Witch Bottles 2

Here is a whole lot of info on Witch Bottles. Found this article to be very informative so I thought I would pass it along. Enjoy.


Witch-bottles are probably quite familiar to many Pagans, at least as a concept. Witch-bottle isn't a poor little Witch in a bottle, or hold something Witches drink in their gatherings. They are more akin to a "bottled spell". The tradition originates from British folklore, traveling with British immigrants to the Americas, if not further. Many modern Pagans have included Witch-bottles in their collection of spells, widening and diversifying this old tradition - and making it more comparable with their personal ethics.

A Bit on the History of Witch-bottles
The history of Witch-bottles goes back hundreds of years. The origins of this tradition has been dated to the 1500's. They were used most actively for a couple of hundred years. This is the same time when the Witch-hunts were going on. After this period, the tradition slowly waned. The last historical Witch-bottle was found in a cabin built in mid 19th century, in Pershore, Worcestershire (UK).

The actual bottle of a traditional Witch-bottle during the 16th and 17th century was a German stone bottle called "bartmann" or "bellermine" bottle. Similar bottles of stone material were manufactured in Holland and Belgium. The technique wasn't mastered in England before the 1660's and bartmann bottle manufacturing was rare in Britain.

The bottle got its name from a cardinal called Bellarmino only after the Witch-bottle tradition had already begun. These bottles had a round belly and they were decorated with a facial image of a grim looking bearded man and a medallion of stylized floral or natural imagery.

Even though these bottles were being manufactured actively in Germany long before the time of Bellarmino - who was against the Reformation - these bottles were given their familiar name as a satirical comment on the Cardinal. His bearded figure resembled the typical bearded man depicted on these bottles.[1] Later on, the bearded image was taken to represent the Devil, which suited well for Witch-bottles, after all -- witches were considered as people allied with the Devil.

Glass bottles were also used, but according to my sources they were never as popular as Witch-bottles as were the bartmann ones.

Old Witch-bottles contained things like bent iron nails, human hair (head hair and pubic hair) and urine. Urine as an important ingredient of a Witch-bottle has been long known in folk traditions, but actual findings with the bottle still containing urine have been rare. However, all of the Witch-bottles found in England which were tested for urine, did prove positive. Other traditional items contained in Witch-bottles include small bones, thorns, needles, pieces of wood and in some cases heart-shaped pieces of cloth.

The bottles were most often found buried under the fireplace. Other sites include under the floor, buried in the ground there, and plastered inside walls. The fireplace is, from a magical point of view, a security risk as it has a straight connection with the open skies above. It was believed that the curse of a Witch or even a Witch herself in a shape-shifted form could get into a house through the fireplace. Another security risk was the doorway, as doors are opened and closed several times throughout the day. In addition to the fireplace, the bottles were often hidden near the doorway.

On the Original Uses
The most active period of Witch-bottle usage and the Witch-hunts don't coincide by accident. The fear of Witches produced ways of protecting oneself against them during times when slightest misfortune was easily interpreted as being caused by a curse put on one or another member of the family. From the point of view of a present day Witch, the original purpose for building a Witch-bottle wasn't that pleasant: they were intended to keep Witches and Witches' curses away. The contents of a Witch-bottle was designed to not only divert an attacking Witch, but also to cause her to suffer the agonies brought on by all the nasty things inside the bottle. To put it simply: to turn the curse back to the curser.

The urine in the bottle symbolizes the target of the curse. The curser and the target of the curse were believed to have a strong connection and the curse was believed to target not only its intended victim, but also the bodily fluids of the target. When the bottle was placed in a way that made it easier for the curse to meet with the urine (in the Witch-bottle) before the actual target, the curse hit the bottle and not its intended victim. This is why the bottles were usually hidden where they were. The importance of pubic hair and hair was similar to that of the urine.

Witch-bottles are very much a part of age-old traditions of sympathetic magic with its intentions of causing pain for the Witch with the contents of the Witch-bottle. According to folk beliefs, the use of Witch-bottles sometimes brought the Witch herself, writhing in agony, knocking on the door - begging for somebody to break the Witch-bottle and promising to reverse the curse.

The Witch-bottle was believed to be active as long as the bottle remained hidden and unbroken. People did go though a lot of trouble in hiding their Witch-bottles. Those buried underneath fireplaces have been found only after the rest of the building has been torn down or otherwise disappeared.

Modern-Witch-Bottles
Very generally speaking, the modern day Witch-bottles are very similar to historical Witch-bottles in their basic structure, even though their intended purpose has changed. The most common purpose for constructing a Witch-bottle today is capturing negative energies targeted at the constructor of the bottle, her family or her home. Even though some bottles are "mirroring" in nature, they aren't normally built to cause agony to the sender of negative energy/caster of curses. Some Witch-bottles are intended to change negative energy into positive one and then release it into the surrounding area. This kind of bottles could be classified as "guard and protect"-bottles.

The basic structure of Witch-bottles can be used for purposes other than protective: for financial gain, for helping with artistic creativity, to call forth positive energy (instead of "just filtering out negative energy"), for improving health, etc.

One could say that the basic principle is the following: practically speaking, a Witch-bottle is a container of some sort, usually a jar or a bottle, which is filled with objects and often also liquids which fill a given magickal purpose. The person making the Witch-bottle, or in other words, the one casting the bottled spell, can charge the objects magickally beforehand and build the bottle to work on this charging until the need of renewing the spell arises. Witch-bottles can also be built to recharge themselves by the energy they 'capture' for as long as the bottle stays unbroken, whether it be years or centuries.

Instead of magickally charging the items, one can build a bottle whose the powers are based on its contents, but cumulatively so, resulting with powers stronger than the sum of its parts. Also this version can be designed to be seasonal or "one time lasts a life time".

