Hag Stone/Holey Stone Charms

Invocation to the Holy-Stone

I have found
A holy-stone upon the ground.
O Fate! I thank thee for the happy find,
Also the spirit who upon this road
Hath given it to me;
And may it prove to be for my true good
And my good fortune

hagstones by Sara Star

When you see a holey stone or hag stone on the ground you should say something in gratitude to the spirits that left it there for you. The above is just an example from the Gospel of Aradia.

Now once you have one, what do you do with it? You can’t really hold it in front of your eyes all the time to look for the fae.*

Making a hagstone cord is a useful project. You can make it with one hag stone and multiple knots, or multiple hag stones and multiple knots. The number varies between spells. I say chose a number with meaning to you. Chumbly’s consecration has 7 knots in a black leather cord, Bramshaw’s has nine knots and up to nine hagstones on a red string.

Either way, the point is to concentrate on a different otherworld setting for each knot, including at least one at a witches sabbat. Visualization is important on this one. Each knot is a place you want to go to. Once you have tied the knots you will string the hagstone(s) on and tie it off as a bracelet.

As you string the knots through the hagstones picture you are running each destination through the gate to the otherworld, fey land, underworld, astral, and so on.

You will hold the bracelet with at least one of the stones in your off hand (non dominant hand) as you sleep. Your dreams shall be significant astral or otherworldly dreams rather than regular dreams. You will travel to one of your chosen destinations.

If you don’t remember what happened in the astral dreams, but remember you had them. Then some part of you does remember and it will still impact your knowledge and practice.

If the you find it isn’t working and you aren’t going anywhere. Meditate with your stone specifically on one of the chosen dreams and journey there in meditation. There is plenty to be done that way as well.

I have found this tool to be very powerful and my dreams have changed when I wear my hagstone cord. I know where I have gone each night, but unfortunately I cannot remember much of what happened when I wake up. But I feel different somehow and I stopped having nightmares.

*Spiderwick Chronicles art by Tony DiTerlizzi

Black, Holly. Spiderwick Chronicles. 2004 http://www.amazon.com/The-Spiderwick-Chronicles-Boxed-Set/dp/0689040342/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335197860&sr=8-1

Bramshaw, Vicki. Craft of the Wise. 2009 http://www.o-books.com/book/detail/616/Craft-of-the-Wise

Chumbly, Andrew. “What is Traditional Craft?” http://www.xoanon.co.uk/xoanontraditionalcraft.php

Leland, Charles. Aradia, Gospel of the Witches http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/aradia/ara06.htm

Traditionalwitchcraft.com wiki “Hagstone.” http://www.traditionalwitchcraft.com/Hagstone

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Plants of the Evening

A pretty busy week.  After doing a green sojourn in a less than pristine park, I came down with a pretty bad infection.  All a part of the work, I suppose.  The place was really trying to tell me it needs cleaned up.  I was laid out for over a week.  And I just wandered about in a half daze most of it.  I visited a grave yard, continued to think deeply on the Solanaceae family and did some work for its spirits.  And I am preparing for the dark season here at the end of the light season.  I hope my photos can tell part of the story.

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Cairns

Cairns are a traditional marker.  In the British Isles ancient Cairns commemorate the dead and battlegrounds.  In North America cairns tend to mark the summits of hiking trails though sometimes they are also commemorative.

Eaglecreek Cairn

When I see a cairn, I like to add an appropriate stone to it–if there is only room left for very small stones on top, then I find a little pebble to add.  However if there is more room, then I try to think of a shape of stone I want to add.  At the Eagle creek cairn I added a heart shaped stone.

Heart Shaped Rock

This summer I have been hiking all over the Columbia Gorge and the Oregon Desert.  I have seen some amazing sites that I will continue to share with you.  I very much want to encourage everyone to get outdoors whenever they can and whenever it is safe.  Even just sitting in my little herb garden is enriching to my pagan soul.  Nothing beats reaching the top of a great cliff overlooking the winding bluffs along the Columbia river with the Gods of the Klickitat Indians–Mount Hood, Mount Adams and Mount Helens in view among others and then placing a stone on the Cairn.  I am giving honor to the spirits there when I add to a small and non damaging monument to the wild site.

I like to pick up little commemorative stones or herbs from my trips–something small.  I have been blessed to find several hagstones on my trips.  I have a small collection of three right now.  One from near my covenstead, one from the Gorge and one from the desert.  I strung one on a string to wear as a charm necklace.  I also have a small moleskine notebook that I press herbs I find on my adventures into.  I have a small collection of pressed herbs, but I know it will get bigger: Juniper, Sagebrush, Maidenhair fern, Wild Ginger.

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