Cascarilla (protection, purification, cleansing)

Cascarilla
(pronounced: kas-kah-ree-ya)

I am always surprised how many practitioners of magick are not aware of this awesome stuff because it is so useful in protection, purification and cleansing rites. I look at it as an essential weapon in my arsenal.

The only way someone might have issues with using Cascarilla would be if they are strict Vegans and do not like to even touch any animal byproducts.

Cascarilla is powdered egg shell.  The shells are so finely ground that it feels as soft as baby powder.  Some of the more dedicated ritualists make their own cascarilla but doing so is a lot of work and the process of making it creates a mess that is hard to clean up!  If you would rather buy your cascarilla, you’ll find it at any Botanica and in most stores that cater to New Agers and Magick practitioners.  You will usually find it sold packed into what I call a “ketchup cup.”  When removed from the cup, it maintains it’s cup form and can be used as one would use a soft piece of chalk.  Or, if mixed with water, you will find that the soft-chalk dissolves easily with no residue left behind.

Cascarilla repels negative energy, and the vibration of negative energy.

Different uses:
1.  Purification baths.  See description of one such bath here: Bath for Purification

2.  As a piece of chalk to draw sigils, and circles of protection for Magickal rituals.

3.  This is great to have if you are going to meditate, astral project or perform visualizations.  You can use it as a powder and “dust” yourself with it or you can use it as a chalk and make the sign of the cross on different areas of your body (back of neck, forehead, temples, hands, chest and bottom of feet).

4.  If you have psychic abilities (Mediumship, Empathic, Clairsentient, Clairvoyant, etc), you can dust yourself or make the sign of the cross as previously mentioned, and it protects you from psychic attack and “energy vampires.”

5.  Cascarilla also keeps non-corporeal beings (spirits, ghosts, demons, etc) away from you!
*  If you feel like your home may be haunted, this would be a very good repellent (after a thorough house cleansing!!).  Be warned–if you have spirits around that you like talking to, you may find it more difficult to communicate with them!  Cascarilla does not discriminate between good and evil–it just provides a barrier between the physical and non-physical world.

6.  House protection (inside the home): use as a piece of chalk.
*  Going around the house clockwise, etch the sign of the cross on either side of the door, above the door and on the threshold.  When doing the windows–do above, below, and both sides of the window.  Do this with all doors and all windows of the home.

7.  House protection (outside perimeter of home).  Click the link for an easy ritual for the perimeter of your house: Protection for the perimeter of your house

There are several other uses for Cascarilla, but these are the main uses.
If you like, you can check back with me.  I’ll be adding directions for different cleansings, rituals, and purification rites, some of which will include the use of Cascarilla.

Easy House Protection Ritual

This is actual for the outside perimeter of your home.  If you live in an apartment, you can do it along all of the edges of the walls on the inside of your home, but I think you would find it difficult to do being that it needs to be a continuous line.  (You could try it though–any protection is better than no protection!)

Protecting the Perimeter of your Home:
* Using several cups of Cascarilla, walk outside.
* Facing the front door, close your eyes, take a few meditative breaths, and clear your mind.  (you are preparing to place a defensive wall around your home–visualize it!)
* Take the Cascarilla out of it’s container
* Holding the Cascarilla in your hand, begin by crushing a line across the threshold (bottom of the door).
* Continue the line from the threshold as you begin to walk clockwise around the perimeter of the house.
* you will continue to crush up the chalk as you walk; leaving a fine trail of dust as you walk.
* when you use the one piece of Cascarilla, stop walking, remove another piece from it’s container and continue the line where you left off before you start walking again! (this is important, because you are creating a “line of protection”–a barrier–around your home and it needs to be continuous.)
*   You will go all of the way around the home until you end up back at the front door.
* Say a note of thanks to your God for His Blessing & Protection (my belief system calls for “God.”  If your belief system calls Him by another name, the note of thanks is still in effect but you give thanks to your God(s)/Goddess)
*Done!

Special Notes about this lil ritual:
* This ritual is best done after a house cleansing.
* With this ritual, you are creating a barrier.  Meaning: whatever is inside that house, is staying there until the barrier weakens and dissipates or other rituals are performed.
* No, rain does not effect this barrier.  The barrier begins physical but changes and makes a spiritual/energetic barrier.
* This barrier does not last forever.  Energy changes, the barrier will weaken.  Perform this regularly (just like with cleansings) to keep the barrier strengthened.  ** As you walk the perimeter, visualize creating a line of protection from all negativity, negative entities, poverty, sadness, etc.
* I say prayers as I walk the perimeter (but I am Catholic and, of course, we Catholics love our prayers!).  If your belief system calls God by another name and you have chants or prayers you use–speak them as you walk the perimeter.  It is up to you.  Your choice and your comfort level are in your energy and that energy is helping to provide protection for the home.
** Aside from visualizing the creation of a wall and saying prayers, I also think of allowing all that is good, happy, and prosperous through this barrier.  (and once I’m done with my line of defense, I’ll most likely take another mixture of herbs designed to bring wealth, happiness and love to my home and sprinkle it on top of the Cascarilla !).