What Do Modern Witch-Bottles Contain?
The typical contents of the basic protective Witch-bottle today is quite similar to that of the traditional one: bent iron nails (some say they are better if old and rusty while others say clean and unused are best), thorns, rusty razor blades, broken glass or pieces of broken mirror (some say breaking a mirror for Witch-bottle use causes bad luck, others claim that breaking a mirror for this particular use will not cause bad luck except for people sending negative energies to the bottle builder), or other sharp and dangerous "nasties", urine of the bottle's builder, often also menstrual or other blood. One could use semen as the masculine counterpart for menstrual blood. The bottle is often a common tight-lidded glass jar, or a bottle with a rather wide mouth.

Other types of Witch-bottles may contain sand or different colored sands, crystals, stones, knotted threads, herbs, spices, resin, flowers, candles (no, you won't burn them inside the bottle), incense (you won't burn it either), votive candles, salt, vinegar, oil, coins, saw dust, ashes etc etc. Actually, everything used in "normal spells" can be used in this bottled version of a spell, the Witch-bottle.

Additional materials include candles and/or wax to seal the bottle/jar with. The rest of the materials depend on the ritual in question (if any) and the religion of the builder of the bottle.

On the Hiding Place
A Pagan living in their own house may be able to hide the Witch-bottle in the traditional way under the fireplace, under the floor, or in the walls. However, it is more common to bury the bottle in the yard in a place where nobody will accidentally break it while digging in the garden. One such place is behind stones under the stairs. For a Pagan living in a terraced house burying the bottle in the garden should work well - as long as you are careful not to attract too much attention to yourself while burying an odd object (the bottle) during the correct phase of the Moon, at night, with just candle light, wearing suspicious looking ritual garments.

Apartments can be a difficult place to live in when you're trying to find somewhere to hide a Witch-bottle. Or, at least it may seem like that! Digging a hole and burying the bottle in the yard may be not only difficult, but also quite likely not allowed. Nosy kids can dig the bottle up and hurt themselves on the contents. Not to mention that in the right (or wrong, to be more precise) neighborhood could cause lots of trouble for the Pagan attempting to hide a bottle in the yard.

However, the situation is not that impossible! The bottle doesn't need to be situated near the home in order for it to work. If you are constructing a bottle intended to be a personal safety guard, it can be buried in a forest or sunk in a swamp. With a Witch-bottle designed to guard a given home and those living in it, you can use a large flowerpot by the front door or on the windowsill to bury the bottle in to. In this case, the bottle should be small enough to fit in the flowerpot - with the plant!

Another idea I've heard is putting the Witch-bottle into a closet next to the front door, where it could easily do its job as a guardian and protector of the home and its inhabitants. However, this solution might cause some trouble if the same thing that happened to one Pagan happens to you: the Witch-bottle she kept in her closet worked very well - until it one day literally blew up. The bottle was of the very traditional type, so cleaning up after this wasn't that pleasant, as you can well imagine! While refining the idea further, we ended up putting the bottle in a covered bucket filled with soil and then putting the bottle inside the bucket in the closet.

For a Pagan still "in the closet" or living in something like student housing with a room mate these ideas may not be that usable. There's still no need to panic, as Witch-bottles can be made in miniature size, too. One witch working with test tubes in her professional life worked out recycling methods for test tubes as miniature Witch-bottles small enough to fit in the flowerpots on her windowsill. If you want to use test tubes, make sure you can close them tightly. There are also miniature bottles and jars available at various gift shops which can be used as well.

It should be noted that not all Witch-bottles are designed to be hidden away. Some are intended to be left out in the open, for example on the windowsill, on your altar or on your (work) desk.

Some Instructions
The next part contains some instructions for making Witch-bottles. I won't be including any particular instructions for rituals. First, because the exact rituals used depend on the religion of the person crafting the Witch-bottle and rituals aren't even always necessary. One doesn't even have Pagan religious inclinations for constructing a Witch-bottle. One of the persons who has made a Witch-bottle with my instructions is completely unaffiliated religiously, doesn't consider himself a Pagan, and is more or less an Atheist. He is, nevertheless, very happy with the results. Second, planning the ritual (if one decides to have one) can be considered an important part of constructing a Witch-bottle. As important as planning and gathering the objects used. Third, if you are using a pre-made ritual, you can easily end up repeating somebody else's words and copying somebody else's motions, without proper emotions. Finally, modifying things to suit you better is in this context not only allowed, it's recommended!

Basic Bottle for a Modern Witch
This is the tried and tested basic Witch-bottle, suitable also for modern day Pagans. The bottle is intended to be one that protects its maker, often also the maker's home and family, from negative energies. Depending on how the bottle is made and on the maker's Will, the bottle can be one that gathers the negative energies in itself (capturing), one that sends the energies back to where they came from (mirroring) or one that changes negative energy into positive (transforming). I would say, however, that this traditional Witch-bottle isn't the best suited one for the last option.

