Spellcraft Secrets: The Art of Creating Magick Spells Made Easy

Why cast someone else's spell when you can create your own?

Okay, you've finally bought that gorgeous talisman or gem-encrusted athame that you've been drooling over for weeks. But will it work for you magickally? How do you purify it so that it is fit to be in circle with you and the Gods? And how do you make it ZING with power?
This article is now part of Spellcraft Secrets: The Art of Creating Magick Spells Made Easy. Download a FREE Trial copy.

How To Choose, Empower and ConsecrateYour Magickal Tools

Purifying Your Tool

Back to Choosing a Tool

First, why would you wish to purify your item?

Unless you've crafted your item entirely by hand, other people have likely touched it, whether the crafter, the person who packaged and shipped the item, the salesperson or stocking clerk, and numerous customers.

Even if you've created your tool from the raw materials, unless you've dug the crystals from the earth or sheared you sheep and carded the wool, others have likely touched the materials you have used.

There is no telling what these people's mindsets may have been when they handled your tool. The stock clerk may have been bored and disgusted with her job. The storeowner may have been fretting over bills or a lost shipment. The customer before you might have been contending with anything from a bad cold to a recent divorce.

Even if it's without magickal intent, every touch upon the object leaves the mental, emotional and psychic imprint of the person who has touched it. Is this energy that you really want in your magickal tool?

Even if those people were perfectly normal and perfectly happy, this tool is yours, and should contain no energy that doesn't belong to you. Additionally, cleansing it will give it a clear base to then energize with your magick.

There are several methods of cleansing objects. The one you use depends on your personal preferences as well as the nature of the object itself.

In general, the more porous an object, the more easily it will collect negativity from the ambient energy of its space, but the easier it is to cleanse that away. The more dense an object the more it will be resistant to negativity. but the harder you will have to work to remove that.

Remember also to use a cleansing method that will not damage your objects. Washing is not the best method for paper, and salt can corrode metallic objects.

Earth:

Salt is one of the most powerful cleansing materials on the planet. Nearly every culture with access to it uses salt in their cleansing magicks. Through the purity of its crystalline structure it brings order to that around it. As a negative ion (positively charged ions are those poisonous to humans) it attracts positive ions toward it, thus cleansing them away from other objects.

If salt water would be dangerous to an object, you can bury it in salt for a few days, and receive the same benefits.

As the force of the grave, the Earth itself holds powerful energy to cleanse and renew. You can bury an object under stones and earth, and the force of the land will ground and draw negativity away from it. Depending on the object and how clean it is, you may wish to bury the item for a lunar cycle or for the solar cycle of a year and a day.

Burial is best for those objects that can sustain it. Paper and fabric objects do not last long beneath the Earth, while stones and bones can stay unharmed for a considerable while.

Water:

Just as water washes your hands or your clothing clean, water can remove psychic negativity from an object.

Even more powerful than normal water is Holy Water. Though you can purchase this from a church if you desire, or if your beliefs require it, you can easily make your own holy water.

Salt is the imperative ingredient in creating Holy Water. It is the "secret ingredient" used even in the Christian Church. (We will discuss this more under Earth.) Please do tailor the following ritual to your own needs and desires. The ritual that you create personally will be stronger than one that works for anybody else, so use this as a guideline, not a straight rule.

The Holy Water Ritual:

With your athame (or pointed finger) draw a pentagram (or another symbol that has meaning to you) above the surface of the water, visualizing the water being filled with white light. Say a blessing such as: "Blessed be, O creature of Water. I conjure thee free of all impurities, and bless thee and consecrate thee to my work. So mote it be."

Draw a pentagram above the surface of the salt. Say something like: "Blessed be, O creature of Earth. I conjure thee free of all impurities, and bless thee and consecrate thee to my work. So mote it be."

Take 3 pinches of salt and drop it into the water. Stir clockwise, seven times. (7 is the number associated with the Moon.)

If desired you may loft the bowl of salt water towards the Moon, capturing the Moon's reflection in the water and empowering it.

Sprinkle the Holy Water over the object to be cleansed, visualizing negativity melting away.

Water is appropriate for any items that will not be harmed by it, such as most crystals, some cloth, silver and gold. Water dry the oils out of leather and may rust iron or steel and salt water may be especially dangerous for those materials. When using this method on any metallic tools, it is imperative to dry them well and is wise to oil them immediately afterward.

Air:

Air rises our prayers to the gods, and blows away clutter and negativity. At its simplest form, you may put your item in a high and windy area, and let the breezes blow it clean.

You can also smudge the item with a cleansing incense. Some of the best herbs for cleansing are:

Sage
Rosemary
Copal
Frankincense
Cedar
Lavender

Air cleansing is safe for many items that are not cleans-able with other methods, such as paper or some fabrics. It is excellent for removing surface negativity from any item, but will not remove deep-seated energies from less porous objects.

Fire:

Most forms of Fire cleansing are a bit more permanent than you would want for a magickal object. Throwing a tool onto a pyre or into a lava pit will certainly cleanse it, but little of use will be left.

If your object will withstand it, you can pass it briefly - and I do mean briefly - through a candle. Take care when using this method. It is not recommended for paper, leather, cloth or many stones and crystals, as they may be ruined.

However, the warmth and light of the Sun also holds cleansing power. The Sun's light carries strength and joy. Leaving a tool in an open area exposed to the Sun can burn away negativity. This method is excellent for most many metals and woods, as well as some fabrics and most crystals. (Be careful with crystals whose colors fade in the Sun, such as amethyst, kyanite, kunzite and some others. As with crystals, take care to not leave cloth in the sunlight for too long, lest the colors fade.)

Spirit:

You can also cleanse an object by the force of your spirit and will.

First cleanse yourself through salt water, smudging or meditation.

Ground and center.

Put your shields up so that any negativity in the object cannot taint or dirty you.

Visualize wiping negativity away from the surface of the tool, as with a washcloth.

If the object is not yet empowered magickally, reach into the item and "scoop away" negativity, grounding it into the earth.

If the object is already magickally empowered, be gentler, as you would with any living, intelligent being, so as not to disturb its energy matrix. Visualize it expelling any psychic drek towards the outside, where your energy field may wipe it away.

Ground the negativity into the Earth, a plant or salt water.

Because nature abhors a vacuum, do not leave the tool empty. If you do so, it is likely to fill up with the nearest possible energy - and that might be the negativity you just removed from it. Fill your object with white light and joy.

Spirit cleansing is appropriate for any object, and can also be used in conjunction with other cleansing methods, especially denser and less porous objects.

Now finally, it's time to give that object some oomph and spark, as we move into Consecration.

The final article of this series on Consecration can be found in my ebook Spellcraft Secrets:
The Art of Creating Magick Spells Made Easy

Download a FREE Trial copy