In some traditions, spell casting is commonplace. For these casters one typical way to get the magic
rolling so to speak is to “Call the Quarters”.
Calling the quarters can be done in several different ways.
When I’m casting my circle I start by lighting some sage and
cleansing the area. I get in calm state
and do the following:
Light the candle facing east and say the following:
Hail Guardians of the Watchtower of the East – Powers of Air
and Wind
I welcome thee.
I then turn and light each candle in its direction and
repeat as follows:
Hail Guardians of the Watchtowers of the South – Powers of
Fire
I welcome thee
Hail Guardians of the Watchtowers of the West – Powers of
Water
I welcome thee
Hail Guardians of the
Watchtowers of the North – Powers of Earth
I welcome thee
Welcome Watchtowers, watch over and bless my circle
That’s it… Calling
the Quarters is just that simple. There
are many other ways to do this. You can list other correspondences such as more
elements or include animals as well. For
example dolphins may be related water and would be added to the line for the
West.
I found a nice video on youtube that gives a great
explanation -
Begin simply and work with the energy from the
directions.
pa·tience [pey-shuhns]
noun
1.
the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
To me one of the hardest things to learn is patience. At first the word may not appear to be something that would be appropriate for a pagan inspired blog project. However I beg to differ. There are so many things that pagans do that really call for patience.
Let's take spell casting for example. Now, first I'm generalizing, not every pagan casts spells. But those that do know that there are a lot of steps within and it does take a bit to work the spells. First steps may be to collect the components for the spell. Some components need to be cleansed/blessed by being bathed in the light of a full moon. That step alone can add a weeks to the spell. Then we look at moon cycles to be sure we're looking for the right phase to cast a particular spell in. Some require a waxing moon, some a dark. Again, weeks could be added to the casting process.
After we have the moon right and the components right we then can preform our ritual. Many start a circle by calling the quarters or calling the guardians of the watchtowers.
Just as the spell and the components this is very specific to the caster. In this particular video the person calling the quarters using the words "I summon". I always ask... I feel the "summoning" someone is pulling them somewhere that they may not want to be. I'd like them to come because they want to. But that's just me. Next comes the actual spell part. This is where we take those components and working with them.
There are different ways to cast a spell. There are very formal rituals which include using their magical instruments to call the energy into the spell. A spell is really quite like a prayer. This video shows every different types of spell casting.
After you've completed the spell, then you go through the process of closing the circle. The entire process can take hours. For someone like me, a seasoned witch with BiPolar and budding ADHD, it can be trying. Books on my shelf include Wheel of Life, The Druidy Handbook and assorted others recommend by friends to calm my mind and bring me into the now.
I have tapes of guided meditation and ways to become centered and still I can't walk through a store and hold a conversation with my hubby with out drifting off in the middle of a sentence when I see something sparkly. Just as I can't stay on topic for this posting, I'd like to put out here that if there are others with problems concentrating, focusing or relaxing one of the best things I've found is an album called Canyon Storm. The melodies are amazing and it really brings me to a calm state.
Now back to the word of the week, patience. Working with the ritual of casting a circle, I've actually seen a growth in the amount of time I can spend doing a particular activity. So using magic or the process of magic has shown me that I can focus on a particular thing for a little while. I'm no where near where I'd like to be on this. And even though I'm trying to get to a point where patience is something that is a virtue to me. I still can't help but completely relate to this MEM I saw recently.
Just a quick note, I'm working with a group on a wonderful project coming in October. Keep a look out for some great things come for Samhain.
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