Seekers and Guides: A Simple Spell for Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  I thought I would share a short, simple solitary spell to lend some healing energy to Mama Gaia in your part of the world.

You will need:

• A large crystal or big rock (if you’re into crystal symbolism, quartz, smoky quartz, citrine or selenite would work best)
• An offering suitable to the spirits of the land (in the Americas perhaps tobacco; in the Arctic a bit of animal fat or carved bone; in the UK honey and milk and/or mead; you get the idea)
• Your wand, staff or stang (as opposed to your athame or sword)
• A shovel or garden trowel (preferably not made of metal but just do the best you can)

Place your stone or crystal in a spot where it can charge itself with sunlight all day.  Reiki energy or similar also works; as does the light of the moon or the Milky Way (but then you’ll have to save it for next year to time the spell on Earth Day.)

In the evening, go to a place of power near to your home.  I probably don’t have to tell you where that place is; you probably knew as soon as you read the sentence, right?  Wait at the threshold for permission to enter.  If you get a hostile feeling, find another place.  If you get a positive feeling, proceed.

Cast circle (or compass round, etc.) with your wand as opposed to your athame or any other blade.  Remember, the wand is  “used to summon certain spirits with whom it would not be meet to use the athame”. Frederic Lamond wrote in Fifty Years of Wicca that he believed this to be important when dealing with elemental spirits, who don’t like iron and steel.[1]

Call quarters etc. as usual.  If you don’t have a usual method for doing this, sing an elemental chant; or, if you have to be silent where you are, draw the elemental sigils in the dirt, starting with Earth in the North (but don’t draw the pentagram in the center yet if you’re using this model):

Call upon your chosen deities.  I recommend your chosen pantheon’s earth or nature deities.  An earth mother goddess or earth god is essential.  Perhaps an earth deity invocation chant would be appropriate, or just a silent invocation.  If you can’t think of anything else, or simply prefer it, then the following from the Charge of the Goddess would be especially appropriate:

I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars, and the mystery of the waters and the desire of the heart calls unto your soul; arise, and come unto me.  For I am the soul of nature who gives life to the universe.  From me all things proceed, and unto me they must return; and before my face, beloved of gods and men, let thine innermost self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite.

Dig a hole in the center of the circle that is deep enough to fit your crystal in.  But first leave your chosen offering in the base of the hole you’ve dug.  If this is absolutely and in all ways impossible, leave your offerings in the crux of a tree.  Direct your intention to the local land-spirits.  Say something to this effect if you feel so inclined:

Spirits of this land and place; I make this offering to you in gratitude and respect.

Lay your stone in the hollow you’ve dug or in the crux of the tree you’ve chosen.  Fix a silent intention to return to the earth some of the energy you, personally, in your life have taken from it.  A statement you could use, filling in the appropriate deity name as you prefer:

Mother Earth, You gave me life.  Today I give some life back to You.  This stone was torn from Your body; now to Your body I return it.  Take it, and my love, and be healed.

If you’re inspired to give something more personal, such as a drop of blood, a piece of hair, or similar, feel free to do so.

Bury all of your offerings completely.  If you like, draw a pentagram there, or a spiral, to seal the magick.  Then, preferably make it look as though you’ve never been there at all.  Put a piece of sod back over the spot; that kind of thing.

Thank your chosen deities (with a chant or a simple silent devocation); release quarters (via a chant or perhaps by scratching out the sigils in the reverse order that you drew them in) and open the circle.  Turn sharply from the place of the rite and walk away without looking back.

To adapt this spell to a group: get a bigger rock, or have everyone bring stones to contribute and bury.  Ask different people to call the quarters and deities.  Get different people to lead the chants and sing them together.  Change the words so that the pronouns suit (“we” instead of “me,” etc.)

[1] Lamond, Frederic (2004). Fifty Years of Wicca. Green Magic. Page 124-125.

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