Create Your Own

Book of Shadows
A gift to you from

Phyllis Curott
@Phyllis Curott 2019
www.phylliscurott.com

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 The Essential Guide to Creating Your Own

Book of Shadows

Creating your Book of Shadows is an ongoing, deeply personal act of magic. It’s your own
collection of invocations and prayers, rites and rituals that have filled your life with
meaning and magic. In modern, traditional Witchcraft, a Book of Shadows is a written
collection of invocations, blessings, rituals, expressions of gratitude, and wisdom. A
Grimoire is a companion book of spells, recipes, symbols, magical alphabets, lore and
workings, and collected wisdom for making magic with herbs, crystals, oils, colors, sigils
and more.

But today, your Book of Shadows can be as innovative and complete as you wish it to be,
filled with the information often found in traditional Grimoires, and with art and beauty,
wisdom and wonder. And that’s because keeping a Book of Shadows is a modern practice.
Early Witchcraft was an indigenous shamanic wisdom tradition, and so it was an oral
tradition. By the 1400’s, even if you could read, you certainly wouldn’t keep evidence of
your religion in the midst of deadly Witch persecutions. Wisdom did manage to survive
however, in folk, esoteric and syncretic traditions.

In the mid-twentieth century, Gerald Gardner, the father of modern Witchcraft, began
keeping a book of wisdom which he called a Book of Shadows (the name was inspired by
an ancient Sumerian text). High Priestess Doreen Valiente helped him record, create and
preserve a coherent system of sacred rites and rituals. For many years, within British
Traditional Witchcraft, the Book of Shadows was passed down only to those who had been
initiated. The initiate hand copied the original which never left the possession of the
Priestess. Today you don’t need to be initiated in a tradition to create your own Book of
Shadows.

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While a Book of Shadows has a traditional structure and content, you may want to include
chants and songs, poems and inspiring prose, wisdom received from your guides and
power animals, from Drawing Down or journeying, and other sources. Or you may also
wish to save these in your Grimoire or in magical journals. Magical journals are particularly
useful for preserving dreams, divinations and reflections, synchronicities and signs. Over
time, you will find within those pages profound patterns that reveal your life’s purpose.

If you practice Witchcraft, you’ll collect an extraordinary amount of wisdom and so you
may have more than one Book of Shadows. You can use a simple clothbound book or one
with a cover of tooled leather or printed silk. You can buy it or create it yourself, but what
matters most is what you put between the covers. Your Book of Shadows is meant to be
filled with wisdom and with beauty. Whether you’re an artist or not, adding images,
pressed flowers and other ornamentation is wonderful. It’s up to you whether to keep your
Book secret, but you should always keep it safe, and treat it with respect as a deeply
personal, precious and magical tool of art.

This Essential Guide is my gift to you. It provides a basic template that merges traditional
with items often included in a Grimoire, and some key text and information to begin your
Book of Shadows with confidence and substance. You’ll find lots of additional useful
information on practicing Witchcraft in my books, especially WitchCrafting, A Spiritual
Guide to Making Magic (Broadway Books 2005), and Wicca Made Easy, Awaken the
Divine Magic Within You (Hay House 2018) Your Book will also be filled with your own
creativity and the gifts you receive along your path.

A tip: Whenever possible, as soon as you’re done creating your magic, spell or rite, write
down what you did, said and experienced so you don’t forget.

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YOUR BOOK of SHADOWS Table of Contents

• Title Page: This is the Book of Shadows of YOUR NAME

• Dedication Page: A simple statement from your heart about what you hope for your
spiritual journey on the path of Wicca. Reflect on what has drawn you to this
moment of awakening. If you wish to cast a spell on the book, this is the place for it.
Write the date and astrological aspect and sign it. Reading this a year later and over
the years will be a very moving experience.

• Charge of the Goddess: Every Book of Shadows includes the Charge of the Goddess,
originally by Doreen Valiente. I’ve included my version here. You may also wish to
add other invocations of the Goddess and God.

• Goddess/God – lists, invocations

• Ethics of Magic & Spellcrafting – a statement of your ethical commitment. Mine is

simple: I seek to live in a sacred manner because I am part of all that is sacred.

