditionally, it is the youngest of hte group who brings the despacho to the fire, provided they are old enough to eb safe and assisted by an adult if necessary. When the bundle is offered, settle yourself into another state of meditation. All focus should be on the burning. The burning of a despacho is itself a practice of divination. Do you see things in the smoke, in the flames? Do you hear anything? What is the despacho saying to you? Do you see any shapes or faces in the embers that provide answers for the despacho’s purpose? The key is to have your mind open to all possibilities, to be like a child. Bring yourself back to your own childhood and what it was like watching a fire. Allow your imagination to run wild. Do not concern yourself with anything around you other than what the fire has to say to you.

The building and burning of a despacho is an ancient irtual that has evolved over time. Do not concern yourself with doubtful notions, such as “Am I doing this right?” Bottom line: it is a craft that represents a sacred communion between you and Pachamama. Nobody else can tell you how to develop that relationship. Create your own practice. Experiment. Utilize the fire as a purging of old ways and an inspirtation to create something new. Though fire in the modern world is often used as a tool of destruction, in ancient times it was utilized as a tool of creation. Be the creator you were meant to be. Through a regular practice of the despacho, you can estbalish a renewed trust and reciprocity with the natural world.

Spell to Break a Bond

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This spell is to be done when you wish to remove yourself from another person’s sphere of influence or cut energetic ties with them for any reason. This is best performed during the dark moon.

You will need:

  • Piece of hair belonging to the person in question
  • Piece of your own hair
  • Scissors
  • Bowl
  • Fireproof dish
  • Charcoal disk
  • Lighter
  • Dried bay leaves

Hold the two hairs together. Visualize the bond between yourself and the other perosn, which may be toxic and unhealthy. Allow yourself to feel the emotions this i nvokes, as you gaze at the entwined hair. You might feel sadness, anger, regret, or other unpleasant things while doing this. Now imagine your feelings are forming a mass of energy in front of your heart/chest area. This may look like a scribbled chaotic mess, a sad murky blob, or something else, depending on your relationship with the person and the nature of its discord. Visualize this mass of energy moving into the hairs.

Place the bowl in front of you. Using the scissors, cut the hairs into as many tiny pieces as you can, being sure to catch all the fragments in the bowl. If the hairs are too short for this, you can snip the scissors in the air around the hairs to symbolically cut what binds you.

Light the charcoal disk and put it in a fireproof dish. Carefully transfer hte hair pieces from the bowl onto the disk. As they hiss and burn, imagine the unhealthy ties that bind you together transforming into smoke and floating away.

Place a bay leaf on the charcoal disk. As it burns, allow the smoke to cleanse the area. Waft the smoke with your hand onto your face and body, feeling the purifying energy. You can burn as many bay leaves as you wish until you feel the spell is done.

You have now begun to free yourself from the unhealthy attachment. After a spell of this kind, there may be changes in your life, such as a breakup, a shift of circumstances, or some other upheaval. Keep in mind that in a truly toxic situation, thsi tupe of change is for the best.

Fire

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Fire is the most mysterious of all the elements. It seems almost supernatural in comparison to earth, air or water, which are states of matter while fire is energy. Fire magic is concerned with creativity, life energy, and zeal. Fire gives us vitality, igniting action, animation, and movement. It sparks courage and acts of bravery. It heats passion and enthusiasm. Fire is the power of inner sight and creative vision, directing it and controlling it to make it manifest in the world. Fire plants tend to have fiery sap or to taste hot, like ginger, or have warm perfumes, like carnation, clove, and cinnamon. [1]

Resources

[1] The Hearth Witch’s Compendium by Anna Franklin

Ash (Fraxinus spp.)

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Wands, protection, leaves for prophetic dreams, prosperity, study, health, enhances magic, made into besoms and stangs. Ash, oak and hawthorn grown or found together form what is called a Fairy Triad, where the fair folk may visit and maybe seen. Sprinkle ash leaves under the pillow to grant insight and prophetic dreams. [1]

The world tree, astral travel, all rites of passage, healing, protection, initiation, autumn equinox, Midsummer, Ostara, and Yule. Sacred to Ares, Athena, Cernunnos, Fates, Furies, Gwydion, Herne, Jupiter, Llyr, Mars, Minerva, Neptune, Norns, Odin, Poseidon, Thor, Uranus, Woden, Wyrd, Ymir, and Zeus. Ruled by the sun, the elements of water and fire, and the star sign Leo. [2]

Resources

[1] Green Witchcraft by Ann Moura

[2] The Hearth Witch’s Compendium by Anna Franklin