The Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells - Judika Illes 2009

Fire Safety Spells
The Spells

Watch that candle! Keep an eye on that incense! There’s too much smoke coming from that cauldron! Magic spells are fraught with opportunities for fire disaster. Those who favor candle magic must always bear in mind that even rituals performed for the most spiritual reasons remain subject to all physical laws of Nature.

On the other hand, magic powers are also invoked to provide fire safety, usually, but not always as a method of prevention. Magical fire safety measures include invocations to saints and angels, magic books and squares, and the miracle-working protective capacities of great sex and menstrual blood.

Fire safety spells do not replace the urgent need for water or the fire department. Consider these spells as methods of enhancing other, more conventional, fire prevention measures, or perhaps keep them reserved for that absolute worst-case scenario when there is no help or water available but you’re not ready to give up hope.

Archangel Michael’s Department of Mystic Fire Safety

According to Jewish magic, the entire department of candle and other fire magic falls under the rule of Michael, Archangel of the Flaming Sword. Good thing, because he’s also the angel in charge of fire safety. If you work extensively with candles or if fire causes you particular concern, encourage Michael to lend his ever-vigilant eye.

If you like, place an image (statue or chromolithograph) of Michael near the main candle-burning area or the area you perceive as most vulnerable.

Call him with the aroma of frankincense and through his invocation:

Michael to the right of me,

Michael to the left of me

Michael above me

Michael below me

Michael within me

Michael all around me

Michael with your flaming sword of cobalt blue, protect me today!

[Add personal requests at the end]

Balm of Gilead Fire Prevention Incense

Balm soothes scorched skin; this incense allegedly prevents fire.

Steep balm of Gilead buds in red wine.

Let them dry out and burn them as incense.

Coat your finger or, if you have enough, your hands with the sticky residue. According to legend, this residue creates an aura of fire protection and fireproofing.

Rub it on your body or hair. If there is an object or area that you’re particularly concerned about, rub your hands over it.

Book of Raziel Fire Safety Amulet

According to legend, Michael was the adamant angel with the revolving fiery sword posted at the front gates of Eden to keep Adam and Eve out and prevent anyone else’s entry. Another angel proved more sympathetic. As Adam passed through the gates, the angel Raziel gave him the first book ever, a book of magic.

That first Book of Raziel was engraved on sapphire and allegedly now rests on the ocean floor. Luckily copies were made, although for centuries no two versions of the Book of Raziel were necessarily identical. The edition circulating today was first published in Amsterdam in 1701. It is a difficult, dense, dry work, hardly light reading, filled with astrology, amulets, and arcana. It may be the only book ever published with the expectation that buyers wouldn’t and couldn’t read it.

Far beyond the ken of even many scholarly readers, the Book of Raziel was sold as an amulet. The amulets depicted within may be removed and posted. However, the presence of the book in its entirety was believed to bring special benefit to the home, especially regarding fire safety: allegedly fire will not damage or harm a home containing the Book of Raziel.

For safety’s sake, keep the Book of Raziel out in the open, not tucked behind other books, to make sure the Fire Angels are well aware of its presence.

Although the book is believed powerful enough to provide protection without added input, if you are particularly concerned with fire safety, holding the book in your hands and charging it with your desire can only enhance its magic.

Larch Fire Prevention

Pieces of larch wood kept in the house allegedly prevent fires.

Menstrual Blood Stop the Fire Spell

Most fire safety spells target prevention but this one aims to stop the fire itself. Throw a menstrual-blood soaked rag onto the fire. If you keep pads soaking in a moon-pot, just toss the entire contents onto the flames.

Midsummer’s Ashes Fire Protection

Sprinkle ashes from the Midsummer’s bonfires on your roof and around your property to protect against fire.

Midsummer’s Fire Safety Spell

The following seven botanicals are known as “the herbs of Saint John”: hawkweed, mistletoe, mullein, orpine, vervain, wormwood, and, of course, Saint John’s Wort. Gather them either at midnight on Saint John’s Eve (Midsummer’s Eve) or at noon on Saint John’s Day. Dry them, and hang them within your home to magically protect against fire.

Perfect Balance Fire Safety Spell

According to general occult theory, specific Chinese yin-yang theory, as well as mathematics, providing something’s perfect balance, its perfect inverse, neutralizes it, canceling its effects. Water puts out fire. Fire is about as yang as you get, while water is maximum yin. Makes sense? Let’s take it a step further.

