Anulus Cavus: The Hollow Ring, Magical Powders

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I think the Hollow Ring is worth bringing back into fashion. These were known as poison rings, medicine rings, spell rings, and philter rings in the past. Modern Witches might choose one of the general spell powders to place in it. I think that such a powder must be contained in something else --- perhaps wrapped up in a small piece of paper or cloth -- so that the ingredients of the powder do not chemically react with the metal of the ring.

These are many traditional types of spell powders, but most of them are too specific to haul around on your finger. You probably won't need Love Powder, Banishing Powder, Protection Powder, or Graveyard Dirt so often that it would be justified. I can think of four powders off the top of my head, though, that could justify the use of a Hollow Ring.

Salt and Pepper: Yep, the ordinary stuff from your kitchen. This mixture is used in quite a few spells, but mostly for protection, justice, or getting people to leave you alone.

Luck Powder: The most complex powder on here, inasmuch as it has six ingredients. This can be used in all sorts of ways, for yourself or others.

Three Elements Powder: Three ingredients. The most versatile powder on this list. It can be used for justice, for luck, to bless.

Wishing Powder: Two ingredients. The wishbone of a chicken, dried, pulverized, and then sifted. This must be combined with Sage Leaves prepared in a specific way.

You can buy magical powders in the marketplace these days. Most of them are expensive and just made up by the proprietors without any basis in tradition. Witches make their own powders, and they usually require few, inexpensive, and easily obtained ingredients.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

Dreaming of Me

One of the Hebrew Sages once wrote: "A dream uninterpreted is like a letter unread."

Dreams are a way for the Goddess to speak to us, either directly or symbolically. The dreamer sitting down to analyze a dream is like having a conversation with the Goddess. If the dream represents a problem in your life, the Goddess will also give you a solution to the problem in the dream. Implementing the solution may be uncomfortable or difficult, and that is where the Horned Father will help. He will stand by you, give you resolve or courage, prod you, and prompt you. If you fail in implementing the solution, He will not forsake you or punish you, but gather you into His arms, comfort you, and let you rest so that you can try again. "I am always at your back," He has told us.[1]

Even short dreams can be significant. Above is an example of one of my own dreams. It is very short. I awakened at 5:50 a.m., and wrote down with a pencil a few snippets on a small pad on my dresser. I then cleaned it up, and typed it up in this form:

"I am cleaning the house of books and occult objects in order to get rid of demons or to stop attracting demons. I am particularly focused on a closet near the front door, although I do not recognize the house. I am kneeling down in the closet, cleaning things from the floor. There are others present -- two people, I think, but I do not know who for sure, perhaps one of my brothers, perhaps my spouse. They are not helping to clean, but talking at me, and I snap at them, annoyed, for interrupting me. I am wearing an orange sweatshirt and white sweatpants while I am cleaning. I have a profile image of a particular demon in mind."

I later searched for the particular demon image. I found similar images, but none were an exact match (the four images you can see in a line). Then I found the precise image I saw in my dream. It is Asmodeus, in profile, from Francis Barrett's THE MAGUS, published in 1801 (down in the lower right corner).

It is a relatively short account, but I assure you that it is FULL TO THE BRIM. I spent two days analyzing and interpreting it. Hence all of my color coded notes. Some of it is really very subtle, ingenious, and funny. I am kneeling because the knees are ruled by Capricorn. What is Capricorn in Tarot? The Devil, i.e., an instance of repetition from the mention of demons. The orange sweatshirt is telling me something about the interior star related to the Sun.

The method I learned for analyzing dreams is from HAVE A GREAT DREAM (BOOK 1), by Layne Dalfen, and I highly recommend her approach. To analyze the dream, one types it out, then analyzes it for six categories: feelings, symbols, plays on words, actions/nonaction, plot, repetition.

[1] This complementary duality is everywhere present in the Craft, and in the spiritual progress of Witches. Your Mother will tell you what is going on and what to do about it. Your Father will support you with reason and energy until you do it. The Mother instructs the mind. The Father makes sure you that earth that instruction in your bones by action. This, in fact, is the whole method of spiritual development: learning what to do (the Mother), and then doing it (the Father). Step by step, the Mother will tell you Her great design for you, and step by step, the Father will implement that design in your body, until you find yourself a perfect expression of Animal, Man, and God -- hooves, heart, and halo of horns -- or Power, Love, and Wisdom.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester