A Spelle of Contagion for AIDS Research From Amathaon, Maulita,
and Don of MoonWeb Each year at Imbolc, we here at Circle Cithaeron spend our ritual energy confronting HIV/AIDS and the apathy and hatred that make AIDS possible. Cithaeron has lost members and friends to HIV infection, and each of us has loved ones living with the disease today. Our past rituals have been aimed at healing, at bringing down barriers of hatred and homophobia that slow work toward a cure, and at prevention of infection. But recently we have focused on financial support for AIDS research and services. Many AIDS groups are especially hard hit at a time when all charities are struggling; Congress has in mind additional cuts to federally supported AIDS research. With the spelle of contagion we hope to infect the currency of the country using enchanted coins which carry into commerce our intent to channel sufficient funding to HIV/AIDS research and services. It builds on traditional spells to increase money and the powerful image of the wishing well. The pathwork takes advantage of Imbolc as the Feast of St. Brigid in Ireland, mistress of the forge, as participants mint their own magical coins. The food for thought section is a listing of AIDS research and service groups to whom funds might be directed. This ritual requires a little more planning than usual. You actually begin preparing for the ritual at the rising of the New Moon in January. The spelle culminates in your ritual two weeks later at the full moon, the time when spelles of increase traditionally are performed. In 1997 the Full Moon nearest to Imbolc is on January 23rd. If you are not comfortable with invoking Imbolc energies ten days before (or twenty days after) the holiday, you can adopt or adapt as you see fit. For this ritual you will need at least thirteen silver coins (dimes or quarters will do), a large bowl or other waterproof container to serve as a sacred well, and whatever other ritual equipment you normally use in Circle. The ritual may be performed by one person or by many. The Spelle of Contagion Beginning with the New Moon of January, save at least one silver coin each day from the change in your pockets or purse and place it where the light of the moon will fall upon it each night. By the time of the ritual you should have at least thirteen such coins. As you go to sleep each night, imagine your hoard of silver coins increasing as the silvery body of the moon waxes toward full. Bring the coins with you on the night of the ritual. At moon rise on the night of the ritual, ground and center according to personal practice. When you are fully comfortable, proceed with the ritual. If it is your practice, cast a formal Circle at this time. This ritual invokes the Guardians of Four Watchtowers, one at each compass point. In the center of the ritual space is a deep bowl or other watertight container filled with clear, pure water. Begin the invocation of the East at moonrise. Make your way to the Eastern part of the circle area and invoke the Guardians of the East with the following rune or one of your own devising: Waters of the Fast arise!
Fog and dew and morning mist
Now our sacred well comprise. Walking clockwise around the circle, invoke the other Guardians with these or other appropriate runes: Waters of the South arise!
Geyser, hot spring, venting steam
Now our sacred well comprise. Waters of the West arise!
Moonlit mere and forest pool
Now our sacred well comprise. Waters of the North arise!
Glacial ice and driven snow
Now our sacred well comprise. Return to the center of the ritual area, and consecrate the bowl of water to be a sacred well, the Eye of the Earth, the wishing well of folklore. Draw a pentagram over the water, watching mist rise where your hand passes, and feel the power of the moon steep into the water as the pentagram is completed. Seal the invocation using this or a similar rune: Waters of the earth arise!
From the Quarters, fill the well.