Fire is a destructive, consuming force leaving waste and void in its wake. What could possibly neutralize acts of destruction better than acts of creation?

Perhaps because the goal is constant vigilance, or maybe because the ancients realized that under the circumstances, with your house inflames, you might lack the immediate ability to perform this spell yourself, image magic is used.

Your first task is to obtain illustrations of men and women extremely happily engaged in sexual intercourse. These may be photographs or drawings. Now hang them on the wall. Traditionally, this is done in the kitchen but may be done wherever there is legitimate fear of fire.

Your own sexual preferences are irrelevant: this isn’t about what you like to look at or what you’d like to do. The image(s) must be of men and women and they must both appear equally happy. Any hint of bondage, domination, or sadomasochism will negate the spell. The goal is to display the perfect balance of yin and yang. With these elements so perfectly balanced, it’s believed impossible for fire, a yang power, to dominate.

Your grandmother refuses to believe that’s why you have that picture hanging in the kitchen? Trade a little bit of power for discretion. Post symbolic depictions of this balance: the yin-yang symbol, perhaps, or the six-pointed Star of David, or an entire collection of mortars and pestles.

Rainwater Mistletoe Spell

Wouldn’t it be convenient if torrential downpours could be magically harnessed to miraculously appear on cue whenever a fire needed extinguishing? This spell attempts to achieve that miracle.

Collect rainwater and let it chill in the refrigerator.

Place mistletoe in a white or blue bag.

Soak this bag in the rainwater.

Squeeze out excess moisture and hang the bag up in your home to dry. It will now serve as a protective amulet against fires.

Other amulets that allegedly prevent house fires include:

A resident happy, content tri-colored cat

An image or statue of Maneki Neko, the Beckoning Cat

Dried shed snakeskin hanging from the roof

Rooster Fire Protection

A picture of a little red rooster allegedly provides a home with magical protection against fire. Post the image in the kitchen or near the hearth.

Saint John’s Wort Fireproof Spell

Burn Saint John’s Wort in an iron cauldron. Carry it through the home so that the smoke permeates all corners, to serve as magical fireproofing.

Saint John’s Wort Fire Safety Spell

Gather Saint John’s Wort on Midsummer’s Eve and dry the plant. Place within a glass jar or bottle kept near a window to protect against fire.

Saint Florian’s Invocation Spell

Saint Florian is the patron of firefighters. It’s his job to guard them, protect them, and bring them home safely. If you’re a firefighter, request his assistance.

Saint Florian is a spiritual firefighter himself. His invocation spell signals your request that he protect your home or property from fire. His annual feast is on May 4th, an excellent opportunity for petition. However, his ritual may be initiated, repeated, and reinforced at any time during the year. Given the choice, the best day to petition Saint Florian is a Sunday.

Find an image of a burning house or building.

Burn a red candle in front of it and speak to Saint Florian.

Saint Florian may also be invoked during any crisis for emergency aid.

The SATOR square is the most ubiquitous of magic squares, and is a tool used in a variety of magic spells for all kinds of purposes, from physical healing of humans to removing hexes from cows, although fire safety is its most famous use.

SATOR has been found wherever the Roman legions traveled; it apparently traveled with them. No one knows exactly what it means. There is conjecture that it refers to the Mithraic rites so popular with Roman soldiers, although another school of thought considers it to be a Christian charm, the words being an anagram of Pater Noster. Either way, it is as follows:

For fire protection:

Write the magic square carefully on parchment, making sure that the letters line up neatly but that no letters touch.

Place it at the highest point within the home.

To put out a fire when there is no water:

Etch the magic square onto a wooden plate.

Throw it onto the fire.

Don’t laugh. In 1742, not that long ago, the state of Saxony ordered that plates bearing this formula be kept handy for firefighting. (There are also versions suggesting that the square be engraved on silver tablets for the same purpose, which, to the modern mind, may be less troubling than the thought of throwing wood onto a blazing fire one wants to put out.)

Stinging Nettle Fire Safety Spell

This spell doesn’t promise to extinguish a fire but, according to legend, it will minimize or prevent damage being done. Throw stinging nettles on the fire.

Yule Log Fire Prevention

Keep the remains of your Yule log in the home all year long to prevent fires.

Light the new log with the remains of the old one.

Once the new one exists, grind up the old ashes and sprinkle them around the perimeter of your home for extra protection.