Ravel Magick Okay—you've waited all year for this vacation. Pack the bags. Buy the tickets or get the car tuned up. Need new sunglasses, insect repellent, sunscreen? Taking the kids, the dog, and the cat? Need a map, maybe a guidebook or two? Maybe you need a few days off just to prepare for vacation. In today's world, vacation can be every bit as stressful as business travel or two weeks at the office. On top of all the normal stress of going to a new place often comes a peculiar kind of homesickness—the feeling of disconnectedness from the things and places that nurture you in your day-to-day life. The hectic pace of travel—especially on a tight schedule—usually does not allow for developing connections with the places through which or to which you are traveling. This ritual work seeks to help us ground into and connect with these new places. We drew on images of Hecate and Hermes as we crafted this ritual, but every culture has its own deities of travel and crossroads. With August approaching—the traditional season of Western vacations—the time is perfect for planning your travel psychically as well as physically. And it's good preparation for non-vacation travel, as well. Have a safe trip—and send us a postcard! Luck at the Crossroads: A Travel Charm In the weeks before the ritual, find a feather, a small stone with a hole in it or a ceramic bead, and a small shell into which a hole has been drilled or has formed naturally. These represent the spirit roads of sky, sea, and land. Obtain a piece of cord or sinew narrow enough to pass through the holes in the stone and shell. On the night of the ritual, make your way to the place chosen for your ceremony. Ideally, this might be a crossroads, sacred to Hecate and Hermes, the matron and patron of travelers. Bring with you a chalice of water, a dish of salt, and a stick of incense or a smudge stick. At the circle site, ground and center according to your personal practice or preferences. When you feel completely at ease, proceed with the ritual. Cast a formal circle now if such is your tradition; otherwise, mentally image the form of a circle around you of sufficient diameter in which to work comfortably. Take up the feather and incense, and make your way to the East of the Circle. Moving sunwise, walk three times around the Circle, stopping on the fourth pass at that point in the Circle that seems to call most to Air. Summon the spirits of the wind, using this or a similar rune: I am standing in the House of Wind.
In the House of the Sky I am standing.
I, Feather-Bringer, Sweet-Wind-Bearer, call you!
Come, let us walk this road together. Leave the incense burning at this point in the Circle and take the feather back to the center. Take up the shell in one hand and the chalice of water in the other. Again beginning in the East, move sunwise around the Circle three times while sprinkling water along the perimeter. Stop on the fourth circuit at that point in the Circle that feels most closely associated with Water. Summon the spirits of the sea, using this or a similar rune: I am standing in the House of Water.
In the House of the Sea I am standing.
I, Shell-Bringer, Living-Water-Bearer, call you!
Come, let us walk this road together. Leave the chalice there and return with the shell to the center of the Circle. Take up the stone or bead and the dish of salt. Beginning in the East, sprinkle salt around the Circle for three turns sunwise and stop where you feel the call of Earth. Summon the spirits of Earth, using this or a similar rune: I am standing in the House of Stone.
In the House of the Earth I am standing.
I, Stone-Bringer, Sacred-Earth-Bearer, call you!
Come, let us walk this road together. Return with the stone or bead to the center. Visualize the moon radiating down, filling you with its energy. Draw this luminous silver light into yourself as you begin walking the perimeter of the Circle again, breathing in the silver moonlight. Wherever you step, you leave a faint silver trail. As you walk around and around and around the Circle, the silver trails lie one upon the other, forming a shining argent wall shimmering in the night. When this wall seems fully formed, begin to walk gradually smaller circles, spiraling toward the sacred objects waiting in the center and drawing the silver mist toward the center with you. When you reach the center, use your hands to pull the silver star-stuff into the feather, the stone, and the sea shell, feeling them pulse with the power of the moon. Take the cord and bind the objects together, saying this or a similar binding rune: This cord is the Breath of the World.
This cord is Living Water.
This cord is the Heart of the Earth.
