The Element Encyclopedia of 1000 Spells: A Concise Reference Book for the Magical Arts

The Pros and Cons of the Graveyard

The cemetery is the place where dangerous entities lurk, dangerous people, too! Although a Greek word, the term “necropolis,” city of the dead, stems from ancient Egypt. Once upon a time, the devastatingly poor made their home among the graves. This situation still exists in many places, to greater or lesser extent. On the other hand, cemeteries are places of great neutral power (think of all that swirling radiant energy!), which is able to be harnessed for good or evil, as the practitioner intends or desires.

Even in the cemetery, bypassing actual grave-sites, certain areas are more packed with power than others. The threshold of the threshold, so to speak, is at the cemetery gates. Older cemeteries traditionally feature iron gates to provide this boundary. Iron, with the exception of menstrual blood, is the single most protective substance on Earth, and will repel and contain malevolent spirits and ghosts. Many spells request that items be left at the cemetery gates: this is not because people were afraid to enter the graveyard itself, but because that threshold is so much more powerful.

Many powerful spirits, such as India’s Kali and Shiva, Matron and Patron of Tantra, reside in the cemetery, as do ancient Egypt’s road-openers, Anubis, the jackal-headed inventor of embalming, and Wepwawet, a wolf deity. (Say the name fast and hear that wolf cry.)

Accessing the power of crossroads and cemeteries is common to most magical traditions, to varying extents. Specific other traditions recognize and incorporate still other crossroads.

The Bathhouse

Prior to the advent of private, indoor plumbing, the public bathhouse was a place of great social importance, a crossroads to which everyone eventually came. Its purpose was not only hygienic and social, but spiritual and magical, too.

In the days before privacy, public bathhouses were required for spiritual cleansing rituals as well as physical ones. The bathhouse attendant, now most frequently a lowly janitorial occupation, was once a respected, and perhaps feared, ritual leader who wielded great power. In many cases they might be the only ones privy to occult secrets.

Many traditions still retain the equivalent of a bathhouse: the Jewish mikveh, the Native American sweat lodge, the Aztec temescal. Not all bathhouses feature water, as the sweat lodge demonstrates. Finnish saunas and Turkish steam baths access other methods. In the same way, cleansing spells are as likely to use smoke, sound, or other methods as water. The bathhouse, whether wet or dry, was frequently the scene of many threshold experiences:

Babies were born in bathhouses

Preparation for brides and sometimes grooms occurs in the bathhouse

Cultures that isolate menstruating women frequently have rituals held in the bathhouse to signal her return to society at large

Bodies are prepared for funeral rites in the bathhouse

The frequency of these experiences in the bathhouse would exponentially increase the potential power contained within.

The bathhouse is the descendant of ancient springs, each the home of resident magic spirits. Many bathhouses were built on the site of springs, and the spirits took up residence in the new bathhouse. Water spirits, like the nature of their element, are frequently volatile, replete with treasure, but also with dangerous currents. These can be tremendously benevolent spirits (water spirits rank among the most powerful love spirits), but you have to know how to handle them. With the coming of Christianity and Islam, rites of devotion and pacification were forbidden and abandoned. Many spirits packed up and left; those remaining, starved of attention, are frequently grouchy. Thus the bathhouse is both a place of power and danger. Enter alone to access the spirits or avoid entering alone so that the spirits cannot access you!

Russian magic, in particular, manifests this ambivalence and will direct many spells to be performed in the bathhouse, usually at midnight.

Ruins

Ruins of buildings and cities, particularly (but not necessarily) those that met their ruin in violence, are perceived as swirling with power. This is the stuff of fairy tale: the European witch convicted purely because she has been gathering herbs amidst the ruins. It’s not like there’s any other reason to be there, the witch hunters say. Indeed, some of the most powerful magical herbs, mugwort and Syrian rue, thrive best among ruins. Many practitioners believe that these botanicals, already more powerful than most, are at the height of their power when picked there, especially at midnight, twilight or just before dawn.

