Bartlett - Spellcraft for a Magical Year: Rituals and Enchantments for Prosperity, Power, and Fortune

SARAH BARTLETT

FOR A MAGICAL YEAR

RITUALS AND ENCHANTMENTS FOR PROSPERITY, POWER, AND FORTUNE

W hen I was in my early twenties, I worked in London and would spend my lunch hours indulging in one of my favorite pastimes: browsing the dusty shelves of antiquarian bookshops. One warm day in June, my fingers ran across a thin, leather-bound volume with no title; inside, the frontispiece read, Invocations for the Summer Solstice. The twenty-four thick parchment pages revealed twelve magic spells to be performed for each hour of the day between dawn and dusk. One spell stood out for me, a spell to get back a lover. (Yes, Id recently been dumped.) I bought the book.

As the solstice was only four days away, I was tempted to try out the spell the next day. What did a few days difference matter? Yet scrawled in black ink in the back of the book were the words, Invoke the right power on the right day, and only then will you have your way. Impatient as I was to have a go at my chosen spell, I humbly waited for the twenty-first of June and the hour that was set for the spell3 p.m.

I followed the magic recipe, used the right ingredients, and believedoh, how I believed that my ex would come running back to me! But an hour or so after I had cast the spell, I felt disillusioned and thought it was just a silly game. Yet two weeks later, my ex phoned to say hed made a terrible mistake, and could we meet up? Two weeks after that he moved into my flat, and a year later we got married. In fact, that fragile book was not only the trigger for my new life direction as an astrologer practicing the magical arts, but it is the inspiration behind writing this spell book for you.

So why did the spell work? At first I thought it was just luck or chance. But as I began to work more and more with astrology and magic, I realized that the specific time when certain planets, the sun, and the moon were in certain places in the heavens was related to specific auspicious times to cast specific spells. I saw this written in ancient texts, from the ancient Egyptian magi to late Renaissance astrologers, who performed a certain spell at the right momentaccording to the position of the planets to draw on the power of the planets or godsto help them achieve their goals.

If we align ourselves with the cycles and rhythms of the universe, just as we instinctively do to night and day, we can also help to make magic happen in our lives and have some control over our own destiny. Most of us are awake during the day, and most of us go to sleep at night, based on our biorhythms. The sun and moon are, by correspondence, similarly associated with day and night. They also appear to have both a physical and supernatural influence upon us. It is these solar and lunar influences, plus planetary ones, that were the basis for many of the pagan and traditional festive dates throughout the year. These include days such as Wiccan Sabbats, equinoxes, and the summer and winter solstices, or days devoted to pagan deities such as the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the Hindu Gauri, or the Norse Frigga, who by virtue of their associations with the stars, were called upon for their beneficial influences.

We all want to lead a magical lifeone in which we are able to both shape and take responsibility for our destinies. This book reveals how, by simply casting spells that align with the cycles of nature and the universe, you too can begin to manifest your dreams.

We begin our magic by understanding how the natural world is aligned with the magical world, whether by correspondences, associated deities, herbs, colors, the four elements, or the heavenly bodies. The first chapter describes the use of important magic tools such as the wand, athame, and cauldron. There is also a practical explanation of how to cast a magic circle of protection and how to draw a pentagram. I have also included a unique list of secret symbols used in Renaissance magic. These talismans are used in some spells to draw on the power of specific energies.

The remaining chapters cover each month, from January to December, for any year. You can pick up the book at whatever time of year to find spells that will align you directly with the right day, so you can have your way.

Like me, you too can create magic in your life by working with the cycles of nature to help shape your own future. Go out and be united with the stars to help bring you the magical happiness you are seeking.

And finally, to every witch reading this book, let the light of the universe shine through you every day.

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, LIFE ON EARTH CAME INTO BEING SIMPLY BECAUSE OF OUR PROXIMITY TO THE SUN. AS THE CENTER OF OUR PLANETARY SYSTEM, THE SUNS SOURCE OF POWER HAS A DIRECT INFLUENCE ON BOTH THE WORLD AROUND US AND THE FORCE THAT PERMEATES ALL THINGS: MAGICAL POWER. IN FACT, ALL OF NATURE IS IMBUED WITH SOLAR ENERGY, WHICH IS WHY MOST OF THE MATERIALS USED FOR SPELL WORK INCLUDE CRYSTALS, PAPER, FLOWERS, HERBS, AND SO ON.

S till, it was only five hundred years ago that most of humanity believed the Earth was the center of the universe and the sun and planets revolved around it. In the sixteenth century, Polish astrologer Nicolaus Copernicus revived an ancient Greek theory that the Earth rotated daily on its axis and circled the sun. Yet even though astronomers such as Kepler and Galileo knew this theory to be true a century later, the Roman Catholic Church considered it heretical, and it wasnt until the middle of the eighteenth century that it was finally proved by science. All these astronomers, or rather astrologers, also believed that there was more to heaven and earth than imagined, a force that permeated and shaped the universe.

This magical force included an established system of correspondences rooted in ancient Egyptian and Greek magical texts, such as the Egyptian Papyrus of Ani (ca. 1250 BCE) and the so-called Greek Magical Papyria collection of fragments of parchment from Greco-Roman spell books and magical writings dating from the second century BCE. Correspondencesthat is, colors, deities, planets, talismans, plants, herbs, directions, animals, weather patterns, and so onwere all symbolic of one another. Whether sun, rain, earthquake, storm, or volcano, or even an abstract concept such as jealousy, each was identified with a presiding deity or spirit. These gods were associated with the planets, and their corresponding attributes were used in magic potions or worn as talismans to invoke their specific powers. For example, Venus is the closest planet to Earth, and it is associated with love, women, fertility, vanity, and beauty. To the ancients, Venus appeared as both the morning star and the evening star, so it was also thought at times to usher in the dawn, and at others the duskas ambivalent as the goddess Venus was thought to be. Going back even further, in Paleolithic times, plants and animals were used to heal, cure, or protect; the use of symbols carved into stone or in cave paintings called on spirits or the otherworld to aid in hunting or fertility, and the natural world and its cycles were respected and honored.