Gather here at Full Moon's rise,
Time and tide to speed our spelle. Dip a handful of water from the well to sprinkle around the circle, watching the droplets catch the silver light of the moon and fall as an argent rain about the circle, filling your ritual space with a bright silver glow. The silver coins you have collected glint dully in the night. Dip your hand once more into the sacred well and bring forth a handful of burning silver water. Sprinkle it over the coins, which begin to shine as though lighted from within. With your hand, draw a pentagram over the coins, invoking as you do so: Silver moon and silver well,
Silver coin and silver spelle. Take a few moments now to think through what you know about AIDS. How it is transmitted, the symptoms it can cause, the people you know who are living with HIV, and the research that is being done to prevent or alleviate the disease. With these images firmly in your mind, take up one of the coins in your stronger hand and clench it tightly, imaging the coin multiplied tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold, a millionfold, all supporting critical AIDS programs. Imagine your friends and acquaintances with HIV as whole and healthy from the results of these research and AIDS services. Breathe upon the coin in your hand and cast it into the sacred waters of the wishing well, speaking this binding rune as you do so (or a similar one of your own devising): Silver coin within the well;
Carry forth my potent spelle. See the brilliant flash of silvery-blue light as the coin meets the waters. Repeat this with each coin. If you are doing the ritual as a group, it might be more powerful for each of you to be casting coins in the well simultaneously. When the last coin has been charged in the Sacred Eye of the Earth, take a few moments to rest and re-center. The pathwork may be performed here, or you may wish to perform the rite of cakes and wine if such is your tradition. As you finish, thank the Guardians for their presence and bid them farewell. If you are out-of-doors, take up the bowl of water (or dip the water out) and pour it out around the perimeter of your ritual area, walking counterclockwise and watching the silvery mist sink into the earth. If indoors, improvise. Keep the coins separate from the rest of your household money. Take them to a store or other commercial establishment and spend them as quickly as possible. They will spread out into the nation's currency supply and make their way to AIDS research organizations, drawing with them such additional funds as are necessary. The ritual is completed when you have spent all the coins. Pathwork: The Forge of Brigid Relax, close your eyes and find a comfortable position, breathing deeply into your center. As you inhale, feel the fires of the earth rising up through you, gathering in your center. Exhale and let those fires flow gently from your center outward through your limbs, out through your fingertips, your toes, the top of your head, taking with them all the tensions of the day. You are warm and comfortable. Continue until you feel centered and ready to go on. When you open your eyes, you stand on a rocky ledge facing the mouth of a cave. A chill wind blows down from the crags above, but from the cave comes a tremendous heat. You catch the acrid smell of burning metal and hear the ringing of a forge, the rhythmic chuff of bellows. You follow this sound into the sweltering interior of the cave toward the ruddy glow of a forge fire ahead of you. You find yourself in a large chamber. At the center a woman pumps the bellows of the furnace. Around her artisans hammer and shape various metals on their anvils. Her skin gleams red-orange as the forge fires flicker in the sheen of sweat along powerful arms. She is streaked with soot and her hair sticks to her face, but she smiles as you enter and nods at you to come forward. The smell of hot metal is overpowering, the heat almost too much to bear. Metal hisses as it is plunged into water. Before you stands an anvil; on it are three blank coins of silver metal and three tools; a hammer, a die stamp and tongs. Instinctively, you reach for the tools, running your fingers along the intricately carved runes that cover their surfaces. You are immediately aware that whatever is struck by the hammer and stamp will carry the mark of your Intent and the power of your Will. Picking up the hammer and stamp, you focus your attention on the first coin. It begins to smoke with the burning force of your intent. Continue to pour your will into the coin; it glows more and more hotly, burning bright orange with the effort of your concentration. Raise the hammer and strike When you have finished with the third coin, you return the hammer and stamp to the anvil and pick up the tongs. The coins smolder a fiery red. The chamber is silent; the other smiths have vanished and the bellows are still. In front of you stands the woman of the forge, and, at her feet, a stone basin of water. She passes her hand over its surface and images form and flow, landscapes shift, faces of people, panoramas of cities rise and disappear. You understand that you can direct the flow of time and space with this basin, and whatever is placed in it will appear instantly in ordinary reality in the time or place you desire. She steps back and motions you forward. Using the tongs, pick up the token and see the design you stamped on it pulse hotly. Remember this design Into the basin summon the time and place to be transformed by the spelle of the first coin. Plunge the coin into the basin. The eruption of steam is almost deafening but you see that the coin has disappeared, and you know with certainty that it is exactly where you wish it to be. Continue with the remaining two coins. When the steam clears you see that the basin is empty, the woman of the forge gone, the fires banked and the forge silent. Place the tongs on the anvil. You feel confident that your work is finished and find yourself emerging into the present moment, relaxed and refreshed. Food for Thought
