Types of Waters for Magickal Uses Part 1---How to collect and Process~~~~

Dear Ms. Q,

We will start in earnest about the processing of Sacred, Holy Waters for Magickal Uses----

WATERS PART 1

THE COLLECTING AND PROCESSING OF WATER

Before you begin to collect water for magickal use, any kind of water its best to know what to collect it with and in and how to process it and store it. 

Although I’ve mentioned it briefly in the INTRODUCTION blog, I’m going to repeat it and in more depth in this section.

FIRST---if at all possible collect your water in a clear glass bowl or glass jar or in a white ceramic bowl or cup (a glass cup is fine too).

Now there is a sort of common rule of thumb depending upon the tradition that one practices in the collection and storage of Nature’s waters. The item you use to collect the water should be clear, non-colored glass or a container that is plain white, for either a bowl, cup or jar that doesn’t matter. One thing it should never be is crystal, most crystal items have Lead in it and that affects and discharges the energy of the water and even if you were able to find a natural crystal bowl (very, Very expensive) depending upon the conditions the water was collected especially Rain water, that could permanently affect the energy of the bowl so that all waters will have the same energy, when you really need the different energies from different conditions for different rituals, potions etc. So using regular everyday glass or a plain white ceramic item is the best collector.

The extra advantage to using that is that it can be washed with Lemon dishwashing soap to clear off the energies from the water collected, so that it will be energetically clear for the next “harvesting”.

There are those practioners who believe it should only be collected in natural metals (copper, silver, gold, etc.), because glass is a processed object, however that is incorrect, at least according to what I was taught and what I have discovered through the process of experimenting  with the waters to see what effects it does have and I’ve discovered that because a metal bowl is also processed it is not natural also that metals can adversely affect the waters, just like a natural crystal bowl. 

Now some people can be lucky in finding a large stone that has a natural depression usually caused by the wearing of river water, and this makes a completely natural bowl avoiding any concept of something being processed, and it too can be cleaned by washing it with lemon juice and flushing it with plain tap water which is a Non-living water.

I do know of several practioners who have gone to a rock quarry that carries rocks for gardens and such and look for a large natural rock whose energies in general feel good and with asking permission of the rock for that particular purpose will buy it then have it manually ground down into a gentle bowl and consecrate it to that use of collecting Rain Water and maintain it the same way, and it seems to work well for them.

However in some situations glass or white ceramic may not be the best material to use for fear of it breaking, this is true where you go to areas outside of your home, such as the parks, beach, monuments, rivers, lakes.  Then you will be forced to have to use plastic, I’ve found that the plastic bottles for holy water (commercially available) work very well, as well as the bottles and jugs for Distilled water that one uses for baby formulas, irons or vaporizers (this can be purchased in any grocery store), and works well for transporting home to be decanted and processed into glass bottles.

So when you are collecting water from rivers, lakes, oceans or anywhere outside your home use those bottles that are non-breakable and then as soon as possible decant them.

Now as I said you should be collecting glass bottles of every color possible, some you will use right away, some may take a while because the collecting of certain types of water, especially certain types of rain water has to take place under certain conditions----You cannot say that rain water is Thunderstorm water if there was no thunderstorm for example.

Now in the collecting of Lake, River, Ocean water, these too need to be collected during certain conditions, but if an opportunity arises and you have a chance to go to any one of those areas, make a note of the Astrological conditions, say you go on a Friday when Venus is in a good planetary arrangement, then the water you collect that day would be good for Love.

If you have an opportunity to collect River water on St. John’s day (June 24) that water would be good for home protection.

If you have a chance to go to the beach, collect the water especially if you plan to do a ritual to an ocean goddess.

No matter what if you have an opportunity to go somewhere with water present be sure to take your water jug or bottle (plastic in this case) and take advantage of it---make a note of the day, date and time when you do it and then check your Astrological calendar to see what planets were in what signs and go from there.

I knew of one elderly practioner who didn’t drive a car, most of the time she took a bus to go to certain places but if one of her friends or family members were going and she was invited she’d leap at the opportunity and then check her Astro calendar to see what she had in essence “Captured”.  She never had a problem with her workings, even though she was hindered by her lack of transportation.

One time she went to this park where there was a natural creek running through it and collected the water, a park ranger asked what she was doing and being a quick thinker even though she was elderly, she told the Ranger that she had a microscope at home and would use it to amuse her grandchildren to see what tiny “bugs” could be found in the water.  The Ranger found that a logical explanation and just warned her to be careful among the slippery rocks.

