Healing Routine: How to setup a Healing Ritual^[credits]

by Ambrose Hawk

This is a suggested form for rituals for any healing spell: First of all, there some things which much be done before the ritual itself. You need to diagnose your patient so that you know exactly what kind of healing where in which person you want to accomplish. It is likely that several different kinds of healing are needed to really bring the person to recovery. After diagnosis, you should think of which powers and energies would be most likely to assist in this particular healing. You should pick a particular focus or foci to receive the energies that you are generating. Even should the person be right there for you to lay hands on him/her, there are several reasons for creating such foci. For each of these considerations: the person, the healing, and the various powers; you should find symbols which will help you identify them and be applicable in the work to come.

Let us examine these steps in that order.

First, there are different kinds of healing. I use the following categories because different kinds of tools work better than others in each of these categories (for instance, see the use of Healed Crystals and Double Ended Crystals on the Mystical Grove B.O.S. for healing).

A: Injury this includes trauma, cuts, breaks, operations, and, on a spiritual level, things like insults, teasing, and abuse; or even curses.

B: Infection this would include colds, viruses, pneumonia, allergies, and to some degree, things like ulcers and cancer as all of these involve the body responding to something outside of itself. On a psychic level, this would include substance abuse, adoption of destructive thought patterns (say by contamination from the stuff you see and hear everyday as well as the parasitical thought forms floating around), and similar disorders in spiritual reactions. This spiritual factor often overlaps into the next category.

C: Dysfunction this would consider such things as genetic disorders or consequences of environmental stresses. Indeed stress, clinical depression, and other such cases are quite damaging in and of themselves. Dysfunction can be induced by stress, which brings up the next thing often called to a healer's attention.

D: Pain the question here is to whether to alleviate suffering or not. In some cases, the suffering is needed to accentuate the healing process. This is especially true in psychology where the patient may not really begin the healing until the agony associated with the problem becomes unbearable. There are folks, especially those who believe in sacrificial suffering who may want the pain to only be reduced a little, and hey, it's their karma. In more cases, however, especially those associated with injury, pain actually impedes the healing process and the extra stress it creates can cause the body to sink even further into disruption. In other cases, such as terminally ill folks, the pain is simply consequent on the collapse of their systems. You should do some kind of divination on all of these especially on the healing of pain. Moreover, you need to be sure that your focus and intent are clearly represented. The person could be represented by a poppet, a string, a rock, an article of clothing or hair etc. which were once associated with the person. Ideally, of course, you have your friend right there to lay hands on and around them. A purely symbolic representation, such as a sigil composed from the letters in their name or their birth chart can work very well too.

After diagnosis, you will find that there may be specific energies and powers which you will need to involve. Some of these may be elemental energies, as the work of Chinese medicine has shown this to be an important factor in health.

Invoking Higher Powers not only amplifies the power of your work, but it also provides a kind of potential check against error as in the alleviation of pain. These beings have access to and actually apply once you've given them the gate the higher wisdom and knowledge. Now every pantheon will have entities associated with healing, such as Asclepias or Diancecht or St. Raphael the Archangel or St. Gabriel the Archangel, or St. Luke "the beloved physician." There are even specialists as with Epona for horses or St. Blaise for throats, lungs, breathing, and choking. In addition to these beings, you will want to consider the over all authority for your work. For instance, invoking Jesus as the Great Healer would be clearly good when calling on St. Blaise.

Now ideally, you are sitting right there with the person who needs the healing so that you can do laying on of hands or other vibration healing techniques. Even so, however, it is good to have a focus or foci to increase the accessibility and duration of the charm. Various amulets and talismans are available. While I prefer polished crystals and stones; other things, such as little parchments, medallions, scapulars, strings, etc. are also good.

If you are using something on which you are going to write characters, you must decide what symbols will connect to the person you want to heal, the specific kind of healing you want to achieve, and the specific Beings you are going to invoke to participate in that healing. Works such as Practical Sigil Magic could be of help here.

