Clay Magic, Spells and Rituals For A Modern Witch

Clay is the ultimate, the most authentic and even the first artist’s supply ever. The Bible says that the first man, Adam, also known as the Red Man from Eden, was made of clay.  In Hebrew, the words ‘Adama“(earth),”Adom“(”red“),”Dam“(”blood“), and ”Adam“(”human“) are all of the same origin. In Genesis we can track how the first soil was red; this soil was used to create the first human. In Modern Hebrew, we are still able to spot the traces of the ancient wisdom coming alive. The First Adam was created from Earth and the bond between us and Mother Earth will remain forever.

However, it’s not only in Judeo-Christian culture that we find this solid tie with the Earth. Prometheus is also known for using clay to create the first humans. The Ancient Greek legend says that Prometheus made humans of clay and Athena breathed life into them.

Prometheus. Photo: Factus.ru

Khnum. Photo: reled.net

In Egyptian mythology the god-creator Khnum – the god of the source of the Nile River – was the father of all human children, which he made at a potter’s wheel from clay.

Ancient people would praise clay in their daily life, using it to produce the first known tableware, ritual object, jewelry and charms.

So should we. There’s nothing more natural than working with clay. The nature of the material itself suggests you should want to get your hands dirty with clay and put on the creator’s hypostasis.

Let’s see how you can implement this beautiful ancestral message into your daily magic rituals. The main focus will be on the altar upgrade, so if you haven’t assembled one yet, it’s high time to think about that. We’ll talk about intentional actions you can take right now and what clay-wrought objects can help you manifest it.

It goes without saying that hand-built clay goodies, absorbing your love and sacred desires with each touch, will fit your altar better than the ones you get on Etsy or a farmer’s market. However, there are no rules when it comes to how you envision and operate your altar. If you want to support your local witch by buying that very special chalice, go ahead; you’re doing a sweet thing here.  Let’s start on the amazing clay journey.

Healing

Clay is a product of Earth, so traditionally we strongly associate it with earth energy. However, during the formation process clay is perpetually nourished with all other elements: fire, water, wind and metal. To know this means to heal with these energies.

Most of the known alternative medicine practitioners pay huge respect to these energies and their healing attributes. Middle Ages doctors, Chinese and Korean acupuncture specialists, Avicenna and Paracelsus – all of them deeply rooted their practice in the power of the five elements.

You can address specific parts of the body or mind through choosing the right type of clay and activating its healing properties.

Clay and the elements:

• Wind energy deals with muscle spasms, movement disorders and convulsion. Wind-prevailing clay is blue and gray.
• Earth energy deals with accumulation of all sorts: obesity, flatulence, laziness. Earth-dominant clay is yellow.
• Metal energy brings the sensation of dryness. Healing joints and skin is what white-colored clay is aimed at.
• Water clay works with genito-urinary system as the most water-containing system of our body. Black and dark brown clay is known to be full of water energy.

Earth energy deals with our deepest desires, and it literally manifests in the fire burning inside (such as heart and blood vessels dysfunctions).

Red clay is the one working with fire energy. How does it work? It was discovered that clay has an amazing ability to direct pathogenic cells and to absorb harmful vibrations. This mechanism of consuming negative vibes stabilizes metabolism – basically, what you feel is big love flowing inside your body.

To heal with earth magic is an instinctive thing to do not only for humans, but also for the Animalia kingdom. Whenever animals are wounded or fatigued, they tend to give themselves to the loving arms of ground and rest there till they are better. It doesn’t have to be so dramatic, though. Every day we see how instinctively we ask the ground for help. Have you ever felt nausea after a long ride? What would be the first thing to do when finally getting out of the car? Just lay down on the ground, touch it, smell it, trust it.

Make sure not to forget to check in with your physician from time to time, we’re not saying here that clay can take all your health troubles away.  Clay heals, but what heals the most is your intention to show love and care to your body.

Now, which first steps can you make to mend your body?

Using clay to heal

Make your own mortar. Choose the clay according to your needs and then, while involving fresh or dried medicinal herbs, chanting, spelling and pounding, focus your thoughts on how much you intend your body to be healthy and trust. Bring trust to every step of activating the herbs. Whisper to them words of magic and wisdom, pound them thoroughly and use them for tea or baths.

Rebound

If you want to bring more creativity to your life and strengthen your intuition, you might consider making a goddess amulet/pendant/figurine.

Clay is very feminine in its nature due to its lithe consistency; it would make a perfect material for embracing your femininity.  The Goddess residing in the clay will enhance the Goddess within. Voluptuous and comforting, Mother Goddess symbolizes the cycle of growth – such a perfect companion to help you start on a new path in life, sign up for that yoga class or oil painting course or finally get your driving licence fixed.

Everyday magic is a real game-changer when it comes to getting things done in the most LOVING way. The Goddess can boost your love energy and get that sexy flow going since it also embodies sexual union and fertility.  Try to work with a goddess figurine before an important date and see what happens next.