• Table of Correspondence

• Altar Crafting – altar template with magical tools

• Tools

• Steps for Casting the Circle/Creating Sacred Space

• Elemental Magic

• Wheel of the Year/Sabbat rites

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 • Esbat/lunar rites & magic

• Magic rites

• Prayers, invocations, incantations, chants, songs

• Spells –major working, the rest in your Grimoire

• Magical information – key symbols, sigils, divinatory systems, alphabets,

herbal, oils, crystals, colors and other lore, the rest in your Grimoire

• Self-dedication ritual

• Ritual of Initiation

Remember, your Book of Shadows can include anything that you find and connect with,
including…
o Rituals
o Blessings
o Chants, songs of power
o Journeys
o Divinations
o Meditations
o Visualizations
o Magic
o Energy working

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Tools Of Art

“Tools of art” or “working tools” are a Witch’s traditional power objects. They have their
origins in ceremonial magical traditions, but the natural elements and aspects of divinity
they symbolize date back to the early Greeks as well as shamanic traditions.

The four traditional tools of art include an athame (a double-sided knife), a wand, a (silver)
cup and a (copper or stone) pentacle symbolizing each of the four elements, directions and
human qualities as well as Goddess and God, Lover and Beloved. Along with these four,
you’ll use a “white hilt knife,” for carving candles, digging wax out of candle sticks and
cutting all sorts of things from ribbons to thread to fruit – it can be small kitchen knife with
any handle.

You don’t have to have any of these to begin your practice of Witchcraft. You can use
bowls, knives and cups from your kitchen cabinet, find a branch outdoors for your wand,
and cut an apple down its equator for a pentacle.

TOOL OF ART PURPOSE ELEMENT SYMBOL

Wand Directing energy Air or Fire God, mind, will

Cup Holding energy, Water Goddess, heart, womb

liquids

Athame/Sword Directing energy Air or Fire God, mind, will

Pentacle Charging & Earth, Spirit Goddess, body, 4

consecrating elements & Spirit

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Altar Diagram

The altar is generally placed in the center of your circle, but can also be in the direction that
best corresponds to the work you are doing, for example, in the North if you are working
with Mother Earth. It is the place where Spirit and matter are One, the center of the
Cosmos, the focal point for your magic. It is an expression of your creativity and your
intention. It can be a permanent fixture or one that you set up each time you work. If it’s
up all the time, it should receive daily devotion, even if it just a moment of acknowledgment
and mindfulness. It can be utterly simple or as elaborate as you like.

Wiccan Altar Diagram

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 The Charge of the Goddess

The Goddess is the mirror in which we find the lost and sacred parts of ourselves, the lost
and sacred parts of the world in which we live. The Great Goddess is the ground of being
and the Mystery beyond knowing, Creation and the Source of Creation. Our relationship
with Her brings beauty, love and fulfillment to our lives. She is the key to the future of life
on Earth.

There are many ways to welcome Her return. One of the most beautiful Goddess
invocations is the Charge of the Goddess, read or recited in circles all over the world and
used to Draw Down the Goddess, a trance technique in which the Goddess enters the
invoker to see, speak and bless those who are present. The Charge was written many years
ago by Doreen Valiente, woven from many sources; its language is archaic but it’s beauty,
wisdom and power are ageless. The text here is my modern adaptation of the Charge.
When you read it, expect to will feel the presence of the Goddess arrive within your sacred
space, and with time and practice, within you.

Adapted by Phyllis Curott

Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who was of old also called Gaia, Innana, Isis, Astarte,
Gaia, Demeter, Artemis, Diana; Bride, Freya, Eostre, Arianrod, Cerridwen, Dana, and by many
other names:

Whenever you are in need, once a month, and better it be when the Moon is full, call upon my
spirit, I who am Queen of all the Witches. Come to me, you who wish to learn the Great
Mysteries, who seek the secrets of sorcery, but have not yet won the deepest secrets: If your
heart is open and your intentions true, I will teach you things that are yet unknown, the
mysteries of magic divine.

