Gerina Dunwich - 27 Nov

Candlelight
Spells

The Modern Witchs Book
of Spellcasting, Feasting
and Healing

by Gerina Dunwich

A Citadel Press Book
Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.

Originally published by Carol Publishing Group.

Copyright 1988 by Gerina Dunwich

CITADEL PRESS BOOKS are published by

CITADEL PRESS and the Citadel logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

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To my Gemini love, Al Jackter, for always being there when I needed a friend. And with loving gratitude to my stubborn Taurus mother for all of her love, encouragement and spiritual support.

Candlelight
Spells

INTRODUCTION:

Witchcraft is the Old Religion. It is the Craft of the Wise; a prospering nature-oriented religion that explores the hidden powers in woman and man. Sexual equality, ecology, the belief in reincarnation, love, attunement and magick are all part of the Old Religion, and despite a frightening and gruesome history of persecution, bloodshed and misunderstanding, it has survived for over 20 thousand years.

Witchcraft in England was made an illegal offense in the year 1541, and in 1604, a law decreeing capital punishment for witches was adopted. 40 years later, the 13 colonies in America also made death the penalty for the crime of witchcraft. By the late 17th century, the loyal followers of the Old Religion were in hiding and witchcraft had turned into a secret underground religion after an estimated one million persons had been put to death in Europe and more than 30 condemned at Salem, Massachusetts, in the name of Christianity.

Although the infamous Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 are the most memorable and well-documented ones in the history of America, the first hanging of a witch in New England actually took place in Connecticut in 1647, 45 years before the Salem witch hysteria. Other pre-Salem executions occurred in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1662.

The most popular method of witch extermination in New England was the gallows. In Europe, it was burning. Other methods included pressing to death, drowning and fatal torture.

For 260 years following the last witch execution, the followers of the Old Religion kept their practices hidden behind the shadows of secrecy, and not until after the laws against witchcraft in England were finally repealed in 1951 did witches officially come out of the closet.

Witches today seek to live in harmony with nature and practice their ancient rites to attune themselves with the natural rhythms of life forces marked by the lunar cycle and the seasons. Witches do not accept the concept of innate sin or absolute evil, and they do not worship the Devil as defined by the Christian tradition.

Unfortunately, many people who are not familiar with the actual practices and philosophy of witchcraft are led to believe that witches are Devil-worshippers. This is a terrible misconception that stems from centuries of church propaganda, fear and ignorance of the unknown.

The fact of the matter is that witches do not worship, receive their powers from, sign pacts with, or sell their souls to Satan, as many people wrongly assume. Actually, witches do not even believe in the existence of the Devil. They never have!

Satan is an invention of the Christian Church and never existed prior to the New Testament. Witchcraft is a pre-Christian religion existing long before the Church or its concept of Satan, who was never worshipped as a deity of the Old Religion. The Devil is a part of the Christian tradition, not the religion of the witches.

There are two main deities honored and worshipped in the rites of the Old Religion: the Mother Goddess of Fertility and the Horned God. Their names vary from one Wiccan tradition to the next. Some traditions, such as the Gardnerians, use different deity names in both their higher and lower degrees.

The Goddess is the female principle and represents fertility and rebirth. The moon is her symbol and she is often depicted as having three faces, each representing a different lunar phase. She is the Virgin (or the Warrior Maid), the Mother and the Wise Cronethe new moon, the full moon and the waning moon.

The Goddess possesses many different names. She is often called Diana, Cerridwen, Freya, Isis, Ishtar, Kali, the Lady or any other name that a witch feels responds to her or his own mythopoeic vision.

In a coven, the Goddess is represented by the High Priestess and is usually worshipped in the spring and summer months as she symbolizes the fertility of the earth in the growing time. Some feminist Dianic covens worship the Goddess as their sole deity, but most worship both the Horned God and the Goddess.

The Horned God, represented as a hirsute bearded man having the hooves and horns of a goat, is a god of nature and the male counterpart to the image of the Goddess. In primitive times, he was worshipped as the Horned God of Hunting, but has since become known as the Horned God of Death and all that comes after.

Like the Goddess, the Horned God is also known by many different names. In some Wiccan traditions he is called Cerunnos, which is Latin for the Horned One. In others, he is known as Pan or Woden. The autumn and winter months are when the Horned God is usually worshipped as he symbolizes the dark half of the year.

The worship of the Mother Goddess of Fertility and the Horned God symbolizes the Wiccan belief that everything that exists in the universe is divided into female and male, negative and positive, light and darkness, life and deaththe balance of nature.

Eight festivals, or sabbats (four major and four lesser), are celebrated by witches each year. Contrary to the image of the witches sabbat that many imagine, it is not a time when witches gather together to perform magick, cast spells or concoct all sorts of weird potions. Magick is seldom, if ever, practiced at a sabbat.

The witches sabbat is a religious ceremony deriving from ancient Druid festivals celebrating the change of the seasons. It is a time of dancing, singing, feasting and honoring the Horned God and the Goddess of Fertility.

The four major sabbats are:

Candlemas: February 2nd

Beltane: May 1st

Lammas: August 1st

Samhain: October 31st

The four lesser sabbats are:

Vernal (Spring) Equinox Sabbat

Summer Solstice Sabbat

Autumnal Equinox Sabbat

Winter Solstice Sabbat (Yule)

Magick is a force that combines psychic energy with will to produce supernatural effects, cause change to occur in conformity and control events in nature. It increases the flow of divinity and can be used for constructive purposes as well as destructive. The actual power of the magick is the same in the practice of black magick as it is in white magick. The direction of evil or good is determined by the practitioner.

Witches use the old spelling of the word MAGICK with the K at the end. This is done to distinguish the magick practiced by witches from the magic of theatrical stage conjuring and sleight of hand.

Magick is a powerful tool. It is serious business and should never be taken lightly or abused. It is an important part of witchcraft, although secondary to the worship of the God and the Goddess.