For Your Grimoire
Collecting Your Self – A Charm
The purpose of this charm, a form of spellwork, is to collect aspects of your Self that have been given away or put aside. An aspect of our Self might be our dreams, ambitions, or that vague feeling that we’re not the same person we used to be and we want to call that part of us back! This spell is about integrating the Self that has been set aside or lost.
You will need: Two pieces of velvet, felt, or other fabric cut into the shape of a star (6 to 8 inch, enough to make a star-shaped “pillow”), thread and needle to sew, a bowl or cauldron, and the following: barley to represent Earth, dried sage to represent Air, dried basil to represent Fire, dried chamomile to represent Water, Your Breath to represent Spirit. You should have enough grain and herbs to fill the pillow.
You may do this with a group, coven, or by yourself. You may also do this in a circle as part of ritual, or simply as a tool while visualizing.
Sew most of the star together ahead of time – it doesn’t matter if you can’t sew; this is about intention. If you want, you can look up the meanings of colors and use a color of felt that is significant for you (e.g., purple to call back a more spiritual aspect of Self, yellow for personal will, and so on).
Take up the barley and hold it in your hand. Call the Earth aspects of your Self: call the part that is prosperous, the part that has a solid foundation, the part that is grounded, the part that is nurturing, and the part that plants ideas as seeds and plans the future. Think of specific times when you strongly felt each of these things, or other Earth aspects. Visualize all of that energy within the barley, and place the barley in the cauldron. Think of the cauldron as the Divine Feminine; each time you place a grain or herb in the “womb” or cauldron, you are re-birthing that aspect of your Self.
Take up the remaining herbs one at a time, visualize the corresponding aspect you’re drawing back to you, and place it in the cauldron.
Sage, Air: Call back your quick wit, logic, wisdom, planning abilities.
Basil, Fire: Call back your passion for life, or elsewhere! Call back your fast action, your ability to cleanse the past to make way for a brilliant future!
Chamomile, Water: Call back your intuition, and most importantly, your correct path. Water always flows in the most direct route to the ocean, and you can flow in your most direct route to the truest you.
Next, mix these items together in the cauldron. As you do, blow gently on the mixture to add Spirit, all the while visualizing the YOU you are calling back.
Fill the star pillow with the mixture, and quietly sew the pillow closed, visualizing the new, fully integrated, you. Tie some yarn in a loop to the top of the star to hang it from your front door knob or bedroom door knob as a reminder of your Best You when you leave the house.
Oh, and the reason for the star shape? It is from the pentacle — four of the points represent the elements, the fifth point represents Spirit. And… just to remind you that you ARE A STAR!
Blessed be!
I can’t think of a better reason to do an herb garden this year, then to try some of these charms and spells. I’d also very much like to learn how to differentiate between the gemstones and navigate their meanings for some of the chakra patterns you told us about a few months back.
Thank you, Morrigan! Lovely to do an herb garden — and more powerful when you grow them yourself (more nutritive too!). Stones and Gems are a never-ending and fascinating study! You’re going to love it! Brightest Blessings!