The Red Meal: The Housle

It is a common part of many religious traditions to partake in a small, sacrificial meal at the end of the rite or ceremony. We, too, participate in a Eucharistic tradition of imbibing en-spirited wine and consuming en-spirited grain as representations of sacrifice needed for the magic we have performed.

In many witchcraft traditions, this meal is called "Cakes and Ale" or "Cakes and Wine." We call it the Housle, or Red Meal, and base it in part on a ritual created by fellow walker of the crooked path, Robin Artisson.

Here follows our own rite of the Housle.

Preparation

When the compass is first laid, place the following items in the Castle Perilous (southwest corner): Dark bread in a bowl (or lipped dish) and Red Wine in Silver Quaich or Chalice.  In the Spiral Castle (center, near the stang) will be placed the Red Knife.

Ritual

1. The sacrificial meal is brought from Castle Perilous to the Spiral Castle by the Witch.
2. Tread the Mill widdershins three times while singing the Housle Song. (see below)
3. Say, “For our Ancestors, our Gods, and Ourselves, we do this.”
4. Bless the bread by saying: “Here is bread, flesh of the Earth, blessed to give us life and strength. I consecrate it in the name of the Old Ones.”
5. Kill the bread by saying: “I take its life and give it to Them.” Cut it with the red knife.
6. Bless the wine by saying: “Here is wine, blood of the Earth, blessed to give us joy and abundance. I consecrate it in the name of the Old Ones.”
7. Kill the wine by saying: “I take its life and give it to Them.” Slide the knife over the top of the quaich/chalice to cut its throat.
8. Each person eats and drinks of the Meal, making whatever personal offerings they like into the bowl.
9. The remainder of the wine is poured into the bread bowl, and each person dips their finger in and anoints themselves. This can also be used for blessing tools, etc.
10. The Meal is either given to the ground now (if outside) or later (if inside) with the following Declaration:
“As some is taken, so is this given
By the sons and daughters of the family of the Old Faith.
I give it to the Ground.
I give it to the Old Ones
That above and below will become one.
For what is taken is truly given,
And what is given is truly taken.
The day and night are wed
As the living and the dead.
Here is shown a Mystery.”

The Housle Song
To the tune of Greensleeves

To Housle now we walk the wheel
We kill tonight the blood red meal
A leftward tread of magic's mill
To feed the Gods and work our Will.

Red! Red is the wine we drink!
Red! Red are the cords we wear!
Red! Red is the blood of God!
And red is the shade of the Housle.

In October of 2013, three of us recorded ourselves singing the chant and posted it to YouTube.

The Cauldron

More than the broom, or even the stang, the cauldron is the classic witches’ tool. In classical Greece we find stories of the witch Medea who brewed the elixir of life and death in her cauldron. Across Europe among the Celtic peoples are tales of Cerridwen whose potion of Awen was simmered in her own cauldron for a year and a day, and Bran, whose cauldron would regenerate fallen heroes. The cauldron of Dagda also featured in the celtic myths. His cauldron poured  forth endless food and wealth. It is echoed today in tales of Baba Yaga and Strega Nona  both of whom have special cook pots that are never exhausted of food, provided that the correct magical phrases are uttered over them.

 Even Shakespeare's infamous three witches from his play MacBeth are seen to gather around a cauldron and chant their nefarious rune.

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first in the charmed pot!
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake!

~William Shakespeare
MacBeth, Act IV, Scene 1

Robert Cochrane writes on the “two words that do not fit in the cauldron” as a mystery of the Craft. The answer to this riddle is “Be Still” for within the cauldron lies all motion, all potential, and all things. It cannot hold stillness, but this too is a mystery. The cauldron is used not just for the brewing of potions, but also as a vessel for scrying in liquid or flame. To accomplish this we must find stillness within the cauldron, by quieting our own minds.

The cauldron is also very similar to the Holy Grail of legend. We must ever seek it and its mysteries, for in it lies true communion with the Gods, and deep healing of our souls. “Who does the Grail serve?” is the riddle traditionally associated with this quest. The Grail serves all who seek it with honest intent, for it is only in not questing for the mystery that it serves no one.

“In fate and the overcoming of fate, lies the true Grail.” ~ Robert Cochrane

In our tradition the Cauldron is associated with the Grail Queen of the Silver Castle -- Castle Perilous -- as Cerridwen-Babalon. We drink deeply of her bloody cup, and rejoice in the coming of the Season of the Witch at the Autumn Equinox.

