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As a modern primitive or urban pagan, it is important to establish a sacred space and arm yourself with magical tools. In so doing, you can create a magical place where the mundane world is left behind. It can be in your home or your own backyard, where despite the noise of the day-to-day, you can touch the sacred. There is no need to ascend to the top of a mountain, a silent retreat, or a deep dark dungeon in search of the sacred. Nay—anywhere you choose can become the place of magic where you cast the circle.

You can create the magic circle by “casting” or drawing in the air with concentrated energy. Inside the circle you have created, rituals are performed, your spells are worked, and special energy is raised. This sacred space of your very own is where you call on the gods and goddesses and become attuned to your deities. By giving this space real attention and focus, you can make it a truly intense experience. For the first time in your life, all your senses will come alive, and you will feel, see, and hear the energies as you come into the circle because you will have created a tangible sphere of power.

Cast a circle anywhere—out in the woods, on a lakefront, or in the comfort of your own crypt. Wherever the circle is cast becomes your temple. If you are in your bedroom or living room, stack the chairs against the wall to create the limits of your circle. The Goddess tradition specifies that the circle must have a diameter of nine feet, which is the number of the Goddess. That said, a circle can be any size, accommodating a very large group with dozens of people or just yourself. Many witches only cast a circle when they are ready to engage in spell work, while many neopagans cast a circle to celebrate every sabbat holy day. Dark Moon variations on circle casting can include playing hypnotic and rhythmic music, thereby enhancing the creation of sacred space. Covens with which I am acquainted use both live and recorded music to great result and also read from their collective Book of Shadows. One group daringly holds their sabbats in a cemetery because for them the space is doubly hallowed.

Sacred Tools

Casting a circle is only limited by the imagination or by the function you ascribe to it. The magic begins at your altar with your sacred tools—athame, bolline, cord, censer, and a cauldron, among other things—for crafting rituals. To fully imbue your tools of magic and ritual with energy, they should reside on your altar. Collecting your ritual tools is best when it is a joyful and careful search—don’t rush out and get everything at once! As you work to refine your practice, your needs will undoubtedly change, so building a proper tool collection is a process that can take months or even years. Many a magician has acquired a full complement of antique ritual tools; the aforementioned Kat, for example, collects tools from New Orleans used by voodoo practitioners. Actor Nicholas Cage, who follows the teachings of Aleister Crowley, collects his writings, tarot cards, and tools, because they are imbued with the energy and magic of the founder of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). So, again, the use of historic and antique tools of magic can deepen the potential for magical power in Dark Moon magic.

You can also find ritual tools in flea markets, metaphysical five and dimes, and craft fairs around the country. Always make sure you cleanse and purify your new tools of magic whether they are antiques or brand new, to ensure that the energy is yours and yours alone. Think of your ritual tools as energy conductors that absorb the energy of the ritual work that you and your circle perform. If you want to craft tools that are custom made to fit your needs, you can also take the do-it-yourself approach to making magical implements. You may well want to laminate the handle of your knife with skull beads made of bone or take a walk in the woods in search of just the right fallen branch for your wand.

Using Your Tools for Magic

Ritual tools are sacred to an individual who is performing the actual ritual act. Whether you find your tools in a store or they are given to you as a gift, each tool should hold special meaning to you and should feel absolutely perfect to you as you use it. Keep this in mind as you search for just the right tool for your Dark Moon ritual ceremonies; perhaps your athame will look like a medieval dagger or your Book of Shadows will resemble an ancient tome from the twelfth century. Usually, you are able to “recognize” tools that are meant for you with your inner knowing. I highly recommend using a pendulum while shopping!

ATHAME—YOUR DAGGER FOR DESIGNING MAGIC

Pronounced “a-THAW-may,” this is your magical knife. Even though it can be used as a ritual dagger or sword for spells, it is mostly symbolic and is not necessarily a cutting knife. Your athame represents the yang energy or the male aspect of God. Ritual knives are also associated with the south and the element of fire, and as such, they should be placed on the right side of your altar. The athame is used to direct the energies that are raised in your ritual. One old witching tradition very much in keeping with a Dark Moon sensibility specifies that the handle of the athame should be black or very dark in color, since black is the color that absorbs energy.

