Spells versus Prayers

Chapter 7: Synching with the Sun, Moon, and Seasons

Spectrum of Light … 190

Waxing and Waning … 198

Chapter 8: The Planetary Energies

Planetary Powers … 207

Planetary Days … 218

Planetary Day Hours and Planetary Night Hours … 219

Invoking Pentagram of Pisces … 220

Cardinal Energy … 223

Fixed Energy … 223

Mutable Energy … 224

Energy Wheel … 228

CONSECRATION

This book is consecrated in the name of the moth-winged Soul who achieved apotheosis. She who is the resurrected wife of Love himself, who dwelt in the palace of darkness, collected the waters of the Under World, and ascended to the halls of Olympus.

This book is consecrated in the name of the rustic piper dancing in the grottos. He who is the prophecy-teaching faun of light and the shadowy satyr of mortal dread. He who incites ecstatic gnosis and whose body composes the entirety of all realms.

This book is consecrated in the name of the first of our kind, the Witch of Aeaea. The wand-wielding liminal child of Helios, who is the weaver of magick, the singer of spells, and the mistrex of transformation.

Hail to the soul of the human, the divinity of nature, and all that is betwixt and between.

OTHER ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, a special thank you to my sensitivity readers and my test group of folks with ADHD, aphantasia, and neurodivergency: Mortellus, Elizabeth Autumnalis, Rowan, Jade, Flora, Merc, Aaliyah, Imani, Josh, Mark, Sara, and those of you who asked not to be acknowledged or mentioned—you know who you are, and I appreciate you.

Another special thank you to all the amazing contributors to this book: Judika Illes, Madame Pamita, Juliet Diaz, Jake Richards, Durgadas Allon Duriel, Kate Freuler, Melanie Barnum, Lilith Dorsey, Devin Hunter, Storm Faerywolf, Benebell Wen, Christopher Penczak, Adam Sartwell, Theresa Reed, Astrea Taylor, Skye Alexander, and Laura Tempest Zakroff.

Thank you to Hannah Cartwright of Snow Ghosts, Chelsea Wolfe, the Boulet Brothers, Rachel True, Eliza Rickman, and Nika Danilova (Zola Jesus). To have the support of individuals I admire immensely is simultaneously humbling and a mindblowing honor. Thank you for the art and entertainment that have deeply enriched my life.

Thank you to Modern Witch University, the Temple of Witchcraft, the Sacred Fires Tradition of Witchcraft, Black Rose Witchcraft, Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, the Cabot Tradition of Witchcraft, Coven of the Crown, the Black Flame Council, Nick Dickinson and the Circe Academy of Feral Witchcraft, Matthew Venus and Spiritus Arcanum, and, of course, Llewellyn Worldwide.

Most of all, thank you to Kai for sending your letters, your amazing artwork, and for the special rock. You remind me of myself when I was a kid writing letters to Silver RavenWolf after reading her books. You don’t know how deeply it touched me and I wish you nothing but blessings in your life.

FOREWORD

By Silver RavenWolf •

The journey of personal transformation begins with, “I choose.” I choose to open my mind. I decide to explore the answers to mysteries—of life, of possibility, of myself. I seek fulfillment, change, success, freedom, knowledge, healing, peace…

I choose.

I decide to connect with others along my path. Mentors, authors, friends, craftspersons, artists, musicians, poets, visionaries, partners, business owners, ritualists, and those who offer kindness rather than discord.

I choose…to dance the web of our connection, to balance on the strands of light that lead me to the tools I can use to elevate my spirit.

And as I learn, those around me soar with my success and become successful as well, or they fly away.

They choose what they feel is right for them. And I honor that.

I embrace.

I embrace new experiences, new ideas, new ways of personal performance. I am giddy with gratitude for the miracles I have experienced.

The healing. The love. The joy. The success.

And I learn that the moment is the magick. That the breath is the power of connection. That the key…is me.

I discover that my true triumph lies in the accomplishment of those who I help. When I choose to open the door for someone else? That is a power that cannot be beaten.

And thanks to Mat’s efforts, his love for his readers, and his respect for his path, you will find the tools to such unlimited power in this book.

