Judika Illes - Daily Magic: Spells and Rituals for Making the Whole Year Magical

For Carole Veronica Brigid Murray,

beloved friend and junko partner, gone too soon.

November 2, 1949January 9, 2018

Make use of time, let not advantage slip.

William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis

T IME IS EPHEMERAL . You cannot touch it, smell it, or taste it. Time is observed through its inexorable passage, through its familiar rhythms, and especially through the changes it brings. Time is all powerful. Time is ever present. Time does not stop or stand still, although, in moments of extreme pleasure or trauma, it may certainly feel as if it does. It is a crucial component of every magic spell, every act of divination, every spiritual ritual. Time cannot be commanded, but if we can recognize and work with its rhythmsif, to paraphrase that old saying, we are in the right place at the right time doing the right thingsthen our lives can be immeasurably enriched.

Every moment may be a magic moment, but not every moment is identical. Each day of the year is a portal of power, but its not always the same power. The days that are most special to me may not be the most special to you, and vice versa. That said, certain dates of the calendar year bear tremendous significance to masses of people. Some events cannot easily be rescheduled. Look at all the trouble, expense, and effort millions of people go through each year to arrive at a pilgrimage point on the right date. The entire concept of Black Friday holiday shopping rests on the premise that gifts must be given at a certain time. Entire economies rely on these expectations.

Let me give you two personal examples:

For several years in the early 1990s, I worked as a tarot card reader for a telephone psychic hotline. Without fail, February 15 was an exceptionally busy day with the phone ringing off the hook. Why? Because it was the day after Valentines Day, a day when marriage proposals are anticipated. When these proposals were not forthcoming, many felt compelled to call someone to help them reassess their relationships.

Why the big deal, you ask? What difference does the date make in terms of a proposal? Yet clearly, for many it does matter, and these reasons may be hard-wired. Valentines Day is no easily dismissed Hallmark holiday. Its date and those immediately surrounding it have been concerned with matters of romantic partnerships, marriage, and fertility for thousands of years, long before the emergence of greeting cards or Saint Valentine.

Likewise, when in 2012, Hurricane Sandy battered the east coast of the US at the tail end of October, many communities were obliged for safety reasons to cancel Halloween (or at least its public aspects). In many communities, like my own, the holiday was postponed and trick-or-treating rescheduled for a week or two later. Although most didnt bother, I did witness some sad children and parents trying to make the best of it but to little avail. Although an opportunity had been given to wear costumes and receive candy, it just wasnt the same. The magicthe Halloween feeling!very palpably wasnt there.

That warning on automobile sideview mirrors applies metaphorically to the calendar, too. Speaking for myself (but I suspect also for many others), time is always running away with me. For example, I may know I have an obligation scheduled for a specific dateI havent forgotten ithowever, I often think the date is farther away than it really is. Likewise, I intend in all good faith to mail birthday cards or create elaborate altars or cook special dishes for a specific holy day, but when I look at the calendar, I realize that Ive left myself very little time or, worse, that the day has come and gone.

We all have busy schedules. Our days are packed with obligations, responsibilities, and worries. How many times have we glanced at social media, only to discover that it is a beloved saints feast or the festival of a goddess, and we are woefully unprepared? Alternatively, we discover that it is the perfect day for a sorely needed magic spell, but because we didnt know until the last minute, we lack the supplies, and so an opportunity is lost. Too often we realize too late that we are missing wonderful opportunities for spellcasting and celebrations. This has only worsened with the advent of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic and the effects of social distancing and quarantine: more than ever, so many of usmyself includedfeel as if we have become totally untethered from time.

The year is filled with magical dates, if only we know when and how to celebrate them. Rather than feeling oppressed by time, lets savor it, and maximize the blessings and opportunities afforded by these days of power. In similar fashion to Earths renowned power places, these dates are power moments. Our lives can be improved, and we can take better control of our destinies, if we are aware of these dates and possess sufficient advance notice and guidance to create rituals and cast spells that tap into their inherent power, essentially riding the currents of time. Each day is an increment of power. You can tune into it and ride it, in the manner of surfers catching waves.

Originally, I began compiling and organizing the material in this book for my own personal use. I found that arranging spells and rituals in a calendar format made me more likely to keep track and actually perform them. Astrological calendars are published annually featuring information about eclipses, moon phases, and planetary retrogrades for the year ahead. For years Id buy one and try to add details to remind me of the magical power days that I wished to celebrate. I quickly learned that this wasnt a practical system for methere was never enough space, and my handwriting would become so cramped that months later even I was unable to decipher my instructions to myself.

I then progressed to the next step in this books evolution by creating my own calendars, filling notebooks with details of festivals, ancient and modern, creating what effectively became the love child of a day planner and a witchs Book of Shadows. In the process, I began taking note of the high quantities of e-mails and messages I received from readers of my previous books seeking similar information. Id post something on my Facebook page about Hekate Night or Saint Georges Eve or some other significant date, and within moments my mailboxes were flooded with questions about how best to celebrate, or honor a sacred being, or avail ourselves of a dates blessings, frequently too many to answer. Often the suggestions that I could make were very limited, because if you didnt already have the supplies, it was too late to obtain them. I realized that I was not the only one for whom a detailed, practical magical calendar would be beneficial.

What is a power day anyway? Is there a right time for magic? What is the right time for a spell? How important is time? Does it really matter when something occurs? Is there magic in the Western calendar?

Each and every day is a portal of energy and opportunity waiting to be grasped. The need to record, document, and organize time is primordial. Modern calendars are the result of an evolutionary process that began with marking time by the moon, sun, and stars and led to the construction of what are now called archaeo-astronomical structuresedifices carefully designed to be in alignment with specific celestial phenomena. Irelands Newgrange, an over 5,000-year-old passage tomb, is a prime example: above the entrance to the passage is an opening designed to be penetrated by light, specifically during the winter solstice and the days immediately surrounding it. Structures that similarly mark time in conjunction with celestial phenomena are found all over the globe, in places as far from each other as Cambodia, Mexico, and Egypt.