BOLLINE

The bolline, which is usually a white-handled knife, is used for making other tools, such as carving your wand, whittling your own runes, and cutting materials such as cords and herbs. You are creating a magical tool by using a magical tool. You should also use your bolline for carving sigils, symbols, names, and images of deities into your candles and wands as well as your other crafted tools. Usually, a bolline has a curved blade and a white handle to distinguish it from the athame. It is similar to the athame in that it also embodies yang energy. It can be used only within the magical circle, the boundary you form by marking the four corners and the four directions through a speaking ritual.

YOUR BOOK OF SHADOWS

The Book of Shadows is a record of your ritual work and is a very important part of your spiritual journey, as it encompasses the complete body of your magical thinking and magical workings. It is in essence a history of all your energy work, circles, spells, dreams, and the magic you have manifested over time. It is essentially a diary of all that you have practiced and wrought. In your Book of Shadows, you should keep a journal of your research and the lore you have discovered. For example, is there a particular phase and sign of the moon that works especially well for you? By documenting this type of information, you will be building a practice that you can apply to future spells and circles. Also, many a Book of Shadows has become a published book! This will also be a great aid in analyzing and learning from your ritual work as you evolve and develop as a ritual designer. For example, I have discovered that the new moon in Virgo (the opposite of my natal new moon in Pisces) is currently the best moon phase for me to work rituals of change. Through trial, experimentation, and much practice, you, too, will discover these secrets of the universe for yourself via your personal records.

Your Book of Shadows will be the most helpful to you if you use it daily or as often as possible. Besides being a record of your magical work, it should also be a book of inspiration for you, filled with your own thoughts, personal poetry, and observations. Your Book of Shadows should be a tome you wish to turn to again and again. It can be a deluxe handcrafted volume of artisan-made paper and ribbons or a simple three-ring binder. Just make sure it appeals to you, so you will use it often and well. I have seen gorgeous decoupage volumes, some with papier-mâché masks so the book itself becomes a familiar, and also simple ones that reflect the owner (which is the point, after all) with stickers from favorite bands.

BLACK BROOM

The broom is a symbol of the practical magic of sweeping the ritual area clean before and after casting a spell. With proper focus and intention, you can rid your sacred space of negative influences and bad spirits from the area, thus preparing the sacred space for work. In olden days, pagan marriages and Beltane trysts took place with a leap over the broom, an old traditional part of the handfasting or pagan wedding. The broom, as a signifier of womanly domesticity, took hold of the popular imagination as the archetypal symbol of witches. Even Harry Potter has a souped-up broom for sweeping through the skies above Hogwarts!

Your broom is a fundamental tool for energy management, so it is wise to choose your broom very carefully. It’s best to obtain a handmade broom from a craft fair as opposed to a factory-made plastic one from Walmart. A broom made of wood and woven from straw will be imbued with the inherent energies of these natural materials. Also, your ritual broom should not be used for housework, which would mix up energies in your home and sacred space. The pagan tradition holds brooms in high regard, and some witches and ceremonial magicians have an impressive collection of brooms, each named to signify their roles as a familiar or kindred spirit. As a Dark Moon witch, you might be happiest with a black broom—you can even buy it at one of my favorite stores in Los Angeles, which is called Black Broom! Check it out at www.theblackbroom.com—it is a purveyor of many marvelous tools, books, and essences, especially the black alchemy line of potions, lotions, and perfumes.

CANDLES AND LIGHT

Candles are a simple yet profound tool that can make powerful magic. Today, candle magic is used daily by folks of all walks of life for peace of mind, respite, contemplation, and aromatherapeutic healing. Candlelight transforms a dark room and illuminates the air with energy. Suddenly, the potential for a mystical realm is evident as you start to feel the latent power. A spell, prayer, or ritual lit by a single candle has the potency of all the stars in the sky. Candles contain the following four elemental energies:

•Air: oxygen feeds and fans the candle flame

•Earth: the solid wax that forms the candle

•Water: the melted wax is the fluid elemental state

•Fire: the spark and blaze of the candle flame

Charging Your Candles

“Charging” a candle means to imbue it with magical intent. A candle that has been charged carries that intention through all four elements and up to the heavens and fills the very air of your sacred space with your magic. Spell work and ritual candles are chosen for their color correspondences, and then they are “dressed,” or anointed with the energy of an essential oil. Each color holds the intrinsic vibratory energy of different colors and their magical properties.

