Instructions In The Cauldron

“I still believe they are just colourful stones! And it looks absurd to me that some candles lit on certain days could help someone ill. Days are all alike!”, I burst out as usual.

“That’s not true…let’s say that most of the energy, if not all of it, is strictly connected to moon cycles: waxing Moon and waning Moon. During the waxing phase, we have a growth: our nails and hair grow faster, we have a tendency to put on weight or to swell, so we should work on a growth energy; on the contrary, the wining phase moves away. You know, Anne, in the past people lived in close touch with Nature, they respected it and learnt from it. Every time in a month or in a years has got a different energy, we should understand when we can take advantage of it. Colours send powerful spurs to our brain”, granny went on, “I’ve always told you that violet helps me  relax and concentrate. Colour therapy is a serious science…” Not all the things she said appeared clear to me, she sometimes spoke about things I couldn’t understand, but I would keep everything she taught me as a treasure, as time passed by.

“In this particular situation”, she went on, “I want to help Stella to increase her physical strength and to detoxify from the remedies she had to take, poor woman. So I’ll have to work both on a growth energy and on a moving away one; I’ll try hard during the whole twenty-eight-days moon cycle. Have you understood, girls?”

“I have, granny”, Sarah nodded. She liked listening to those things, they had always charmed her.

“Go on…”, from my personal view, I felt attracted and reluctant at the same time. The influence of the Moon on human life was undisputed.

“Why are you doing it, granny? You don’t even know her”, my sister said while she was making Kiki play with a small ball.

“It doesn’t matter if I don’t know that woman, Sarah, I know she’s feeling bad and I want to help her with the tools I have at my disposal.”

“But she hasn’t asked you for help.”

“Good remark, Anne! By the way, don’t you think it’s evident that she wants to live, since she underwent an operation and such invading treatments, like chemotherapy? What’s more, you told me she’s keeping some stones next to herself, so she believes in the same energy as I do. She doesn’t need to ask for my help, I know in the bottom of my heart that’s the right thing to do.” My granny’s argument wasn’t wrong. “Let’s go back to ourselves, girls, make yourselves comfortable and take some paper and a pen, if you like.”

She sat down on an armchair and Kiki climbed on her legs, purring.

“Oh granny, I’ve been looking forward to this moment for so long. Look what a nice notebook I’ve kept just for this occasion. I’m going to write everything you’ll teach us”, my sister got excited.

I couldn’t believe it, my sister had just taken out a pink and glittered notebook.

“Sarah, you’re ridiculous. How old are you, five?”

“Anne, stop making fun of her, I think it’s wonderful.”

“Yes, it’s wonderful for a girl on her first year at primary school!”

“I’m going to keep here my notes about magic”, Sarah exclaimed satisfied.

“We aren’t at the pink Witches’ congregation. You’re ridiculous…that’s enough, I’ll leave!”

I got up and I ran upstairs. They were both completely crazy: the one with her ideas about energy, stones and candles; the other who was playing the fairy. I could understand by now why my mum had left home when she was just twenty! I preferred staying alone and listening to music.

After a while, however, I was lurking on the stairs. I didn’t care about what they were saying, I just wanted to understand if granny would tell Sarah any important secret.

“I’m sorry for Anne, granny, she is always so nervous lately”, I heard her say.

“Don’t worry, my dear, it’s normal to feel like that at her age. I’ll make a good St. John’s Wort tea for her tonight and you’ll see she will calm down; your mother was just like her when she was eleven…she’s still like that in fact.”

Our grandmother never got upset, my sister had certainly taken after her.

“Granny…”

“Yes?”

“Can you tell about the candles just to me, or Anne needs to be here too?”

“Oh, of course my dear! If she doesn’t care at the moment, I can’t see a reason to prevent you from learning. Well, well…where am I going to star from?”

“From Monday?”

“That’s right, from Monday: the day of the Moon, associated with white; it’s the time to tidy the house, the garden and to make our intuition grow.” She was talking slowly, to give Sarah time to write.

