BY LISA MARIE BASILE
Looking for some October magic? Below I’ve included two rituals — one a Santa Muerte rebirth ritual dreamed up by Leza Cantoral (witch, author, and editor of Clash Books), published in Light Magic for Dark Times and one a tarot writing practice from The Magical Writing Grimoire.
You Are The Magician: A Tarot Writing Ritual
The Magical Writing Grimoire by Lisa Marie Basile
I often use the Wild Unknown deck when working with tarot, but I encourage you to use the deck the deck that speaks to you, of course! In the Wild Unknown deck, the magician takes the form of a proud leopard, reminding me of Seshat, the Egyptian goddess of writing and books.
Because of this specific literary connection — and all the ways in which the magician and writer have been linked throughout history — I turn to this card when meditating on the manifestation and creativity.
In many decks, you’ll see the Magician card as a luminous thing — beautified by bright colors, summoning the energy of creation and palpable generative magic. The magician inhabits their own power. The magician not only summons and pools their energy, but they also direct it. This is a card of doing, of going, of creation.
In the Wild Unknown deck (and in other popular decks) you see the Magician with the lemniscate, a figure-eight symbol that represents infinity, the interconnectedness of all things, the self without limit. We are always connected to the infinite, drawing on it and being inhabited of it. Magic is a connection with that infinity—being able to tap into the wild greatness of nature and life and the cosmos. The magician pulls on that energy, calls to it, finds an archetype of power and wisdom in it.
The magician asks us to manifest our goals by understanding our vision and the drive behind it. What is the inner core of the vision? If it has a heart, what is its heart made of? Like the lemniscate suggests, how do you connect your mind and body with the higher plane of possibility?
In this practice, we will conjure our own power — to get us used to feeling that electricity. To teach us to inhabit our magic. To lean into the infinite. Because any manifestation practice relies on our honoring that we are capable of all things — of directing energy and creating change.
Materials
The magician tarot card
Items to represent the elements
A yellow candle (or a candle color that represents creativity to you)
A piece of card stock or thick paper, like for painting
Scissors
Colored markers and crayons in colors that invigorate and inspire you
Your journal
Decorate your altar or space with things that empower you to manifest, conjure, and create: Use items that represent your power and magic. Beautify with elemental symbols — crystals, a bowl of water, seashells, incense, feathers, a bell, a fan, soil, a flower, petals, salt, your yellow candle. Take time with this; make this part of your ritual. Be intent, be quiet, breathe through it, and arrange the items with intention.
Invoking the unique energy of the elements helps you tap into the world around you, while reminding you that you, too, are starstuff. Take time to arrange this altar of creativity and manifestation. You are not small or separate from the universe. You are of it, and calling on it.
Light your yellow candle (a color associated with creativity, though you can use any color that speaks to you) and meditate on it as you speak aloud this incantation. (Better yet, I encourage you to write one for yourself!).
I am infinite, of all things, of air and fire, wind and water, blood and starstuff. I am full of and fillable, inhabited by and inhabiting. I am magic. I am potential. I am conjuring and creating.
Next, journal on your intentions — for the next few days, the next few weeks, through the end of the year. As the Magician, what do you call on? Focus on this with intent — just as the magician focuses their energy. What are you called to create, make, or be? How can you, in the short and long-term honor that?
Write a list of the what and the why, soaking in the language, being specific, letting yourself be magnetized by potential. What do each of the elements teach you in your goals? Must you be more fluid, allow yourself to fly away? Must you have more energy? Must you be more grounded?
With your paper or card stock, cut out the shape of the lemniscate. It’s a simple figure eight, with two holes within each loop. Leave enough space so that you can write on it. Once you’ve cut this out, write your goals or mantras onto it — letting it carry your words into the infinite. Color it in with colors that feel powerful and brave and bold. Which colors feel energized and alive?
from Light Magic for Dark Times by Lisa Marie Basile
Santa Muerte Dearth & Rebirth Spell
Shedding our skin is natural and necessary, but that doesn’t make it easy or even desirable. We often resist change—I know I do—especially at times when we need it the most.
But as a Scorpio, the sign of death of transformation, I often hunger for change and adaptation — to kill off the part of me that is no longer necessary and to conjure the part of me that needs to crawl out of its shell: Codependence shed for self-love, anger shed for patience, fear shed for intuition, obsessive grief shed for peace of mind.
My good friend Leza is a writer and a witch—and she performs a spell in the name of Santa Muerte (in Mexico, Santa Muerte is the personification of death itself—to aid in transformation and to accept the phases of life). Leza kindly allowed me to adapt her spell for this grimoire:
Materials
A black candle
Skull imagery
Something you can shed (a single strand of hair, an article of clothing, a piece of jewelry you can remove)--An offering of some sort (like a small shot of liquor, or candy)
Create an altar by lighting your candle, positioning your skull, and offering up your candy or liquor. You can leave this altar up for a week or more (just be sure not to leave the candle alight while you’re not home). You want to spend some time with death, let its presence take up space.
When you are ready, light your candle, and offer up something from yourself—a piece of hair, a nail clipping, your shirt. Place it at the altar.
Sit or lie down, as if dead—all the while picturing Santa Muerte reviving you with light and love. Speak:
Death is rebirth; I transform; I am reborn; I am darkness and I am light.