Selected AIDS Charities Many of you may wish to supplement the ritual work this Imbolc with more direct action: contributing to organizations whose goal is to understand AIDS and find ways to prevent infection or maintain health while living with HIV. The following selected AIDS organizations are drawn from the 1995 Combined Federal Campaign Guide to Giving, but you might prefer to find local AIDS relief and research groups instead. Whichever you choose, look carefully to see how much of every dollar goes directly to the programs of the organization, rather than to salaries and administrative overhead. These figures are represented as percentages after each group's description (20%, for example, means that 80 cents of every dollar go to program activities). The descriptions of the programs are provided by the organizations themselves. AIDS Education and Advocacy (415-558-8669). A message of hope. National toll-free HIV/AIDS Treatment Hotelmen and publications, providing the most complete and up-to-date information to those in need, free of charge (29.4%). AIDS Programs of the National Minority AIDS Council (800-669-5052). NMAC provides minority organizations with resources to fight the epidemic in our communities and produces educational campaigns, featuring Honorary Chair Patti LaBelle, targeted to minorities (19.7%). AIDS Programs of the National Association of People with AIDS (202898-0414). Run for and by infected and affected people, NAPWA fights for better treatments, legal protection and prevention efforts by developing grass-roots responses to HIV/AIDS (21.7%). AIDS Research Alliance (310-358-2423). Aggressive, fast-track HIV/AIDS research. Many lack the time to wait for long-term study results. Save lives now and help put an end to the epidemic. AIDS Research Foundation (800-39A-MFAR). AmFAR provides research grants for AIDS treatment and conducts educational programs to prevent the further spread of the epidemic. Elizabeth Taylor is Founding National Chair (25.2%). AIDS Action Foundation (202-986-1300). Fights for federal HIV/AIDS policies for increased research, improved treatment, and prevention to save lives. National voice of local organizations and people with AIDS (18.1%). National AIDS Fund (202-408-4848). Contributions are doubled and tripled by local communities to support hundreds of critical HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs in communities throughout the United States (13.8%). A Condom Blessing Until there is a cure or effective treatment, the best way to confront AIDS is through safer sex. For most of us, that means using a condom. This simple condom blessing first appeared in MoonWeb #5 for Imbolc, 1993. Remember when using this ritual that all the charms and spelles in the world won't help if you use natural skin condoms, if you use petroleum-based lubricants with your latex condom (petroleum dissolves latex, eating the condom away until it breaks), or if you forget to put the thing on in the first place. This blessing calls for the powers of the Elements to strengthen the bond of protection afforded by a condom without diminishing the pleasure of having sex. On a plate or in a bowl on the Altar is a collection of condoms to be blessed. Sprinkle them with pure water into which salt has been stirred, calling forth the power of earth and water that formed the Primal Sea and from whence all life has sprung. Pass the bowl through the smoke of incense or other fragrance for air, and pass the bowl over a candle or other flame for fire. Take the bowl to the four Quarters, beginning in the East, and say: East:
Guardians of the East, Powers of Air and pollen and the wind-born seed, bless these with your power that they may sheathe the wand of life as the pine cone sheathes the seeds that will become the new tree. Let only love and pleasure pass between those who use them. South:
Guardians of the South, Powers of Fire and the flame of passion, bless these with your power that they may increase pleasure and love for those who use them, and let only pleasure and love pass between. West:
Guardians of the West, Powers of Water and all things fluid, of the waters of our body, bless these with your power that the sea within us should know its bounds, even as the Seas of the world are contained by the land. Let only love and pleasure pass between those who use them. North:
Guardians of the North, Powers of Earth and all barriers, bless these with your power that they may be a boundary and protection for those who use them, letting only pleasure and love pass between. Returning to the Altar, hold one condom aloft and say these or similar words: Circle of pleasure
Protect and guard
From contagion
Keep and ward,
That every act of love and lust
May be enjoyed in the total trust. This ritual is from MoonWeb, an occasional publication of Circle Cithaeron, a scholar's circle and teaching collective following an Eldrytch Tradition of work with wild nature. MoonWeb is free for the cost of postage at the rate of two U.S. first-class stamps per issue (or their equivalent in international postal coupons). MoonWeb is free from copyright, and permission is enthusiastically granted to photocopy, publish, digitize, or telepathically transmit the contents, in whole or in part, as long as its parentage is acknowledged. For more information, please write Circle Cithaeron, PO Box 15461, Washington, DC 20003. MoonWeb #17 | 
