Blog, Tools of the Trade
The Witches Chalice, Cup, Vessel, or Gourd
Dec
The chalice is a word used to describe a ritual cup or goblet. It is used to hold liquids including wine, tea, water, and a variety of alcoholic beverages. In this video, I explain a variety of ways to use the witches cup, and then go beyond the basics and share with you a variety of ways to include a cup for spiritual purposes. Enjoy!
Video Overview:
- Intro
- The types of cups/chalices
- Chalice Gratitude/Abundance Ritual
- Offering Vessels
- Hoodoo
- Dark Arts
- Psychotropic Ritual Drink
- Divination Tea
The Chalice is used for a variety of reasons:
- Rituals
- Offerings
- Prepare for divination
- Access the astral plane
Product Links
Info Links
Kava Kava use for magical assistance
Hoodoo Witch Certification Course
Recommended Books discussed in the video
A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book
The Complete Book of Demonolatry
Quotes:
“The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud. In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud — the obstacles of life and its suffering. … The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. … Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death. If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one. ”
― Goldie Hawn
But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison’d chalice
To our own lips.
― William Shakespeare
The term “poisoned chalice” is applied to a thing or situation which appears to be good when it is received or experienced by someone, but then becomes or is found to be bad. The idea was referred to by Benedict of Nursia in one of his exorcisms, found on the Saint Benedict Medal: Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas! (Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!). William Shakespeare uses the expression in Act I Scene VII of Macbeth. It occurs in the opening soliloquy of the scene when Macbeth is considering the ramifications of the murder he is plotting.
The chalice contains the blood of those who have died
for the crime of being different, the sweat of those
who toiled that the path of the Old Ones might survive,
and the tears of those who thought themselves alone.
― Unknown
Examples of where the Chalice is used in Wiccan rituals
The Great Rite Ritual
Now is the time for the Great Rite. Please take your knife in one hand…and your chalice in the other.
Place the tip of the knife in the chalice and say,
“As the chalice is to the Woman
So the Athame is to the Man
And when the two become one,
The greatest magic is begun!”
Now dip your atheme into the chalice to energize the lifeforce within it.
Blessed Be, So mote it be!
The Closing of a Ritual, & Call to Celebration with the Chalice:
Priest and priestess take the chalice of wine around the circle, and kiss each person before giving it to them, while people sing:
“Powers of the Earth
Powers taking form
Rising to rebirth,
Rising to be born.”
When the chalice returns, pour any remaining libation into the fire.
“We need not bid farewell to our Gods, nor to the spirits that surround us, the wind, the fire, the water, or the earth, for they
are always here.
It is we who shall take our leave of them, later on, and when we do, each of us shall say our own farewell, in our own words.
But for now —
LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!!!”
People feast, dance, make merry, etc.
Example of the use of a Chalice in a Full Moon Ritual
(1-6,Otterkin) (Place your knife in front of you and take your chalice in hand)
As I raise the chalice, you do likewise.
I raise this chalice, symbol of my Eternal Womb,
source of All That was and All That will be.
(Take your knife, and hold it over the chalice, point down)
(1-3,S.H.) I take this Athame, symbol of my Quickening essense,
Life Fire that lights the Chalice within, and with it
I Quicken thy fertile womb, O Mother of us all.
(1-6,Otterkin) As the Chalice is to the Goddess, Awaiting the Spark
(1-3,S.H.) And the Athame is to the God, so I enter into your hidden Dark.
(1-6,Otterkin) And when Two becomes one
(Dip the tip into the chalice)
(1-3,S.H.) The Greatest magic is begun!
(1-6,Otterkin) Drink from my depths and meditate on them, oh ye who would know of the full Circle of Birth and Death.
(Accept our kiss, and taste the wine, saving a small portion for offering later.)
I take these cakes, fruit of my fields, and I bless them and give them to you.
Eat, that you may never hunger and think upon my Bounty.
(Kiss, and eat the cake, saving a small portion for offering later.)
I charge you to remember that some part of this bounty be returned to the Earth, that the cycle will continue.
When you return to the World, give of the Bread and Water of Life to my Earth.
(1-3,S.H.) Lady, thank you for attending this your Rite, Blessed Be your Name.
(1-6,Otterkin) Will the caller of the West please thank and dismiss the Guardians?
(1-1,Papa Tom) Spirit of the West, Spirit of Water.
We thank you for your guidance.
Your love.
Your patience.
We thank you for attending our circle.
We part in love, until we meet again.
(1-6,Otterkin) Will the caller of the South please thank and dismiss the Guardians?
(1-3,Shadow Hawk) Guardians of the South, Spirits of Fire, we thank you for the Illumination that you have brought to this the Lady’s
Circle.
As we part, we bid you to hold us safe throughout the day, that we may have light to guide our feet.
We bid you farewell until the next time we meet,
Hail and Farewell!
The Greek Magical Papyri
See Ancient Egyptian Magic By Elenor Harris
Are a series of ancient spell books from Egypt from between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD. They are a sort of do-it-yourself guide to magical rituals that offers solutions to problems like finding a thief, keeping calm, curing fevers and demonic possession. Unsurprisingly, love charms feature prominently.
Love potions themselves have a long history and are discussed in several ancient texts. A Demotic (written in ancient Egyptian) spell proposed the following method:
Take the fragment of the tip of your fingernail and apple seed together with blood from your finger…
Pound the apple, add blood to it and put it in the cup of wine.
Recite [the given spell] seven times over it and you should make the woman drink it at a special time.
This visceral recipe is a variant of a spell that also added semen, and the hair of a dead man to the mixture.