Materials


Glass, earthenware or stone bottle or jar, with a tightly closing cap. Size depending on how big you can easily hide. Size doesn't matter that much, so be reasonable.
Protective gloves for handling items you'll be putting in the bottle. A Witch-bottle won't help you much if you manage to get a blood poisoning while constructing one.
Wax or candles to seal the bottle. Black is a good choice.
Another jar for "potty" if you don't have one. Aiming isn't that easy, especially if you're trying to hit something like a Witch-bottle. So, you'll need something to pee into - and of course you'll need your urine.
All kinds of "nasties": Nails, rusty and bent (you can bend them yourself, too). Pieces of barbed wire, thorns, burrs, pieces of glass and/or mirror, needles etc.
Some things to choose from: Menstrual blood (if you are female) or semen (of you are male). You can drain menstrual blood from your menstrual pads or tampons, in order to get semen. Well, you do know how to get it. Word of advice, though - if you are using sex magick as a part of your Witch-bottle building ritual, do try to remember that you were supposed to collect some of the semen to use in the bottle. It's not that easy to collect it out of your partner, you know. Other blood - get a sterile needle from the pharmacist and remember to buy some band-aids as well. You can also add your pubic or other hair to represent yourself. An egg can also be included.
Bandages should be readily available, in the case something happens. A lot of the stuff you're putting into the bottle is sharp.
Preliminary preparations

Gather all the necessary items, your bodily fluids being the very last ones as you don't want to store them even for a day. You can collect other items intended for a Witch-bottle over a long period of time, storing them until you have all the necessary items and enough of them. Items found on the ground suit the purpose well. Cut metal items into smaller pieces if necessary so that they fit into the bottle you've chosen. If you're using a very small bottle, remember that will need only a very very small number of each item or alternatively small items (broken needles, tiny nails etc).

Choose a date to suit your magickal workings best and plan your ritual, if these things are important for you. Waning moon is often considered a suitable time for building a Witch-bottle. The ritual can consist of just the visualization of the bottle's intended use.

You can use the following to help with your visualization:

Your bodily fluids are intended to symbolize yourself, they are part of your essence and are traditionally used in magick. Instead of having the negative energies hitting you, they hit your "representative" in the Witch-bottle, the part of your essence.

For a capturing bottle: The "nasties" inside the bottle are intended to capture the negative energies - the metal captures them, the glass confuses and cuts them, the thorns puncture them and iron (and egg) dissolve them. You can visualize the negative energies drowning in the urine. If you are building a mirroring bottle, visualize the glass and mirror mirroring the negative energy back to its sender or to grounding it to earth. For a transforming bottle you can use colored glass and visualize the negative energy transforming into positive one before continuing on its journey forward to benefit you, your home or the universe.

Choose the place to hide your Witch-bottle before you make it. Be sure you have all the necessary equipment like a shovel. By the time the bottle is finished, it's too late to start pondering "but where will I put this thing?" If you are going to bury the bottle in the ground, choose the place so that people or animals will not dig it up.

The Actual Making of the Bottle

Have all the necessary equipment and items at hand in a place you consider best suitable for the task, at a time most suitable for you. Cast a circle, if you feel one necessary. You can build the bottle and have your ritual at the site of where you will hide it or do everything else in one place and then take the ready bottle elsewhere to be buried.

Fill the bottle with items you've chosen until they form a disgusting mixture. Shake the bottle to mix the items, if necessary. If you are including an egg, don't break it and add it as the last of the solid items. Remember to leave enough room for it as well.

After this, add urine, menstrual blood or semen, or prick your finger with the sterile lancet and add as the very last thing a few drops of your blood. You won't need large amounts, blood and semen are considered potent, so few drops will do.

Close the cap or lid and seal the bottle. You can carve symbols of your choice (for example runes, a sigil), being careful not to break the seal. If this happens, remove the wax and start the sealing process again.

If you are going to go to another place to hide the bottle, clean up after yourself especially if there is any chance that somebody else will get to the place where you were building your bottle before you come back from hiding it! If you did cast a circle before starting, take it down. Remember to ground yourself (if you are creating the bottle at the place where you're hiding it, you can do this afterwards).

Travel to the hiding place and hide your Witch-bottle in a suitable manner. Banishing words suit the situation well and if you don't know how or don't want to use traditional banishing spells or something similar, you can even swear like a drunken sailor! You can bury the bottle upside down, putting more nasties in the hole you buried around the bottle before covering it all up. If you are hiding the bottle somewhere inside your home, hide it the right way up.

Wiccan Version
The Wiccan versions of the Witch-bottle which follow are more suitable for the Wiccan view of the world, magick and ethics. They are often intended to capture the negative energies or prevent it from ever arriving and - what's important - prevent it to harm the home and its inhabitants. Many of these Wiccan versions are very much like the basic bottle described above, so it isn't necessary to repeat everything over. However, you can use wine, (apple) vinegar or blessed (salted) water instead or in addition to urine. The nails used may be new, etc.

Many Wiccan Witch-bottles use herbs, with the herbs being chosen according to their magickal qualities. There are sometimes very specific instructions given for the gathering of each herb and other items, including correct phases of the Moon. The herbs and other objects may be put in the bottle the previous day, letting the bottle stand by the witch's bed over the night. In the morning, you can add (morning) urine to the bottle, after which the bottle is closed and sealed utilizing Wiccan rituals. Some instructions state that the bottle will be placed in a cupboard or closet, so you don't necessarily have to carefully hide it.

The following instructions are a basic version of a Wiccan version of the Witch-bottle, using herbs. You can do everything using a longer/more complex or a shorter/simpler route, depending on your own inclinations. You can for example start collecting the necessary items on a given phase of the moon (for example on the day before New Moon) and perform the ritual on the next Dark Moon. Or, you can collect the items when you have time for it and build the bottle at any phase of the moon (with protective spells, you don't always have to wait for the right phase of the moon - you do it when you have to). You can utter a suitable spell with every item added to the bottle, summoning the spirit of the item/accessory and meditate for a while - or you can speak your chosen words after the bottle is filled. You can make the bottle as part of a ritual, or you can construct a ritual especially for this occasion. One reason why I'm being so vague with the instructions is that I'm not Wiccan myself.

