Wiccan Spell a Night

Each Esbat begins on the full moon and lasts until the next full moon. Technically, a moon cycle lasts 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds. Each Esbat has a magical name and innate qualities for making certain kinds of potions and spinning particular spells. For example, the Hare Moon is an especially fertile time, whereas the Snow Moon is the perfect time for freezing any negativity our of your life.



Begins on Night 1 of the Wolf Moon, the first full moon after the Winter Solstice (usually od December 21 or 22). If a full moon rises on December 24 in a given year, it would be first Esbat, called the Wolf Moon. The next full moon would be the Storm Moon, and the one after thad the Chaste Moon. The sequence of full moons and corresponding Esbats continues until the next Winter Solstice, when the cycle begins again. Sometimes there are twelve full moons in a year and sometimes there are thirteen. It depends where the full moon fall within the year.

Night 1 of each Esbat begins on the full moon with a High Moon ritual. The waning moon occurs from the full moon to the dark moon and is the time when the light of the moon lessens. The waning moon is a good time to do spells dealing with healing, banishment, divination, and shape shifting. The tenth night of each Esbat has a ritual bath, the fifteenth night a dark moon spell, and the 16th night a new moon spell. The time between the new moon and the next full moon is the waxing moon. This time is good for spells that focus on love, sex, and prosperity.

Because this book deals with spells that happen at night, it also often deals with magical techniques that utilize dreams. Instead of focusing on what your dreams mean, dream magic actively uses dreams as a means of moving your magical patterns forward. After all, dreams are the source of creativity. They are expressions of expariences that are seeking to become real. Step into the river of dreams and purposefully and actively use dreaming for making magic.

All magic begins with a strong intention and clear expectation of what it is you want. Knowing what you want and having a plan on how to get it is the foundation for any magical pattern or work. It gives focus to what you are doing. This focus is essential in the later steps when you use desire and merging to manifest your magic. These are the steps for conceiving, creating, and experiencing magic every day.

After you figure out what you want and formulate a plan on how to get it, then you need to take the actions steps to make it happen. The merging of divine and mind in order to influence reality forms the basis for all magic.

The deeper you merge when doing magic, the more powerful the results. Merging is the process of connecting to the divine no matter what your perception of it is. It is a natural feeling that you feel when you are in love, walking on the beach at sunset, or sitting next to an ancient redwood tree. Merging is the the feeling you get when you are in tune and one with it all. The deepest merge you can make is with Oneness.

Oneness is everyone and everything, whatsoever it may be, whether animate or inanimate. By merging with Oneness when making magic, you reach into the source, commune with the divine, shape, and gather power for attaining your magical goals.

Merging may produce sensations of relaxation, peacefulness, well-being, complete calm, spinning, dizziness, flying, whirling, or heaviness. You may feel like you are floating as you feel yourself as everything and nothing at the same time.

You can enhance your merging experience by using rhythmic breathing, gazing at candlelight, dancing, and chanting, as well as listening to music, drumming, metitation, and visualization techniques. When you merge you become one with everything, diffusing like a cloud into the whole of Oneness.

When making magic, you need to integrate the ideal with the pracrical. This means putting your expectations into real time, and seeing how they play out-for better or worse. Try yor magical goals on in your mind's eye before manifesting them. It's importnant to know what you want will work for you before you go out and make it happen, otherwise you might finf yourself in a situation that is far from your liking. On the other hand, if you exercise a little focused thought, care, and wisdom, you can realize all of your dreams and truly enrich your life.

Your magic altar is a space that you create to hold your magical tools, focals, and other magical ingredienes. This space becomes a connecting point between you and the divine. The word altar means „high place“ because symbolically it is the Goddess's sacred table. As such, your magic altar is a great place for doing spellcrafting, meditation, and prayer. When you stand in front of your altar with its candles and incense burning, you are immediately filled with a feeling of magic that becomes more powerful when spirit and divine One.

Set your magic altar up on a flat surface thad is large enough to accommodate your magical tools and any additional items for the night spells. When you draw your magic circle, your altar should be located in the north point. Use an altar cloth, traditionally red or green, to protect the surface of your altar. You can also decorate it to reflect the warious times of the year, such as flowers in spring, gourds in fall, and boughs of evergreen in winter. Everything you add to your altar accentuates your magical experience. Eventually you can expand your altar to include your entire home and property. As you become more adept at making magic, you will find that every thought, every act, every living being, and every object is sacred and thus part of your magic altar.

The magical tools you will need to set up your altar are:

Magical wand
Athame
Bowl
Chalice
Incense burner
Candle holder
Object representing the Goddess
Object representing the God
Pen

The Magic Circle


Many of the night spells, particularly those involving rituals, ask you to draw a magic circle, call in the elements, and invite deity into your circle. The steps for drawing a magic circle are:

1. Begin by clearing the area of unwanted energies. Do this by facing the north point, and slowly spin around in a clockwise circle with your arms stretched outward. While slowly spinning, imagine a clear cobalt blue light washing out the area. As you spin, say:

May all evil and foulness be gone from this place.
I ask this in the Lady and Lord's name.
Be gone all evil and foulness,
Be gone, now and forevermore!

