This where everything we have looked at begins to come together. In charging or commanding a certain outcome be brought forth, focus or clear majickal thinking, accurate speech and clarity of purpose (minus malice of intent) now become integral to creating the change you desire.
Once the disciplines above, that are themselves the factors of charging, are mastered, charging becomes the primary factor in creating or recreating your circumstances. Perhaps the best illustration will be a walk through of some simple procedures to make a spiritual bath. Let’s say you have been having problems sleeping. You feel restless, agitated, tired but around the time you’re ready to go to bed, all of a sudden, you click into a gear that you know will keep you up rather late.
If you live in the city, you can go to any of the many supermarkets and select fresh or dried herbs. Country living provides the opportunity for growing your own herbs. This can make collecting your herbs to do a bath more spontaneous but, not essential. This particular bath is excellent for tranquility and improved sleep whether you live in the city or country. This is one my “general recipes” that can work for anyone. Because you are charging it yourself, it becomes just for you. Pick or purchase fresh sage, thyme, rosemary and eucalyptus. While you are at it, buy a container of cornmeal. This is your offering. (Get in the habit of keeping “offerings” on hand) Purchase a seven-day white candle that is tall and encased in glass. Select a time when you will not be disturbed so you can do this process uninterrupted.
At the right time, take an old soup pot. It is wise to use the same items when you work. Every time you use them, you infuse them with more and more of your own personal energy. Over time, you will begin to feel the energy within these items and the speed with which you connect with them increase when you work. So, take a pot you will not use for anything else except for making baths and incensing. You may want to get a clay or other type of incense burner in the future but, for now, begin with one big pot. I want to mention that the pot should only be washed with water. Never use soap. If you wish to scrub it, scrub it down with salt. Always use NATURAL INGREDIENTS.
Ask for the Creator’s blessing on your work and for protection. Invite the Creator and your guides and protections to examine your heart for proper integrity of purpose. In your mind, remember you will accept the Creator’s decision for you not to be helped. Even though sleep is a wonderful thing, sometimes we go through certain experiences for a reason. If you are a doctor, this type of experience may develop better empathy for a patient who is an insomniac, for example. For the most part, however, I have found the Creator never begrudges sleep. Begin by filling the pot ¾ full with water and light your burner anywhere from medium to high, depending on how high the flames rise on your stove.
As you are putting the water in the pot, begin to FOCUS ON YOUR NEED for sleep. See yourself going to bed, falling asleep within minutes and sleeping peacefully through the night. This is the thought you will hold throughout the whole process. Pick up the Rosemary and put the bunch in the hand you write with. You may close your eyes or keep them open. Whatever you feel will work for you, is fine. Remember, most of this type of work is intuitive. There should come a time when it will not matter what herb you use for you can command any herb and ultimately the energy around you by majickally creating your items in spirit. But, for now, I have given you these tried and proven effective herbs to work with.
With the rosemary in your hand, focus on your mental image. Hold that image and begin to breathe, in as slowly as you can through your nose and out as slowly as you can through your mouth as we discussed in the chapter on breathing. If you begin to feel energy surges, which some people do right away, it is this type of skilled breathing that will ground this energy into you, down your arm, through your hand and into the herb or item you are using. Hold it, breathe, focus and form the words aloud that will become your spell for you to get sleep. You may or may not feel anything at first but, if you are slow to feel any vibrations, give this at least fifteen minutes. If you feel the energies, allow them to build up within you until you know they have flowed through you and into the herb.
For me, I reach levels of sweating as if in a sauna when I charge or cleanse items. Others feel goose pumps, the hair on their neck or arms standing up and some people get headaches. In time you will know when you are pulling in creative energy. Once you feel the energy has gotten into the herb, put it in the water. If the water is not hot yet, put that hand into the water and pour the same energy into the water. If the water is hot, use a large spoon (preferably silver) to stir the water and charge the water through the spoon.(Old silver spoons can be purchased very cheaply in thrift stores and flea markets. It would be helpful to get one.) If you do not have one handy, use a wooden spoon that you will use only for this type of work.
Pick up the thyme and do the same ritual, then the sage and then the eucalyptus. A good handful of each is fine. Each time you add the herb to the water, stir it as above, remain focused, speak your words and breathe! To this mixture you will now add a cup of salt. In the New Testament, in addition to water, Jesus used salt to expel demons. My father, who was Irish, believed in keeping salt in the house all the time because it kept the devil away from the home. Salt in this bath will expel negative energies from you. Every time you are about to put the herb into the water, say something like “as no harm be done, this work will be done.” In addition to putting salt in the bath, pour a small vial of lavender or patchouli oil. These are not only soothing but spirits do in deed enjoy aromatic scents. In this aspect it is like putting an offering in the bath.
Once everything is in the water, you can relax. When the water reaches a full boil, simmer it on a low flame for twenty-thirty minutes. Enjoy the aroma that will fill the air.
After this is completed, cover the pot and walk through the house, opening the lid so that the vapors escape a little into each room. Then, let it sit until it is cool enough to handle. When the bath has cooled, strain the water. Put the herbs aside and pour the spiritual bath water into convenient bottles or jugs. Ideally, you should take at least three baths. You may dilute the mixture so that you have three baths that you will slowly pour over yourself from head to toe AFTER YOUR REGULAR SHOWER OR BATH. This is not to be rinsed off until the next day! Blot yourself dry with a towel and now you can work with the candle.