Materials


Bottle or jar, with a tightly closing cap or lid
Sea salt
Crystal or stone, for example turquoise, obsidian or black onyx.
Herbs, for example acasia, aloe, lilies, lime, lotus, agrimony, corn, cayenne and black pepper, dried onion, salvia, frankincense, basil, mint, myrrh, garlic, rosemary, mistletoe, pine needles.
A few nails or needles
Wine, (apple) vinegar or urine
Thread
Black candle for sealing
The usual tools used in the ritual section
Preliminary Preparations

You can choose the herbs and crystals you are going to use according to their special qualities or use some of those I've listed. You can also use a drop or two of an essential oil instead of a herb. You can choose the number of herbs and solid items in general (in this case, essential oil is counted as "solid") to put in the bottle on numerological grounds either so that the number of all solid items is a specific one, or that you will use a certain number of herbs. Suitable numbers are 7, connected to protection, or 9, connected with the Goddess.

Gather the necessary items. Clean the bottle you are going to use. Wash it with warm soapy water carefully (if you can use a specific soap made for protective purposes, so much the better) and dry it well. You can leave the bottle over night in the light of a full moon to charge it. Choose a place to hide the bottle. For a bottle to be filled as part of a ritual or ritually, it is a good thing to have all the necessary tools at hand, on your alter. You can also construct your ritual and spells and chants beforehand.

The purpose of the crystal (which isn't absolutely necessary, the list is given as an example - including the liquid items) is to use it's magickal qualities, the same goes with the herbs. The salt is there to purify and bless the target of the Witch-bottle (the person(s), home to be protected). The nails and needles ground the negative energy and you can also visualize it being then sent back to its sender, threefold. The thread tangles the negative energy in a knot similar to what you are tangling the thread into and to bend the energies away from the builder of the bottle. You can also visualize the negativity tripping over to the thread. The urine represents the builder of the bottle. When using wine or vinegar you can visualize the negative energies drowning in the liquid, with vinegar acting as a purifying element as well.

The Actual Making of the Bottle

If you're constructing the bottle as part of a ritual, you can perform the ritual opening as usual.

Start filling the bottle with the salt. After the salt, add needles or nails, bent or straight. After this, it's time to add the herbs. The crystals and the thread you've tangled into a "ball" can be added next. If you are adding liquids, that is done after the solid items.

When the bottle is otherwise finished, you can raise energies with a suitable chant (I've seen the traditional "Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna" recommended for this purpose) and directing it into the bottle, after which you close the bottle and seal it with the wax of the candle.

End your ritual as usual and bury the bottle into a suitable place or otherwise hide it. You can burn incense on the hiding place to seal the spell properly.

Witch-Bottle to Show Off
Witch-bottles that are intended to be left out in plain sight are not usually made to that much protect their makers, but to bring the one who has cast this bottled spell something she or he wants. The usual reasons are the reasons so common with other types of spell as well: the wish the gain more love, material gains, happiness, creativity.

I won't give any specific instructions, only basic principles:

Select the bottle or jar used according to its color, shape or the simple fact that it is pleasing to the eye. Go through the magical qualities of herbs, colors, essential oils, metals, crystals etc and choose the ones you'll use in the bottle according to how well they suit your intended purpose. You won't normally use any liquids (except for a few drops of essential oils) in bottles left in the open, they are "dry bottles". Aim for a harmonious whole. That means: don't try to squeeze in your bottle every single herb or crystal associated with, for example, wealth. Too much is too much!

Pick a few suitable herbs or oils, one suitable crystal, one suitable color. To represent the color you can add (silk) ribbon to the bottle or tie a ribbon around it, or paint a symbol representing your goals with the chosen color. You can also make a "hat" to cover the lid of the bottle, making it out of black cloth and painting a symbol on it with fabric paint or magic marker, or use the color of your spell as the color of this "hat". You can use colors as colored sands or salts. Even metals have their own magickal correspondences, so you might want to use metal dust or chips.

If you are following the phases of the moon or other celestial objects in your magick, take them into consideration while constructing the bottle. It is up to the bottle's maker whether to use a formal ritual or not.

As a basic principle, it could be suggested that sands (and metal dust/chips) usually go to the bottom, herbs and oils on the sand and the crystal in with the herbs.

Final Words
You can easily develop a large number of versions of the basic Witch-bottle to suit your (and others') needs and life situations. Even during the time historical Witch-bottles were in use, there were new versions being developed, so why not today?! There is no One True Witch-bottle (even though there probably are people who would like to claim so), only bottles more like the traditional ones and bottles of more modern variety. I have run into all kinds of bottles myself, some being love-raising bottles on the brink of going over the level of good taste and ethics (some actually going overboard) to bottles constructed to bind a given bad person very tightly. The many varieties speaks volumes for how effective this type of spell work can be and how versatile it is.


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[1] Oxoniana, vol. i. p. 232, tells how the bottle got its name: "One of the Fellows of Exeter (College), when Dr Prideaux was rector, sent his servitor, after nine o'clock at night, with a large bottle to fetch some ale from the alehouse. When he was coming home with it under his gown the proctor met him, and asked him what he did out so late, and what he had under his gown? The man answered that his master had sent him to the stationers to borrow Bellarmine, which book he had under his arm; and so he went home. Whence a bottle with a big belly is called a Bellarmine to this day, 1667."

Witch Bottles
by Faerie K. for Vox Paganorum
translated from the Finnish by Faerie K.

Witches Bottles

Was searching for activities for our Lammas celebration and came across this. I had not heard of Witches Bottles before. Thinking I am going to try this out.

Spell bottles, also known as "Witches Bottles", have been in use in England and the United States since at least the 1600's. Spell bottles were originally created to destroy the power of an evil magician or witch thought to have cast a spell against the bottle's creator. They were often ceramic vessels, filled with hair, nails, and even the victim's urine. They were also walled up into new homes as magical guardians. Spell bottles of this type continued to be used well into the 19th century.