2. Hold your athame or wand in your power hand. Your power hand is the one you use to cat your food with. Point the tip of your athame or wand toward the north point of the space.

3. Take a few deep and complete breaths to center yourself, and then merge with the divine for a minute or two.

4. Visualize a stream of blue-white light pouring out of the tip of your athame or wand toward the north point.

5. After building a sufficient amount of light and energy, with your athame pointing outward, begin to spin slowly to the east point, visualizing the blue-white light flowing from the tip of your athame or wand into the north point and along the parameter of the circle into the east point, filling it full of light.

6. Imagine the light flowing from th east point into the south point and filling it with blue-white light.

7. Once the south point is full of light, imagine the light moving along the circle into the west point, again filling it with blue-white light.

8. Use your athame or wand to move the stream of light back along the parameter of the circle into the north point. This completes the body of your protective circle.

9. Face the altar, and holding the athame with its tip upright, in your mind's eye, visualize the vibrant, light-filled circle all around you, including above and below you, and say:

The circle is bound
With power all around
In all worlds I stand
Protected in all lands.

Calling in the Elements


When you call in the elements, you are setting up a guardian at each of the elemental gates to protect your circle from unwanted energies and influences while you are doing magic. A different elemental guardian guards each of the directional gates of north, east, south, and west. They remain there until you release them. The steps for calling in the elements are:

1. Face north in the direction of your altar, and stretch your arms upward toward the sky. Imagine that you are deep in the woods in a magical forest. Merge with the earth element, and say:

Guardians of the north,
Generous and divine powers of earth,
Protect the gate of the north ward,
And guard this circle and all within.
Come I welcome you!

2. Now, turn and face eastward, and stretch your arms toward the sky. Imagine you are on a beautiful hillside with a strong but refreshing wind blowing over your face and through your hair. Merge with the air element, and say:

Guardians of the east,
Generous and divine powers of air,
Protect the gate of the east ward,
And guard this circle and all within.
Come I welcome you!

3. Next, face south and stretch your arms toward the sky. Imagine yourself lying in the sun, soaking in its radiant warmth. Merge with the fire element, and say:

Guardians of the south,
Generous and divine powers of fire,
Protect the gate of the south ward,
And guard this circle and all within.
Come I welcome you!

4. Face west and stretch your arms upward. Imagine you are sitting next to a pristine mountain lake, or if you prefer, by the ocean. Merging with the powers of water, say:

Guardians of the west,
Generous and divine powers of water,
Protect the gate of the west ward,
And guard this circle and all within.
Come I welcome you!

5. Now, stand in the center of your magic circle, and facing your altar, say:

Guardian spirits of earth, air, fire, and water
Grant me your power and protection tonight
Come I welcome you!

Once your have called in the elements to stand guard at the four gates, it is time to cast your magic spells, make magic charms and potions, and meditate.

Cutting the Little Gate


In you need to leave the circle while you are making magic, simply cut an energetic doorway (called the little gate) with your athame or power hand. Cut the doorway by moving your athame upward, over toward the right, and then downward to the bottom-right corner. Then eyit, making sure you seal the doorway with your athame. Reverse the process to get back in the circle. When possible, cut the doorway at the physical door, so you can easily come and go.

Bidding Farewell to the Elements


When you are finished making magic, bid farewell to the elements. Follow these five easy steps:

1. Begin as the north point, merge with the powers of earth, and say:

Generous and divine powers of earth,
Please depart in peace and harmony
Many thanks for your magical presence.

2. Then face east, ad say:

Generous and divine powers of air,
Please depart in peace and harmony
Many thanks for your magical presence.


3. Next, face south, and say:

Generous and divine powers of fire,
Please depart in peace and harmony
Many thanks for your magical presence.


4. Now, face west, and say:

Generous and divine powers of water,
Please depart in peace and harmony
Many thanks for your magical presence.

5. Now face altar, and say:

Dear Goddess and God
Helpful spirits and energies
Many thanks for your divine presence
Blessed be! Blessed be! Blessed be!

Pulling Up the Circle


Once you draw a magic circle, you do not usually leave it until you pull it up. After you bid farewell to the elements, follow these four steps to pull up the circle:

1. Face north with your athame or wand in your power hand, pointed toward the north point of your magic circle.

2. Slowly turn counterclockwise, and as you turn, imagine the blue-white light of the circle being sucked into the tip of your athame or wand.

3. With your athame or wand, make an energetic cut across the boundary of where the circle has been, and say:

The circle is now open, but unbroken.
Merry meet, merry part
And merry meet again.
Blessed be!