Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Healing Cauldron

Blessings, Darlings!

EARLY LAST WEEK:

Early last week, during the waning moon, I cleaned out my healing cauldron, readying it for another year of use. 

YESTERDAY:

Midday yesterday, e-mail went out from the Wiccan Trad I'm in that a member's family needed prayers/energy/magic.  So I finally found a location for the cauldron and a candle (yes, refer back to the chaos caused by moving), and did a quick working.

I went back to the computer. The news started rolling in about the mass shooting in Arizona.  Back to the cauldron, more working.

None of my other altars are up in the house, and clearly I was running late in setting up the Healing Cauldron ... and I still need to find the candle supply.  Having a dedicated Healing Cauldron, however, is always a good idea.

THE HEALING CAULDRON

For most of the folks I know, 'the healing cauldron' is a useful phrase, an abbreviation for a working.  For me, it refers to a literal cauldron, on an always-erected specific altar, one which usually (like, except during moves) gets daily attention.

The altar I use is simple.  It features a 4-inch cast iron cauldron, a candle, a candlestick if I'm not using a glass-enclosed candle, and some Bridget's Brats, blessed in years of working with Mugwort Grove, ADF. Given the affinity of us AMOKs for hot tubs, I had really wanted to use a doll house hot tub, but resisted that temptation - mostly because I already had a couple of small cauldrons.

Having this ALWAYS set up, any time a request for healing comes my way, I don't have to be distracted by setting things up.  And every morning I light a candle and send energy and prayers for those already in it.

BTW, I usually use Hanukkah candles for this. They burn about 20 minutes, so I rarely have to handle issues of untended candles left burning!

At times, usually the full moon, I make offerings as well, to keep the energy flowing well.  Grain, honey, butter, wine, oil usually.  Sometimes canned goods that will later go to the food pantry for the good of all.

In a way, it's part of my 'prepper' lifestyle.  Illness, injury, death, etc WILL happen to those around you. Being able to spiritually and magically handle those things is part of the drill.

Frondly, Fern

2 comments:

  1. My Cauldron of Intent is copper. We clean it out on the cross-quarters, getting rid of the old oats or barley after stirring in clockwise what we want to remove from out lives in the coming quarter. Then we refill it with fresh oats or barley, stirring in our counterclockwise our intent for the coming quarter. On a daily basis, I stir the Cauldron to add energy, and add in needs as they arise. For major requests, I put fresh whiskey, wine or mead in the mead-horn, place fresh breads on the offering plate, light a candle for each realm, invite the Kindreds, and stir the new request into the Cauldron. The late Catherine D'Unger told me that her Cauldron of Intent was ceramic, and being in Texas she filled it not with oats or barley but cornmeal and dried chilis.

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