Spell bottles are apparently of English origin. Still, one example made from a glass wine bottle dated at 1740-1750 was found in Pennsylvania in 1976. And so, such protective devices certainly found their way from England to the United States with the colonists. Spell bottles of the type described above are rarely if ever made today. However, other forms are still in use. These consist of a container, usually glass, filled with various objects of magical potency.

Spell bottles are made for a variety of purposes, and are used in numerous ways. Some are buried or otherwise hidden, while others are placed in windows of the home or in other prominent spots. All are concentrations of energy, created and empowered for specific magical purposes.

The Witches' Bottle is a very powerful means of protecting your space. It is buried on your property (if you are an apartment dweller, you might try burying it in a potted plant at your door) in order to attract all negative things to it where it traps them. If you move, by all means, then dig it up and either destroy it or bring it to your new home.
from SPELL CRAFTS by Scott Cunningham and David Harrington and other sources

Witches Bottle for Protection

Gather rosemary, needles, pins and red wine. Fill a small jar with the first three, saying while you work:

Pins, needles, rosemary, wine;
In this witches bottle of mine.
Guard against harm and enmity;
This is my will, so mote it be!

Visualize these doing just that. When the jar is full, pour in the red wine. Then cap or cork the jar and drip wax from a red or black candle to seal. Bury it at the farthest corner of your property or put it in an inconspicuous spot in your house. Draw the banishing pentagram in the dirt above it. The witches bottle destroys negativity and evil ; the pins and needles impale evil, the wine drowns it, and the rosemary sends it away from your property.

Optional ingredients

Glass jar with metal lid
Sea Salt
3 bent rusty nails
pins
needles
razor blades
cactus spines
rose thorns
broken glass
1 egg
Frankincense
Sage
Basil
Mint
Mistletoe
Yarrow
Rowanwood berries
Rue
Sandalwood
Myrrh
Garlic
Rosemary
Sealing Wax
3 drops of your blood
Urine instead of wine

Manjushri Mantra

Found this cool chant that is used by the lamas to achieve intelligence and wisdom before doing work with divination. I am going to start using it everday and see how it goes. I read that the monks go off and do this until they feel they have received the gift. I can not go off but I am still going to try to do it as often as I can during the day and every morning and night.

Manjushri mantra

Om A Ra Pa Ca Na Dhih
With a diacritic font installed, the mantra is transliterated thus:

Oṃ A Ra Pa Ca Na Dhīḥ
Manjushri is a Bodhisattva who represents wisdom, and his mantra also symbolizes that quality. He holds a sword in his right hand — symbolizing his ability to cut through delusion. In his left hand, by his heart, he holds a book — the Perfection of Wisdom teaching, or Prajnaparamita.



Om is a mystical syllable (see Om Shanti Shanti Shanti for more details).

The syllables between Om and the concluding Dhiih are the first syllables of a syllabary called the arapacana because it begins with A RA PA CA and NA. (A syllabary is like an alphabet, but made up of syllables). This syllabary is found in a number of Buddhist texts, including some Perfection of Wisdom (prajñaparamita) texts. Many of the texts in which A RA PA CA NA (and the rest of the sylllabary) appears are not connected with Manjushri, but according to Dr. Conze (in the introduction to The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom) “in later literature is is always connected with the Bodhisattva Manjushri.”

The individual syllables A RA PA CA and NA have no conceptual meaning, although they are seen as having symbolic connections with various spiritual qualities.

Here’s the schema laid out in the Large Sutra of Perfect Wisdom (adapted from Conze):

A leads to the insight that the essence of all things is unproduced.

RA leads to the insight that all things are pure and free of defilements.

PA leads to the insight that all dharmas have been “expounded in the ultimate sense.”

CA leads to the insight that the arising and ceasing of things cannot be apprehended because in reality there is no arising or ceasing.

NA leads to the insight that although the names for things change the nature of things behind their names cannot be gained or lost.

These are all important concepts in the Perfection of Wisdom, although to say they are concepts is a bit limiting — really they’re attempts to describe the indescribable nature of reality.

Dhiih is defined as meaning:

thought , (especially) religious thought , reflection , meditation , devotion , prayer; understanding , intelligence , wisdom

There’s more material on Manjushri below. See the links below the pronunciation guide for other pages.

Click here for the chant in RealAudio



Pronunciation notes:

•a is pronounced as u in cut
•c is like ch in church
•ii is like ee in bee
•The final h in dhiih has the effect of producing an echo sound. So the syllable is pronounced dhii-hii.

The Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (Variant spellings: Manjushri / Manjusri)
Manjushri is a Bodhisattva who represents wisdom. Along with Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani, he is one of a trinity of family protectors. The family that Manjushri protects is known as the Tathagata family, which includes the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, as well as Vairochana, the central figure in the Five Buddha Mandala.

"Tathagata," the name of Manjushri’s family, means "The one thus gone [to Nirvana]" or (because of the ambiguities in Sanskrit) "The one thus come [to this world]" and is an epithet of the historical Buddha.

Of all the Bodhisattvas, Manjushri has perhaps the closest association with the Buddha, and could be said to represent his genius (in the sense of his attendant deity) or daimon (attending spirit or inspiring force).



Manjushri is depicted as a beautiful young prince, usually said to be sixteen years old. His freshness and beauty represent the fresh way that the awakened mind sees the world. While the unelightened mind typically sees life as being ordinary, to those who are awakened life is magic, extraordinary, and full of potential.

The name Manjushri means "Gently Auspicious One." He is also known as Manjughosha, or "Gentle Voiced One."

