The Pagan Heart
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April 2005 Issue
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Hands On - working with physical items
By Catherine M.
Many sites and books when discussing magic and ritual devote a lot of time to tools - both the importance of having tools and the need for them. I personally do not believe we need tools. In and of ourselves we are the ultimate tool for any ritual or arcane working. However, tools can indeed be quite useful. Symbolically, they act to generate a certain mindset, which in a complex ritual can be useful as it helps the worker to follow the steps correctly. Physically we can use them as batteries - charging them with energy we can draw upon later. We can also use them as focus points, channeling our power into a small target. So, while I do not believe in the need for tools, and perform many of my rituals and spells without them, I do have a vast collection. Some are for fun, others more serious. I certainly recommend to anyone interested in ritual or arcane work that they investigate different tools. You never know what you might discover. The other important thing about tools - to me - is the energy invested into them. I could sit and magically charge items for specific uses and reserve them solely for that. And indeed this is what many people do. However I am a great believer in the sacred within the mundane. That is, everything is sacred. If everything is sacred, then my kitchen knife has as great a potential to aid me in a ritual as that lovely athame reserved only for magic work. The difference between the two is that I come in contact with the kitchen knife daily - I touch it, use it in simple cooking and food preparation. That knife is involved in acts of emotional value (making food for my lover and my children) and resides in a central location (the kitchen). Thus it is saturated with my energy and that of my family and home. I am very "in tune" with it. Can I say the same about a ritual object kept locked away? No. No matter how important that athame is, no matter how much I like it and how much energy I devote of empowering it, it will never have the potential of my kitchen knife. I also believe that designating some items as sacred and reserved for ritual creates the implication other things are not ?sacred?. This, to me, is a very damaging idea. In my belief structure all things are sacred being as they are a part of the divine. The moment I designate something as not sacred, I weaken my belief, and thus myself, through that contradiction.
The Bell Returning to the concept of tools. As I said, I have many such things. One of my favourite would have to be my bells. I have lots of them - from tiny little silver ones to a couple of fairly large brass clangers. Bells have a long history in the realms of spirituality, religion, and magic. The earliest bells were carved from stone - it may seem like an unlikely material, however, stone has percussive qualities, and these bells were indeed functional. Since then, clay, metal, and wood have been utilised in creating various forms of bells. Not all bells take the shape of an upturned cup and clanger. Some, similar in style to the wind chime, are formed of hanging vertical slabs that either knock against each other, or utilise a hand-held knocker. Others, while indeed bell-shaped, lack the clanger and are beaten with a stick. Sizewise, bells range from less than a quarter of an inch to the massive church and temple bells wider than the height of a tall man. Many Pagans use bells to ward off evil - it is said that evil cannot abide the sound of the bell - and to bring good energy into a space. It is often a Wiccan tool used to symbolise either the air or the earth when setting the ritual space. Bells have been used to purify places of worship; summon the faithful; pass messages of joy, sorrow, or warning; aid meditation; mark the passage of time; scare away evil spirits; and welcome the gods. They have a significant roll to play in ritual and magic. There is something about the harmonies created by the deeper bells that pauses time. We stop, returned to the immediate "now" as the sonorous sound washes over us. The deeper notes are more suited to spiritual matters, and that should be taken into account when searching out bells for your own use. The lighter, smaller bells produce a cheerful, carefree sound that is suited to fertility rituals (think of the belled anklets worn by Middle Eastern dancers - as they wind their way through an ancient celebration of female sexuality, the sound of bells accompanies them), joyful events, and chasing away negativity. These also make wonderful windchimes to hang at the enterances of your home - their sound will draw happiness and harmony into your living space. In between falls a vast array of other notes - listen to them to find what role they should play within your own rituals. |
Primary article for April - Yogic Nidra
Secondary article for April - Tools in Pagan Ritual
Return to the Index of articles for Tools of the Trade
