Horse Magick: Spells and Rituals for Self-Empowerment, Protection, and Prosperity - Lawren Leo 2020
The Winged Horse
The horse was the most important means of transportation until the invention of the automobile. As such, the horse was the springboard for the human imagination to journey into the unknown. In mythology, horses can be death-defying mounts for heroes and heroines, even vehicles for travel in the sky. Pegasus, whose name means “of the spring (or waters),” is the most well-known of the Immortal Horses, an elite group of equines that served the Greek gods. He and the pegasi (plural of “pegasus”) are distinguished by their wings.
Pegasus and the Pegasids
Pegasus came from the union of Poseidon and Medusa when the god took the form of a horse and ravished Medusa in Athena's temple. Outraged by this sacrilegious act, Athena focused her wrath on Medusa, whom she turned into a Gorgon with snakes for hair. Medusa was so frightful to behold that any who looked upon her were turned to stone. The Roman poet Ovid tells us that, when the mythic hero Perseus decapitated Medusa, Pegasus sprang forth fully formed from her neck, with blood spattered all over his mane.1 Poseidon was thus the father of the first winged horse! Athena tamed the stallion and gave him to the hero Bellerophon, who rode him to victory in battle against the monstrous Chimera. But Zeus had his eye on the winged horse and sent a gadfly to bite him as he carried Bellerophon in flight, causing the hero to fall. Pegasus journeyed without his rider to Mount Olympus, where he became Zeus' bearer of thunderbolts and lightning.
Pegasus is also closely associated with the nine Muses. On the day these fair-tressed, violet-eyed maidens in saffron robes began to sing in a competition, all nature was moved to the point that Mount Helikon, where they resided, started to rise heavenward. This posed a problem, however, for it threatened to cause the mountain to reach the height of the gods' residence on Mount Olympus. Poseidon sent Pegasus to put a stop to this. Pegasus halted the growth of the mountain with a strike of his hoof. This caused water to gush forth from the spot, creating Hippocrene (Horse's Fountain), which became a legendary source of inspiration. Tiny nymphs, the Pegasids, immediately took up residence there.
Some say that, when the Muses saw Pegasus arrive in all his splendor, they stopped their singing to rush and admire him. When they saw the fountain, however, they marveled at its beauty, and the waters there became forever intermingled with their legendary powers. They knelt to peer into its clear depths, and the distinctive violet color of their eyes reflected most strongly in it, imbuing the Pegasids, who rose to meet them, with that hue.
To show his gratitude, Zeus eventually honored Pegasus and transformed him into a permanent starry fixture in the night sky. Pegasus is the seventh largest constellation.2
SPELL FOR ASTRAL TRAVEL AND LUCID DREAMING
As a constellation fixed in the heavens, and as a winged horse admired by both Zeus and the Muses, Pegasus becomes the ideal archetype and totem to transport you into cosmic worlds. Use this spell as a petition for astral travel and lucid dreaming.
What you need:
A medium-sized bowl, water, nine Chinese star-anise pods, and a rainbow moonstone.
Instructions:
Place the rainbow moonstone in the bowl, cover it with the nine star-anise pods, and fill the bowl three-quarters full with fresh water. Recite this spell over it:
Pegasus, I call you forth with all my might;
Come visit me in my dreams tonight.
Fly me to that sacred place
Where all that's hidden shows its face.
Fill me with your astral light;
Gift me with your psychic sight.
Shake me, wake me in my dreams;
Fly me through the moon's bright beams.
When finished, place the bowl under your bed or on your nightstand.
Why did I choose rainbow moonstone, Chinese star-anise pods, and the number nine? Rainbow moonstone is famous for its ability to induce lucid dreams and astral travel, and open the mind's eye. By placing it next to you or under your bed, you are intentionally channeling its positive energies. Even after this spell is finished and you have successfully traveled through the astral realms or had a lucid dream, keeping the rainbow moonstone close to your bed will help develop these skills.
Star-anise pods are used to enhance psychic abilities. They also have a wonderful, penetrating fragrance.
The number nine is associated with the moon in the Practical Qabalah. The moon is associated with psychic ability, astral travel, and lucid dreaming.
SPELL FOR INSPIRATION
Water elementals in general can be helpful to those seeking insight or to awaken ideas, but the Pegasids in particular can help you find inspiration because of their connection to Pegasus's spring, enchanted by the nine Muses.
What you need:
One eight-ounce glass of fresh spring water and one tumbled amethyst.
Instructions:
On the night of a full moon, place the amethyst in a glass three-quarters full of room-temperature spring water. Put your left hand over the top of the water glass, then put your right hand over your left. Imagine the light of the full moon pouring down through your head, neck, throat, shoulders, arms, and hands, through your palms and into the water and amethyst. Recite the spell three, six, or nine times:
Drink from us our water wise
Charmed by nine pairs of violet eyes.
Grow wings, no rules, all paths explore;
Now change the earth forevermore.
Oh! Inspiration my soul can now use
By the powers of every immortal Muse.
Let the water sit for no longer than sixty minutes. Remove the amethyst and drink the water. Imagine your spirit being charmed by Pegasids, whom the nine Muses charmed with their violet eyes. Let them bring you inspiration, ingenious ideas, and magickal enlightenment. Be sure to sleep with a pen and paper next to your bed. They will come to you in your dreams.
Why did I choose an amethyst? Amethysts naturally occur in hues of purple and violet, the color of the Muses' eyes. They are also associated with insight and can help foster a relationship with them.
Why did I choose the night of the full moon? To escape moon-flux and draw down the most powerful lunar energy into the water and amethyst mixture. Besides, Pegasids tend to love the full moon.
Why did I choose fresh spring water at room temperature? Spring water, for obvious reasons: to replicate water from the original spring, Hippocrene. Water is easier to drink at room temperature and passes through the system more quickly. It is also less jarring than if you were to drink it cold, allowing your mind to enter a relaxed state more easily.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Primary sources
Ovid. Fasti, 2nd ed., trans. James G. Frazer, rev. G. P. Goold (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931).
NOTES
1 Ovid, Fasti, 3. 449.
2 Condos, pp. 151—155.