Like most Bodhisattva figures, he is seated on a lotus flower. Because the lotus grows from mud in often foul water, and yet remains unstained, it is considered to represent the purity of wisdom, which can exist in the midst of delusion without being affected by it.

Manjushri’s most distinctive emblem is the flaming sword that he holds aloft in his right hand. The sword symbolizes his mind’s ability to cut through the fetters that bind beings to the cycle of delusion and suffering.

The flames suggest that the sword is not a literal one, and flames in Buddhist iconography invariably represent transformation; Manjughosa’s wisdom does not destroy ignorance in the conventional sense, but transforms it into Wisdom.

In Manjushri’s left hand is his other characteristic emblem: a book held to his heart. This book is the Perfection of Wisdom, which is both the source of his realization and a concrete symbol of it. In the Manjughosa form the book sits atop a lotus that the Bodhisattva holds in his left hand.

Manjushri features prominently in many Perfection of Wisdom texts. He makes a late appearance in the Lotus Sutra, and is particularly prominent in the Vimalakirti Nirdesa. Both of these are early Mahayana sutras. However he is most often found in the later Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, where he is, in effect, the Buddha’s spokesman. In some of these sutras, the dialogues that Manjushri has with the Buddha are so intimate that we can get a sense that we are hearing the Buddha thinking out loud.

Manjushri is associated with ordinary intelligence and mental accuity as well as transcendent Wisdom, and his mantra Om A Ra Pa Ca Na Dhih is said to confer intelligence. Shantideva, the author of the great Bodhicaryavatara ("Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life") is said to have gained his wisdom by communing with Manjushri by night, while appearing by day as a slovenly and lazy scholar-monk.

Some scholars believe that Manjushri has his origins in a Ghandharva (celestial musician) called Pancashikha, who is found in some early Pali texts. the name Pancashikha means five-crests, and has a correspondence with Manjushri’s epithet, Pancaciraka, "Possessing Five [Hair]-Braids."

Being a musician, Pancashikha is also "gentle voiced" and is praised by the Buddha for the quality of his singing. Both figures are also involved in question-and-answer sessions with the Buddha, and both are generally depicted as eternally young, although this is so common a quality that it’s not in itself persuasive.

Manjushri is often known as Kumarabhuta ("Youthful Being"), although he does also manifest in some texts as an elderly man. His quality of having eternal youth (sometimes despite appearances to the contrary) symbolizes the eternal freshness and spontaneity with which the enlightened mind approaches life.

Releasing Fear

Found this long but still relatively simple spell to release fear. So here is to a less fearful life. So Mote It Be.

You Need:

1 tablespoon of lemon juice (or another fruit juice)
1 tablespoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
1 light weight cauldron (a glass bowl works too)
1 piece of paper
1 black pen
2 black or red candles (1 of each works best)

Mix the lemon juice, sea salt, and oil into your cauldron.

Place the cauldron in front of you on the floor.

Sit comfortably and place the candles beside the cauldron (red on left, black on right.

Rip the piece of paper in half then set it aside.

Light both candles, left one first.

Now close your eyes and visualize a sphere.In the middle of the sphere, visualize yourself stuck inside, trying to get out.

See the black and red candles burning around you. Watch as the candles spin around you,getting faster each time they pass. Then see yourself magickally being released.

On one piece of paper, draw a picture of what you saw. On the other, write down your biggest fear.

Light both pieces of paper on fire, using the black for the written half, red for the drawing.

Then throw them into your cauldron.

Take the cauldron outside and pour it (paper and all) into a hole in the ground.
Cover the hole with dirt. The spell is done.

Simple Spell for Releasing Strong Emotions

Seemed like a fairly simple spell to use when dealing with intense emotional issues. By ridding yourself of this excess emotional energy, you will allow your mind and body to stay healthy. Here is to better mental and emotional health. So Mote It Be.

Ingredients:
a piece of unlined paper
a pen
a black candle
a bowl of purified water
sea sale

Spell:
Light the candle. On the paper write down any fears, frustrations, or concerns you may be feeling. Let the words come flowing from inside you, do not hold back. If you feel like saying the words aloud as you write them do so. Once you are finished fold the paper up and burn it in the candle flame. After you burn the paper, dip your fingers in the water and sprinkle yourself with it while saying:

"I release these words, I release this tension, I release this negativity from my life"

You're done!

Powerful Money Spell

While this spell is not specifically for banishing I really liked it as a way to banish poverty from your life. Maybe money really can grow on trees.

Instructions:

Take a walnut complete with shell. Crack the shell in half and eat the nut. Place one penny from the year you were born, in the shell, making a "money seed". Plant the "money seed" outside, near where you sleep (under your window is ideal). As you plant it, recite:

Fortuna, Lamia hear my plea

Hear now my will and my decree,

Lord of Sun and Wooded Deep

Wake this seedling from its sleep.

As a seedling grows into a tree

So shall this small coin ever be.

Starting small, yet ever growing

Providing blessings overflowing.

Never more than what is needed

Lest strife and greed be also seeded.

With harm to none may blessings come,

So may it be as I will it done."

Visualize a mighty tree erupting from the earth, showering you with coins and paper money.

This spell will not make you rich, but you should find that when ever money is "needed" it becomes available, either as a gift, a loan or a windfall. "

At this time of the full moon and it's subsequent waxing thought I would find some spells on releasing different kinds of things from our/my life. Some one close to me expressed the wish to release the past to be able to find love. So since sometimes we stand in our own way when it comes to finding love. This simple spell will allow you to let go of past hurts and clear the path to finding that special someone. Here is to finding new love.

Things You'll Need:
•Lavender candle
•White candle
•A natural vessel (such as a shell, a bowl made of stone or a bowl made of bone)
•1/2 cup water
•1 bay leaf
•1/8 teaspoon cinnamon


Step 1
Place all item in front of you. Place the candles on either side of the vessel. Fill the vessel with the water.

