Simple spring ritual/spell for peace in the world

For a witch or pagan, spring is a time for cleansings and beginnings. Being a woman, I like to start with the cleansings this time of year.

My group and I are doing this spell/ritual this Friday night at nine. Any who wish are welcome to join in. Don't worry if you don't do it at the exact same time as us.

You will need a globe, map or drawing of the world, and a large bowl or cauldron of water filled with sea salt. As you say the three sister spell, let the water drip down your map drawing or globe. Take a cloth and gently rub it, as you do, think of peace and blessing being left in the water's path with harm to none, (don't forget the harm to none, part, I am a sea witch, don't need to start floods) and then say this".

Three sisters went across the land,
bringing cleansing in their hands
one brought cleansing from the winds
one brought cleansing from the waves
one brought cleansing from the Mother
who washed away
the tears and blood

One washed violence
one washed fear
one washed hatred
from the years
Till all was cleansed
throughout the land
and blessings spread
from hand to hand
l

Three sisters sang throughout the land
bringing blessings with their hands
to every hill
and every vale
Their voices rang
till peace prevailed.

By wind and flame
by salt and wave
By all the powers of land and sea
as I do say "so it shall be."
By all the might of moon and sun,
As I will, it shall be done

Aphroditeky@2008

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Permalink Reply by Dawn on March 19, 2008 at 10:56am: I take steps before doing any magickal working. I ask myself questions like those posed here.To me it makes no difference if it does work or not-at least under my first step in the process. Taking the ethics of the situation into consideration is the first step when deciding about these matters.

The first question I ask myself is always, "Is this ethical?"

Once that question is answered the question of will it work comes into play for me. 99.9% of the time I don't get to step two of process because the answer to step one was "no". The will of any other is their own. Period.

The other thing is this-if we believe, as most pagans do, that what you do comes back to you, in manipulating another you have set yourself up for the very same thing. You shall reap what you sow. This means that by trying to manipulate the situation you have created the manipulation of yourself in some manner. Therefore, why would I do such a thing?

.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Aphrodite on March 18, 2008 at 8:42pm: I actually have many motivations for doing this kind of spell. One of them is, that I truly feel that the Goddess is getting pissed off at all the fighting and genocide we've got going on. Thats just my personal belief. Also as I explained, being from Appalachia and in a tradition where self defence is a powerful motivation, i'm not thrilled about leaving a world where my children grandchildren and other people I love have to deal with the results of all this nastiness and violence. I'd feel like a piss poor Mom if I didn't try to do something to make it better. And I totally believe in the right to defend my family.and make this a better place for them. And when I became a Goddess priestess, in a weird sort of way, all people felt like my family. And I don't think they deserve to be stuck in all this nastiness either.
But then I was raised to believe that peace was a good desired thing. I don't feel I'm imposing it on anyone who doesn't want it, I'm not a deity and I don't have those kinds of power. But for those that do desire it and pray for it so desparately, well I'll do my best.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Aphrodite on March 18, 2008 at 9:14pm: Ugh, you all got a bit nasty with each other on the other page. I probably would have commented a bit differently if I'd read that exchange. Oh well, you handled it pretty gracefully, Sheila. As far as Sin, she's like a lot of non pagans I've tried to explain this kind of thing to. Not saying that she's not pagan, just that for people who haven't been around magical types of thinking and workings, spells and such do seem like wishful thinking or delusions. Usually I try to explain it from a cultural or psychological point of view to people this stuff seems weird to. .

That seems to get through to people when other ways don't. For instance at work, if I forget and reveal too much knowledge about herbs or healing or the elements, I usually just say my Grandparents were Cherokee and they're like Oh. Okay. Its not that what I'm doing has changed, its just that their perception of it has changed. They put it under the class of cultural difference and are more comfortable with it. Many of the people on this board come from backgrounds of Celtic, German, Nordic and other types of magic workers and thinkers, maybe far back in the their ancestors past, maybe closer, but the tendency to find a magical worldview makes sense to them. Onnce they come upon this pagan path it appeals to them immensely. For the first time, they may feel comfortable and interested in a new world view, a different way of looking at things. Does that make them delusional? No. It just matches their inclinations. Whether that inclination towards magical thinking is bilogical, or just preference, I leave to others to debate. .So culturally is one way to explain this to people like SIn with no beliefs in such things.