For all of these steps, since you are attempting a magical healing, I'd advise you to do some kind of divination: scrying, Tarot spreads, dowsing, whatever talent you or your circle could bring to bear. Having done such preparatory work, you have already begun to gather the healing energies and direct them to the patient. So the time for the actual ritual approaches. Enter your place of power, your prayer closet, whatever, and cast the circle. Invoke your quarters and personal tutelary (deities). Cleanse and bless the foci. Then place them within a large triangle within another circle where they can be reached without having to walk out of your own circle. This is not for the standard reason of protecting yourself from "bad" spirits, but because you are going to be drawing some powerful energies into these things. Ever notice all the precautions folks take with X-rays? Obviously, if you are going to be right there with the patient, she/he needs to be inside of your circle with you.

Now you need to proclaim the purpose of the ritual. Clearly state the kinds of healing and the person to be affected. After declaring your intent, invoke the beings and energies you want to help in the work. It helps if right after you call on them, you are able to refer to the tale which gives them the attribute that you need for this healing. For example: "St. Blaise, as you cleared the throats of the young men who were choking, now clear the lungs of N.---- here of the fluids and inflammation which afflict her/him." These powers should be directed first into the appropriate foci prepared for them so that they will have a physical fane available for you reach them. Re-invoke the primary tutelary which you want to control this process to place it all under Divine Authority. Even if this power has already been invoked when calling on your personal tutelary, this charge gives it the authority and pattern to direct and effect the other energies and powers.

The next step would be to raise a cone of power or otherwise generate the sense of the energies you need to access. When the energies are manifest and flowing direct that energy into the foci of the work. There link it with the energies of the powers you've invoked and direct it into the healing of the patient. In vibration healing, this is done by passages of the hands and by blowing slowly onto the talismans and or on the body of the patient. If using candle magic, this is the time to light the specific candle of this working (If you're doing numerous workings on a single patient, only one candle is really needed it helps to pick a color which is would add vitality to all your intents). With knot magic, you'll need to make a knot for the person, for each specific healing, and for each of the great powers invoked.

Now declare your limits. This is similar to the "if - then" statements of computer language so that your real needs are met and the exact task is accomplished without startling side effects. This protects against unforeseen side effects of your working and also enables you to bring in Divine protections against your foolishness as in "an it harm none." Also, this requires a "stop run" statement in order to be sure that the effects of your working don't go too far for instance, in drying up the fluids from pneumonia, you don't want to freeze dry the lungs of your patient. Also there should be definite periods of time when the charm should be dissipated. Not only does this prevent loose energies from causing unintentional havoc, but also it requires you to re-diagnose. If the original charm needs renewing now, there's a chance you've made a mistake. Now offer thanks. This accomplishes several things and is very important. Offering thanks not only maintains the right relationship with the Beings and the Deity and the patient, it also reinforces the expectation of success, that elusive element of faith so necessary to effective magic. Dismiss. You don't need to be recalling these energies to mind for several reasons. First of all, there's "the watched pot never boils" syndrome. It is a fact that the more times you observe a process, the slower a process goes. Next, there's the letting go of the situation to "let it happen." Until you do, it won't. This letting go and relaxation are key to quite a few skills of the wizard. Furthermore, the powers that you've evoked have their own unique agendas and attitudes and could wind up "infecting" your psyche.

Moreover, if you don't dismiss, it's not just the good things that you hang onto, it's also the injury and illness and bad vibes that had to be summoned so that your healing could reach them. They hang around too. Now where on earth do you suppose they might decide to show next? Now in "letting go," it's no use to tell yourself to not think of pink monkeys (how many did you just see?). Instead, prepare a distraction. Another work or ritual would do. Even better would be cakes and ale; or tea and crumpets. Eat, party, and ground yourself.

When using candle magic or incense, I advise allowing the specific candle or incense that is the focus of this particular working be allowed to burn completely out. Then discard the remains respectfully. Knot spells and string spells need to be "put away". In some traditions, this means burying them. I advise being sure that they are recoverable so that you can do an ultimate release when the goals have been achieved. For ceremonial magicians, you may also need to be aware of the correct hours, days, and astrological conditions which may impede or increase the effect of your work.

Many healing spells need to be repeated, just like a treatment for a chronic condition. However, in working your magic, never use a term such as "chronic" as this implies that the condition will last no matter what you do. Always speak as if it just happened and as if it will be completely taken care of right away and hold that image in your mind. This may be a case of "fake it till you make it." Hey, most magic is like that. Hope this helps.