Destructive spells......got it. I use the term banishing and yes, I burn sh!t in my cauldron all the time.

The common goal of a coven is generally to combine the energies of everyone to maximize power in a ritual or spell. It is also to learn from eachother and share resources.

How big is your cauldron Ruth? Now my interest is peeked. Do they look like what the "Three Witches" from Macbeth had? Or are they tiny and sit upon your alter?

Synergy.

(the common goal could be anything they want)

When a meeting is held (two or more) there is a combining of energy and thought processes.

(This works for any group, not just one you call a coven.)

Our group meets for various reasons. Friendship, sharing of ideas and energy, support, learning, bonding etc.

Like minds meet and form a group mind. This group mind exists as an entity and operates as a single mind feeding on all minds present. Ideas manifest from this group mind that may have never manifested without the combined meeting of minds.

Just my thoughts.

It is a revival of sorts too.


JB

My personal cauldron is what I would call "medium sized" and sits on the floor. About 8 inches in height. For group rituals we use a very large outdoor one and we actually build a fire in it. I also have a smaller one that sits on my altar and I use that to hold burning sage.

Yes, the large one would look like the one from Macbeth.

Wow, Im looking it up right now. I see what you mean, there are many different types for various uses. Some of them look big enough to literally "boil a human in" Well a short human such as myself.

We only boil children.

Right.

I guess banishing is a less negative sounding term to be sure.

Although, I tend to think of banishing as simply chasing something away or casting it out, it doesn't necessarily need to destory it.

In other words, you could banish a person from your life without killing them or even wishing them ill will.

In fact, I have bansished several people from my life in the past. I didn't use magick though. I just told them to get lost.

No fiery caldrons required for that spell,...



yet.

Nothing wrong with the term "destructive" at all. Just wasn't familiar with it in this case. I can see how it would imply something more permanent or complete than banishing.

I just wanted to thank Jeannie for the 5 rites link. That's something I've been wanting to start myself for some time.

I need to banish procrastination.

To Ruth,

Have you ever purchased from this store?

http://www.themysticcorner.com/

I'm just curious because this is where I'm trying to order those athemes but I was unable to get their ordering cart to work.

I did email them for a phone number and they sent me that, so owl order over the phone.

I really like these athemes that I picked out. And I haven't been able to find any that I like better on any other site.

These represent an intimate connection with the feminine and masculine Goddess and God for me.

And as I've stated in my previous post about tools; at first I thought of these more as religious symbols for visualization purposes only, even in that respect alone I feel they are important. However, I've now come to gain a better understanding of how these tools actually serve as a conduit, storage, amplifier, and director of the spiritual energies.

So now I view them on a far deeper level than merely symbols for mental visualization. I truly understand them as interactive 'tools' now.

Seems like there should be a more divine word than 'tool'.

I guess the divine word is "Atheme".

No, I've never ordered from there, but it looks like a nice site.

A Short Comment about Dogma

The more I learn about witchcraft the more excited I become. Although for various reasons I hesitate to call it Wicca. I think that one of the reasons for this is because, while many of the sites of come across tend to be quite abstract, there do exist sites that seem to like to claim specific things about how Wicca should be viewed and practiced. So I may very well just become a non-Wicca witch simply because I don't want to support any particular religious 'dogma'.

In any case, I have found some interesting things about witch traditions and music. In fact, one of the things has to do with assigning various instruments to various powers, and/or to various Gods or Goddesses. I find this both interesting, and slightly disturbing. The interesting thing is the mere fact that there is folklore that assigns each type of instrument to specific powers. The disturbing thing is that even to do this is a form of 'dogma' in a sense. So there's a push-pull here that I'm going to need to struggle with on my own voyage through the spiritual land of Wicca.

Magickal Music

Folklore has it (at least one version of folklore anyway) that the following instruments are associated with the following powers.

1. Percussion instruments (chromatic or monophonic) - Earth and the North Winds and the Goddess or Yin
2. Wind instruments - Air and the East Winds and the God or Yang
4. String instruments (plucked or bowed) - Fire and the South Winds and the God or Yang
5. Bells, cymbals, resonant metal - Water and the West Winds and the Goddess or Yin

I often wonder who decides these things.

However, none of this is carved in stone and the reason being that in the end all is One anyway.