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And you shall be free from slavery; and as a sign that you are really free, you shall be naked in
your rites; and you shall dance and sing, feast and make music and love, all in my praise. For
mine is the ecstasy of the spirit and mine also is joy on earth; for my Law is Love unto all
Beings.

Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever toward it; let nothin stop you or turn you aside.

For mine is the secret door which opens upon the Land of Love; and mine is the Cup of Life, the
Cauldron of Cerridwen, the Holy Grail of Immortality.

I am the Gracious Goddess, who gives the gift of joy to the heart that is open. Upon Earth, I
give the knowledge of Spirit eternal; and beyond death, I give peace, and freedom, and
reunion with those who have gone before.

Nor do I demand sacrifice, for behold I am the Mother of All Living, and my love is poured
out upon the Earth.

Hear the words of the Star Goddess, she in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven;
whose body encircles the Universe; I, who am the beauty of the green Earth, and the white
Moon among the stars, and the mystery of the waters, and the heart’s desire, I call unto your
soul. Arise and come unto me.

For I am the soul of Nature, who gives life to the Uuniverse. From me all things proceed, and
unto me must all things return, and so before my face, beloved of gods and mortals, let your
inmost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite.

Let my worship be within the heart that rejoices, for behold: all acts of love and pleasure are
my rituals. And therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and
humility, mirth and reverence within you.

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And you who thinks to seek for me, know that your seeking and yearning shall avail you not,
unless you know this Mystery: that if that which you seek you do not find within, you will never
find it without.

For behold, I have been with you from the beginning; and I am that which is attained at the
end of desire.

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Invocation of the God
by Phyllis Curott

By hoof and by horn I call you

By hide and by bone I call you
By seed and by grain I call you
By green leaf and ripe fruit I call you
Bless me,
Bless my life with wisdom and strong instincts
Bless my life with passion and purpose
Bless my life with love and with dreams that come true
Bless my life with strength and creativity
Bless me
And I will bless others, and this sacred planet, in kind

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The Partnership of Goddess & God

The polarity of Creation is personified by Goddess and God and both are part of a Witch’s
experience and the magic they make. They are embodied by Creation, accessible in realms
of Spirit, and they are Mysteries beyond human apprehension. They are a loving
partnership and together they engender new life. Together they unify polarities and all
points between and, today, their union encircles all within and beyond traditional gender
definition. And so Witches also revere divine same sex and gender fluid couples who
contain the range and manifestation of polarity within themselves and their relationship.

A Short List of Divine Couples

Universal Titles

Goddess & God

Maiden & Youth

Mother & Father

Crone & Sage

Lover & Beloved

Egyptian
Isis (Auset) and Osiris (Ausar)
Nut (Heaven) and Geb (Earth)
Het-Heru (Hathor) and Ra/Heru (Horus),

Mesopotamia
Ishtar and Dumuzi (Tammuz)

West African Akan

Asase Ya (Earth Mother) and Nyame (Sky Father)

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Greek
Hera and Zeus
Aphrodite and Mars
Persephone and Hades
Hermaphroditus, who merged with the female water nymph Salmacis.

Hindu
Shakti/Parvati and Shiva
Purusha (Consciousness) and Prakriti (Natural World)

Scandinavian
Freyja and Freyr
Nanna and Baldr
Frigg and Odin

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Wheel of the Year

The relationship of Goddess and God, Lover and Beloved, the Divine Couple, is the mytho-
poetry of the Witch’s holy calendar, the Wheel of the Year. Wiccan Sabbats, or holy days,
celebrate their divine love story embodied by the relationship of Earth and Sun. Their love
spins the wheel of Creation, the cycle of life. This eternal rhythm is revealed and
experienced throughout the Wheel of the Year. As we celebrate we attune ourselves to
that rhythm and recognize how it is also the rhythm of our lives.

Approximately every six weeks the Wheel turns to reveal another aspect of Nature’s
spiritual wisdom and embodied divinity, and continuous renewal. Attuning ourselves to
the season’s cycle, we learn to create and then release and let go to make room in our lives
for the next stage of soul flourishing.