If you have questions, feel free to ask and I’ll be happy to answer what I can 🙂

Bath for Purification, Protection, Cleansing

This is a great bath for the weekly cleansing of your personal energy.  Also, any time you feel drained, this is a good bath because it causes you to feel uplifted, peaceful and relaxed rather than stressed or weighted down.

This bath is also what I would call a “tool” for any ritual work performed since it cleanses one’s energy.  You do not want to be performing a ritual to bring money to you and yet be carrying last week’s energy of worry, doubt, fear emanating from your body.  Meaning, your personal energy would “cross contaminate” into the energy of the ritual you are performing.

Purification bath
* Run warm or hot water into the bath
* mix Holy Water, 3 cups of Cascarilla and ½ cup of pure honey into the water
* Clear your mind, enter the water.
* Meditative breathing is used during this bath.
*** During the bath, you will make sure you completely submerge 3 times.  If you have a small tub, you can use a wooden bowl to pour the water over you–making sure you completely cleanse (drench yourself) 3 times.
* During the bath, try to visualize all negativity being removed from your mind, body, and aura.  Then visualize a golden light being poured down onto the top of your head and around your body.
* Once you feel at peace (it is a different span of time for each person), exit the tub, drain the water.
ALL DONE!

Special notes about this ritual:
* It is best if you can “air dry” (no towel used, you dry when the air dries you) but it is not an absolute necessity.  If you do choose to use a towel, it needs to be a clean towel, preferably white in color, and that particular towel is only used by you and for this purpose.
*No, there is no worry about any of the items used clogging the drain.  As you will see when you do this bath, all of the items used dissolve completely in the water.
*Holy Water is purifying and is NOT just used by Catholics.  You can get Holy water by going to any Catholic Church and telling the office staff you need Holy Water.  They will give you access to their font, no questions asked.
* Honey is used for positive, happy energy.
* Cascarilla’s main purpose is to protect, but also brings positive energy. You can find an explanation of Cascarilla here: Cascarilla

So, basically, by performing this bath, you cleanse negative energy, place a protective barrier on your aura to help prevent negative energy from attaching itself to you, and you are magnetizing positive/happy energy to you.
Cool bath, huh?

Warnings to the Wise

Because any actions you take of a spiritual or magickal nature can have such a large–and sometimes unexpected–effect on your life, I like to try to forewarn people.  In the future I will write more detailed articles on each of the items listed in this article.  For now, I’m just going to throw out highlights on subjects you should be aware of for both spiritual and magickal endeavors.

#1.  Meditation.
When some people first begin meditating, they do not realize they can separate their spirit from their physical body.
For those who find two of their three selves separated during meditation, the experience can cause a minor (or major) freak out session.  Even if it only happens for the span of a heart beat–freak out city!
Then, there are those who do not protect their spirit (and body) from coming into contact with unwanted entities that exist in the non-corporeal realm.  Again, not a pleasant experience if this were to happen to you and you weren’t expecting it (and had not protected yourself from it).
*  The average person probably doesn’t have to worry about this event happening to them.  Very few people are strong enough–on an energetic level–to spontaneously separate spirit from body during a meditation without intentionally trying to do so.  However, suppose you are one of those “few” and just didn’t know it?  So, always, always, always be aware and in control of where your spirit is drifting off to during meditation.  Protect yourself spiritually.

#2.  Before you try to perform any ritual, know how to protect yourself.
Magick works! 
When you perform rituals (aka: spells), you are using physical tools to guide and redirect the non-physical flow of energy; to cause a shift of something in the physical realm.
*  In a sense, anyone who performs rituals is partially entering the spiritual realm.
*  The “wall” that separates our physical world from the spiritual world is kinda thin.  You perform a ritual and you are creating an opening in that wall.  The opening allows all kinds of nasty little entities to come through into the physical realm.  Those lil evil spirits will then attach themselves to you and begin to redirect your life in negative ways you never thought possible!  So first order of business before attempting to cast any ritual, know how to create a protective circle and know how to dismantle that circle!!!

#3. There are all kinds of “quick spell kits” available for people to buy these days.
If you were wanting to lose weight and I handed you a pill and said, “here. Take it.  It will make you lose weight no matter what you eat!”  You don’t know what is in the pill, what the side effects are, and you only have my word that it is just going to make you lose weight.  Would you swallow the pill?
Quick spell kits are like that.  Everyone wants a quick fix.  Cool.  Why take a cross-country trip in a horse and buggy if a private jet is available, yeah?  So, I understand the inclination to grab that quick fix.  But…if you do not have the knowledge to understand what you’re doing and you just follow the short directions included in the quick spell kit?  There may just be some side effects you do not want to deal with.  And, if you do not understand your role before, during, and after a ritual, there is a better than average chance the outcome will be the opposite of what you were wanting to achieve!

#4. The spoken Word is extremely Powerful!
The words you speak help to create your life and life experiences.  The words others speak about you also help to create your life.  When it comes to performing a ritual, the specific words you use during that ritual are of the utmost importance.
It is important to understand and be aware of how the words you speak on a daily basis as you go about your life have a very powerful effect on what you do and do receive in life and, on the outcome of any rituals you may perform.

