Creating a healing altar will safeguard your physical health and that of your loved ones. Set up your healing altar facing north.
To ensure healthful beginnings, find a pure white square of fabric to drape over your altar to make a tabula rasa, an altar equivalent to a “blank slate.” Take two green candles; place them in green glass holders or votive glasses and position them in the two farthest corners of the altar. Place your incense burner in the center between the two candles and light the incense. Sandalwood, cinnamon, camphor, and frankincense are all powerful purification incenses that are perfect for the creation of a healing altar. Burn one or all of these purification essences to consecrate the space. Adorn your altar with objects that symbolize healing energy to you. You may perhaps choose a candleholder carved from a chunk of amethyst crystal, which contains healing properties; an abalone shell with the iridescent magic of the oceans; a small citrus plant bursting with the restorative power of vitamin C; or a bowl of curative salts from the sea.
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. This simple yet profound tool can make powerful magic. Take a moment and notice how candlelight transforms a dark room and fills the atmosphere with the energy of magical light. Suddenly the potential for transformation is evident. I don’t know about you, but I burn candles 365 days a year! They bring a sense of calm to me, imbuing my personal space with the positive.
Candles contain all four of the elemental energies:
Just as the first humans sensed that stones contained energy and special properties, so too they found that metals boasted energies that had tremendous influence and power. Metals used to be very commonplace in magic, but their popularity has lessened within the last 500 years, after alchemists began to turn into scientists.
Magical Metallurgy has rebounded a bit and plays a definite role in gem magic. The simplest way to employ magic metals is to place a copper penny in your pocket or carry a pouch containing a horseshoe nail for luck. Mystical metals—from bewitching bronze to supernatural silver—can add a whole dimension to gem magic in your life.
Bronze is also an alloy of zinc and copper and has the same healing power as brass but with one exception—bronze is said to give greater strength of character. My favorite aspect of bronze is that it helps folks conceive of and achieve their goals.
Brass is the result of combining copper and zinc. You may be surprised to learn that brass has been used successfully to treat hair loss! Healers favor it as a detoxifier and cleanser for people who have too much metal in their bloodstreams. Brass is also a strengthening alloy for the body and supports gems and crystals in their energies and abilities to interact in a positive way with your body. The iron content in the brass is what makes it a real stabilizer. The healing and protective powers of brass are enhanced if it is worn as a brooch in the shape of a dog, falcon, or snake.
Brass is a wealth attractor and has often been used as a shiny substitute for the much more costly gold. The ancients loved placing their gems in brass for the way it made the beautiful colors really stand out.
While we often think of herbs and flowers as having special properties, it is much less commonly known that fruits also contain much magic you must try for yourself:
Apples: This beloved “one a day” fruit is associated with the goddess Pomona and contains the powers of healing, love, and abundance. Samhain, the high holiday of the Wheel of the Year, is also called the “Feast of Apples,” and they are used on the Halloween altar during this festival. Cutting an apple in half and sharing the other half with your beloved will generate magic so that the two of you will stay happy.
Apricots: This juicy treasure is associated with Venus and the power of love, and it is believed that drinking the nectar will make you more romantically appealing. The juice of the apricot is used in rituals and love potions. Truly a food of the goddess!
Avocados: The luscious avocado is not just delicious, it also brings forth beauty and lustfulness.
Bananas: A bunch of bananas packs a magical punch with powers of abundance and fertility for both men and women. Anyone who gets married beneath a banana tree bower will have a lucky marriage. One caveat: never cut a banana, only break the fruit apart. Otherwise, you’ll bring bad luck to your household.
Blackberries: Blackberries are the medicine that pops up anywhere, offering a delightful snack as well as serious healing, love, and abundance. Both the vine and the berries can be used for money-bringing spells. Thorny blackberry vines are wonderful as protective wreaths for your home, and the plant vine and the berry can be used for prosperity and money spells.
Blueberries: These berries are almost like a shield against the evil eye made of fruit, as they offer great protection. You can tuck them under the mat at your front threshold to ward off bad energy and evil if you feel someone is attempting to do you harm with hexes or sending bad energy your way.
Cherries: Beloved for their bright red color and taste, cherries are associated with romance as well as powers of divination. Useful in love spells, the Japanese believe tying a strand of hair from your head onto the blossom of a cherry tree will bring a lover to you.