THE PROCESSING----

The processing of your water, no matter what type is relatively easy, you have to take into consideration debris and tiny wiggly things, so you need to filter your water.  So using a glass bowl or jar, fit over it using either rubber band or string a coffee filter, make sure it has a depression to collect the water and hold it while it drips down into the bowl.

Slowly and carefully pour your collected water through the filter, allowing to stop from time to time so it can perk through the filter.  

Once your water has been filtered, throw the filter way, then pour the water into the appropriate bottle, cork it, and label it.

At this time the energy of the water is inert, not activated. 

When you are ready to use some of that water for you ritual, pour it out from that bottle into the appropriate container small bowl/cup/chalice and then consecrate it to your will.

There are some exceptions---the water collected during violent storms, such as Thunderstorms, hurricanes etc.  are always active, it just then depends on what use you will direct it towards.

Also waters that are collected on certain times of the year such as the Equinoxes, All hallows, Yule, Mid-summer etc. or on special Christian Holy Days, such as St. John’s Day, the Day of the Ascension those have certain active properties.

Only by studying folk lore, Tradition and by observation will you have an idea how they will work.

But in the meantime after you have poured the water into the appropriate bottle but before you use it, label the bottle with the type of water, condition or time it was collected and date.

For Example :

 River water 

St. John’s Day

6/24/14       

 Or  Thunderstorm

       Dark Moon

        3/30/14

Or:    Spring Equinox

          Waning Moon

          3/21/14

Or    Rain Water

         Full Moon

         4/13/14

Other examples are:   Ocean Water—Samhain---Waxing Moon —10/31/14

Recently I was lucky I was able to collect Rain Water during a Thunderstorm at when a lighting strike occurred at 1:23 p.m. during a New Moon  So it was labeled : Thunderstorm w/lighting strike 1:23 p.m., New Moon and the date.  

The strike occurred just 6 blocks from where I was, and I was lucky to collect the wood from the blasted Tree, one long enough to eventually make into a wand, the other pieces will come in handy.

So in labeling always remember this:

1. The date and time it was collected. I know people who also add the phase the moon was in at the time of collection.

2. Where the collection took place.

3. What you collected. Is this rain from a lightning storm, melted snow, hail, ocean? Give it a description.

SPECIAL NOTE:   Do not use wood, leather or other natural materials because the water will have a tendency to absorb the minerals and energies of the container. This will alter its composition and change the energy you wanted to collect for your workings.

BOTTLES

As I said about the bottles, they can come from different types of uses, whiskey, beer, bottled water, vodka, or other liquid glass containers that never held anything poisonous; some men’s cologne bottles work just as well. 

Before you use them they must be washed with Lemon dishwashing soap and any paper labels soaked off.  Some practioners will add a pinch of Sea Salt for extra purification during the soaking process.

Plastic bottles or jugs used to transport waters should be purified in the same manner. 

Except for the plastic twist on tops on plastic containers all bottles should be plugged with cork stoppers, you can find them either at a hardware store or craft store, measure the inside diameter of the bottle by measuring across the lip of the bottle, this will help to insert the cork into the mouth of the bottle.  No metal caps should be used as this will discharge the energy of the water.

Now if you are a bit shaky about pouring the water into the bottle, you can use a plastic funnel to help pour it and avoid spillage.

And as I said if the label on the bottle is not paper but more permanent, you can cover it with an appropriate color paper, just leave enough on the side of the bottle so you can see how much you have remaining after each use.

Keep your bottles in a special cabinet to avoid Sun light, to prevent the Sun’s energy changing the energy within the bottle and to slow down any evaporation.

HOW LONG TO KEEP

The average amount of time to keep Sacred waters that you’ve collected is anywhere between 6 months to a year, but on an average a year at least.

And to wait to replace them until you’ve collected your next year’s batch in approximately the same or nearly the same conditions.

The exception I’ve discovered is those water’s collected under exceptional conditions, keep those until they are gone, even if it may be more than a year,  sometimes exceptional conditions only come just a few times in one’s life time, so it is worth holding on to.

With those exceptional waters you may have to check to see if anything is growing in them, when that happens filter the water again, clean out the bottle it was stored in (again with lemon soap) and then re-cork.

These instructions will get you started so now start collecting your equipment to put together your Sacred Waters.

My Next blog on Waters will be about Rain Water, the types of Rain water etc. 

Blessings Ms. Q