Author: A Solitary Pagan

This is a convenient heading for a variety of short topics, as evidenced by the diversity of material below. When possible, bathe before performing magic. A sachet of purification herbs added to the water can be a great help, also. Dress in clean, comfortable clothing, or nothing at all, as you wish. Some practitioners wear robes and jewelry but this isn’t necessary. It is also not necessary to ab...

There are many herbs that aid the body’s healing processes. Some of these are multi-purpose and others specific. All can be mixed into sachets which, when carried, help the body’s healing powers. Some are used in incense form, others added to the bath. Having said this, when a serious condition or severe symptoms occur, obtain medical attention immediately. Herb magic as with all magic must be bac...

This ancient form of magic comes in handy today—not necessarily to drive demons from people or buildings, but to clear away the negativity that daily living so amply provides. Purification herbs are simply less-powerful exorcism herbs and usually do not rid a place of evil entities.

These are cornerstones of magick, because no spell can be cast without them. A spell’s purpose, or intent, is what that spell is meant to accomplish. A spell will not work properly unless you are very clear, in your mind and in your words, about what you mean the spell to do. Focused intent is crucial in spell-work, Intensity is the power, passion, and energy that you pour into casting a spell. If...

Magic has been defined as the ability to create change by force of will and in some respects is not dissimilar to the power of prayer. However, in Magic, it is our personal intervention that may create the change around us. Magic is not just like cookery, as in just a matter of following a recipe and getting a result. Magic will almost definitely require a deep understanding of ourselves and the e...

It is said that if you smile in London in the morning, the smile will have reached Tokyo by evening. This principle, which lies behind all white magick, has been named morphic resonance and has been investigated for several years by the Cambridge biologist Dr Rupert Sheldrake, author of a number of excellent books based on his extensive research into psychic phenomena. Dr Sheldrake suggests that a...

Magick is a constantly flowing stream of energy. It is a  concentrated and channeled form of the life force that flows through all animate life forms, people , animals, birds, insects, and plants of all kinds. The life force is also present in rocks and crystals, in some cultures regarded as living energies, in rain sunshine, the moon, winds, storms, the rainfall, and rivers to the sea. We re...

True magick is not like a cake in which everybody must vie for a slice or be left with none: it is more akin to a never-emptying pot. Like the legendary Cauldron of Undry in Celtic myth, the more goodness that is put in, the more the mixture increases in richness and quantity. The Cauldron of Undry, one of the four main Celtic treasures, provided an endless supply of nourishment, had great healing...

Although there are many different kinds of magick, in practice all spells and more formal magical rituals tend to follow four stages, though informal spells may combine one or more steps. The Focus This defines the purpose of the ritual or spell and is generally represented either by a symbol or a declaration of intent. These could take the form of a candle etched with the name or zodiacal glyph o...

Magick is not like the magic a conjuror uses to bring a rabbit out of a hat: that kind of magic is just a trick, which relies merely on the art of illusion. White magick is much more than that. It is intensely exciting because it means that we can extend the boundaries of possibility, recalling the psychic powers of childhood when we could span dimensions as easily as jumping across a puddle. We c...

In magick, time and direction have an important place and it is necessary to understand that there may be differences according to which hemisphere of the globe you are working in. In the northern hemisphere, magical circles are cast clockwise, or ‘deosil’, which means ‘in the direction of the Sun’. In the southern hemisphere, however, practitioners casting their circles deosil should normally cas...