Stone ruins are most powerful because stone, although silent, is in magical terms hardly inanimate. Stone is believed to retain memories of whatever occurs in its vicinity. Those memories may be accessed by those who know how.

Souls of those who perished in the ruins may linger, as may others drawn to the site. They may be accessed, if you dare. Djinn not found lurking in the desert, behind doorways or at natural springs will be found amidst ruins, the more broken the better. If you want to access them, that’s where you’ll find them. If you’re afraid they’ll access you, hurry past without stopping.

Altars

Crossroads and cemeteries are places of power precisely because they allow energy extra space and opportunity to radiate. Sometimes you want the opposite effect, a concentration of energy. The need is to concentrate power and energy in one spot, a focal spot, the very center of the crossroads, if you will. An altar allows you to do this.

Many spells direct that you build an altar.

Although the term is used by many religions to indicate an area dedicated to a deity, this may or may not be the case magically speaking. An altar in its most basic magical definition is a tableau or arrangement of specific articles. Small children are inveterate builders of tableaux, with no conscious conception of religious devotion. They simply pick up power objects and arrange them. For practice, pick any theme, magical or not, and devote a shoebox diorama or a table top to it.

The simplest ancestral altar consists of a white candle and a glass of water. The most complex Vodoun altar is an entire room, with each object carefully chosen and arranged meticulously. Nothing on an altar, whether simple or lavish, is random or arbitrary. If it’s there, it’s there for a reason.

Altars are generally erected for one or both of the following reasons:

As a communication device to summon a spirit. By adjusting objects, colors, and fragrances, you send out a specific signal requesting attention. Thus the Yoruba deity or orisha, Oshun, recognizes herself in the spectrum of colors from yellow to orange, in certain types of flowers, in honey and cinnamon. Her objects include peacock feathers and mirrors. Her number is five. The concentration of special themed objects catches her attention and invites her presence. Ideally she’ll drop by to see what’s going on. Because certain objects may be shared between deities (Aphrodite, Juno, Kybele, and Maria Padilha all love roses, although not necessarily the same color or number, and Maria Padilha prefers hers with long stems but no thorns), the more specific and detailed the tableau, the more likely you are to summon the right spirit.

Altars may be erected in tribute, as an offering of thanks for previous favors, or as part of a petition process.

As a means of concentrating energy. An altar can be devoted to a spell, not necessarily to any kind of spiritual entity. Spells that are conducted over an extended period of time, for instance nine-day spells, may benefit from a concentrated area: the spell doesn’t blend in to the background but remains distinct, its boundaries and thresholds clear. Thus all objects involved in the spell (and some spells may involve several candles plus assorted dishes and objects) are arranged together in formation.

Altars are most frequently placed atop flat furniture surfaces—dressers, bookshelves, and coffee tables. Old-fashioned televisions built into wooden cabinets were once popular altar areas.

There is a wide variety of altars beyond the tabletop tableau. Candle spells require that an altar be kept in plain sight, and many prefer this method because the constant visual presence of the altar empowers many spells. However, it is not necessary. An altar may also be maintained discreetly, within a cabinet or closed box: a shadow box altar. Miniature altars can be created within old-fashioned cigar- and match-boxes.

Altars may also be created outside. A garden, window box, or flowerpot can contain a living altar, an Earth altar. The possibilities are endless.

Altars may be intensely private or public: visualize the roadside shrines frequently erected at the site of fatal accidents. French Caribbean altars are created in sheltered places within tree trunks. If a statue is placed within the tree, passers-by can come with offerings of flowers and candles. Spells of petition dedicated to the Brazilian spirit Maria Padilha invariably begin with directions to lay black and red cloths on the ground: you are demarcating the spell’s space, effectively setting up an altar. Spells dedicated to deities of the sea often instruct you to dig a shallow pit in the sand, within which to burn candles. That hole in the sand becomes the altar.

