A Spell from The Craft

The Craft
Reading Adventures in Witchery recently has made us somewhat nostalgic for the 1990’s. So, reveling in the halloween season and our penchant for horror, we made some cinnamon caramel popcorn, opened a couple of pumpkin ales, and sat down to re-watch “The Craft”. Just on a lark we paused one particular scene in the montage where the ladies are discussing a spell in a book (right after the levitation scene) and tried to decipher the text to see what book they used in the film. We found that we could read almost the whole thing, but that the spell isn’t on the internet yet (that we could find)! This is somewhat shocking, as we assumed someone would have copied it down to a geocities site with a purple background and spinning pentacles of glitter by 1997. So here it is, archived for posterity, a spell under the heading “initiation” from 1996’s teen witch horror film “The Craft”.

~ Initiation ~

1 Tbsp Pipsissewa
2 Tbsp rose powder
1 Tbsp violet powder
1/2 Tbsp Vanillan powder
1/4 teaspoon salt peter

Crush Pipsissewa fine as possible, add the rest of the formula, and mix thoroughly.

After sundown, during an hour of Venus, light a little of the incense mix. Light a Seven Power candle. Read Psalm 41 aloud. Sit in quiet meditation for five minutes. Then, tell the Angels your hearts desire, or, tell them what troubles you. It is said that if you repeat this spell every seven days, the Angels will come to your aid. You must permit the Seven Powers candle to burn out, do not extinguish yourself.

Chimaphila maculata

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata or Chimaphila maculata) is a beautiful woodland herb found throughout North America which is underutilized in magical practice. One of the two plants referred to as wintergreen, pipsissewa has a sweet, fresh flavor and scent. Cunningham mentions it being useful for summoning benevolent spirits. (Photo by Fritz Flohr Reynolds.)

Mandrake Oil

This past full moon I decided to try out a mandrake oil that I started brewing under the full moon (and lunar eclipse) in Libra this spring. To make it, I censed a bottle with frankincense and put pieces of Mandragora officinarum in it with sweet almond oil. Round about midnight, I gently warmed the oil over a candle flame in a triangle of mountain ash wood (chosen for its quickening properties), and sang incantations while the root danced within the oil. I repeated this quickening rite a couple of times over the past few months, but otherwise, the oil has been biding it’s time and maturing in the darkness of the witchcraft cabinet.

Brewing Mandrake Oil

The oil has a potent charge to it that I felt when applying it– an electric tingle of magic that buzzed on my skin. The effects were different from what I expected; they were definitely quite embodied. The world took on a dreamlike, otherworldly quality, but the experience was still quite physical. The oil would probably good for ecstatic trance-work like masking or sex magic, or rites dealing with The Good Neighbors and Elphame. Because of the embodied nature of the effects, it will be less useful for spirit flight. Mandrake however may be helpful in a smaller proportion in a blend for transvection to the Sabbat. “Witchcraft Medicine” by Müller-Ebeling, Rätsch and Storl seems to back up my experiences. It refers to Mandragora officinarum as the mandrake of Aphrodite, growing in the garden of Venusberg.