His work will assist in forging you—your embodiment of the marvelous, glittering key that will move forward with confidence, joy, and success.

It is up to you how you will integrate his compelling information into your life and where you will ultimately take it. Not only has he provided valuable techniques that you will return to time and again, but he has also added contributions from some of today’s top magickal minds—people who have generously provided exciting additions to this book in their fields of expertise. These folks include the delightful and knowledgeable Christopher Penczak, the dynamic Jake Richards, the talented Laura Tempest Zakroff, and the powerful Madame Pamita, as well as the wisdom of Storm Faerywolf, and more.

From embracing your own power to preparing your mind, from recognizing the science of intelligent energy to aligning your sacred space for optimum success, awakening your ritual tools, and strengthening your will, this book provides a well-constructed path with plenty of room for personal exploration.

Science! Timing! Shielding and warding and powerful protection magick— a compendium of relevant topics to enhance your practice and elevate the vibratory essence of your work. What a marvelous addition to your magickal library! I am sure this book will quickly become a prized go-to on your spiritual journey!

Don’t wait! Dive in! This is a foreword, after all. So, let’s move ahead with joy and embrace Mat’s divine inspiration on the mastery of self! The next exciting chapter of your life awaits!

Peace with the gods

Peace with nature

Peace within

So be it.

—Silver RavenWolf

INTRODUCTION •

As a child living in a small town in Northern California, I devoured every book on witchcraft that I could get my hands on. I would save a tiny bit of my money from birthdays or holidays and go to the bookstore in the mall, and one by one, I slowly acquired a limited selection of books that seemed appealing to me. It was just enough to immerse myself into learning about the world of magick thoroughly, and still few enough to successfully hide from my strict religious grandparents, with whom I was living with at the time.

In middle school, I moved to Southern California to live with other family members, and sadly I had to leave my witchcraft books behind. However, I heard about a shop down by the beach referred to as a “witchcraft shop.” In reality, it was a metaphysical store, but I soon found that they did indeed have a strong focus on Wicca, witchcraft, and other forms of magick. I eventually started taking bus trips there, and I remember vividly how magickal that shop seemed to me as a child.

With excitement, curiosity, and nervousness, I opened the door to the small shop. Bells jingled on the door handle, announcing my arrival. Immediately an exotic brew of scents greeted me. There was a smell of incense smoke and fragrant oils full of notes of frankincense, lavender, nag champa, sandalwood, and cedar, blending into an aromatic cornucopia that created the store’s unique signature smell. The fragrance wove in the air with the music playing in the store—music unlike anything I had ever heard. It was exotic, soothing, and, most of all, created an aura of mysticism.

Greeting me from behind the counter was a friendly woman who welcomed me with a hint of reluctance and a bit of suspicion—which made

sense, as I would soon find I was always the youngest customer to enter the store unattended. Nevertheless, I explored the store with awe and reverence, taking in its beautiful statues, ritual objects, and selection of crystals. I remember I carefully read each display sign, learning as much as possible with the limited amount of time I had while there.

Occasionally, the psychic tarot reader would exit her booth in the back and come and talk to the lady working at the register. I remember being so fascinated and terrified of the psychic reader. Could she read my mind? Did she know all my secrets? Best to try not to draw attention to myself and keep my head down low. The two women would chat for a bit before returning to her booth, which meant I could breathe a sigh of relief that she wasn’t going to publicly announce whatever secrets my childhood brain thought were so important to safeguard.

As I became more of a regular at the store, despite being able only to afford the minor things like a few tumbled crystals or other small, inexpensive items, I began to feel more comfortable there. Slowly the shop became a haven for all my interests that seemed so weird to every other person I knew at that time. But here, these interests weren’t considered strange at all—they were embraced. I slowly became more comfortable and would constantly ask the woman behind the counter as many questions as possible, while simultaneously trying to impress her with my limited knowledge of the occult and trying to learn anything and everything that I could from her.

It’s been many years since I was that curious child seeker in a bookstore. I would go on to learn both magick and psychic development from every reputable teacher I could find and any book I could get my hands on; I still do to this day. If there’s one thing I know about the magickal arts or psychic ability, it’s that when you think you have it all figured out, you end up realizing that the rabbit hole of experience and knowledge keeps going deeper and deeper. These subjects relate to the mechanics and mysteries of the Universe itself. As such, there’s always terrain to explore, including revisiting and reexamining the things we view as fundamental and foundational.

