Rosary and Psalm Magic

Transcription

1 Prayer Beads Rosary and Psalm Magic The Witch s Rosary (Notes) The English word bead is derived from the Old English bede which means a prayer. The earliest known use of beads goes back at least as early 10,000 BC. Throughout the centuries different cultures have continued to make beads from various materials including stone, gem, glass, bone, shells and clay. The exact origins of strings of prayer beads remain uncertain, but their early use is recorded in multiple cultures throughout history. Prayer beads are fingered to allow the practitioner to keep a count of the number of prayers which have been performed, thus allowing them to focus their attention solely on the prayers themselves. Cord, or knot magic, has been a part of the folk and oral traditions of many cultures. Knots tied into cords or ropes during the repetitions of chants, incantations, spells, prayers and curses forms the basis of a great deal of magical practice throughout most magical cultures. The use of knots on prayer cords in Christianity dates back to the 3rd and early 4th centuries. These were primarily devices used for counting prayers such as the Jesus prayer. From about the year 431, there began an increased use of Marian prayers (prayers to the Virgin Mary) while using these prayer cords, which later became the Catholic Rosary. The Catholic Rosary with Ariel Gatoga The term Rosary comes from the Latin rosarium "rose garden" and is an important and traditional devotion of the Catholic Church. The modern Catholic Rosary combines prayer and meditation in sequences, called decades," of the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, Gloria Patri as well as a number of other prayers (such as the Apostles' Creed and the Salve Regina). The prayers are accompanied by meditation on different Catholic Mysteries which are events in the life and ministry of Jesus. This traditional Catholic form of the rosary is attributed to Saint Dominic, though some Catholic writers have doubted this claim. Unlike these relatively modern practices of praying the Rosary, the earliest versions of the Catholic Rosary were prayed using only two prayers: the Lord s Prayer and the Hail Mary. The original versions of the Catholic Rosary did not include any other prayers Rosary and Psalm Magic Page 1 of 8 The Witch s Rosary

2 besides these two, nor were any mysteries meditated upon. The Early Rosary string, being much simpler in construction than the current one, consisted simply of a string of a series of ten small beads (decades), each separated by a single larger bead. The Lord s Prayer was repeated for each large bead, and the Hail Mary was repeated for each of the smaller beads. The extra beads, crucifix, additional prayers and meditations on different Catholic were not a part of the original Rosary, having been added to the practice over time. An early version of the Catholic Rosary string (much like the current one) consisted of 5 decades. A complete Rosary sequence was prayed for a total of 15 decades, meaning the 5 decade Rosary was prayed three times through. This could be done all at once, or throughout the day (one round of 5 decades in the morning, one at midday, and one in the evening). The completed 15 decades meant that a total of 150 Hail Marys were prayed. This is why the Rosary was also known as Mary s Psalter, as this was the same as the number of Psalms in the Bible. Being that many people were illiterate, and were incapable of reading the psalms each day, praying the rosary was considered a substitute for praying the Psalms. It is interesting to note that the pagan origins of the Rosary are one of the fundamental reasons many non-catholic Christians site as being their aversion to the use of the Rosary. An Example of a Typical Modern Catholic Rosary: Rosary and Psalm Magic Page 2 of 8 The Witch s Rosary

3 The Witch s Ladder There is a common practice in modern Wicca to use a type of rosary called The Witch s Ladder. This can be a string of beads or a cord with knots. The number of beads or knots used varies depending on the practitioner and their tradition, or the symbolism desired by the practitioner. The Witch s ladder is used in a similar fashion to other types of prayer beads, as well as being a counting device for incantations, affirmations and chants. The Witch s Rosary In this course, I am teaching the use of what I call a Witch s Rosary. This can be made with beads or knots. The Witch s Rosary, like the Catholic Rosary, uses the decade system: one large bead for every 10 small beads. A witch can use a Witch s Ladder, a knotted cord or a Witch s Rosary in any way that she sees fit. It can be used to count affirmations, incantations, invocations, prayers, charms or anything that is appropriate to the spell involved. Although Cord magic is an excellent magical device in a spell to bind into being that which is being manifested through the act of tying knots in the cord. The magical system of the Witch s Rosary as described in this course is something separate and distinct from cord magic, and the two should not be confused. A Few Examples of Witch s Rosaries: Rosary and Psalm Magic Page 3 of 8 The Witch s Rosary