Four Sabbats celebrate the Earth’s agricultural cycle: Samhain (pronounced Sow’ en and
popularized as Halloween or All Hallow’s Eve), Imbolc (which survived as Lammas, St.
Bridgid’s Day, and Groundhog Day), Beltaine (May Day, still widely celebrated in
Scandinavia) and Lughnassadh (still celebrated in Ireland). (Wiccans generally refer to
Sabbats by their Celtic names but similar sacred calendars were found throughout Europe
and the Fertile Crescent which are often adapted in contemporary celebrations. )

The other four Sabbats celebrate the four great solar events: Winter Solstice or Yule, Spring
Equinox or Oestara (named for the Germanic Goddess of Spring and the root of Easter),
Summer Solstice or Litha, and the Autumn Equinox of Mabon. The Sabbats, Witchcraft’s
holy days that make up the Wheel, are celebrated with rituals, songs and dancing, laughter
and poetry, beauty and creativity, rejoicing and reflection on Nature’s wise perfection.

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Grounding and centering

o Purification
o Meditation

This section should describe the rituals and techniques that you use for Purifcation of your
self and your sacred space, and circle as well as meditations and breathing exercises that
help you Ground and Center yourself

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Steps for Casting the Circle/Creating Sacred Space

• Purify and cleanse yourself and your space

• Set up your altar

• Purify and consecrate the space

• Breathe –before or after casting

• Ground – before or casting

• Cast circle – this step define the circle’s perimeter

• Welcome the Elements/ Honor the Directions (Open “portal” for elementals)

• Honor/Invoke the Sacred/Goddess/God

• State the purpose or intent of the circle – this can also be done before invoking the
Sacred

• Make magic

• Grail - Open yourself to receive Divine & to charge your intention and magic

• Wand - Raise energy from within and the Earth to manifest your intention and
magic

• Offer libation and share cakes/bread

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• Thank the Sacred/Goddess/God

• Thank each of the four directions (Close the elemental portals)

• Open (close) the Circle

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Ethics of Spellcrafting

Typically, you will hear people say, that there are two primary rules of Wiccan ethics. The
first is the Wiccan Rede: and you harm none, do what you will. The second is the Threefold
Law which says that whatever negative magic you do will cojme back three times to you.

These are endlessly repeated but neither is, in fact, the right ethic for how to make magic.
I’ve written extensively about what’s wrontg with them in Witchcrafting, Wicca Made Easy,
on my blog and spoken to it in numerous talks and the Pagan and Witchcraft communities
are beginning to awaken to a new and true ethic rooted in the heart of our spirituality.

The simple and profound ethic shared with me by Mother Earth at the end of a long,
isolated wilderness trek is this:

Seek to live in a sacred way because you are part of a sacred world.

How to do that is revealed, naturally, by Nature which has a secret magic:

All living things, when taking care of themselves, simultaneously make the world in
which they live better for all life.

Make your magic, cast your spells, live your life accordingly and the world will be better
for your having been here. That is what it means to be a Witch.

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 TABLE OF CORRESPONDENCES

Direction EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH

ELEMENT Air Fire Water Earth

NATURE Wind Sun Oceans, Rivers, Mountains

Breeze Rain Fields, Cave

ASPECTS Mind Will Heart/Womb Body

Know Dare Feel Manifest

QUALITIES Imagination Passion Love Creativity

Intelligence Courage Compassion Fertility
Intuition Determination Emotions Strength
Communication Drive, Desire Dreams Grounded
Poetry, Music Power Ancestors Rebirth
Communication Action Reflection

COLORS White, Red, Orange, Blue, Sea green Green, Gold

Pale Blue Yellow Brown
Lavender Purple

SYMBOL Feather Candle Shell Seed

TIME Dawn Midday Sunset Midnight

SEASON Spring Summer Autumn Winter

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ANIMAL Wing Claw Fin Paw, Hoof, Horn
Bird, Butterfly Lions Dolphin Bear, Wolf
Dragonfly Dragon, Whale Bison, Stag
Lizards Otter Horse

