Learn how to use the principles and practices of natural magic for personal development and spiritual empowerment
• Offers detailed descriptions of the magical properties of minerals, animals, plants, and the earth's cycles and how to use them in your own practice
• Explores the magical laws of nature and how to guide your inner energy to work in concert with cosmic energies
• Details how to design your own ceremonies, practice elemental meditations, and craft your own magical talismans, wands, and divining rods
An expert on European rural folk magic traditions, author Nigel Pennick presents a comprehensive introduction to the principles, rituals, practices, and magical tools required to draw on the magic inherent in the natural world. He explains how people throughout the centuries have built a relationship with the elemental energies around them using simple, everyday practices in order to attune themselves to nature, the seasons, and the cosmos for magical purposes.
The author explores earth, mineral, and plant magic as well as the magical properties of the earth's cycles and concentrated places of power within the landscape. He examines magical workings with animals, drawing on authentic traditions such as the Toadsmen or Toadswomen, whose power is given by toads, and the Berserker qualities conferred by magical bondings with wild animals like bears and wolves. He explains how to craft your own magical talismans, wands, and divining rods; design your own ceremonies; practice elemental meditations; fortify your health with herbs and crystals; and set an altar with the right food and drink for your intention.
Pennick also describes how the practical techniques of natural elemental magic work through interactions between the inner world of the mind and spirit, the outer world, and the otherworldly. He shows that having a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of all things and the inner power of these magical elements strengthens the practitioner's harmony with nature, and thus their power. By harnessing the elemental energies around us, we can work with nature for personal development, spiritual empowerment, and the successful achievement of our desires An authority on ancient belief systems, traditions, runes, and geomancy, Nigel Pennick is the author and illustrator of more than 50 books, including The Pagan Book of Days. The founder of the Institute of Geomantic Research and the Library of the European Tradition, he lives near Cambridge, England. From Chapter 5. The Power Within
As part of traditional spirituality, natural magic respects the creative life force in all things. According to the natural magical worldview, being human does not give us the right to dominate and destroy nature. Rather, it teaches us to be mindful that all things are interconnected, that polar opposites are actually two sides of the same unity. Meditation on this leads us to a new understanding of our human existence, for without this worldview, we cannot work natural magic.
Might and Main
Traditionally, the powers of the body are seen as embodied in two separate but linked qualities: might and main. Might is the physical strength of the body: the energy within it that enables it to live, powering its movements and actions. Main is the inner strength that empowers the personality. Without main, might is useless, for main includes the will to live. It is main that enables a person to exert his or her will in all realms of life. It empowers the magical arts of the human being. We must have both might and main in order to live effectively. Without one or the other, we are close to death.
Empowerment
Natural magic enables us to fully utilize our might and main in a creative way through spiritual empowerment. Spiritual empowerment is the harmonization of the body and mind with the all-encompassing power of the cosmos. It can be achieved by means of spiritual exercises that bring the functions of
