Saturday, May 10, 2008

Grounding Charm

Are you feeling in need of some grounding energy? Maybe you get nervous when driving, perhaps your job is very stressful (or the people you work with, or even your customers or clients are difficult), or perhaps you're just feeling stressed in general, then this is a great little grounding charm to make for yourself, carried in a conjure or mojo bag that can be tucked into your purse, or even worn under your clothing as a necklace to keep it close to your heart.

What you'll need:
A piece of smoky quartz
Salt
Copper
Fabric to make a small bag
Cord or string

What you'll need to do with these things:
First the quartz will need to be cleansed. Saltwater is good but you must be sure it won't damage the stone, and burying it in the earth for one lunar cycle is also good, but if you're like me and you're freaking out and need to fix things fast, then a few hours setting out under the bright sun will also work. It doesn't have to be a big piece of quartz, but be sure to clean it from all those hands that have handled it prior to you at the new age store, the gem warehouse, the bead shop or wherever you purchased it from. The only exception to this would be if you were lucky enough to have found a small chunk of smoky quartz out in nature.

As for the copper, a penny will work just fine but you must be sure that the penny has an earlier date on it than 1982, the year in which the penny went from being 95% copper and 5% zinc to 97.5% zinc and only 2.5% copper, thus making the penny merely copper-plated zinc. Also: watch out for 1943 pennies as they were zinc-coated steel during war time.

Any pure salt is fine, but sea salt is always best, though not by any means essential. I took a small square piece of handmade cotton rag paper with greenery embedded in it and poured a teaspoon or so of salt into the middle and carefully folded the square around it. This I sealed with a few drops of red wax.

Your fabric, ideally should be green as green is the color of healing, but you should use any cloth that speaks to you, be it the color or its pattern that draws you to it. I personally used a very rowdy patterned fabric of many appropriate colors: green for healing, red for courage, pink for a sense of calm, gold for the God, silver for the Goddess, brown for the grounding color of earth. Leave it to me to not be able to settle on one color. I did however, line my little bag with green felt as that would be the color closest to my charmed elements. You'll want to make a bag whose finished size in somewhere in the area of 3" tall by 2.5" wide and which has a channel at the top with a small opening that you can run your cord through for a drawstring to keep the magickal elements safe inside. A good length of cord is 32" in length, which sounds like a lot, but truly isn't once it's been run through the casing and then knotted at the two loose ends. It makes a cord that, should you wish to wear your bag tucked into your clothing as a necklace of sorts, is just over 13" in length.

Be sure to keep your intentions clearly in mind while preparing the three elements and the bag and after you have finished it, take a moment to hold it in your hands and meditate on your intentions once more. Even better still is to bless it in circle and empower it to keep you grounded, safe and calm.

Why this little bag works:
Smoky quartz is a mood elevator that allows the one who possesses it to overcome negative emotions. It is worn as a grounding stone.

Copper has healing properties and also balances the body's projective and receptive energies, thereby releasing any blockages.

Salt is purifying, grounding, cleansing and can be used not only for protection, but also to help focus one's attentions and energies.

Just remember not to hang on to the bag forever for as with all things magickal, the energy that you put into this charm will eventually dissipate. I'm a big believer in recycling and feel that with a thorough washing to cleanse the bag, it can and should be used again for another appropriate charm. Likewise the piece of quartz. The salt however, when the charm is taken apart, should be poured back into the earth where she can recycle its energies and use it for her own good (be sure to not pour it where it can harm a plant or where an animal can ingest it). Best to bury it slightly in a safe place.

May you know calm and peace in your time of stress. Blessed be.