The focus of my first book, Psychic Witch: A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick, and Manifestation, was on awakening all of your inner senses and reverse-engineering that process to create magick that affects and influences change with just your mind, body, and spirit. The goal was to develop

a strong foundation for energy perception and energy manipulation so that your inner world could make substantial changes in your outer world. The opposite is equally true, though; we can perform external spells and magick that assist in awakening, stirring, and enhancing our psychic abilities. The development of psychic faculties will make you more adept at performing magick and increasing psychic sensitivity. As Christopher Penczak writes in Magick of Reiki, “To the magickal practitioner, there is little difference between the inner reality and the outer reality. They are simply different viewpoints. To make a change in one, you must make a change in the other.”1

I’ve written this book as a follow-up to Psychic Witch; as such, I will revisit a few key themes and practices from that book with a different perspective. First, that book focused on building a solid foundation of psychism and magick, so as to use as few external tools as possible aside from your mind, body, and spirit. Second, I had omitted traditional spells altogether so that the reader wouldn’t be distracted from the inner work at hand within the book. But that isn’t meant to suggest that conventional spells can’t also be a powerful tool for psychic awakening.

Witches love to cast spells, myself included. If you’re reading this book, there’s a big chance that you love spells as well. There’s nothing like lighting those candles in the dark and watching your incense smoke interplay with the flickering flame as you begin your work. There’s something truly enchanting about casting spells that engage the primary physical senses and create an otherworldly atmosphere. My intention with this book is to share the mechanics and theory of magick and include many of my spells, magickal workings, prayers, and formulas directly aimed at psychic empowerment. I was also curious about what other witches and magickal practitioners do regarding spellcasting for psychism. So, I’ve sought out and asked a wide variety of magickal friends whom I respect to share some of their very own secrets, spells, and recipes for this book.

It is my firm belief that magick (paired with action) can heal and save our world. I believe that this is greatly needed. But, to do so, we need to re-enchant it. By re-enchantment, I don’t mean using magick as a form of escapism or fantasy. By re-enchantment, I mean that we need to reconnect to

1. Penczak, Magick of Reiki, 5.

the world and truly see it for what it is before moving forward to healing it. Seeing the world for what it is doesn’t just mean seeing people for who they are. It means to truly see nature for what it is, to genuinely connect with its spirit, with the spiritual ecology of where we live, and with all the inhabitants that exist here. It means creating bonds with these forces and spirits. Most of all, it means remembering who we are.

The path of the witch has always been one of sovereignty. By sovereignty, I mean taking personal responsibility for yourself, your life, and your impact on the world. One of my favorite quotes, which gets to the heart of this, is by Devin Hunter from his book The Witch’s Book of Power; he writes, “We believe that if you have the ability and means to change your life for the better, then you have the spiritual obligation to do so. Because of this, our practices are centralized around obtaining personal power and influence and using them to better the world.”2

Sovereignty is also about rising in your personal power and using it to help others come into their power as well. As a people, we have a horrible relationship with the concept of power. We often see the abuse of it by those in authority to try to dominate others with devastating and horrendous effects on people, animals, and nature. True personal power doesn’t seek to dominate others because the empowerment of others is not viewed as a threat to one’s own.

To change the world, we need to become spiritually empowered and cast magick for the betterment of the world, starting with ourselves and our lives. For these reasons, my first book is so heavily focused on strengthening psychic ability and meditation. Not only because magickal acts are greatly strengthened when you can be aware of the energy you are working with, but because psychic ability allows us to see things for what they are, little by little: ourselves, each other, and the world as a whole. It allows us to take the first steps in performing the Great Work of transformation, of becoming whole and empowered and balanced. The journey will take us to the darkest pits of our psyches and our souls’ most transcendent and divine experiences. But first, we learn to confront ourselves to heal ourselves. It’s not easy work, but it’s essential work, the Great Work.

2. Hunter, The Witch’s Book of Power, 4.