Book of Witchery (19 page)

The tarot cards that are associated with Wednesday and Mercury's
attributes
are the Wheel of Fortune, which represents good luck and chance events; the Magician, for skill, confidence, and communication; and the Eight of Pentacles (or Coins), for craftsmanship, skilled work, and pride in your accomplishments.

The Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune is a Major Arcana card that literally means “chance.” This is a card of fate. It symbolizes good fortune and an unexpected twist of fate. When the Wheel of Fortune card shows up, things are bound to change, possibly for the better. This is a card of good luck and happy coincidence.

The Magician

The Magician is a card of power, communication, confidence, and skills. The Magician is traditionally depicted as a man standing behind an altar that holds the four magickal tools—a wand, a pentacle, a cup, and a sword; one tool to represent each element. A master of the elements, one of his arms is raised while the other points downward; think of it as “As above, so below.” This card characterizes a person who is quietly powerful and confident, charming, and articulate.

Adding this card as a prop in your spells will give you a big visual boost. Take a good look at the magickal images that are represented within this card. It's called “the Magician” for a reason, you know.

Eight of Pentacles

Eight of Pentacles is a card of the skilled craftsperson. It can represent a hobby or profession that you take pride in or a talent that you cleverly use to make a little extra money. Whether it's painting, weaving, sewing, pottery, or jewelry making, this is a craft that you create with your hands. This card indicates that you get more out of your talents than just a monetary bonus (although that can't be discounted). What this symbolizes is the sense of pride and personal satisfaction that you gain from using your imagination, creating the object, and working with your own two hands to produce something special.

A Tarot Spell to Increase Creativity

This spell is designed to give your creative juices a little boost. No matter how talented you are, everybody hits a creative wall now and then. I have two very artistic and witchy friends. Morgan is a mother, graphic designer, and talented artist. The other, Ravyn, is a full-time wildlife biologist and a part-time jewelry designer. And from time to time, they can both hit a little creative snag where something doesn't turn out the way they intended or a project just won't gel. Do they give up? Nope, they either look at the project from a different perspective or they let creativity take over and lead them to a different outcome than they had originally planned. The results are typically stunning.

So, with this thought in mind, let's look to our goddess for Wednesday, Athena. After all, Athena was a patron of the arts and of skilled craftspeople. How about using a little tarot magick and seeing what kind of imaginative and crafty things we can come up with?

• White votive candle (it's an all-purpose color)
  
• A votive cup/holder
  
• A representation of Athena's sacred bird, the owl (try using a picture or a tiny figurine)
  
• The Magician, the Eight of Pentacles, and the Wheel of Fortune tarot cards
  
• A sample of your project
  
• A few art supplies (if you are an artist, then set a couple of art pencils
  or paints on the workspace; if you sew, use a swatch of fabric; if you
  create jewelry, then set out a few beads, and so on—this is your item/items in sympathy)
  
• A safe, flat surface on which to set up the spell
  

Gather your supplies and then arrange your items around the candle holder. Set the tarot cards around the items of sympathy. Light the candle, and repeat the following spell three times:

Gray-eyed Athena, patron of handmade crafts and the arts

Send your divine inspiration, let it fill up my heart

Throw in a bit of good luck and a dose of your wisdom

Now, may my creativity take on a fresh, new spin!

Close the spell by saying:

I thank the goddess Athena for her time and care

I close this spell by the powers of the earth, water, fire, and air.

Keep an eye on the candle. Let the candle burn until it goes out on its own (a votive candle will take about six to eight hours). Allow the items of sympathy to stay where they are for a while, then take a little time off from your project. When the candle is consumed, take a fresh look at your project. Are you getting any new and innovative ideas? I bet you'll come up with something fabulous!

Daily Witch Craft

crafting magickal jewelry

Several years ago, I worked at an arts and crafts store as a class coordinator. On various weekends, I would sit in the front of the store and perform demos on various arts and crafts. The artsy-craftsy and floral design stuff was easy for me, as I was a trained floral designer, but when it came to jewelry making, I would invariably break a sweat.

Luckily for me, a fellow employee lent me a hand and taught me some basics. She was, at the time, a college student and a talented part-time jewelry designer. She saved my bacon on several occasions with on-the-spot lessons on simple bracelet-making with stretchy cord and various stone beads. Interestingly enough, she was also a Witch; the Goddess certainly works in mysterious ways. She and I became friends immediately, and several years later, though our lives have changed (I'm now a full-time writer and she's the wildlife biologist I mentioned earlier), Ravyn and I are still friends as well as covenmates.

The following spell can be easily adapted if you wish. For example, my coven all created ritual necklaces a few years ago. One of our members had a wholesale account with a jewelry design studio, and she ordered everyone a matching silver pentagram. We were lucky that the style we chose came in a few sizes and variations, but the overall design of the pentagram was the same. So everyone chose their pentagram, paid their money, and the order was filled.