Step 2
While concentrating on letting go of the past, light the candles and add the bay leaf and cinnamon to the water.

Step 3
Sit quietly for a few minutes, still concentrating on moving forward and leaving the painful past behind you. Breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This technique allows you to inhale the good energy while expelling the bad energy.

Step 4
Feel yourself being engulfed by the protective light and energy of the candles, water, bay leaf and cinnamon.

Step 5
Say aloud "I release the past, I release the pain. I release these bonds, I release these chains. I am free to love, I am free to give. My soul is healed, my life I'll live". Repeat three times.

Step 6
Allow candles to burn out.

Okay so this is labeled a love spell on Everything Under the Moon, but I have to agree with the author that it does seem like a great confidence and self esteem spell. I am going to give it a try tomorrow. Do not have anyone specific to concentrate on but that really does not feel important.

This spell is simple and requires no searching for exotic ingredients. It is performed to draw people to you (friends) and enhance your sexual attraction (if you desire more than friends) In many ways, this is a confidence and self esteem spell. You can focus on a specific person during the rite in order to strengthen the bond between you or to draw that person to you. Remember the laws of return however: That which you send out will often return to you.

Do a thorough physical cleaning of your bathroom, and cover any mirrors with material (white or pink towels or sheets are nice) Then draw a bath and to the water add a small handful (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup) of sea salt or other available salt while saying:

"Negativity is washed away,
I am renewed as of today!
Many heads will turn my way,
the ones I chose will wish to stay."

Light three white votive candles or place three floating candles in the bath tub, focus on your body, how sensual it is, how beautiful you are. Everyone is beautiful, this spell is just drawing out your best! Women have a strange image of what men desire, and men have an equally odd image of what women desire. This is probably our society's influences, like TV. Focus on what you like about yourself (there is something). You may also begin to focus on that specific person if desired.

Turn off the lights and turn on your favorite music if possible, something that makes you feel reckless and sexy, or calm and at peace with yourself, depending on your taste, mood, and the desired end result you want. For example, for sex, you may want a sexy rock album, for general attraction, you may want a happy mellow song. The feeling that the music evokes in you is important.

Enter the bath and relax, make sure every part of your body is immersed in the water at least once. If you don't have a bathtub, tie the salt up in a wash cloth while saying the above words, and use it in the shower.

When you are finished (I spend about an hour and a half in the bathroom and shave, shampoo, etc. beforehand) repeat the original words, plus this ending line, so you'll say:

"Negativity is washed away,
I am renewed as of today!
Many heads will turn my way,
the ones I chose will wish to stay."

"I am blessed, I am loving, I am loved and love myself! I am love!"

It may sound kinda funny, but this one really works. Feel free to intuitively add what you like to this, sandalwood or rose soap, incense, a glass of your favorite ritual beverage, bath oil... especially those made with herbal extracts or essential oils, our favorite perfume or cologne, a special bath towel purchased for this ritual only, etc. Your intuition will only serve to refine this working and enhance its effects!

So I was thinking about beauty. How beauty is in the eye of the beholder. How some people are beautiful as they age, and some only when they are young. How you read in books about people surrounding themselves with a glamour to appear more attractive. So I went hunting for spells. Here are two that I found at Everything Under the Moon by Starwitch. I like them both but on this first one it is not clear which 'sex' symbol you are supposed to use. And I am not sure what the symbol for a mirror is. Looked through a few of my books and could find nothing.

Glamour Spell 1:

You will need:
1 wine glass of water
1 pinch of salt
1 red candle
1 light blue candle
1 red rose (no scars or imperfections for best results)
1 round hand-held mirror

Procedure:

Drop the pinch of salt into the glass of water saying:

“Beauty be within me.
Beauty now set me free.”

Carve the symbol of sex into the red candle. Carve a mirror symbol into the light blue one. Light the two candles, first the light blue one and then the red. Lay the mirror between the two candles and scry into your reflection. Drop the rose petals one by one onto the mirror. After this is done, drink the water and say:

“Beauty, beauty come to me.
Beauty, beauty set me free.

Let the candles burn down all the way.



Glamour Spell 2:

You need one or more pink candles.
A handheld mirror
Love oil
“Dress” candles in love oil
Next light the candles & stare deeply into the mirror
Visualize the change you want.
Recite this incantation aloud:

"Sacred flame, as you dance
Call upon my sacred glance.
Call upon my second sight,
Give me (fill in what you want here)
With your light.
Blessed flame, shinning bright,
Give me now my second sight.
Power of three, let them see, let them see"

Okay so I have been doing this little spell I found on banishing poverty from your life. A really simple spell. The directions given were written in a way that did not really make sense so this is what I did. I started this seven days before the new moon. Every day I wrote on a piece of toilet paper " I banish poverty from my life".signed my name and flushed it down the toilet. On the seventh day I wrote "I have banished poverty from my life". signed my name and flushed it down the toilet. I loved the symbolism of flushing away unwanted 'crap' from my life. We will see how it works. So Mote It Be.

Emotional Healing

Found this interesting article/spells on WhiteMagic.com just thought it might be helpful.

The point of performing the spell is to remind your heart that the time for healing has and it

also helps to make a painful time a little more bearable. Continue the spell for as long as needed.

You may want to freshen the balm once a week and if the span of time passes through a full moon,

renew your rose quartz by following the Full Moon Ritual. If months have gone by, you may want to

stop and consider what it is that is holding you back from healing. It's good to take time, but life must

go on and you must get back to living. You make your own happiness and no one can take that

away from you, unless you let them. You have to live your life for you and live it the way that makes

you happy, having you heart broken sucks, but it's up to you how long you are going to be miserable.