PLANT Lavender Myrhh St. John’s Wort Patchouli

Bodhi Tree Olive tree Willow Oak

TOOL Sword, Athame Wand Cup, cauldron Pentacle, Stone

ZODIACAL SIGN Gemini Aries Cancer Taurus

Libra Leo Scorpio Virgo
Aquarius Sagittarius Pisces Capricorn

SPIRIT FORM Sylph Salamander Undine Gnome

GODDESS Aurora Amaterasu Aphrodite Demeter

Isis Bridgid Yemanja Parvati
Arianrod Pele Tiamat Freya

GOD Hermes Horus Poseiden Dionysus

Thoth Surya Njord Cernunnos
Quetzalcoatl Lugh, Sol Agwe Osiris GreenMan

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Elemental Magic

The natural world embodies the Divine, and so it is our greatest spiritual teacher. The
more time you spend in Nature, the more embodied your spirit will become. Nature is
always present, if you’ll pay attention. Working with the elements – air, fire, water, earth -
helps you to recognize that Nature is everywhere, including inside you.

Each element offers a path of self-awareness, balance and fulfillment as you move around
the sacred circle of your life. Working magically with each of the four elements, you learn
how to discern and intuit, to have passion and courage, to love and heal, to empower and
create. You discover where you are out of balance and learn how to restore equilibrium to
all aspects of your Self, your inner and outer nature, your inner life and your outer
expression.

The elements show you how the Divine is present and embodied by the natural world and
how these life-sustaining aspects of divinity are present in you. Each element is a part of
you and the powers of the elements correspond to your powers. Each element has gifts
that will empower the way you live.

Air Magic

Work with for: Inspiration, creative thinking, thoughtfulness, ease of communication,

peace of mind, remaining calm or focused, work involving your mind or communication
like learning, writing, lecturing, taking an exam, cultivating your intuition.

Ways to make air magic: Breath, chant, meditate, write a poem, spell or chant, journal, fly
a kite with your spell written on it, breathe your prayer onto a feather that you tie to a tree
for the spirits of air to carry off, stand outside on a windy day and shout your affirmation,
follow your intuition, say yes to everything for a day, create and use an incense.

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Fire Magic

Work with for: Power, change, transformation, courage, passion, determination, quick
manifestation, banishing, purification and cleansing, enlightenment, illumination.

Ways to make fire magic: Greet the Sun every morning, cook, burn a piece of paper on
which you’ve written whatever you want to banish; carve a candle with your goal, place it
on a plate and on your altar, light it and let it burn until it’s gone, cup your hands around
the flame and draw its power into your belly, feel your power to make it manifest; build,
tend and dance around an outdoor fire.

Water Magic

Work with for: Love, dreams, to visit ancestors, cultivate your intuition and your feelings,
help your emotions flow and change, put out fires of conflict and anger, cleanse and purify,
dissolve emotional blocks, heal emotional wounds, nourish your inner landscape with self-
love,.

Ways to make water magic: Create a potion and bathe in it; make an herbal tea and drink
it; bathe, float, swim; go out in the rain and GET WET; go white water rafting or sailing;
jump into a deep body of water; water your garden; wash your face; stand at the edge of the
ocean where it rolls in and out of the shore’s edge.

Earth Magic

Work with for: Attune to Nature’s rhythms and cycles of birth, growth, death and rebirth;
manifest ideas and desires; cultivate creativity; create prosperity; give birth to the life you
want; ground, nourish and take care of your body and soul.

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Ways to make Earth Magic: Put your hands in the dirt; plant a seed and nourish it
envisioning your goal growing as the plant grows; weed and envision that you are pulling
up any problems, cares or obstacles; exercise and take care of your body; recycle your
garbage; sit on the Earth and feel your heart beating; develop a relationship with a tree or
other plant; ground; walk your dog; cultivate a relationship with a natural spot as your
place of power.