Altars can be created from anything and erected anywhere. Water spirits, for instance, frequently prefer the bathroom to other rooms of the house, as the most watery place. A shrine (essentially a more lavish altar) dedicated to mermaids belongs in the bathroom rather than in another room that might be considered more “spiritually appropriate.” Spirits dedicated to love prefer altars in the bedroom where they can supervise and stimulate activity. Intellectual spirits like Yoruba’s Oya or India’s Sarasvati prefer their altars to be placed near books. Access the childlike, creative, playful part of yourself and it’s not difficult to build an altar.

Objects may decorate an altar or serve as the altar. Watermelons are sacred to the Yoruba spirit, Yemaya. Place a slice on her altar to call her. Hollow out a watermelon, insert some candles and the watermelon has become the altar. Wood may be used as altar decoration but also as the altar. This is particularly true of special sacred woods, such as sandalwood or aloes wood. Sometimes the deity is the wood. Hera was represented by the oak in Greece, while Diana was represented by that wood throughout Europe. A log segment is given center-stage, dressed with oil and adorned with ornaments, small candles or charms.

Unsurprisingly, the bed serves as the altar for many love spells: sheets are sprinkled with powder; power objects are tucked beneath the mattress and the pillows. Botanicals may hang over the bed or candles burn alongside it.

The body serves as an altar in many spells, particularly those for healing, love, and protection. Oil and powder may be applied to the body in the same manner as to a candle. Henna and other body decoration transforms the body into a living altar. Next time you get dressed, as you apply cosmetics, jewelry, and other ornaments, consider that you are dressing your altar—an altar that serves to communicate with other beings and concentrates your power and energy.

Not every crossroads is a location: a formal magic spell is a crossroads where the inherent magic energies of the spell’s components converge. The result of the spell is the symbiotic reaction to that convergence.

One might also consider an altar a method of demarcating sacred space

A spell may be cast by creating an altar; similar to feng shui, articles and objects are arranged to create a desired energy transformation

Although some spells specify creating one, even when it isn’t suggested, an altar may always be incorporated

Likewise, if you are seriously challenged for space, remember, magic is always about improving your life. The goal of magic is to eliminate difficulties and stress, not produce new ones. If you have no room for a formal altar, delineate space as possible. Plenty of people burn candles in the bathtub; you won’t be the first

Balance

Consider the herbalist’s scales: things are carefully weighed out to achieve a desired balance. Magic plays with balance, too. Sometimes the desire is for all forces to be equal and harmonious. At other times goals are accomplished by deliberately, consciously tipping the scales to provide the required effect.

Left and Right

Once upon a time, not too long ago, the concept of Dualism associated the direction right with God, high, male, and all those good things. Thus children were forced to use their right hands, the dexterous hand, whether that was their naturally dominant hand or not. Children who were naturally left-handed (the sinister hand) literally had it beaten out of them until they were dexterous too. Consider various phrases: in the right, Mr. Right, the left-hand path, a left-handed compliment.

Connections between genders and these directions, however, predate Dualism and Christianity. They exist in completely unrelated cultures, including some that were isolated for a very long time. Hawaiian magic, for instance, associates left with female, right with male as surely as the Chinese and many Asian, African, and European traditions. Frequently offerings to female deities are made with the left hand (by both men and women) while offerings to males are made with the right (by both men and women). Feng shui suggests that it’s beneficial for women to sleep on the left side of a common bed, while a man should sleep on the right. (Although spells intended to reverse the power dynamic within a relationship may suggest those sides be switched.)

Sometimes spells direct that an action be performed with either your left or right hand. Either one of two things is being requested.

Because left is yin and yang is right, the left side of everyone’s body is yin or affiliated with “female forces” while the right side is yang and affiliated with “male forces.” Most frequently a spell’s success depends upon accessing one force or emphasizing one quality over the other

Sometimes the spell’s success depends upon not using your dominant hand. Because until recently everyone was forced to be right-handed, many older spell books will specify casting a spell with your left hand, because it’s assumed that everyone is right-handed. This is, obviously, no longer the case