Pagan Portals: Planetary Magic: A Friendly Introduction to Creating Modern Magic with the Seven Energies

Introduction

The Modern Witch’s Path

You take the path that leads you through the ancient woodland, with a sense of wonder at the abundance of nature around you. Sunlight shimmers on the leaves that dance in the breeze: oaks, stand cheek by jowl with beeches, wild apple trees and tall, sombre larches. It is a warm day, even in the shadows of the great green guardians of this space, and the birds are singing loudly from the branches. You carry a basket as you go, gathering wild herbs that grow at the feet of the trees, and there is no sense of hurry in your step. As the path turns to the left, you catch a faint smell of wood-smoke on the breeze, and you realise you are nearly there. It won’t be long before you arrive.

Squirrels undulate across the branches above your head, causing the leaves to rustle and the odd acorn to fall and land at your feet; you spot a deer, running away in fright once it is alerted to your presence; crows call out to each other. Then, turning again on the path, you arrive at a clearing in the forest, and the cottage is in front of you. Its low thatched roof is well camouflaged with the forest behind it; the garden at the front of it is busy with a plethora of herbs, and flowers. A vegetable patch is just visible on the right-hand side. Approaching the front door, you spy a yellow-eyed black cat watching you from the window, and as you knock at the door, the cat jumps down into the dark room behind. The door slowly opens, and the witch stands there in front of you.

Is she old or is she young? You can hardly tell. Are you the visitor or are you the witch? All you know is that your arrival has been anticipated. As you cross the threshold and enter the house, your fears are left behind.

Your eyes gradually adjust to the dim light inside. A warm fire burns in the grate, and a cauldron hangs over the hearth, emitting wisps of steam. A wooden dresser to the left of the fireplace is lined with glass jars with all manner of herbs and strange looking substances. You read several of the labels in wonder. Frankincense Tears, dandelion root, amaranth blossoms, sandalwood chips. At the centre of the kitchen is an old oak table, its surface worn smooth with age, and littered with books: some of them are written in strange symbols, and others are hidden under piles of parchment and quills. The cat that was in the window before, now sits in a rocking chair by the hearth, regarding you with watchful eyes. You could almost imagine the human-like intelligence that resides behind those eyes. Your turn with your wide-eyed gaze and begin to find the words to ask for what you need.

That’s how witches live, right? A cross between Terry Pratchett’s Granny Weatherwax, and Mary Webb’s Mister Beguildy, they live in the woods. They are nearly always colourful in their dress, and eccentric in their behaviour. They are outsiders, half feral, and slightly disturbing. We are the edge-walkers, the people that inhabit the liminal spaces, after all. But there is also another archetype that has been growing in recent years – that of the Love Witch – sleeping her way through the town and burying the men she has become bored with. Or the glamorous charmed witches, destroying demons whilst looking for love, supporting each other in their sisterhood. Or the Sabrina-esque witch, wide-eyed and part of a Satanic cult.

The reality of most witches is quite different from the archetypes we imagine. While each generation may come to this path by the romance of the Priestess of Avalon, or tales of Herne the Hunter, the younger generations coming in will be different again. Intensely creative, the younger generation of witches do not ride in wearing crushed velvet and tie dye, they are far too stylish for that. They may be brought by the aesthetic qualities of #witchesofinstagram, and by the need to find a new way of surviving in this online digital age, where everything including your underwear is plastered over social media.

Many of us live in urban settings, due to economic necessity or familial ties, and our homes are more likely to be set amidst a backdrop of urban noise – sirens, traffic, the neighbour’s loud music – than the sound of squirrels and birdsong. Modern life is not the perfect picture dreamed up in so many fictional settings. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to live in more rural settings, closer to nature, but not all.

So, what on earth is a Witch to do when they need to do a spell working to bring love into their life, or to help themself along with some intensive self-care? Go and gather wild roses in the woodlands, skipping along the path with a handwoven wicker basket? Or pop down to the local international supermarket on the corner, and buy a bag of rose petal tea? That’s not to say the hand-woven wicker basket isn’t intensely alluring, and a beautiful option if you can get it. We often have deeply unrealistic expectations of what our lives should be like, and then waste far too much energy cracking ourselves over the head with the ‘bad-witch’ stick when we don’t live up to them. As my best friend is so fond of telling me, ‘Stop should-ing all over yourself, it’s a very dirty habit’.