Autumn Equinox 2012 Photos

Autumn Equinox 2012 altar.  At this Sabbat we celebrate the Grail Queen of the Silver Castle -- Castle Perilous -- as Cerridwen-Babalon. We drink deeply of her bloody cup, and rejoice in the coming of the Season of the Witch.

Altar detail.  The lovely stone sphere is Chimera Stone (tm).  The large gold and scarlet chalice is the Cup of Babalon, used each year during the Feast of the Beast at the Babalon Rising Festival.

At the base of the altar are L-R: coven chalices, the Spiral Castle, Tubal Cain & his anvil, coven member totems, salt water, sterile lancets, and our Grimoire.

The Housle Song
To the tune of Greensleeves

To Housle now we walk the wheel
We kill tonight the blood red meal
A leftward tread of magic's mill
To feed the Gods and work our Will.

Red, red is the wine we drink

Red, red are the cords we wear

Red, red is the Blood of God

And red is the shade of the Housle.

The Saining of Tools

After acquiring a new tool it is traditional to cleanse and bless the implement and to consecrate it to its new owner and new use.  This process is known as saining.  Saining may be performed together as a coven or privately and individually.

Preparation

You will need: the tool to be sained, dark bread in a bowl (or lipped dish), red wine in silver quaich or chalice, the Red Knife, a portion of purification or blessing incense, and a thurible with a lit charcoal.

Ritual

1.) Cast the Caim as usual.
2.) Place some of the incense on the lit charcoal and run the tool through the resulting smoke, visualizing all past energies of the tool being carried away and dissolved with the smoke.
3.) Say: "I cleanse this "XXXX" in the name of the Mighty Ones, that it may serve me well in my Craft."
4.) Raise power by seething.  Rock back and forth, hum, chant, wail, and draw power up from the third realm and down from the first realm into yourself and into your tool. 
5.) Perform the rite of the Housle.
6.) Pour the remainder of the wine into the bread bowl, and anoint the tool, giving it a name at this time if you so wish.  The Housle is the blood of the Mighty Ones, and with it you seal in the energy that was raised by seething your power into the tool.
7.) Complete the rite of the Housle.

It is best to use a tool for its intended purpose as soon as possible after saining.

Newly consecrated tools should be kept in as close connection as possible to the body for at least a month (under the pillow, or in a bedroom corner is a common place). When not in use, all tools and weapons should be put away in a secret place. this place is also commonly near your sleeping place. Some traditions recommend that you handle your tools each night before retiring. Do not allow anyone to touch or handle any of your tools until they are thoroughly impregnated with your energy, the usual term for this is near to six months.

The Shelg

Beads and awl

I went to the flea market the other day and found some fun pretties to turn into tools.  First was a strand of white quartz and onyx beads which I'll be re-stringing into a witch's ladder.  The other tool I found was a rusty awl.

I've transformed the awl into a nice little shelg.  I've been getting questions lately on what a shelg is, and I thought this would be a nice time to clear that up, in addition to showing off my new tool.

The shelg is the (secret!) red handled knife of the witches. Just as the black handled knife, or athame, is used to cut and direct energy, and the white handled knife is used for cutting and carving in a material sense, so the red handled knife has its own particular uses. The shelg is used for blood magic and sacrifice. It may be used to open a small wound in the flesh in order to produce blood for oath-taking or binding links. It is also used during the housle to activate the Red Meal as a true sacrifice.

The shelg is a tool of the third realm and relates to the Red God of the Forge, Tubal Qayin.  Although sterile lancets are often used in place of the Shelg for safe bloodletting in small amounts, the shelg is still symbolically passed over the wound to seal the link to Qayin.

So, the shelg is a kind of bloodletting knife or, in this case, burin.  The word "shelg" comes from an old Manx word for a hunting knife.

I got the idea for using an awl rather than a blade from this amazing example at the Witch of Forest Grove's blog.  She refers to her tool as a "Thumb Pricker" from the famous witches from Macbeth:

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes… 

Here are some photos of my shelg in progress.

Sanded and sharpened. Look, ma, no rust!

Pyrography of an owl and the stang rune, or witch's foot.

Stained with red ochre oil paint and ready to taste blood!