Its also sometimes comforting to some to look at magical thinking from a psychological point of view. Alot of times when they'll teach us new theraputic methods, I'll find myself thinking, "gosh, thats an awful lot like what you need to do for such and such spell." There's probably a book in the relationship between magical thinking and psychological theraputic types of techniques. For instance, in one of the most commonly used evidence based practice we have, cognitive behavioral therapy, you try and change the persons cognitions or thoughts about themselves in order to change their feelings about something. Instead of automatically thinking negative things like I'm stupid, or I can't do anything, when someone messes up at something, you get them to realize first what these automatic negative thoughts are, which often lead to depresion and anxiety, and you get them to change the negative thoughts to more positive realistic ones, like well, its just one mistake, one mistake doesn't mean I'm stupid. Etc. Now think of how many magical spells and charms we do where intent is supposed to lead to us thinking differently about ourselves and leading to change. I have a billion examples of this, but this is a way you can make comparisons between magical thinking and modern psychological therapy that can make more sense to someone like Sin.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SIN on March 19, 2008 at 9:33am: I embrace the label Pagan, like any other label. I have spent a great number of years in the magical community; and my cynicism comes from failure to identify results. So I tend to see these things as psychological conditioning.

About a year ago, I was looking for a job. I needed one and quick. I happen to be talking to a women who subscribes to magic, in the way you would view it. She asked me if there was anything she could do to help. I said, 'yeah give me some good ju-ju to get this job I'm interviewing for in about an hour'. Did I honestly believe she had some ju-ju to share? No. I believed that by putting my mind in a positive mind-set would increase my chances of getting the job, as well as having someone else supporting me. I got the job. I called her to tell her so. She said 'I felt it the moment I lit the candle for you' - I have no doubt that she did. She 'believed' she was helping me, and I believed she believed it to be true. Voila! Magic.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dawn on March 19, 2008 at 10:59am: Can I prove magick works? Nope. It is all based on faith. Anyone who says they can prove otherwise is merely succeeding in fooling themselves, and trying to fool those around them.

For those that have no faith in the process there is no proving it to them. I admit that. Scientific studies would have to be conducted and I don't see that happening in my lifetime.

My husband recently grew his own cardiac bypass. What is amazing about it is that the growth occurred from the left side of the heart to assist the right side of the heart. While not unheard of it is exceedingly rare for this to occur. My husband is convinced that the Reiki I gave him to repair his torn shoulder was what did this. We are taught that Reiki goes where it is needed and not where directed. This seems to be the case in this instance. While the shoulder did not heal as well as we would have liked, perhaps his heart grew the bypass he actually needed instead? Can I prove it? Nope. This is my belief and his.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SIN on March 19, 2008 at 11:08am: I agree. It is your 'Faith' that causes you to believe it, but you wouldn't expect me to believe it as well. The human body is an amazing thing, and I could sit here and provide scientific reasons this occurred but if you and your husband have faith in the belief it was the Reiki, that's your belief.

I'm a natural skeptic. Just because someone makes a claim, doesn't make it truth. You have your truth, I have mine. People can not expect that all people will accept a personal belief as truth.

I ask questions to gain understanding and perspective on why you hold this belief. You have clearly explained your 'faith' in the Reiki. I understand. That is all. Why people get so personal or offended for skepticism is beyond me. Its the nature of understanding.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dawn on March 19, 2008 at 12:29pm: Why people get so personal or offended for skepticism is because they are seeing your question and your different opinion as a personal attack. Often they have no means of explaining as you have requested and rather than admit that they become defensive.

