A Witch's World of Magick (29 page)

Group Magick Spell for a Better Community

Here’s a spell that has the potential to benefit your entire community. Try it with a group of at least three individuals, but preferably with several more.

Begin by deciding on goals for your community. Your community of focus could be your coven, your woods, your town, your state, your country, your biome, or your whole world. Next, think about the individual magickal skills and interests of each person involved in the spellcasting. Play up the abilities of each participant and design the ritual to make best use of their talents. Is there someone in the group who is particularly good at banishing negative energy, for instance? If so, consider crafting a spell that lets this person use that skill to rid your community of violence, or pollution. Is there an individual in the group that’s especially fond of the fae? If so, ask them to call on and evoke their faery friends for help with your magick. Is someone in your group a pro at divination? Invite them to do a reading regarding the magickal work at hand, identifying potential trouble spots and hidden opportunities. Decide also who will lead the ritual, and what signals will be used to let the other participants know when it’s time to move on to the next part of the casting.

Next, begin the ritual by casting the circle if you like and invoking any desired spirits, energies, deities,
etc.
Depending on how many folks you have to do the working, divvy up your group into musicians and dancers, or simply give everyone a musical instrument to play while they move their feet, as well. Any instruments can be used, of course, but you might find that you get better results employing different instruments for different purposes. For instance, drums and other percussion instruments are good for magnifying energy and representing power, while wind and string instruments are great for attracting or altering energies. Bells are excellent for banishing negativity, welcoming positivity, causing change, achieving balance, and summoning natural forces.

Have a percussionist set the beat, then let other musicians join in as compelled. As the music builds in intensity, the dancing should also become more energetic. The group can choose to focus as a whole on each community goal in turn, combining their powers by collectively willing desired changes to manifest and envisioning it as being so. Or, your group might choose to employ specialization, with each individual focusing on one particular goal and one particular aspect of the spell. If any of the chosen goals for your community involve getting rid of something, like reducing the number of guns floating around, for instance, you might have the person in your group who is best at banishing beat on a drum or clang a heavy bell with force and intention, envisioning the baneful forces being driven out and away by the raucous sound. If any of the chosen goals for your community involve manifesting, attracting, or increasing something, like ensuring a good harvest, for example, have musicians envision the object of these goals increasing and growing, coming closer and brighter as the music is played. Once intentions are set and energy is at its high, release the spell to do its work. Wrap it up with some socialization—share “cakes and ale,” or cookies and juice, as suits your fancy. Talk about your personal lives and/or ritual lives, your worries and challenges, your hopes and your triumphs. As you wrap up the current ritual time knowing the Better Community spell you just cast will succeed, share ideas for future magick to help yourself, your group, and your world as a whole. Both your magickal community and your mundane community will benefit not only from the direct, magickal effects of the present ritual, but also from the increased strength and unity that results when we make the time to make magick with friends.

Points to Ponder

• Have you ever practiced magick with other people? Would you like to have more experiences with group magick? What might you gain from such experiences?
  
• What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of group magick? Do the benefits outweigh the ills, in your opinion? Why or why not?
  
• This chapter discussed initiation rites, ritual structure, and other commonalities between magickal groups both past and present. Can you identify any other points of similarity or distinction you feel are important to note?
  
• What types of magick do you feel are best practiced alone? Are there any spells that would be better cast in a group setting?
  
• Do magickal groups and societies foster growth within our Pagan communities? Why or why not? What might such groups do to better nurture the evolution of our culture? Have some groups become too “churchy,” too organized and hierarchical for our own good?
  
• Do you currently belong to any magickal groups? If so, does the group suit you? Why or why not? If you are a solitary, does the idea of having a group of like-minded magick workers with whom to swap ideas and share rituals appeal to you?
  
• Describe your ideal magick group. Who are the members? What might you do with such a magickal dream team? How would this group improve upon what’s been offered in the past? What would be the same, and what would be very different?
  

[contents]

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