Does This Pentacle Make My Butt Look Big?

To accessorize or not accessorize?  How much is too much?  Does the Goddess care if your altar cloth is gaudy?  These and many other questions are discussed in chapter 15.  SC offers a list of “virtually mandatory” tools for Wiccan ritual.  It is easy when beginning to go online and find all the exciting toys like an altar cloth for every Sabbat, the perfect athame and boline combo back with free whetstone, candles in the shape of the Lord and Lady the list goes on.

OI!

May I just interject that while all of these items are typical of ritual work, we’ve already discussed that they are not always necessary.  Furthermore, when you’re first starting out, your circumstances may preclude you from going online and purchasing everything you need.  Guess what—you can make a lot of this stuff.  You can even find a lot in thrift shops.  Old cast iron pieces do occasionally turn up in thrift stores and are frequently much larger than the ones available from occult shops.  Depending on who you are or what style you have you may not feel the need to possess all the trappings and frankly, you’ve got a lot on your mind when you’re first starting out.  Therefore, simplify!  By keeping the accoutrement simple, you allow yourself to focus on other important aspects of ritual like the order of things and making sure your circle is sound.  For example, I made my own deity images out of polymer clay.  I carved symbols of the God and Goddess on them and viola.  I then made a pentacle as well.  These pieces are highly portable as well and they are not breakable.  Always a bonus when traveling or being joined by a feline companion who loves to bat small items to the floor. 

I already had a censer, a cup from a broken set that we received as a wedding present, a small pitcher for water, and also several scarves that I could use as altar cloths.  I did dedicate and consecrate all these items to this purpose mind you, but my point is being creative.  Look around and see what you already have.  You might be surprised. 

Of the listed items in the book, I must say I have never used a bell.  I can understand why someone might, but personally I’ve never used one.  I did use cords when I first started to help mark the boundary of the circle, but I have since let go of that practice.  I also have no idea what covens require of cords other than what SC says about “initiatory groups.”  For a long time—more than a year—I didn’t have an actual athame, cauldron, wand, or embroidered design altar cloth.  I strictly used what I had on hand—literally.  My right hand, the projective one, served in those purposes. 

After I felt that I had truly grasped the basics of ritual, then I started looking into official ritual tools like an athame etc.  My husband actually purchased several items for me one birthday.  He selected a lovely athame that has a triple moon at the hilt.  It’s not too long to be heavy or vicious like some that I had seen.  It’s just right and it is dull.  That’s safer for me believe me!  He also found a small cauldron with the triple moon on it, a black and gold Celtic knot with pentagram altar cloth and a bag with the triquetra on it.  I was stunned and very thankful.  Consecrating these items and putting them to work made my rituals look a bit classier, but they also felt right when I started to use them.  The transition was easy because I knew a lot of the other information so well.  It was maybe a year later that I made my wand on Beltane.  It’s a simple apple wood wand with runes carved on it and ribbons around it.  I may one day replace it, but I am quite fond of it as is for now.

When beginning Wicca reading and researching is vital.  Once you’ve done the legwork, then you can begin to build your accessories, your altar, your ritual “look.”  Yes, you get to decide about what to wear or not wear.  I must say that sometimes skyclad is simply not practical in my region because it gets to dang cold!  Therefore a back up plan is good.  If you get invited to a coven or group ritual, a robe of some kind might be a good idea.  If you want to use colors to represent the quarters or if you want to carve deity images or if you want to build your altar in the shape of a rhombus the choice is yours.  Just know why you are making that choice. There’s a lot of freedom in solitary practice, but I think it is crucial to know and to understand why you make the choices.  Writing them in a journal or Book of Shadows is a good idea as well.  To simply construct according to someone else’s standards runs contrary to the idea of solitary.  This is your spiritual path—why wouldn’t you want to make it your own and full appreciate the gravity of the choices you make?  To do otherwise is careless.