“Then we have Tuesday: Mars’s day, the colour is red, it’s perfect to solve tangled situations and to overcome clashes. Wednesday: it’s Mercury’s day, associated with yellow; on this day you can work on communication, on writing, on reading, to get a deeper inspiration and better possibilities of success, it’s the perfect day to instil enthusiasm. Ah, Thursday, my favourite! It’s linked to Jupiter, the colours are green and light blue, it’s devoted to finances, fortune, plenty and wealth. Friday is Venus’s day, the colours are pink and green; on Friday you can try to improve the sentimental sphere, love, friendship, but also beauty and body care. Try to have a manicure on this day, and you’ll see how nice, healthy and strong your nails will get. Saturday: Saturn’s day, the colour is black,  excellent to move away and exorcize negative forces or to increase our wisdom. And finally Sunday: the day of the Sun, the colour is orange, it’s the day of the family, of BBQs with friends, lightness and will get stronger. After that, according to the colours I have listed, we can light a colourful candle on corresponding days. If we don’t have colourful candles, we can use the white ones, they’re always good for that! Candles are the symbols of thought, idea, desire and hope. The four elements are contained into them: the Earth is the wax; the Water is the melted wax; the Fire is the flame and the Air is the smoke. I’ve recently discovered floating candles: you put some water into a bowl, with some grains of kitchen salt to represent the Earth element, you put a candle on it and you light it. They are very beautiful and safe. It’s always a good rule to oil the candle before you light it; you can use an essential oil from our production to do that, I’ll show you how to make them, it’s not difficult. Of course, you need to concentrate when you oil and light it, to instil our will to the candle. Now tell me: on which days can we help Sheila and which candles shall we use in your opinion?”

“To give her strength, a waxing Moon Tuesday, because you said that during this phase energy gets stronger, the colour of the candle will be red. To move away bad cells and the remains of remedies, a waning Moon Saturday instead, the colour will be black.”

“Excellent Sarah, really excellent!”, our granny clapped her hands satisfied.

“I’ll add two very important colours: magenta and purple red. The first one works on our psyche fast, because it has the ability of awakening the magical power of our mind. The second one instead, is the symbol of Wisdom and it is used to move bad luck away. It’s enough for today, Sarah, let’s go and find your sister now.”

I sprang up and went back into my bedroom without being noticed.

“Ok. Granny, do you really think we’ll be able to help Stella?”

“You see my child, I could never replace traditional medicine; treatments are important, but doctors and science have left behind some other sides in time. There’s always a reason behind an illness. The power of positive thoughts helps us to feel better; some people go to church, they say the rosary, they go on pilgrimage or something like that, they firmly believe in what they are doing. You can’t realize the power of our mind at all and the consequences of our words. You’ll see, your friend’s mum will get better, you mustn’t stop believing it.”

“Thanks granny. Let’s go to Anne now, if I know her well, she must be starving.

Old Mal came to the cottage the next morning.

“Here you are, the best pumpkins in all Marlow, directly from Sainsbury’s. Our girls are too grown up to play “treat or trick” along the road, but carving pumpkins is compulsory at all ages. We have to keep away the bad souls going around on that night…and don’t forget to leave some gifts for them! Talking about gifts, I almost forgot, I’ve got just two strawberry candies for you.”

He was always cheerful, he conveyed happiness just being close to him.

“Thanks Mal, you’re always spoiling us.”

“You are my favourite girls, it’s normal I want to spoil you. Susan, I don’t have any candies for you, but an invitation. You are going to be my “plus one” at Christmas dinner, to christen the new town gym.”

“Oh, Mal…I’m left wordless! Thanks, I haven’t gone out for dinner for ages. I don’t even know if I have suitable clothes”, our granny admitted pretending to be shy.

“Mum will lend you something!”, I suggested.

Our granny out for dinner with Mal, that was really something new!

“Yes, Rebecca will lend you something. You are going to be very beautiful as usual. And then, the rebuilding of the gym was made thanks to you too, with all the violet potholders you sold at the last May Fayre. It took three years to raise the money we needed, but we managed at last, and what event could be better than Christmas to inaugurate it? The dinner will be on 21st December, isn’t that great?”

“For Yule, that’s wonderful! I hope there will be also a nice decorated log.”

My grandmother had taught us since we were very young the importance of seasons, equinoxes, solstices and of certain days such as Halloween or May Day.

Halloween was for her Samhain, the Celtic New Year’s Eve; it stood for the end of the period of light and the entrance into the darkness of winter. Nature seems to die, it withdraws into itself, animals go into hibernation and also men withdraw into the warmth of their houses. It’s a magic moment, when the curtain between the world of the living and the one of the dead gets thinner; for that reason it’s a good habit to honour our dear dead, leaving gifts for them and lighting candles to help them find the light.

Our granny also explained to us that the pumpkins left outside are used to scare the damned souls who can’t find their peace and want to annoy the living.

Wearing fancy dresses and going around asking for some sweets is just a parody of these dead souls, who ask for gifts and threaten to play bad tricks. I remember that, every time we emptied a pumpkin, she kept three seeds and put them into her purse.