I am constantly coming into contact with people who “speak into existence” that which they do not want for themselves (and others).  My left eyelid practically starts twitching with the need to make them aware of what they are doing.
Here are examples that either you yourself say or you hear others say, on a regular basis:
* “I can’t lose weight.  Nothing I try works!”  (and your cute lil chunky butt could be given the Holy Grail of diet pills & guess what?  You would not lose one single ounce!)
* “I hate my job.  I need a new job! I hate coming here!”  (And at some point you are going to lose that job!  If you haven’t prepared, you’re going to be freaked out when it happens!)
* “He’s cheating on me.  I know he’s cheating on me!”  (and…guess what?  Even if he’s not cheating now, you keep making these statements and it is going to happen!)
Just in reading the former three examples I’ll bet you can pull up memories and find where you complained (or worried) out loud about something and then later that exact thing happened.   So stop now.  Retrain your mouth before you create anything else you do not want.
Now.  How does the aforementioned warning relate to performing rituals?  Well, when performing rituals you are told to use well-thought out, specific wording.  The reason for this is because the words you will be speaking are going to be helping to direct the energy you will be gathering and building upon during the ritual.  Your words will become a command; an order for energy to travel in a specific direction.  The direction the energy travels will create the change you will later see in real life.  If you are not clear and specific in your directions, the outcome of your ritual will be wonky.
Additionally, if you are specific in your wording during the ritual but then you later make statements that negate the order you gave during your ritual?  You have just sabotaged your ritual efforts and possibly created the opposite outcome.  In which case,  you would have just been better off had you never performed the ritual.
*** Last but extremely important warning here: Never, ever, ever talk about your ritual with ANYONE.  Like, no one.  I seriously cannot stress this warning enough.

#5.  Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe.
You can use whatever word/wording you want–Energy work, Candle work, Visualization using incense and candles, Ritual, Spell, yada, yada.  I think I’ve pretty much heard every term and description there is.  Call it whatever you’d like to call it but let’s take the tuxedo off of the pig here, shall we?
When a person focuses their energy, visualizes, stares at a candle flame and projects energy outward….they are doing a ritual, aka: a spell!  Speaking only for myself, I use the Olde name–ritual. This term just feels right to me.  However, I do know I am performing what most people would term as a ‘spell.’ 

The people I’m addressing here are the ones who would tell me, “Well, I haven’t done any spell work, but…I have been doing some energy work on him…”.  And when I hear this, my response is, “uh-huh…sister, you call it what you want, but that’s a spell.  You can dress a pig up in a tuxedo and pretend it’s not a pig but, when that pig gets nekked, it’s still gonna be a pig!” (I’ve lived in the South too long.  Can you tell?)
So, if you are the type of person who has issues with another person who ‘performs spells,’ then you have absolutely no business doing any kind of energy work, candle work, visualization work, or whatever other term you may try to use to avoid owning the fact that you are doing a spell!

#6.  Using a ritual to force another person to do __________.
It is becoming more and more popular to either perform a ritual or have someone else perform a ritual in order to make someone else do something.
* May I first say: Karma.  She’s a bitch.  She is a BIG bitch! Whenever a ritual is performed for the specific purpose of forcing another person to do something you want them to do, you are messing with their Free Will.  If that person did not, in some way, give you permission to mess with their free will?  Well, as Boss Hogg was known for saying, “there is gonna be consequences and repercussions.”
* Second, you are energetically tying yourself to that particular person and their Fate–their Life Path–for this life (and maybe, the next Incarnation, as well!).  So months or years down the road, what happens if you either want to sever ties with this person or they severed ties with you?  Do you know that you will still feel tied to them; even after they are no longer physically part of your life?   YOU will be unable to “move on” as the other person does.  Why?  Because you tied yourself to him/her in a much more serious way than a mere marriage certificate.  You tied your spirit to theirs.  Unless undone with another ritual (that you better pray works!), you could be tied to that person for years, and yes, even decades.
* Third, if your ritual is for romantic purposes, do you really want a man (or woman) that you have to force to be with you?  And if you are of the mindset of “yes because if he/she will just be with me, they will fall in love and want to be with me on their own.”  Okay.  Now.  Come back to reality.  If one goes to the extent of forcing another to their Will through rituals, then one is also prone to excessive worry, doubts, negative thinking, and insecurity.  So saying:  you may be able to be with that person via that ritual, but will you ever have any peace of mind?  Will you ever feel secure with them?  If you believe your answer is yes, then cool.  On with the ritual!
* Fourth:  a little known fact.  It is something that people who have knowledge and experience in casting rituals know but most of the people who pay to have rituals cast for them do not know–you can perform a ritual to make another person do something.  But the effect is not permanent.  The compulsion this other person feels will wear off.  So you have to keep doing the ritual, forever and ever, amen.  Plan on it.

Okay, I think that’s it for now.  But I reserve the right to add to the list whenever I happen to remember another warning (as I invariably will since I am so bad at remembering every thing I need to tell people all at one time!).