Color Correspondences for Candle Magic

•Black: banishing, absorbing, expulsion of the negative, healing serious disease, attracting money

•Brown: home, animal wisdom, grounding, healing

•Dark blue: change, flexibility, the unconscious, psychic powers, curing

•Gray: neutrality, stalemate, cancellation, invisibility

•Green: wealth, abundance, growth, luck, employment, gardening, early life, attractiveness, fertility

•Light blue: patience, bliss, overcoming depression, tranquility

•Orange: attraction, triumph over legal issues, changeability, stimulation, intelligence, clarity, logic, support, encouragement

•Pink: love, faithfulness, friendship, goodness, positivity, affection

•Purple: healing, aspiration, business success, stress relief, power

•Red: vigor, protection, vitality, sexuality, passion, courage, power, love, good health

•White: purification, peace, protection, truth, binding, sincerity, serenity, chastity, spirit

•Yellow and gold: mental power and vision, study, self-assurance, prosperity, abundance, divination, psychism, powers of persuasion, wisdom, charisma, good sleep

Before you charge your candles, meditate on your intention, then cleanse your candles by passing them through a purifying smoke of sage and incense. You can increase the charge of your candles by carving a symbol or “sigil” into the wax. After you have engraved the appropriate magical words into your candle, it’s time to “dress” your candle with a specific essential oil. Every essential oil is imbued with a power that comes from the plants and flowers of which it is made. Anoint yourself with the oil of your choice at the crown or third eye to increase mental clarity. By using the inherent powers of the essential oils, you are increasing the effectiveness of your rite and doubling the efficacy by anointing both your tool—in this case, the candle—and yourself. These same oils can also be used in protection spells for your threshold and windowsills, in potpourri, when anointing yourself, and in sacred bathing.

Magical Correspondences of Essential Oils

•Astral projection: benzoin, cinnamon, jasmine, sandalwood

•Courage: black pepper, frankincense, geranium

•Dispelling negative spirits: basil, clove, copal, frankincense, juniper, myrrh, peppermint, pine, rosemary, sandalwood, Solomon’s Seal, vetiver, yarrow

•Divination: camphor, clove, orange

•Enchantment: ginger, tangerine

•Healing: bay, cedar wood, cinnamon, coriander, geranium, jasmine, lavender, lemon, lime, neroli, peppermint, rose, rosemary, vetiver, ylang ylang

•Luck: nutmeg, orange, rose, vetiver

•Peace: lavender

•Prosperity: basil, cedar, cinnamon, clove, ginger, jasmine, nutmeg, orange, oak moss, patchouli, peppermint, pine, wood aloe

•Protection: anise, basil, bay, black pepper, cedar, cinnamon, clove, copal, cypress, eucalyptus, frankincense, juniper, lavender, lime, myrrh, patchouli, peppermint, pine, rose, rose geranium, sandalwood, vetiver

•Sexuality: cardamom, cinnamon, clove, lemongrass, olive, patchouli, peppermint, rosemary

Sigil Magic Is in the Details

Carving symbols onto your candles is a simple and profound way to deepen your magic. What symbols are meaningful to you? Certain crosses, vines, flowers, hieroglyphs, and many other images have deep magical associations, so you should feel free to delve in and experiment to find the symbols that work best for you in your spells. The term sigils derives from the word for seal. A sigil is a magical glyph or symbol that is used in ritual to deepen focus or intensify magical powers. Methods for devising sigils for spellwork include using the planetary glyphs of astrology, runes, Enochian tablets, letters, numbers, or even mystical cyphers such as hermetic crosses or kabalistic signs.

WICKED GOOD WANDS

A wand is a symbol of air; it is used to project energy in your rituals and magical workings. It is a very personal tool. While there are many gorgeous, crystal-encrusted wands for sale in metaphysical “five and dimes,” it is a wonderful thing indeed to make your own wand.

