We are on the cusp of moving into another season in which too many give the appearance of being enamored, dare I say, seduced, by engaging in dramatic clashes, which serves no purpose, except to to stimulate whatever it is that the individual or group, feels needs to be stimulated; or overstimulated.
A trip to the shore might be in order, a restorative, a location, where so many of us find calm, or inspiration like Lewis Carroll’s The Walrus and the Carpenter, or thrilled by the titanic clash of the elements experienced there, or to glean some treasures as beachcombers do the world over, in that liminal spot between a low tide and high, where our instinctual hunter-gathering gene might kick in, lulled by the pulsating waters from where our antecedents emerged.
As well, this was the assembly place from which Aphrodite emerged ashore, which was a surprise to all, except herself, who coalesced from sea foam and the stuff left over from Cronus castrating his father, Uranus, self-sufficient herself as her sole creator. As is so true with so many levels of magic, everything interesting occurs on the edge, at the boundaries, where disparate elements are forced together into a new creation, where one might say “I am what I am,” whether a deity or Popeye or Albin Mougeotte.
Aphrodite was, in fact, widely worshiped as a goddess of the sea and of seafaring; she was also honored as a goddess of war, especially at Sparta, and so in Orphic cosmology being one of the principal movers of the universe, along with an assigned offspring, Eros. Effectively, not only a mover and shaker, but quite literally the reason for both to occur in every circumstance. As a songwriter added, love makes the world go around, as goddess not simply as an arbiter of something so easy as love, but as a goddess of who can utilize the fulcrum that she levers with desire to both promote concord as well as create destructive dispute. Just cause a little friction with a little desire, and you end up with a Trojan War.
It is true that a bold reading of the power dynamic embodied here could be reduced to the stats listed on the back of a trading card, which is true all too often for the way we approach deity, parceling out responsibilities, as enumerated in some cosmic spreadsheet; you take care of the trees, you take care of love, you take care of thunder, etc., etc. In this case, nobody puts Baby in a corner, if you know what’s good for you.
One spell in which you might want to enlist her assistance is a Sail Away Spell.
This allows for you to give the send-off you never had the chance to. First, take a black candle, carve on it the individual’s name, or a group, a compass cross (N,E,S,W), and a destination. If you’re too rattled to choose a place, just write “away.” Continue writing under the first word, dropping a letter every time: away, awa, aw, a. In ancient magic, this was known as a wing formation, but for our purposes, it is a sail, formed in your mind as it is being cut into the candle wax.
Then rub with fresh basil. This will protect the person in question from any harm during the next phase of their life. Remember, we don’t want to hurt anyone here, even though they took your love, or self-esteem, or rights, ripped them to bits, and stomped it into the sidewalk. You are better than that (perhaps).
Then light the candle, and visualize the trip. While the candle is burning, fold a sheet of paper into a boat. When finished, take the candle and coat the vessel’s bottom so it’s watertight. (Yes, you can think about Stephen King’s It.)
Draw an image of our voyagers, small enough to fit in the boat. It might be nice to draw some luggage while you’re at it. Toss them in the boat, along with a tiny piece of onyx, a few candies, and a rolled-up dollar bill. Blow out the candle, take it away, and bury it. Go down to the water, and send the boat away.
Now, just for your information, this spell can, with a few alterations, be changed into the Viking Funeral Spell, which carries a whole different set of consequences, the ones you might imagine. That doesn’t involve calling upon Aphrodite, obviously. It’s one of the beauties of the techniques of magic: they’re adaptable.
As we need to be, as we move toward rocky shores, and hope to steer the ship of state away from the rocks. With love, of course, the same way that love affected Troy.