4 How to use the Witch s Rosary The system of Rosary Magic I am presenting here is one that has been tried and true and gives impeccable results when used with the appropriate mindset. I certainly hope you try it; however, if you don t feel comfortable using the biblical source material presented herein, feel free to substitute as you see fit. Create your own method of working with your Rosary. A Catholic Rosary may be used to do the spell-work in this lesson. In fact there are a great many Catholic and Christian practitioners of magic who do so on a regular basis; For my first foray into this work, I purchased a simple Rosary from a local Catholic supply shop, and it worked beautifully. However, I, like many witches, found I couldn t relate to having a crucifix on my rosary. Occasionally, you can find Catholic Rosaries which use simple crosses without crucifixes, or Celtic crosses, and sometimes even tassels (often known as Paternosters) but they are not very common. Once I realized this was a system that I was going to use regularly, I made sure to have a decent Rosary made to my own specifications. For a witch s rosary, your best bet is to either make one yourself, or have one made for you. Etsy is an excellent place to have a Witch s Rosary custom made, usually at a very affordable price. You may use any materials you like, semi precious stones glass beads, skull beads, shells, bone, etc. You want something to mark the beginning/end of the Rosary. You may use a symbol you like at the end of your rosary, or as I prefer, just a simple tassel. You can use a pentagram, hexagram, ankh, equal armed cross, Celtic Cross, spiral, or anything else that you like. The Rosary Prayers Being that the early church tended to borrow many pagan customs, I see no problem in borrowing back several of them for my magic. A witch tends to use whatever works. That s what we are doing here. The Witch s Rosary is a highly effective method of magic that always gives wonderful results. I have adapted the earliest forms of the Catholic Rosary prayers for this Rosary magic, as these prayers seemed to be the closest to the pagan source materials from which I believe they were originally borrowed. The Goddess Prayer The Hail Mary (Ave Maria) in its earliest form was, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. This was a prayer based on two separate pieces of new testament scripture: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; and, Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. The later addition of Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us Rosary and Psalm Magic Page 4 of 8 The Witch s Rosary

5 sinners, now and at the hour of our death, was added later in the 14th Century, along with naming Jesus as the fruit of Mary s womb. I see Mary as a clear biblical symbol for Mari, the sea, the womb and the divine mother, the older, more primitive Hail Mary seems to be an actual carry-over from earlier goddess worship. The form of the prayer I developed for use when using the Witch s Rosary is thus: Holy Mother, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. So mote it be. This is a potent prayer to the Divine Mother, and gives the practitioner a visceral experience of the presence of the Universal Goddess in a very pure form: 1. We address her: Holy Mother 2. We name her nature: full of grace 3. We acknowledge her consort: the Lord is with you 4. We acknowledge her universality: blessed are you among women 5. We acknowledge her as the mother of all things: blessed is the fruit of your womb. The God Prayer The Lord s Prayer, taken from the New Testament, is one of the simplest, yet most remarkable invocations ever written. The common prayer is prayed thus: Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. My version which I use is: Our Father, in Heaven, your name is sacred. Your Kingdom is come, your will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. Lead us out of temptation, and deliver us from evil. So mote it be. 1. It is clear that we are addressing the masculine god form in the opening, Our Father. 2. In the bible, the name of something is its nature. It is the nature of the Father in Heaven to be sacred. You could thus very easily encapsulate the opening line of this prayer as Father Sky, you are sacred. Try praying the Lord s Prayer that way Rosary and Psalm Magic Page 5 of 8 The Witch s Rosary