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SPELLCASTING
DOUBLE DUTY Banishing & Manifesting Spell(s)

A few wise words: This is a double duty spell. It banishes negativity and replaces the old
and outworn with a positive, life-fulfilling goal you’re going to manifest. To make way for
the new, you need to clear out the old. Clean out what clutters your consciousness,
obstructs your heart and blocks the flow of your energy. Whether it’s to an old habit that
you’ve simply outgrown but have trouble kicking, a relationship that’s doing more harm
than good, or a source of negativity that doesn’t respect your boundaries, there’s a spell for
that – a banishing spell. Simple, direct and effective, it turns any negativity into compost,
following one of Mother Nature’s greatest laws: nothing is wasted, just turn it into
something new and useful. Finish banishing, and start manifesting. The spell for that
begins when your banishing spell ends.

One of the keys to effective banishing magic is to learn the lesson about whatever you’re
banishing. Then it won’t happen again! And one of the keys to effective manifesting magic
is to act in accord with your intentions, taking daily steps in daily life to bring your dreams
into reality. And remember the secret, all real and lasting magic comes from your
connection to the Divine.

Ingredients: One black candle, one white candle, sage, 2 small pieces of paper, a pen, an
ashtray or fireproof bowl, your journal.

Timing: Around midnight, when the Moon is waning or dark.

Cast your Banishing Spell:

Take some time to reflect and then write in your journal about what you want to banish.
Reflect on why it came about, what role it served in your life and what you learned from it.
Write about why you’re ready to let it go and what you want in its place. Date it.

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Purify. Shower or wash your hands with salt water, sprinkle some salt water around the
entire perimeter of your space. Or use sage to smudge yourself, your space, the candles.

Place the candles and the paper in front of you.

Call your Guardian to be with you and to help you.

Call the Goddess Cerridwen, Goddess of cosmic recycling and magical transformation, to be
with you and to help you.

State what you want to banish. Write it down. Sprinkle the paper and the photo with some
of the salt water; pass it through the sage smoke.

Light the black candle. Hold the paper in your non-dominant hand. Move widdershins,
counterclockwise and the direction of decrease, in a circle around the burning candle.

Recite this incantation:

Farewell, farewell to what was wrong,

Be gone be gone be gone be gone!
No pain or sadness ever lasts,
Free my spirit, release my past.

Move and chant faster, raising energy as you do. When you feel your energy peak, light the
paper on fire with the flame of the black candle. Drop the burning paper into the ashtray.
As it burns, forcefully declare three times:

I cast this spell now three times three.

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 I’m free, I’m free, I’m free!
As I do will, so mote it be!

Decisively blow out the black candle. Declare: So mote it be!

Cast Your Manifesting Spell:

Ask Cerridwen to transform the old that did not serve you into what that will bring you
fulfillment.

Write down your new positive vision/set your intention.

Light the white candle. Hold the paper in your dominant hand. Raise energy by moving
deosil, clockwise the direction of increase, around the circle. Chant:

One thing becomes another,

in the Mother, in the Mother.

When you feel the energy peaking, direct it into your positive intention/vision of the future.
Declare forcefully, repeating three times:

Let a joyful//prosperous/loving/healthy etc future come to me!

I cast this spell now three times three,
As I do will, so mote it be!

Thank Cerridwen for her aid.

Put the white candle somewhere safe and let it burn out. If it goes out, light it again.

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Now, let it go! And don’t talk about it with anyone. Get some rest.

As soon as possible, make an offering to Cerridwen: Turn the ashes of your banishing into
compost by mixing them into the soil of a houseplant or in the soil outside. Peonies in
particular like ashes. Mindfully throw out any remnants of the black candle. It’s over!

Re-read your positive vision/ intention and keep it in your journal or somewhere safe.

Act in Accord: The door is closed, don’t reopen it. It’s time to bring new things into you life.
And if change requires many small steps, take them knowing each one is carrying you away
from the past and into the future you’re creating with magic and with daily actions in
accord. *****

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Magical Helpers
Plants

Plants are living beings with Spirits. It’s important to ask permission when harvesting
them and to treat them with reverence, respect and gratitude. Witches work with plants to
create oils and incenses, potions and baths, elixirs and formulas that heal, help and
manifest magic, in magical pouches, and as offerings for all sorts of goals like love, healing,
prosperity, protection, peace of mind, altering and enhancing your consciousness, and
banishing to name a few.