On the first full moon of the year, when we gathered together, we created our necklaces. That January night, a few members brought over their jewelry-making supplies and tools and the rest of us brought our own cords, beads, crystals, and our coven pentagrams, and we all created necklaces. All of us sat down on the floor in a big circle and started laying out our necklaces. We traded beads and accessories back and forth and helped each other with the designs. In the end, we had very different necklaces, all with the same pentagram in the center. It was a lot of fun, though I will admit that I had a lot of help with mine. Then, when we were finished, we consecrated them all together in a ritual.

In the interest of keeping this simple (the mere thought of crimping beads and lobster-claw catches makes me shudder), we are going for uncomplicated bracelet-making directions here. Truthfully, the easiest jewelry to make is to string crystals, stones, beads, and metal charms onto stretch cord. Lay out your beads and baubles in a pattern that you like. Knot one end of the stretchy cord and begin to thread the beads and trinkets on one at a time. Enjoy the process—don't be in a hurry, and make the arrangement of stones and beads pleasing to your own taste. Measure as you go to get the correct length for your new bracelet. Don't cut the cord off the spool until you are about to tie the knot. When you have the beads strung long enough to fit around your wrist, snip the cord. Then carefully knot the ends with a double knot, and slip the bracelet on and admire your work.

Here is a spell to bless any magickal jewelry that you create. If you look at the third and fourth lines, you can adjust these to name the purpose of the piece and for the type of jewelry you have created.

These beads and baubles, stones and metal findings

I charm you all and make the magick binding

Now enchanted for ________, this Wednesday jewelry spell begins

May this bracelet/necklace bless its wearer with love, wealth, health, and wisdom.

Custom-Made Daily Magick

Originally, this chapter was a tough one to write. Mercury is such a varied planetary energy and there are so many different magickal qualities to a Wednesday that the subject can be more than a little overwhelming. When I wrote the original manuscript several years ago, I recall sitting at the computer for hours and wondering where to go with this chapter. I was getting frustrated and aggravated. The harder I tried to pin this day down, the less I actually had. Then my mother rode to the rescue. She called and asked me how my new book was coming along. I laughed and told her that I was seriously considering banging my head against the computer to see if that could get me anywhere. When she suggested that I get out of the house and meet her for lunch, I pounced on the offer. She advised me that the change of scenery would probably do me a world of good.

As I drove to meet her for lunch, I was sitting at a stoplight, waiting for it to turn green. It was then I noticed that the car in front of me had “Mercury” on the back of it. That gave me a little jolt. As a rule, I don't pay attention to the make or model of other cars while I drive. It's a blue car or a white truck to me, that's about as technical as I get. I smiled to myself and continued to drive.

In the ten minutes that it took me to drive to the restaurant where I was to meet my mother, I saw four different Mercury cars. Weird. When a floral delivery van pulled in front of me with that logo of a golden Mercury emblazoned across the side, I began to chuckle. Okay, so he was a god of synchronicity, after all.
Duh, Ellen
. . . communication, changeability, and cunning. Finally it dawned on me. Mercury was doing everything possible to get my attention.

I ended up laughing out loud. “Okay, thanks, I got it. Message received!” Mercury is a god of many faces, attributes, and guises, I reminded myself.

So that cinched it for me that the way to go with this chapter was to focus on the many varieties of magick that could be performed on this wild and wily day, as opposed to just picking one theme.

Now, several years later, I find Wednesdays to be one of the best for working witchery. There are so many options available to a clever Witch on a Wednesday. Look at all the different themes we've explored so far: creativity, communication, wisdom, knowledge . . . all you have to do is open yourself up to all the enchanting and ever-changing possibilities.

To wrap up this chapter, let's work a little fun, practical magick for good luck. Try this next spell out. It will require you to go on a hunt for one of the supplies, but honestly, that's half the fun!

Quick as a Flash Spell (for Good Luck)

This good luck spell will require you to locate a Mercury dime. A Mercury, or silver, dime was a dime minted in the year 1940. It does not actually portray the god Mercury on the coin. What it shows is Lady Liberty in a winged cap. However, it does look like Mercury, and many folks thought that's who it was, so the name stuck. How to find them? Check a coin dealer, or, if you have a family member who collects coins, see if they have one. I called a local coin shop and was told I could pick up a Mercury dime for about a dollar.

Occasionally, if you work retail or operate the cash register, you come across silver dimes. If you look at the side of the coin, the color is silver all the way through. Plus, it makes a different type of “clink” as it hits the change drawer. Happy hunting!

Take yourself, a tablespoon of dill (a Mercury herb used for prosperity and luck), and your Mercury dime, and go to the nearest crossroads early on a Wednesday evening. This can be anyplace where two streets intersect. Also bring the spell below, written on a piece of paper. Perhaps you'll want to do this while you're out walking the dog or taking a walk around the neighborhood with the kids. You can be subtle with this spell, as it is a quick one. It's not complicated, and it's fun! Read the spell below softly, repeating it three times:

Wednesday is for Mercury, that quick and nimble god,

A clever and canny soul, on winged feet he does trod.

Leave a Mercury dime at the crossroads tonight,