This cord is a Bond of Love. Take care to ground any excess energy by letting it drain out your fingertips into the earth. Take a few moments to rest, and to thank the moon for lending energy to your spell. You might perform the rite of cakes and wine here if such is your practice. To close the Circle, thank the spirits of wind and sea and stone and walk the perimeter of the Circle once widdershins carrying the incense. Blow the incense to the four winds, signifying the release of the Circle. Carry the charm with you when you travel. Before embarking on a journey, and upon arriving at your destination, cup the charm in your hands, breathe lightly upon it, and repeat this or a similar rune: May the spirits of the earthroads bless my journey.
May the spirits of the skyroads bless my journey.
May the spirits of the waterroads
bless my journey.
And bring me safely home. Visualization: Connecting to Home Breathe into your belly, and center according to personal practice. When you feel your awareness deepening, see yourself walking down a crowded city street. Buses hiss and squeal, the air is humid and stifling, heavy with the metallic taste of automobile exhaust. You press through the crowd. You are on a tight schedule and can't afford to miss your next appointment—others are scurrying at the same maddening pace. The cloying scent of perfume rises from somewhere in the crowd. At the corner, while the traffic surges forward, you stop near a plant box and wait impatiently for the walk signal to flash. Instinctively, your hand reaches toward the tree in the planter next to you. As your fingers slide across its papery bark, you are aware of the tree breathing in nitrous fumes and exhaling oxygen; its leaves fan upward toward the sun, spinning light into life, and its roots stretch deep into the earth far below the pavement. Your awareness extends down the roots and into the soil beneath the asphalt and concrete, into the life-giving earth. Memories rise like sap, bringing with them the heavy musk of loam and the grit of sand and the pulse of seeds that lie dormant waiting for their moment to climb toward the sun. Images of plants and wildlife that once throve in this region fill your thoughts. Relax into these memories and let them become yours, knowing that through the earth you are connected to the spirits of this land, a part of all that has gone before, and a part of the life that thrums beneath your feet even now. Meditate with these spirits. When you are ready, return to the street corner, conscious of the workaday world around you, yet fully grounded into the land to which you are connected. As you walk along, you notice your surroundings have changed and you find yourself turning up a familiar walk that leads to a place you have called home. The aroma of a meal being prepared and the murmur of voices from within draw you inside. Here are the people closest to you; you are caught up in their conversations and in the sharing of life's details with people who know each other intimately. While you feel welcome, after a time you also feel a need to establish a link with this place that has nurtured you. Walk to the kitchen and pour yourself a glass of water; with each sip allow yourself to flow into the water's memory of the land. It speaks of the ancient ice from which it sprang, the earth which has cradled it on its journey to you, the life which has depended on it from the beginning—the same life which it has given you. Through the water you are connected to the spirits of the place in which you live. Meditate with the spirits and feel the connection to your home place. Now you feel the need to be away on your own, to enjoy some private time on a trip just for you. Bid farewell to your friends and leave that place behind. A breeze blows and whirls around you as you move down the road. You wonder about where you will stay, what time you will get there, how much it will cost, how long you will stay there and when you need to return—the thousand and one concerns of a vacation. Just as each of these worries seems ready to overwhelm, the wind whispers to you. Feel it caress you, carefree, without concern about where it is going, where it will end up. It carries the scent of new life, the message of the earth, the spray of the waterfall and the crashing ocean wave, life-bringing pollen, rich soil. It is the voice of the world. Let it speak to you. Through it you are connected to the spirits of the place in which you travel. Meditate with these spirits and feel your connection to the land. When you are ready, return to everyday reality, grounded and centered in the land. This ritual is from MoonWeb, a occasional mailing of rituals and pathworkings designed to be worked simultaneously by Pagan solitaries and groups. MoonWeb is not copyrighted, and they encourage sharing this ritual as long as its parentage is acknowledged. Circle Cithaeron is a collective of Pagan scholars following the Eldrytch Tradition of work with wild nature. You can subscribe to MoonWeb for the cost of postage only, at the rate of two U.S. first-class stamps per issue. For subscription inquiries, please send a self-addressed envelope with two stamps to: MoonWeb, Circle Cithaeron, PO Box 15461, Washington, DC 20003. | 