Figs: Figs hold a place in our culture from the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Unsurprisingly, they are associated with sexuality and fecundity. If eaten ripe off the tree, this fruit will aid in conception and help men with issues of impotence. A fig tree grown outside the bedroom will bring deeply restful sleep and prophetic dreams. Outside your kitchen, a fig tree will ensure there will always be plenty of food for your family. Anywhere a fig tree grows it will bring luck and safety. A folk charm holds that gifting someone a fig grown by your own hand binds them to you. Wield your figs wisely.
Grapes: Planting grapevines grants you abilities for money magic as well as gardening and farming. The ancient Romans painted pictures of grapes on the garden walls to ensure good harvests and fertility for women. Eat some grapes for mental focus, and magical spell workings for money are abetted greatly by placing a bowl of grapes on the altar.
Lemon: This beloved member of the citrus family confers the rare power of longevity as well as faithful friendship, purification, love, and luck. The juice from lemons mixed with water can be used to consecrate magical tools and items during the full moon. Dried lemon flowers and peels can also be used in love potions and sachets. Bake a lemon pie for the object of your desire and he or she will remain faithful to you for all time. Imbibing lemon leaf tea stirs lust.
Oranges: Like the joyful color of this fruit, oranges are a fruit of happiness in love and marriage. Dried orange blossoms added to a hot bath make you more beautiful. A spritz of orange juice will add to the potency of any love potion. Orange sachets, pomanders, and other gifts made with this fruit offer the recipient utter felicity, thus it is an ideal gift for newlyweds.
Peaches: It might seem obvious, but eating peaches encourages love. They also enhance wisdom. An amulet made with the pit can ward off evil. A fallen branch from a peach tree can make an excellent magic wand, while a piece of peach wood carried in your pocket is an excellent talisman for a long life.
Pears: It is believed this uniquely shaped fruit brings prosperity and a long life. Somewhat similarly to peaches, the pear nourishes powers of lust and love. Shared with a partner, pears can be used to induce sexual arousal. Pear wood is also very good for magical wands.
Pineapple: While renowned as a symbol of hospitality, pineapples represent neighborliness, abundance, and chastity. Dried pineapple in a sachet added to bath water will bring great luck. The juice hinders lust when consumed. Dried pineapple peel is great in money spells and mixtures.
Plums: Plums are for protection and add sweetness to romantic love. A fallen branch from a plum tree over the door keeps out negative energy and wards off evil.
Pomegranates: Here we have powers of divination, making wishes come true, and engendering wealth. Eating the seeds can increase fruitfulness in childbearing; you can also carry the rind in a pocket sachet. Always make a wish before eating the fruit, for your wish will come true.
Raspberries: This sweet berry has tremendous powers for true love and home safety. Hang the vines at doors when a person in the house has died so that the spirit won’t enter the home again. The leaves are carried by pregnant women to help with the pains of childbirth and with pregnancy itself. Raspberries are often served at table to induce love. Raspberry leaves are also carried for luck.
Tomatoes: Reminder: the tomato is a fruit! An easy money spell is to place a fresh-off-the-vine tomato on the mantle every few days to bring prosperity. Eating tomatoes inspires love. They are great to plant in your garden as an aid to ward off pests of all kinds!
After an illness or any event wherein you feel the need to rid your home of unhealthy energy, head to your metaphysical five and dime and gather these essences. Anoint your home in order to return grace to your space and protect you from harm. Simply rub any one of the following essential oils, undiluted, on your doorjamb: cinnamon, clover, cypress, dragons blood, frankincense.
Walk through the door and close it securely. Take the remaining essential oil and anoint every other door and window. At the witching hour, midnight, light anointed white candles and place them in every doorway and windowsill. Sing:
My home is my temple, Here I will live and love and be healed.
Janet Boyer
I love the idea of green burials! I first heard of Recompose right before it launched. I wish there were more here on the East Coast; that's how I'd l...
Victoria
I would say as neopagans we are constructing our futures rather than reconstructing THE future. I'm not sure if we are in the process of becoming a tr...
Steven Posch
Not so sure about "culty," though.Many--if not most--peoples with a collective sense of identity have a term for the "not-us people": barbaroi (non-He...
Mark Green
OK, this is funny.But could we [i]please[i] stop using that word (or, worse, "Muggles")?Having a down-putting term for people who aren't a part of you...
ty!