Start with a tree branch that has fallen to the ground. Sand the rough edges—it is a wand, not a weapon. Then give it a good saging. Hot glue a large quartz crystal near the handle end and add any other crystals that feature properties you want in your complement of magic, such as amethyst for balance and intuition, amber for grounding, or moss agate for powers of persuasion and healing. I also suggest chalcedony for power with dark spirits, carnelian for success and fulfillment of all desires, bloodstone for abundance and prosperity, aventurine for creative visualization, calcite for warding off negativity, jasper for stability, hematite for strength and courage, jade for wisdom and for powerful dreams, fluorite for communicating with fairies and other unseen beings, and rose quartz for love. Citrine makes an excellent wand “pointer tip” and aligns the ego with your higher self—after all, isn’t that the whole point?

PEERLESS PENDULUMS

The pendulum is an indispensable tool for gleaning information from your inner self as it helps you draw on your own inner knowledge and psychism. The more you use a pendulum, the more intuitive you will become. Like a muscle, our psychic power thrives when it is exercised. Some of the best pendulums are the ones you can make yourself by tying a string or length of rawhide to a crystal—quartz crystal is a good choice for dependability and clarity. You should tie it so that the crystal points down. Each time you use it, you should ask the pendulum to “Show me yes” and then “Show me no;” once the pendulum has confirmed which movements mean yes and no, you can ask all manner of questions about people in your life, events, decisions big and little, even shopping. The crystal pendulum will swing back and forth, giving you answers. Each time you do pendulum work, make a journal entry of it in your Book of Shadows, as that will help you to track the pendulum’s effectiveness. With time, you will be able to see patterns of information emerging from your unconscious and from the universe. I can’t recommend this highly enough. You will learn so much about yourself and your place in the world from this as your own inherent wisdom is made manifest. Once you start doing pendulum work, you will come to count on it for help with shopping and all kinds of decision making.

Creating a Magical Altar

An altar is a place of peace and meditation where your spirit can soar. Adorned with your treasured objects and the tools of your practice, it is a place of extreme focus where you can make magic. Your altar is your most sacred space. It is your power source and the center of all your magical workings. To unleash your personal pagan power, you must first set the stage—the perfect environment to incubate your dreams and wishes, your hopes and desires. The very first step is to set up an altar, your touchstone for daily conjuring and contemplation. I recommend placing your altar facing north, long held to be the place of origin of primordial energy. North is also the direction of midnight, and an altar oriented in this fashion promises potent magic.

Besides preparing a place in your home and honoring the sacred on a daily basis, you should adorn your altar lovingly. It should be pleasing to the eye and ultimately reflective of your personal energy. Take a low table or an old chest and paint it a high-sheen enamel red with black details. Get as creative as you wish with the table or chest, and carve or inscribe and decorate your altar base with symbols that are significant to you—you can include ankhs, roses, skulls, spiders, bats, crosses, crows, or (my personal favorite) green and purple-tinged ivylike vines.

Once you have obtained and decorated your chest, place a favored fabric over your altar base. Optimally, you should have an array of altar cloths, flowers, candles, and stones in different colors, depending on the type of spell you intend to cast. The following “color energy” guide will help you to determine the colors of cloth you use to dress your altar.

Traditional Wiccan Color Correspondences

•Red: life, lust

•Pink: love, romance

•Green: prosperity, friendship, healing

•Gray: protection

•White: purity, beginnings

•Blue: loyalty, creativity, vision

•Orange: higher knowledge, enlightenment

•Purple: spirituality

•Yellow: power, fame

Dark Moon Magical Color Associations

•Black: absorption of negative energy, divination, banishing, protection, binding

•Silver: intuition, psychism, balance, spirituality, goddess energy

•Red: lust, fire, passion, strength, anger, power, courage

Place the fabric of your choice on your altar. Next, choose two candles and place them on the two farthest corners. If you like, place fresh flowers at the center of the space. Some Dark Moon magical flower choices are black calla lilies, ivies, or any dark purple flowering vine. You should also place a thurible, or magical incense burner, in front of the flowers (more on thuribles soon!) If you’ve not yet found a favorite incense, begin with the ancient essence of frankincense.

