The Big Book of Practical Spells: Everyday Magic That Works - Judika Illes 2016

Magical Exercises
Psychic Enhancement Spells
Spells

Allow Earth to replenish and recharge your psychic skills. The best way to add to your energy is to go outside:

· Stand on Earth barefoot, close your eyes and visualize her healing, powerful energy flowing into you through the soles of your feet. Standing barefoot in living water—a lake or the ocean—also charges your magical batteries.

· Be aware of the phases of the moon. Go outside or glance out your window every evening: is it full, a crescent, waxing, waning? Women: which moon period coincides with your menstrual period? Everyone: what moon period were you born under? As the moon returns to that point, watch your emotional and psychic reactions.

· If you are close to the ocean, pay attention to tidal rhythms, which reflect lunar influence on Earth. Observe any parallels to your own power.

As you attune your body to Earth's rhythms, your personal psychic energy will be liberated to surge and soar.

SPIRIT SUMMONING

The Spirit Who Guards the Door Ellegba, or as he is sometimes affectionately known Papa Legba, is the Yoruba guardian of doors, roads and paths. Papa Legba decides who will enter which door and who must remain outside. In some traditions, you must appeal to Papa Legba to open the spiritual gateway before any other spirits are able to enter. If your spirit communications are not proceeding as smoothly as you like, appeal to Papa Legba for assistance. You may also appeal to him to keep bad news from your door. His sacred day is Monday. Bring him gifts of fine rum, sweets or coins (always in odd numbers: for instance, you might give him five or seven pennies or candies but not six). He likes a good cigar now and then as well, particularly when he's done you a favor.

Animal Allies

Horse ✵ Raven ✵ Snake

A Magic Garden to Welcome Kind Spirits: Choose all or a selection of these plants to provide a psychic welcome mat to your home: Amaranth, Angelica, Carnation, Dandelion, Dittany of Crete, Gardenia, Mugwort, Poppy, Rose, Saint John's Wort, Vervain, Wormwood

A Fairy Flower Garden: Although most people are familiar with fairies from Celtic tales, fairies are familiar creatures all over Earth, from the Slavic countries to Southeast Asia to the deserts of Arabia. The following are some of their favorites. Grow as many as you can, reasonably near to each other, to create a fairy bower that will welcome the wee folk and make them feel at home—Berry bushes, chamomile, Corsican mint, forget-me-nots, foxglove, hibiscus, hollyhocks, honeysuckle, lavender, lilac, milkweed, morning glories, pansies, peonies, primroses, rosemary, thyme, vincas, violets.

According to Romany legend, wherever stinging nettles proliferate, they're guarding entrances to Fairy Land's subterranean passageways. Grow some and find out.

· Fairies like deep tangles of berries, herbs and flowers.

· Any place where ash, hawthorn and oak trees grow close together is reputedly guaranteed to house a fairy domain.

· A source of water is always attractive and helpful to them. A pond or small waterfall is best but a birdbath works, too.

· Statues, witch balls, lanterns and birdhouses provide interior decoration.

Crystals attract fairies and stimulate plant growth, too. Make circles of clear quartz or strategically arrange larger crystal clusters near favorite plants or sources of water. Burn some fairy incense as a welcoming signal: equal parts dried hollyhock and rosemary.

A piece of iron, even a small bead, wards off any malevolent entities you may inadvertently summon.

Spirit Summoning Oil

2 drops essential oil of lavender

2 drops essential oil of sandalwood

· Blend the oils together. Anoint yourself behind the ears or dab on your wrists as perfume.

· Place in an aroma diffuser and allow the smell to fill the room.

· Dilute in 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil and use during massage or bath. (You can increase the quantity if needed, just be sure to maintain the proportions of essential oil to base oil.)

· Dilute the lavender oil alone within a spoonful of sandalwood paste (available where goods from India are sold) and rub into your hair or skin.

Incense is a traditional and powerful vehicle for summoning spirits.

Awaken the Spirits Incense

Dried carnation blossoms

Dittany of Crete

Gardenia petals

Dried mugwort

Frankincense resin

Pulverize equal parts of the substances. If the finished product is dry, leave it loose. If it's sticky and pasty, roll it into pea-size balls. Burn.

Divine spiritual entities are usually friendlier and more receptive to petitions than the spirits of dearly departed humans, with the exception of personal ancestors. You can call your immediate family any time, but it's generally considered more favorable to allow the spirits to approach first or at least to wait for times when they are likely to be receptive, especially the period beginning from the first Friday in October until November 2nd, the Day of the Dead. Waking up a spirit is a little like waking a very sound sleeper. Spirits have been known to be grouchy when disturbed. If you really need communication, keep a dish of honey on hand to soothe any bad moods.

Séance Incense

Frankincense resin

Sandalwood powder

A traditional fragrance favored by Spiritualists; mash the two components together in a mortar and pestle and burn.

Calling Up the Dead Incense

Traditionally, this incense is burned in the cemetery to request a visitation.

Dried amaranth flowers

Dittany of Crete

Wormwood

Burn equal parts of the dried herbs. Dittany of Crete may also be used alone: the image of the deceased is reputed to appear in the smoke just above the flame. Keep an eye out for it.

A circular bay leaf wreath attracts positive spirits and wards off malicious ones. Bunches of bay leaves hung up around the house are rumored to pacify poltergeists!

Personal Oracle Bath Ritual

Once upon a time, people traveled to remote mountain and jungle shrines to request aid from gifted oracles and prophets. Perhaps you wish you could do this today; perhaps you have a dilemma that demands a psychic solution. Venture into your bathroom and discover the prophet within yourself. This ritual has two components: the first involves incense, the burning of herbs, while the second calls for a scented bath.

Dried oracle sage

Dried white sage*

Dried yerba santa

1 tablespoon gardenia-infused water or oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Grind equal parts of the dried herbs in a mortar and pestle or crumble them between your palms. (The quantity depends upon the size of your bathroom: you need just enough to get the room a little smoky; any more than that is unnecessary. Unless your bathroom is huge, no more than 1 teaspoon of each herb should be used.)

2. Burn them in a closed bathroom (closed doors and windows). Fill the room with smoke before taking your bath.

3. When the incense has almost burned down, run the bath and add the vanilla extract and gardenia infusion.

4. Ventilate the room prior to entering the bath.

5. Enter the water, relax, luxuriate, breathe deeply and focus upon what you need to know.

* Angelica root may also be found under its Chinese name, dong quai root.

** A small power drill may be necessary to drill holes into nutmeg, although some claim that they are able to puncture the hard shell with a needle. If you're having trouble, just omit this one ingredient.

* Celery seed and bay laurel oils are contraindicated during pregnancy; omit and double the quantity of the chamomile oil. Even if you're not pregnant, bay oil is only safely used sporadically. If you find yourself taking this bath more than once a week, omit the bay and double the celery seed and chamomile.

* White sage is a rare and endangered plant. It grows rapidly from seed, however, You may be able to supply your own needs. (Check the Appendix for sources.) If not available, you may substitute garden or Mexican sage. No substitutes are possible for the other herbs, as their properties are unique. Yerba Santa provides spiritual protection and oracle sage, as its name suggests, is a divination tool. Some ethnobotanists believe that it is the legendary vision-inducing smoke used by the Aztecs. It is certainly used in that fashion by modern Mazatec Indians of Oaxaca. In certain quantities and within certain rituals, oracle sage, locally known as Santa Maria for its associations with the protective mother, produces mild psychotropic effects. Burned respectfully as incense, it opens your mind to psychic inspiration.