The need for perfection will stop you in your tracks and prevent you from achieving anything. Instead of aspiring to something unobtainable and then failing miserably, this is the modern witch’s guide to working creatively with the seven archetypal energies that swirl and envelop this planet Earth that we live on, known otherwise as pre-modern planetary magic. Or if you prefer, this is the crap witch’s guide to imperfect but effective twenty-first century witch crafting, using traditional folk magic and its energetic correspondences as a framework.

Chapter 1

Magical Problems and Planetary Solutions

Before I even start laying the groundwork on what each planetary energy is, and what their qualities are, before I even start suggesting what magic is and how you can make your spell craft more effective, I thought it might be helpful to jump right in with a list of magical aims, and which planetary energy you might want to work with. You can then go straight to the chapter on that planet to read about it in more depth, as well as have a look at the suggestions I have made for different spell workings under each one.

Here then is an alphabetical list of intentions, and which planet you need to work with. This is not exhaustive, and you will discover your own as you continue your journey with the seven energies…

Abundance – Jupiter

Anger (dispelling) – Venus

Animal communication – Mercury

Animal, return home – Venus

Animal, Protection from attack – Mars

Animal well-being – Sun

Anxiety – Sun

Athletics, speed – Mars, Mercury

Athletics, endurance – Sun

Astral travel – Moon, Mercury

Attractiveness -Venus

Authority, to gain – Jupiter

Baby blessing – Moon, Jupiter

Betrayal – Saturn

Breaking contracts – Sutton

Business and Commerce- Mercury

Conflict (soothing) – Venus

Courage – Mars

Cursing (breaking) – Saturn

Death – Saturn

Grief – Moon

Desire – Mars, Venus

Depression (relieving) – Sun

Difficult conversations – Venus, Saturn

Divination – Moon

Doors (opening the way) – Mercury

Dreams – Moon

Enemies (making peace) – Venus

Evil eye (protection from) – Mars, Saturn

Fame and renown – Sun

Fertility – Moon

Financial success – Jupiter (for long-lasting), Mercury (for fast)

Friendship (attracting) – Sun, Venus

Gossip (stopping) – Mars, Saturn

Good luck – Mercury, Sun

Happiness – Sun

Heartbreak (healing) – Venus

Healing – Sun

Health – Sun

Love (Attracting) – Venus

Love (keeping) – Venus, Jupiter

Love (inspiring passion) – Venus, Mars

Ending – Venus, Saturn

Lust – Mars

Magic – Moon

Marriage – Venus

Medical professionals – Mercury, Sun

Mental powers – Mercury

Masculinity – Mars

Money, wealth – Jupiter, Mercury, Sun

Negotiation – Jupiter

Nightmares – Sun

Oath breaking – Saturn

Passion – Mars, Venus

Patronage – Jupiter

Peace – Venus

Persuasion – Jupiter, Mercury

Popularity – Sun

Protection – Saturn, Mars

Purification – Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn

Resilience – Sun

Restraint – Saturn, Sun

Risk-taking – Mercury

Seafaring protection – Venus

Sex – Mars

Sleep – Moon

Spirituality – Moon

Study – Mercury, Jupiter

Success – Sun

Tarot (see divination)

Theft (prevention) Saturn

Travel – Mercury

Wealth – Jupiter

Wisdom – Jupiter

Worry (calming) – Venus, Sun, Jupiter

To help you get more of an overview of the seven energetic powers, I have included a table that gives a summary of the main headlines for each planet.

Chapter 2

Working with the Seven Energetic Powers of Planetary Magic

Before we go any further, it’s important to set a little groundwork, as this is essential in understanding why we are here. Even if you are an experienced magical practitioner, I would recommend you read this through, as it helps set the scene for the rest of the book. You may disagree, and that is fine, I am not in the business of telling you what to believe. This is merely a sharing of my model of the world. We all have one, and it is unique to each of us.

In this section I have laid out a few paragraphs that introduce some of the background principles to working with planetary magic.

Working Non-Binary Magic

While you might be thinking that planets sound like a celestial thing, and what’s that got to do with working magic on Earth, I consider the seven ‘planetary’ powers to be earthly energies that swirl and flow all around us. In the worldview of our magical ancestors, everything on Earth was ruled by one of the