ESSENTIAL HERBS & USES

Bay leaves – Prosperity and success, banishing

Chamomile – Relaxation, purification, peace, dreams, psychic sensitivity

Cinnamon – Love and passion, banishing, prosperity and success, a pinch accelerates
everything

Frankincense – Peace and protection, psychic sensitivity, God energies

Lavender – Relaxation, purification, healing, peace and protection, dreams, psychic

sensitivity

Mugwort – Dreams, divination, psychic sensitivity

Myrrh – Love and passion, Goddess energies, healing, banishing

Patchouli – Love and passion, healing, purification and relaxation

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Peppermint – Cleansing, energizing, a dash accelerates everything

Red Pepper - A dash of this accelerates everything

Rose petals – Love and passion, healing

Rosemary – Relaxation and purification, peace and protection, love

Sage –Purification, healing, peace and protection, psychic sensitivity

Sandalwood – Purification, dreams, enhancing psychic sensitivities, peace

Vervain – Cleansing, relaxation, peace and protection, prosperity and success

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Oils

The use of oils for healing, transformation of mood, magic and many other purposes goes
back thousands of years and is an essential part of Witchcraft’s magic. Anointing your body
is done with a less than a drop of oil placed at your third eye, throat, heart, groin and
ankles.

An Essential Oil List

Almond oil – love, prosperity

Bergamot oil – prosperity and protection

Eucalyptus oil – cleaning and purification (be careful it’s an irritant)

Frankincense oil – see herbal list

Jasmine oil – love and sexuality, the Goddess

Lavender oil – see Herbal List

Patchouli oil – love and herbal list

Sandalwood oil – see herbal list

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Crystals

Crystals are not inanimate. They grow and are known to change in the same ways at the
same moment in different locations across the globe. They preserve all the world’s
information on micro-thin slices of themselves. Like molecules of water that have been
discovered to shift in response to the emotions of the person holding the water, a world of
magic resides within a stone. Above all, crystals have wisdom and spirit. Approached
properly, they will assist you.

Crystals and stones can be worn on the body, placed in a pouch or bundle, under a pillow or
next to the bed, placed on an altar, worked with as talismans or aides, guides, Spirit helpers,
teachers, healers and in ways that they will share with you. They help connect us to the
powers of Earth, color, light and energy and seem to have a profound balancing effect on
our bodies, moods, minds and Spirits. They are not to be randomly harvested, exploited or
buried without the consent of the crystal and the spirit of the place and are always to be
treated with respect.

CRYSTAL AND STONES

Amethyst – Calm and tranquility, aids sleep and dreaming, inspires happiness and
positivity, relieves stress and helps break addictions.

Carnelian – Encourages passion, sensuality, sexual energy, strength.

Diamond – Prosperity, strength, courage, good health and solar energies.

Emerald – Prosperity, intellectual capacity, psychic sensitivity, reputed to bring truth to

light.

Garnet – Creativity, charisma, attracts love, used as an amulet of protection for travelers.

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Granite – Stability, determination, balance.

Hematite – Strength, calmness, peace of mind. Good for blood issues and stress.

Herkimer Diamond – Opens the third eye, dreams, learning, stamina and energy, said to
expand the powers of other stones.

Jade – Calming, encourages kindness, longevity and good fortune, attracts friendship and is
used as an amulet of protection for travelers.

Jet – Dispels and protects against negative energies, encourages empathy, healing.

Lapis Lazuli – A stone of the Goddess Isis/Divine Feminine, Spirituality, mysticism,

wisdom, truth, integrity, abundance, wealth.

Marble – Renewal, compassion, strength.

Moonstone – A stone of the Goddess Diana, Artemis, other Moon Goddesses, attracts
lovers, enhances beauty and devotion, an amulet of protection for travelers.

Obsidian – Brings truth to light, dispels negativity, creates peace of mind, a stone of power
used by Native American medicine people for healing.

Opal – Creativity, prosperity, good luck and power.

Quartz Clear – Healing, cleansing of mind, body, Spirit, brings truth to light, preserves
wisdom and magic.