Rethink these things and redo the spell to remind yourself that now is the time to heal.

If you are performing this spell for someone else, you can collect all the items needed and present

them with a description of each item, what it is for and what they are supposed to do with them.

It is important that they perform the spell, either alone or with you, for the doing is apart of the healing.

Items needed: Fresh Balm leaves, Rose Quartz, Frankincense oil (or incense) and a cup, bottle or

flask to hold water.

Find a place where fresh running water is available, such a river or stream.

If you know of a water fall, that would be ideal.

If you only have access to a pond or lake, it will do, but if you have absolutely no access to any of

the above, you'll have to use tap water, but distil it by letting it sit overnight.

If it is winter and all is frozen, still go to your spot and gather snow off of the ice to replace water.

Once you're at your spot, sit and listen to the water flow(imagine, if winter), and let your heart ache.

When you feel engulfed in pain, fill your container with water and place the fresh Balm leaves in it.

As you close you container, say:

"This is water is to heal, this herb is to soothe, and I will be happy again."

Take your container home and place it on your alter or surface that you'll be working on.

Set a Rose quartz and a red candle next to your cup of water.

Anoint yourself with Frankincense oil to help you block negativity (or burn incense) each morning for

3 days or until you are healed. Light the Red Candle each morning until you are healed and say:

"Now is the time to be strong and passionate about the things that I love.

I will spend time doing things that make me happy and these things will help me to heal."

Sometimes when you've been hurt, it's hard to remember what makes you happy.

This is the time to make the effort to remember or to find something new.

Place the Rose Quartz in your pocket or wear it somewhere on your body everyday

until you are healed and say each morning:

"I will love myself and let others love me, as I need my friends now.

I carry this stone as a reminder that others care about me and I am never alone.

This will help me to heal."

Even if you feel alone, remember that your parents, friends, siblings or pets,

even the spirits of your ancestors and loved ones are all apart of you and this

makes it so we are never truly alone in this world.

Blow out the Candle and take in it's smoke, then carry your stone,

wear your oil, (or breathe in incense every morning) until you are healed.

The spell calls for a three day span until you are healed, but depending on the

severity of your pain, the span may vary.

Banishing Grief Spell

This spell is said to help one let go of painful feelings of grief. It is for those times in life when it seems impossible to feel joy again, such as after losing someone close to you.

Items Needed:

A smoky quartz gemstone
Bowl of water
Three tablespoons of sea salt


Begin by holding the stone in your power hand. See your grief in your mind's eye. Visualize the grief moving from within yourself and through your hand to the stone. As you do this, say:

Banishing stone,
Fill yourself with my grief,
so that I may feel joy again,
So be it, blessed be!

Stirring counterclockwise, mix the sea salt into the bowl of water, then add the smoky quartz stone. Swish the stone around three times in a counterclockwise motion. Leave the stone in the water for a few minutes, then take the stone outside and safely throw it as far as you can away from yourself.

Invisibility 5

To be spoken aloud by a single operant whilst all operators slowly spin widdershins, with eyes wide open and arms outstretched. Operators visualize a sphere of dense black, smoky darkness enveloping the area surrounding them as the Enochian invocation is delivered:

URANUN CARIPE BAGLEN OL
GEMEGANZA DE-NOAN CHIIS GOSAA
ZAMICMAGE OLEOL AG-SAPAH ARPHE
ORESA ETHAMZ TAA TABEGISOROCH
ZODINU AR ZURAH PAREMU
ZODIMIBE PAPNORGE MANINUA
ZONAC DODSIH HOXMARCH TRIAN
AMONONS PARE DAS NIIS KURES

Translated:

Visible only by will, I blind and make deaf all others who may see or hear me.
A darkness shall cover them like that at the bottom of the ocean,
and they shall leave immediately.
Forgetfulness will envelope their minds and anxiety grip their hearts
should they come to interrupt us in our work.

The operators then see the smoky darkness dissipate as all that is within the working area begins to "fold". The unfolding process is completed by laughter whilst spinning quickly deosil, high speed, to a full stop.

Invisibility 4

This "invisibility" spell takes practice and falls into the realms of meditation and mental magick. The Spell:

"Dragon fog and chameleon sight, I command the shrouded sea.
I blend the mist, I mix the light, Refract, around, behind me"

Memorize it, then practice making the edges of yourself fuzzy while chanting the spell. No you won't disappear in front of someone's eyes, but if a person isn't thinking about you, then you can move well without being seen, sort of like a chameleon that blends in with it's surroundings

Invisibility 3

Relax and become conscious of every part of your body. Feel your skin. relax and feel the photons of light hitting your skin, a rain of warmth over your entire body. Now start repeating to yourself. "Light pass through and around me, nobody will see me. Light pass through and around me ..." and as you chant (out loud or in your head) feel the rain of photons passing around and through you until you don't feel them any more. Bang! you are effectively hidden.

I have done this in class then raised my hand to answer questions and have the teacher look straight at me and say "You mean nobody will even try" and people looking for me look right past me. I will say that the invisibility is fairly fragile meaning that if you make yourself noticed people will notice. I assume that you could do a similar things for other objects. I have never actually tried it but I believe it would work

-Stormchaser

Invisibility 2

Perform the spell below when you are around other people and you would rather them not notice you. This won't make you really invisible, like David Copperfield, but it will draw attention away from you and make others seem to not notice you are there at all.

Close your eyes and imagine a sphere of white light around you. Then imagine that the light starts to get blurry. It then takes on the colors and shapes of the environment around you. You fade into the light, becoming a part of it, until you completely disappear into the camouflage of the circle of light around you.