I often wonder why this happens, myself. It is foreign to me. Why anyone can not explain why they feel a certain thing without making it personal or trying to turn it around on the other person is beyond me.

Perhaps they feel the need to defend themselves because something else in their lives is lacking? Or perhaps they are incapable of voicing themselves in a rational manner. Those are my guesses. I may be way off track but these are the only plausible explainations that I have been able to come up with.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dawn on March 19, 2008 at 10:41am: You want to piss off the Goddess? How about messing with HER plan? Perhaps it is HER plan that things be as they are. So we will learn. So we will grow. So THEY will learn, so THEY will grow and become better human beings in that process.

Spoiling children does not make them good people. Making them work for what is important does. Perhaps, rather than see adversity and some of the horrors of the world as something we need to fix for ourselves and our children we should see them as opportunities for growth. Through growth change is made.

Protecting yourself and your family is not the same as manipulating a situation into what you feel it should be.

Thinking we have the right to manipulate anything beyond our own experience is wrong in my opinion. Thinking we know what diety does or does not want is extremely egotistical. Because soemone personally believes something does not give them the right to manipulate others. You may convince yourself this is good but you will have a hard time convincing me.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jez on March 19, 2008 at 11:31am: Hi Dawn, I really do understand what you're saying. I teach a similar concept in my reiki classes. Some people do not want to be healed, some people need the lessons that come with the illness and it's not my place to interfere with that or try and force feed a healing.

I'm not sure about the whole concept of destiny to begin with, but if there is such a thing and it's a persons destiny to learn though the hardships of life then I think there really is nothing that I do that will change that. However a persons destiny can also be to learn kindness and compassion through an unconditional act of a stranger. Perhaps I'm supposed to be that stranger. Who knows. I think we each do what we feel is best in our hearts.

For myself I do look to the Goddess for guidance in these things and act with what feels right in my own heart. What's interesting to me is that I usually don't participate in these types of widespread things for many of the reasons you mention. But I am really called to do so at this time. I'm sure you and most others also follow what is right in your heart and it may be different than what I choose to do but it's just as right.

Peace,
Joanie; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dawn on March 19, 2008 at 12:32pm: Thank you Joanie. It is nice to know someone understands my point.

My question is: If you feel that your energy will not alter the course of destiny in cases where someone is supposed to learn through the hardships then why would you put yourself in a place that would allow your intent to come back to you? I am not talking about the intent to heal or "give peace". I am talking about the intent to make you will overcome that of another?

I understand doing what you feel is right on a personal level. I just don't understand why it is we think that manipulation by another name is not manipulation? Does that make sense?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jez on March 19, 2008 at 3:05pm: That's a good question and I'm not sure I have a clear cut answer lol. I always set the intention that whatever I do is for the highest good of all involved. So if my intention does come back to me that's ok. I have no way to know if my intent is reaching a person/place or doing the good I hope. It may be falling into oblivion, it may reach the target and be rejected, or it may actually do some good. I just figure it can't do any good if I do nothing at all.

As for it being manipulative, I guess I would have to agree with that and that gives me pause to think. Manipulation for what I consider to be a good cause is still manipulation. And then again it comes down to what feels right. My intent is not to impose my will (i.e. peace in this case) on anyone, I'm just putting out the energy for those that might want it knowing that I may never know if it did any good at all.

Aphrodite always encourages us to adept her rituals to fit what we believe and works for us. As with all things I put in my own thoughts and intentions and hope for the best. Here I would have to say that I have faith the the Universe understands my intent and things will works the way they are supposed to.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jez on March 19, 2008 at 9:27am: Aphrodite, you are such a wise woman and a beautiful soul. I will be joining you in this rit and I think it's beautiful and needed. I agree there is always a way to do these types of global things without infringing on free will, I always set that intention. But we shouldn't ignore the cries of the many who would so willingly accept and appreciate this blessing.

Peace,
Joanie; ▶ Reply to This