Quartz Rose – A crystal of the Goddess Venus, love, joy, happiness, peace, harmony, often
used in love spells. Balances the throat chakra.

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Ruby – Good luck, prosperity, contentment.

Sapphire – Love, partnership, protection, power, inspiration, helps with depression.

Tiger’s Eye – Insight, integrity, overcoming obstacles.

Topaz – Justice, strength, mental clarity.

Tourmaline – Success, abundance, confidence, good luck, healing.

Turquoise – Protection, especially of the home, aligns energies and harmonizes

friendships, comfort, peace. A stone of great power in Native American culture.

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Color

Color is a particularly powerful aspect of magic. Each color has specific properties and
affects confirmed by science. Many people know that color is related to the seven chakras.
They’re also associated with the directions, deity and are a vital part of ritual, ceremony,
spellcasting and all sorts of magic

COLOR QUALITIES

COLOR QUALITY

RED Fire Passion, courage

ORANGE Fire Success, healing

YELLOW Fire Illumination, success, healing

GREEN Earth Creativity, abundance, growth, rebirth

BLUE Water Healing, peace, dreams, womb-resting

INDIGO Water/Spirit Dreaming, altered states, Spirit

PURPLE Spirit Spirit, inspiration, divination

PINK Goddess Divine Feminine, women’s mysteries, joy

BROWN Earth Mother Earth, Soil, Growth, Justice

WHITE Spirit Purification, Spirit, beginnings, peace

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BLACK Mystery Unknown, deep rest, death, all colors

SILVER Goddess Divine Feminine, Moon

GOLD God Divine Masculine, Sun

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Self-dedication ritual

I believe that the most moving and effective ritual you can perform will be the one that you
personalize, and that includes an oath that you have written yourself. You may wish to
perform this ritual in your place of power or inside with as few tools and items as your
Book of Shadows, athame and chalice, or a complete ritual altar. Your chalice should have a
small amount of water, juice, or wine.

• Organize all of the items you’ll need for your rite

• Take a purification bath or shower
• Place your athame horizontally across the threshold to your Sacred Space. You
should have your chalice and your Book of Shadows with you. Sit “Outside” your
sacred space in front of your athame and write down on a piece of paper the parts of
yourself from your past that you wish to release, surrender, and banish. Burn the
paper.
• Pay attention to the shift in energies that has already begun. Meditate on your path:
where you started, how far you’ve come, and where you wish to go.
• When you are ready, open your eyes and stand up. I am ready to dedicate myself to
my true and sacred self and to this path of Wicca. I come to my future with perfect
love and perfect trust.
• Hold your Book of Shadows and chalice and step over your athame. Allow yourself
to fully experience crossing the threshold into your future. Then pick up your
athame and place your Book of Shadows and chalice at the center of your sacred
space.
• Cast your Circle – Ground, center and call upon the Goddess and God. Great Mother
Goddess, by flower and by fruit, I invite you. Great Father God, by hoof and by horn I
invite you. I welcome you into this sacred space, to the temple of my heart. Embrace
me and transform me. Bless me and fill me with your presence. Accept my offering as I
dedicate myself.

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 • Feel the energy flowing through you. Take all the time you want and need. Feel the
joy and peace that the Divine bestows upon you. Feel yourself coming home to your
true self, to your destiny, and to the Sacred. When you are ready, read your oath.
• Consecrate yourself with the liquid in the chalice by placing a drop on your third
eye, your heart, and your groin saying With the waters of life, I bless and consecrate
myself as Witch and dedicant.
• Feel yourself filled and surrounded with love and feel love flowing from you to the
world and the Sacred. Hold your book of Shadows to your heart and charge it as a
Witch and dedicant. You may also charge your jewelry and/or power objects that
honor this rite of passage. Offer a libation to the God, the Goddess, and yourself, and
then thank the Goddess and the God for blessings you and for accepting your oath of
dedication
• Close your circle. If you are outside, as always, leave an offering for your fellow
creatures in your sacred space.
• Go forth into your new life, acting in accord

If you have any questions, visit to www.phylliscurott.com.

With blessings, love and lots of magic,

Phyllis Curott

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