Your altar doesn’t have to be all about candles, flowers, and incense. To further personalize it, select objects that appeal to you symbolically—a goddess figure such as Isis, a photo you love of your favorite cemetery statue, or an iridescent abalone seashell you found one night on the beach. You can also place your birthstone on the altar, or a crystal or stone you treasure. Add anything that you feel adds good energy and represents your singular vibration. Purify the space by “smudging” or burning a bundle of sage over it. Anoint your third eye (the center of your forehead) with a scented essential oil such as the sacred resin amber or another that especially pleases you. Now, anoint the candles with the same essence. Light the candles and meditate in a prayerful way on all the positive and practical magic you will create at your altar.

Flower Magic Is in the Details

Additional altar flowers include:

•Solomon’s Seal

•Moonflowers

•Stock, nicotiana

•Night-scented roses

•Delphinium

•Monkshood

•Black tulips

•Poppies

•Belladonna

White flowers are always the most highly scented and also glow under moonlight. Moonflowers are a good white flower choice, as they only bloom at night—perfect for nighttime Dark Moon rituals.

Dark Moon Garden Plant Suggestions

Herein is a list of Dark Moon varieties of flora for you to grow and procure. These plants emanate a power and magic all their own and make wonderful offerings for your altar, for deities, and for your home.

•Voodoo lily

•Vampire lily

•Black calla lily

•Andean silver-leaf sage

•Black mondo grass

•Corokia cotoneaster

•Black velvet nasturtium

•Black violas and pansies

•Papaver somniferum, var. black cloud

•Black hollyhocks

•Aristolochia (dutchman’s pipe)

•Pitcher plant (carnivorous)

•Flytraps (carnivorous)

•Harry Lauder’s walking stick

•Dracula vampira orchid var. Bela Lugosi

•Ipomoea purpurea (morning glory)

•Datura discolor var. Kniola’s black

•Bearded iris var. night queen

•Superstition

•Cotula “pratt’s black”

•Baby black eyes (nemophila meziesii “penny black”)

After you have been working spells for a bit, an energy field will radiate from your altar! Your altar is the one place you can return to again and again to concentrate your energy and clarify your intentions, so be sure to replenish, clean, and recharge your altar frequently with fresh flowers, candles, and objects. The more you use your altar, the more powerful your spells will be. This consecrated space will center and ground you and bring the beauty and bliss of magic into your life.

CAULDRON OF LIFE

The cauldron, which is also called the “Cup of Cerridwen,” comes down to us from the ancient proto-Celtic path where they were used for cooking, scrying, and ritual work. The cauldron symbolizes abundance and divine inspiration. Your cast-iron cauldron represents female energy and the Goddess. The round basin stands for the woman’s womb, the giver of life. A true magical cauldron should be able to withstand fire, which represents rebirth, the phoenix rising from the ashes of the past. Cauldrons are usually used in ritual to hold earth or water as elements for rites of spring. In winter, the cauldron is the sun and should hold fire. In the spring, the cauldron can be a rain jar or a flower-filled fountain. In the summer, the cauldron can be a cup. And in autumn, it can be a pumpkin. Cauldrons are also a very practical tool for mixing your herbs and essential oils. You can scry with a cauldron full of water and foresee the future by reading images on the surface of the water. You can also use this magical tool to burn papers on which you have written your intentions or a spell parchment. In doing this, you can send your wishes to the Goddess upon the smoke and flames. Cauldrons typically have three legs for ultimate stability, rather like a tripod altar. You can place a cauldron either on your altar or on the floor to the left of the altar. You can and should play with the idea of a cauldron for outdoor ritual and seasonal altars.

THURIBLES AND CENSERS

A thurible, or censer, is basically an incense burner. This ritual tool represents the elements of air and fire. Place your incense burner at the very center of your altar or in front of any offering you are wishing to bless, such as flowers or fruit, as a gift to the gods and goddesses. Your thurible should be used daily to purify your other sacred tools and to cleanse your ritual space. The evocative scent and smoke of the incense can also transport you in a sensory way.