6 and see how it feels. The occult meaning for Heaven or sky is not a place separate and distinct from us. It is the realm of the Superconscious, which is within us. 3. In the next lines, two important Hermetic principles are stated. a) Your kingdom is come, your will is done states the principle that Power flows from the causative plane into manifestation; and, b. On earth as it is in heaven, states the principle of That which is above, is below. 4. Give us this day our daily bread means fulfill all our needs this day. We are expressing the fact that we receive the means to fulfill all of our needs on a daily basis. We are not saying, Give us enough for the rest of this month, we are claiming our faith in the Power, by stating, fulfill our needs this day. We have absolute certainty that tomorrow s needs will be filled tomorrow. 5. Forgive us our debts as we HAVE forgiven our debtors. Notice the tense we are using in this version. We are claiming forgiveness of all of our own errors, transgressions and mistakes because we acknowledge that we have already forgiven everyone who has been indebted to us on any level. We are simply stating a magical law. We owe no Karmic debts because we have already done our part by forgiving all others; therefore, we can claim forgiveness for ourselves liberally, here and now. 6. Lead us out of temptation and deliver us from evil, encapsulates simply the thought, give me the guidance in each moment to make the correct choices, and keep my mind, body and actions focussed on that which is for my highest good. I sometimes even paraphrase it thusly: Father Sky, you are sacred. Your power is here, now, your will is done; as is above, so is below. Meet all my needs this day. Forgive all my debts, as I have forgiven all my debtors. Give me the guidance in each moment to make only right choices and right actions; and keep me focussed on only that which is for the highest good. The Lord s Prayer is commonly spoken in the royal we, however you can see that you may easily pray it in the first person if you desire to, as well. There is no reason you can t make any prayer, spell, invocation or incantation your own as long as you understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. The Witch s Cross The act of crossing oneself did not originate with Christianity. It is a universal method of blessing that is used as a way of grounding and centering and self blessing. The Catholic version of crossing oneself, names the Christian trinity by stating, In the name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. The trinity of the Christian belief seems also to be something that was borrowed from earlier practices, but was obviously changed and made purely masculine. To witches, the Holy Spirit is Shekeinah, who is the Goddess.The Son, is called the Holy Child, which denotes the Higher Self, or the Universal Mind of all. So for us the Holy Trinity is simply The Father, The Mother, and The Child. Rosary and Psalm Magic Page 6 of 8 The Witch s Rosary

7 I use a method of crossing myself which I find to be quite effective, and in keeping with my understanding of the inner mysteries. I touch my forehead and say, In the name of the Father. I touch my breast, and say, and of the Mother, I touch one shoulder, and then the other while saying, and of the Holy Child, I bring my hands together over my heart and say, Blessed be. You may, instead, want to use what is called the Qabalistic Cross: Touch: the forehead: Ateh" (thou art) the breast: Malkuth (the kingdom) the right shoulder: Ve Geburah (the power) the left shoulder: Ve Gedulah (the glory) bring the hands together over the heart: Le Olam, Amen (forever, so be it). In the Qabalistic Cross, the right shoulder is touched first, in the Christian cross, the left shoulder is touched first. There are several reasons for the difference, the most pragmatic being that in Hebrew, one reads from the right to the left, and Latin and German based languages are read from left to right. There may be also Qabalistic significances as well as crossing from the right to the left could be seen as the lightning bolt descending the tree, and crossing left to right could be seen as the Serpent climbing the tree. I recommend that when doing the WItch s Cross, you try it both ways and notice the difference, if any, that you experience. This way you can make up your own mind based on your experience rather than being told what to do. Performing Rosary Magic The actual performance of Rosary magic is actually quite simple. You will undoubtedly notice the great power that is raised when performing the ritual. It becomes more potent the more you practice it. You may notice that you go into an altered state as a result of the repetitive chants. This is a good thing. Just do your best to stay focussed on your goal and also the meaning behind the words you are chanting, even as you go into a trance. I have noticed that it is most effective when chanted aloud, but if you prefer to do it in silence that is fine as well. Try it both ways and notice the difference you experience between the two. 1. Begin by dedicating your rosary session to a specific goal: I dedicate this rosary to perfect harmony in my home, I dedicate this rosary to a ten percent increase in my salary, I dedicate this rosary to the complete health of my mother s body, etc.; 2. Take either the starting end of the rosary or your finger, and perform some sort of crossing, or at least do a grounding and centering; 3. On your first large bead, say one God prayer; 4. For each of the 10 smaller beads which follow say one Goddess prayer (10 prayers in all) Rosary and Psalm Magic Page 7 of 8 The Witch s Rosary

8 5. Repeat this process until all 5 decades of your Rosary have been completed; 6. Feel and state gratitude that it is done; 7. Complete a total of three rounds for the same purpose throughout the day if possible. While three rounds daily is recommended, even one or two rounds per day is remarkably effective. 8. Take time while reciting the prayers to feel the meaning of each prayer to the best of your ability. 9. Take time to envision your goal either during the recitations, or just prior or after you have completed the rosary. 10. Perform a final crossing, or grounding and centering. Feel free to experiment. You may want to use completely different prayers than those given here; or you may be lead to use all Goddess prayers, or all God prayers in a particular session with your Rosary. In my experience, the Witch s Rosary as I have given it here, is one of the most satisfying and highly effective magical techniques I have ever used. I hope you try it and find it to be as much of a blessing in your life as it is in mine. Blessed be, Ariel Rosary and Psalm Magic Page 8 of 8 The Witch s Rosary