Saturday 10 November 2012

Saintly Petitions:


My boyfriend left on a six-week holiday across India and Vietnam today, and so when I returned home from dropping him at the airport, I started putting together the small altar for Saint Christopher, in order to perform a petition for safe travel for my guy.

There's a lot of witches out there who find it reprehensible to work with or within the realms of Christianity,
some claim that its simply disrespectful given the history (and present) persecution of witches by the church, others think that it's simply devoid of meaning, and others still find it paradoxical. I'm clearly not one of these witches. For me, Christianity and Witchcraft aren't really as divorced as people seem to believe that they are, and the path that I tread of interweaving and juxtaposing and just out-right smashing together of the two; well, it really works for me.
 

I was christened Anglican after birth, unbaptised myself with the assistance of my best friend in my back yard when I was 12, and then dedicated myself to the pursuit of Witchcraft shortly after. Along the way I have been something of a faith-whore, flitting from path to path, stance to stance. However, some elements have remained strong along the entire 15 years of my conscious spiritual journey. One of those is a fascination with and love of the practise of petitioning the Saints for favours or guidance. I have a huge collection of Prayer Cards, and whenever I am feeling in need of some guidance or inspiration, I'll often shuffle them and then pull one out that feels right, and scrutinise the image and the prayer like I would a tarot card.
 

In any event, today's work was focused upon ensuring my partner a safe and happy journey, and importantly, a safe return home. I've been preparing for this for a while, and so I'd already sent him off with a specially purchased St. Christopher's medal pinned inside his luggage. Here, however, I prepared a red prayer candle by removing it from its container and then massaging cologne (Florida Water for the Saint, and Ralph Lauren's Safari for my guy) into the wax. I then sprinkled the candle liberally with some Protection Powder from the superb Anathemum. This done, I returned the candle to it's container, sprinkled more powder around the top of the candle, as well as some rosemary.

Next up, I wrote my petition to Saint Christopher out in ink (also purchased from Anathemum), waited for it to dry, and then folded it up and sat it under the candle on a plate. I then went out into the garden in search for flowers to decorate the miniature altar with. However, all that was really blooming right now was my Foxglove, and while she is beautiful, she isn't exactly what I was looking for here. As I was turning to go inside and venture forth to a florist, the clover flowers caught my eye. They're predominantly white, a strong protective colour, and they're also a part of the home we share together. What better energy could there be for such an undertaking? I set the flowers around the base of the candle with a sprig of Rosemary (again, for protection), and the placed my St. Christopher prayer card front and centre. 
 

I'll only light the candle every second day, as I don't want it to burn out until my partner is returned to me; but I will recite my petition to Saint Christopher daily, and I'll be changing the flowers and making offerings as the time passes. I have a strong feeling that Saint Christopher really wants some hot wings from me...

So, there you have it, Stepford-brand bastardised Catholic Witchcraft!

Thoughts? Comments? Criticisms? The comments section is there for a reason people.

 
Xx
 

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