Banishing Incense to Purify Your Sacred Space

This is the optimum mixture of essences to purify your home or sacred invoking space. Negative energies are vanquished, and the path is cleared for ritual. Open windows and doors when you are burning this clearing incense so that “bad energy” can be released.

Supplies:

•1 part sandalwood

•2 parts cinnamon

•3 parts myrrh

•3 parts copal

•3 parts frankincense

There are many types of thuribles to choose from that will please your inner Dark Moon magician—gargoyles, dark fairies, dragons, or skulls.

GOTHIC GRAILS

Your chalice is a goblet dedicated specifically for use on your altar. Like the cauldron, it is another vessel symbolizing the feminine, the Goddess, and fertility for women. Holding both fluid and the waters of our emotional body, it is elementally connected to water. Place your special chalice on the left side of your altar with all other representations of the energy of the female and the Goddess. A chalice is also a grail. After all, King Arthur’s legend recounts that the Holy Grail brought life back to the decaying kingdom at Camelot and restored Arthur and his people, giving rise to the rebirth of England itself. On your altar, your goblet can hold water, mead, wine, juice, or anything you wish to partake of or deem appropriate as an offering to share with the deities. For Dark Moon magic, especially fitting libations would be Transylvanian Vampire Wine or an absinthe from Eastern Europe.

Charging and Consecrating Your Ritual Tools

Once you’ve accumulated all your preferred ritual tools, you should design a tool consecration rite. This consecration will dedicate your utensils for the betterment of all and set a base of intention for all your good works. Perform this rite every time you acquire a new tool or treasure. If you’re a beginner, you can choose a simple “temple template” and build on it as you learn and grow. As your experience in your craft deepens, you can embellish the ritual with your personal preferences. Refer back to your Book of Shadows—is there a certain phase of the moon that offers you more clarity? Should you utilize the corresponding colors, crystals, essential oils, incenses, and herbs for your own astrological sun and moon signs? Is there a specific goddess or deity with whom you feel an affinity? Use these correlations in your rituals and begin designing the ceremonies and rites of your dreams. The more associations you learn and use, the more your effectiveness will grow. Time will tell, so keep good notes of your ritual work in your Book of Shadows. You will soon become a “maestro of magic.”

Ritual of Consecration

Now that you have selected your special tools of Dark Moon magic, you need to bless and dedicate them to your magical workings. This is an opportunity to fill your sacred implements with your personal energy; you are encoding them with your unique imprimatur. The more you use your tools, the more charged they will become.

Supplies:

•Incense for air

•Candle for fire

•Cup of water

•Bowl of salt

Directions:

1.Take the new ritual tool and pass it through the smoke of the incense and say:

Now inspired with the breath of air.

2.Then pass the tool swiftly through the flame of the candle and say:

Burnished by fire!

3.Sprinkle the tool with the water and say:

Purified by water.

4.Dip the tool into the bowl of salt and say:

Empowered by the earth.

5. Hold up the tool with both hands before you chant; and imagine an enveloping, warm white light purifying the tool, and say:

Steeped in spirit and bright with light.

6. Place the now cleansed and energized tool on your altar and say:

By craft made and by craft charged and changed. This tool (here fill in the actual name, whether it be the bolline, Book of Shadows, etc.) I will use for the purpose of good in the world and in the realm of the God and Goddess. I hereby consecrate this tool.

Other tools are more intangible—such as breath work, intuition, psychic powers, and the ability to focus your mental power and spiritual intentions—and as they are intangible, only your intention can purify them. You will use other physical tools, such as colors, herbs, oils, crystals, numbers, and all manner of ritual correspondences and associations which have been passed down through the centuries. Crystals can also be charged, but those tools that come from nature and from the Goddess, such as flowers, stones, and herbs, are not man-made but of divine design, so they already contain an intrinsic magic of their own that may be used.

Your tools will become inculcated with the magic that lives inside of you, instilled with your energy and stored at an altar or in your sacred space. They will become a power source for you and will magnify the ceremonial strength of your ritual work. Your altar should be a place of peace and meditation where your spirit can soar. Adorned with your treasured objects and the tools of your practice, it is a place of extreme focus where you can enrich your life through ritual. You can create a wellspring of spirit so you can live an enchanted life every single day.