This is a collection of spells and rituals from Valerie Worth’s “Crone’s Book of Magical Words. This, taken from the book in the Preface, states this piece of work beautifully: “There is a traditional basis for many of these spells; there is a psychological basis for all of them. The past is so close to the present in this realm that it is unnecessary to distinguish between them, but possibilities for dealing with experience by appropriate verbal inventions are no fewer now, when drawn out of the newly convoluted psyche, than when they sprang from the primitive brow.” I hope you enjoy them. –Morgan

To Dispel Sorrow

When world and fate

Conspire to mark

Your life with lines

And characters dark,

Mold a tablet

Of earth or clay,

Write on it all

You would cast away-

All you regret,

All that you bear,

All that afflicts you,

All that you fear-

Break it and bury it

In the ground,

Saying this charm

To heal the wound:

Sorrow be dust

And dust dissolve:

Let all my grief

Go into this grave.

A Sage Tea for the Mind

The gray-leaved sage

Stands fresh and fine

When even trees

Fall prey to time;

Pluck its growth,

Brew an infusion

Against all darkness and confusion;

Drink its strength,

With these words:

Sage make green

The winter rain:

Charm the demon

From my brain.

To Become Invisible

Fern seed

In your pocket

Will hide you

From some,

But to be free

Of everyone,

You must go away

Where water lies

Quiet, and look

To find your face –

Then scatter

The seeds across

Your image

Until

It departs.

To Embrace Solitude

Go into your house

And fasten the windows,

Block the chimneys,

Lock the doors;

Stop up the keyholes,

Draw the curtains,

Say these words

To all betrayers:

I am my own today,

Nor any other shall steal me away.

Drink to your strength

A glass of wine,

Then sit three hours

In silence, alone,

Before you go forth again.

For Looking into Mirrors

Look to the left,

Look to the right,

Look in the glass

And say these lines:

Quicksilver

Mirror silver

Show me

My true face.

Look at the eyes:

If their black centers

Be shrunk and small,

The mirror lies.

To Seek That Which Has Been Lost

The smallest mote

Of dust mislaid

May be recovered

By this aid:

Place in an eggshell

All of these –

The pollen basket of a bee,

The golden eye-ring of a frog,

The unripe seeds of violets,

The pollen of a columbine,

One mushroom from a fairy-ring,

A strand of spider gossamer,

A drop of milk-white milkweed sap,

A single thread of thistledown.

Shake them gently,

Spill them out

Onto a folded

Colored cloth;

Their pattern then

Will tell the spot

Where you may seek

The missing thing –

Yet even though

You find it not,

You will have gathered

Treasures as fine

As any lost.

For Good Fortune in Winter

When the evening fire

Lies down to tame,

Take twelve twigs

Of ash or rowan,

Tied in thread,

Yellow or red,

And cast them in,

Thinking in silence

Of what you wish, whether

Love or wealth

Or gentle weather;

Watch their flame,

Do not look away

Until it dies,

And you shall have your way.

To Pass Through a Locked Door

Where the lock

Is filled with rust

And all the keys

Have long been lost,

And time has warped

The heavy door

Against the place

It fit before,

And no one can

Remember now

What joys or sorrows

It could show,

Then you must tap

Its silent boards

Once, twice, and thrice,

And say these words:

Whatever lies

Beyond this door

Let me enter

Without fear,

Or else with lever,

Saw, and axe,

I’ll serve the wood

Until it breaks.

If its panels

Do not fall,

Its frame unfasten

From the wall,

And show the hidden

Scene to you,

You are not worthy

Of the view.

A Cider Potion for Strength

If cider is pressed

When the apples are warm,

Its russet taste

Must turn you strong;

Heat it with cloves,

With cinnamon long,

Drink it soon

And read this song:

Apple rust

And cinnamon rust

And cloves like rusty nails,

Turn my skull

To an iron wall,

My ribs to iron rails.