For example, the very same source where I got the above information suggests a possible ritual of playing a flute as a tribute to the Goddess. Well that seems to fly in the face of wind instruments being associated with the God and Yang. But at the same time this would be like a child getting his or her father to help them create a gift for their mother. In other words, just because things are associated with specific forces and powers doesn't mean that they are restricted to that association. I think it simply means that this is where their greatest power lies. It's what they resonate with the most.

I personally think that the actual music that is played on an instrument probably plays a more potent role in which spiritual emotions (and thus frequencies) are established.

In any case, I'm finding this all quite alluring. I just received a cello that I had ordered and it has nice deep vibrations. I can see myself cuddling my cello in vibrational meditation for hours on end. All my musical instruments are naturally charged with my emotional energy. This would be the case for all musical performers whether they think of themselves as witches or not. However, I never truly thought of it that way before. I guess now I'm going to be viewing all of my instruments as spiritual conduits. This is definitely going to change my whole outlook on music.

I have far too many instruments. If they all become spiritually charged owl end up being a musickal God.

But this is precisely one of the things that had originally drawn me to Wicca in the first place. I want to spiritually enrich my ability to both compose and perform music. That's my true focal point right now.

I love this cello! Um gonna go hug it right now.

Abra I was of the understanding that actually Wicca and Witchcraft were separate. I could be wrong. Thats what I have had explained to me by Pagans that I met at a fair here local and also I think Ruth felt that way also. I could have misunderstood. Ruth can you clear this up? I just thought you could have one without the other.

It is my understanding, and I could certainly be wrong, that Wicca at the very least recognizes and uses the 'craft' (witchcraft).

But not everyone who practices the 'craft' aligns themselves with the religion named Wicca.

This is why I said that I might become a non-Wicca witch. In other words, I may practice witchcraft, but not align myself with Wicca as an 'organized' religion.

I'll have to study it much further before I can fully know where I stand on that one.

In other words, I'm definitely interested in witchcraft for keeps as a personal means of spirituality, whether or not I want to join an organized religious movement is a whole other story.

Ahh, gotcha. Thats basically my understanding also. They are separate of one another yet many practitioners intertwine them and that has become so common place that sometimes its just assumed that Wiccans are Witches and vice versa. I also had a sense (from some of the folks I talked with )that Wiccans were a little "fuddy duddy" or they can be perceived in that light at times. Some of the hardcore Witches distanced themselves a bit. But that is probably only the drama that can be associated with these things and people's emotions and perceptions I think. I try to keep it simple.

I do to, and more to the point I prefer to keep it on a personal level.

By that I don't necessarily mean secretive, but rather I just mean, owl do my thing, and you do yours, and we can share ideas.

I don't care for 'organized religion' in any form really.

One thing that I sense is that Wicca is indeed seeking recognition as an official religion. Well it already had this from the government, but I get a sense that many Wiccans (certainly not all of them) are striving for a stronger public voice. Probably in the 'war' with Christianity. Not that the Wiccans want the war, but because the Christians force it upon them by their very dogmatic claim that who ever rejects Christ is rejecting God. And by that very claim they are suggesting the Wicca is a 'false' spirituality.

So many Wiccans would like to see Wicca gain more public recognition as a 'valid' spirituality.

I can't say I blame them. Wicca can be beautiful. People are missing out on a lot by dismissing it so lightly.

I know I have in the past because I was brought up to think that it's silly superstition.

But now with so many affluent people supporting things like the "Law of Attraction" and "The Power of Belief" and so on and so forth, I've come to realize that witchcraft had this knowledge eons ago. Long before Wicca was even declared a religion.

So this made me take a closer look at witchcraft and now I understand it almost on a scientific level in terms of attuning to cosmic energies though meditation, ritual and using objects to store the vibrational energies.

That doesn't mean that I can become an 'instant' proficient witch. As I've said before these things require practice just like anything else.

You can have all the knowlege of Hockey player but you're not going to do well your first time on the ice if you've never skated before.

It's the same way with witchcraft. Understanding the game plan is just the very beginning. Now comes the hard part, meditation, focusing, learning to attune to energies, etc.

I never said it was going to be easy.

Simple? Yes.

Easy? Maybe not so easy.

But worth the work I'm sure.

It's also like sowing a garden and I'm definitely planting seeds here.

Just thought I'd share.....Samhain ritual was AWESOME tonight.

Really? Where did you hear that? I hope they don't think that they will need to become 'valid' entities or non-profit corporations. Yuck.

JB

Wicca is currently a sect.With time it may eventually grow into a church.Religions progress through these growth stages: (1)Cult, (2)Sect, (3)Church, (4) Ecclesia.