Nurturing yourself and others in a motherly way is crucial in our lives, so turn to the Goddess to reconnect to this side of you. There’s no culture in the world that hasn’t employed the Mother Goddess concept – look at Mother Mary, Isis and others. The Goddess produces everything around her; everything comes from her and returns to her.

Unless you strongly feel  otherwise, a powerful colour to dress your Goddess figurine in is black, to celebrate the nothingness from which we come from.  Witches wear black, do we not? By placing the goddess figurine on your altar you deliberately take a step towards accepting your creative power as a woman – a super power. You can create anything you want; mother earth will guide you.  We came from her womb and we inherited the virtue of creativity. If you’re an artist, she can be your number one helper for periods of creative stagnation.

Ground

If you’re a bit of a flyway looking forward to adopting a few tricks to ground yourself, this is your chance. Clay requires devotion.  It takes some time to get a finished piece, after preparing your clay, modeling, correcting, drying, firing, glazing etc. This works though. In achieving what you deem to be a perfect shape, you’ll have no choice but to concentrate like heck.

No rush, otherwise the piece won’t come off in a nice way. Slow down, get your hands dirty. How often do you get blissfully muddy these days? We’re so sterile, so soft compared to our ancestors who would do everything with their bare hands. No judgment here – life has changed since then; yet people get further and further from the Earth each day. Let’s change that right now and do some grounding work.  And have fun.

What is the easiest, most joyous and most traditional way to ground oneself, according to the wise ones? Have a sip of wine, they say. Meditation also works, so do sculpting and painting.

What if you engage in all of them and make a clay chalice? A chalice is one of the essential elements on every altar – and in any house of the world you will find its variations and derivatives.  If you’d love to share the wine with someone (like in Blondie’s song) then make two chalices to use on special occasions. Occasions to mobilize your chalice should be meaningful indeed, as the chalice as we typically know it was originally designed for feasts in Ancient Rome. It was in later times that this symbolism came to Christianity with the weekly reception of the Blood of Christ. In Wicca, apart from being one of the binding tools for the Great Rite, the chalice also represents the feminine energies of the Universe.

Water-like – fluid and gentle – the chalice and its contents literally turn you into a princess. Or a Queen, if being a princess is not appealing enough to you. One grounded,  beautiful Queen.

Consult

As a natural shaman, woman is already connected to the Spirit World. However, we’re not always ready to receive the guidance. We ignore our own magic helpers, even though they’re always around. A person with a strong connection to their power animals is a person who respects and honours spirits.

In the old days, a tribe wouldn’t just “choose” the power animal for themselves; the knowledge would be given from beyond the mundane world. It still works like this. There’s an animal essence out there in the Spirit World mirroring your actions, thoughts and desires.  It has nothing to do with which animal in general you find enticing. You have no need of unicorns when the one guiding you is a sloth. Think how disappointing it will be for the sloth, waiting for a chance when its wisdom will be heard! The sloth can be a bad-ass spirit guide, actually. Just imagine all the cool things you can learn from a sloth – relaxation, slowing down, enjoying life after all.

For different periods of your life, new animal spirits might show up to guide you. It all depends on what kind of message you need to take seriously.  A special meditation with a local spiritual healer can reveal your animal spirit guide. However if there’s not a single medium/witch/clairvoyant around and there won’t be for the nearest future, do not despair. There’s always a solution.

For example, you can take an online course on how to meditate in order to meet your animal helper. There was one I specifically liked and can recommend- Animal Spirit Guides by Dr. Steven Framer on DailyOM. No advertisement here, I’m just sharing my good experience so that you can shorten the search if needed.

Another way to learn about your animal spirit guide is to go on a good old vision quest.

Make your animal familiar or animal guide from clay

When making your animal familiar from clay, concentrate on connecting to the essence of the animal. Get ready to receive messages and consult your animal when needed.  Take your time. Invite the guide in, and show your devotion. Place the animal on your altar when it’s ready and include the dialogue between you two in your daily meditation ritual.

Clay magic is old magic and eternally reborn new magic.

Working with clay can rejuvenate creative energy flow in many areas of life – romantic relationships, career, self-love, success and more.

In springtime, when everything in  nature is being reborn, we wouldn’t mind being reborn ourselves. It can feel good to turn the volume up on the life force within andcommit to new challenging practices.

Here’s a new magical clay practice to try this spring – mindful art-making for a home altar. Add a new layer to it, and new or strengthened intention.

Whether you want to engage in a healing process, talk to your spirit guides, reconnect to your inner goddess or ground yourself a little bit, Mother Earth and clay magic can assist you – as long as you remember to set your intentions right, respect traditions and materials and move slowly.

More ideas for using clay in magic, ritual and spellwork… a note from the editors

We love Margarita’s insights on ways to work clay with magical intent! Here are some more uses for clay, should they suit your practice…

• Create personal wearable charms from enchanted clay beads
• Make charged candle holders for spells and rituals
• Have a metal pentagram to hand? Press it into your clay, e.g. on the base of statues and chalices
• Mold a pentagram tablet on which to place ritual objects.