Rune Stones

I spent some time today hand lettering rune stone sets to give as gifts for Solstice.  I used this chart which I found at http://www.crystalcavern.com/en-us/rune_stone_meanings.html

Rune Chart

I used a black marker (for glass work). They look a bit like the picture below though the runes are in black not gold. I did three sets on white glass beads, one set on aqua, and another on yellow. 

I got this image from http://www.secondhand-souls-4occult.com/rune-stone-sets.html where you can buy lots of different colors of rune sets at really reasonable prices.

Book Review – Cunningham’s Book of Shadows

Cunningham’s Book of Shadows by Scott Cunningham

Published posthumously, this is a compilation of Scott Cunningham’s personal Book of Shadows material supplemented with verbiage from his published works. It is charming in its simplicity and feels, to me, like it comes from a wide eyed, honest, feeling, trusting perspective. It is refreshingly direct, as all of his works are and incredibly useful. I will be referring back to this book for its sections on signs & symbols, and may actually copy much of it out into my own BOS. The Appendixes at the end of the book are personal reminiscences of Scott by a few of his friends. They give insight into who he was, and are a nice supplement to his biography ‘Whispers of the Moon’ by Harrington. I would recommend this book as a supplement to his other works. For a newbie, I’d still suggest starting with his ‘Wicca: a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner’.

Book Review – Essential Guide to Crystals

The Essential Guide to Crystals by Simon & Sue Lilly

A handy sized magical reference for rocks, gems, minerals, and crystals. The introductory material ‘The Power of Crystals’ includes healing traditions, a bit of geology, taking care of your collection, healing techniques, correspondences such as chakras and colors, and meditations. The bulk of the book are entries detailing each crystal. The word crystal is used as a synonym for all kinds of rocks and minerals. Since this seems to be the norm in the neopagan/new age genre I’ll not argue about it here. The crystal entries are arranged by color which is useful for identification purposes. Each entry has information such as the chemical composition, locations where the stone is found, identification and care, healing, practical ideas, magic ideas and a list of similar stones. The list of similar stones is particularly helpful for identification purposes. Great care has been taken to warn readers against doing things to the stones that would degrade them or using them for purposes that would harm the reader. I know there is no book that can include every polished stone found on the market, but this book lists howlite twice in the ‘similar stones’ section but does not give howlite an entry for itself. On the other hand objects such as coral and pearl are included though they are not stones. I appreciate these inclusions because the items can be used in many of the same ways and are found near each other in bead stores and rock shops. The Lilly’s have packed the book with a lot of useful information for anyone wishing to work magic and/or healing with stones. I would recommend this book to my friends.

Book Review – Practical Candleburning Rituals

Practical Candleburning Rituals by Raymond Buckland (amazon link)

A classic in pagan world it was originally published in 1970. This third edition includes Christian and Pagan versions of candle rituals. For good or ill the book includes both what could be considered black ritual and white ritual.  It is up to the practitioner to decide how or if these should be used.  Buckland includes a warning about this very thing in his introduction. There are correspondences for colors, day of the week, along with altar placements.  

I recommend this book since so many current books use this as a foundation for their candle burning ritual suggestions. 

The caveat to this is my belief that the magic is effective because of the witch not the ritual.  To me the correspondences and even the candles themselves are secondary to the belief and connections of the witch.