Before working with any candle, you must spiritually cleanse it. Think of all the people that candle has come in contact with through manufacturing, general handling and packaging and just by people picking it up deciding whether or not they are going to buy it. Many of these people have stress, sorrow, problems or illness. All these different types of energies have come in contact with your candle. Do you want all of these energies to intertwine with the energies your will be putting into this candle as part of your petition? This is why a candle must be cleansed. You clean a candle by taking water and blessing it in the Creator’s name. I usually say “I cleanse this candle of all negativity in manufacturing, processing and handling and I dedicate it to the Power of Great Spirit through whom only good things come.” I then verbalize what I want it to do. In this exercise, I would simply say something like “Cleanse me of any negative or disruptive forces that prevent me from sleeping and replace them with the gentle, loving restful energies.” Take salt and rub it around the candle, sprinkling a few grains around the wick as well.
Tie a red ribbon or thread around the candle. It does not have to be in a bow. Tie it as you wish. Take a match and focus on your desired goal, see yourself free of anything that will disrupt your sleep. Verbalize your petition and breathe. Draw in the energy around you and when you feel the energy reach its highest “pitch” hold onto it by continuing to breathe until you feel you are ready to release it. I can feel when energy is ready to be released but it does take time and a sensitivity to the energy surrounding you. Before allowing it to release, hold onto it by breathing, remaining focused, commanding that this work harm no one then strike the match and light the candle so all of your efforts and energy ripples are now transferred into the candle. I like to re-light new candles for another two weeks for a work like this. As a rule, you will have lit three seven-day candles.
I think you will find the reason for the red ribbon very interesting. If you have negativity around you that is causing you to lose sleep, black soot might form on the inside of the glass candle holder as the candle burns down. This is an excellent way to divine negativity anytime you feel out of sorts. You may not expect this to change but you will discover that as you light subsequent candles, eventually one will burn clear. This is how you will know that you have cleared your own energy field of negative forces or energies. If the second candle burns “black,” continue to light a seven-day candle until it burns clear and then light another one more time to ensure that your field remains cleansed. You will burn as many candles as it takes, plus an additional one until you have two candles that burned without soot forming. This is the exception to the three-week rule.
With regard to the herbs you strained form the bath, take a small amount and find a park or forest where you can ask the earth to disperse the negativity around you. It is here that you will leave an offering of cornmeal on the ground itself. Place the rest of the herbs in a sunny spot where they will dry. These herbs can then be used as incense, not for the property of smell, but because they are effective in “smoking” your house and cleansing it of negativity. In smoking, you get quick lighting charcoal. Do not get the ones for barbecues. They will smell like lighter fluid. Get the charcoal that is specifically for burning incense. Light the charcoal. If weather permits, open your windows. As the incense burns, “fan” the smoke out as you go through your rooms. Make sure you get the corners and even your closets (A couple of seconds will not harm your clothing or other items.) If you have birds, smoke quickly in their vicinity or move them to another room. Do not smoke heavily in their area. They can be returned to their spot when you are ready to do the room you put them in. I have a bird and simply fan past him very quickly and there has never been a problem.
It is good practice to light a candle to divine negativity and to smoke your house from time to time. Likewise taking a spiritual bath on occasion does help maintain spiritual well being. You will be able to eventually feel when energies are not beneficial as a result of maintaining energy balance on a regular basis.
If you live in the country, as I do, you can grow your own herbs or pick from the forest those plants that will offer themselves for our work. I have been doing this for many years but I too will purchase what is not around me, if it is needed.
Smudging is using incense or dried herbs to cleanse the aura of someone or yourself. You do this by using your hand to fan yourself with the smoke downwards towards the feet then up toward the head. You can then position the incense holder at waist length then wave the smoke under the arm and armpit then towards the hand and fingers. To smudge the other side, hold the incense in the opposite hand and repeat as above. To do the legs and back, I add extra incense or herbs to create more smoke and stand over the incense, legs apart and then slightly in front of it to have the incense waft up my back. Again, the incense or herbs are charged for the purpose for which they will be used. I usually say a prayer or incantation that I feel helps me focus while at the same time brings closer to me those protective forces that will assist me in purging negativity.
A personal preference I have is dried fresh sage, especially those used by Native Americans. It is usually tied in thick bunches and requires no charcoal to burn it. Other herbs for smoking or purging are in your closet or pantry right now: onion and garlic skins, salt, rosemary, and thyme. In a pinch, you can simply use poultry seasoning as it contains, among a few other herbs sage, thyme and rosemary. You may use one herb or a combination of herbs. The more used, the most potent so I suggest combinations be used when cleansing the home or body for the first time. Routine cleansings should be done and, if done with enough frequency, they usually do not require a lot of herb combinations. I like to combine herbs because I simply enjoy the ritual of collecting, charging, reflecting and petitioning. It forces me to schedule time for my spirituality and helps me generate the intensity of energy I like to create when I work. Since I have a preference for the number three or multiples of three, I will use a minimum of three herbs and multiples of three when the sum is an odd number such as fifteen or twenty-one. When working with my African guides, I use multiples of seven as the number seven recognizes the Seven African Powers of African tradition.
In chapter 18, I will offer you “recipes” as a guide for you to see how simple it is to keep your own area and aura free of negative energies. Try them. I think you will enjoy both the participation it requires of you and the results.