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 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!

The Staff

Note that this is a discussion of the generic witch's staff. It is not to be confused with the Blackthorn Staff or the Distaff, both of which are different tools with distinct characteristics. These tools will be discussed in future entries.

Witches' staves

The staff is a straight stave cut from any wood.  It can be of any length, usually ranging somewhere from waist height to just slightly taller than full height of the witch who will be using it.  There is no specific type of tree that is chosen for a staff, rather, the witch will wander the woods at will, communing with the spirits there, and feeling for a young tree that is willing to give its life for the creation of a magical tool.

You may already have a piece of dead-fall or a walking stick which you wish to use for a staff.  If you do not, you should seek for a young tree in a copse of other trees.  This will encourage the tree to be straight, and will leave less impact on the forest. Raise the power and send it coursing into the potential tree. Tell the tree in your own words what you are seeking and then ask it if it is willing to give itself to become your staff. The tree must give consent before proceeding.

You will need to make an offering to the tree.  The traditional offering is, as always, a piece of silver.  Birdseed and fertilizer are also good choices, especially if you choose to make ongoing offerings to the tree over a course of time.  When you are ready to harvest your staff take the offerings to your tree along with a mundane handsaw that has been consecrated for this purpose, the shelg, bottled water, and a first aid kit.

Confirm a final time that the tree agrees and desires to be your working tool.  Lay a compass to hold the energy in the grove. Make your offerings to the grove.  Ask the tree to send its life force down into its roots. Cut the tree down with the handsaw, concentrating on the purpose of your task.

When the tree falls use the shelg to cut your palms.  Hold the tree and let your blood and spirit fuse with the wood. Consecrate the wood in the name of any deities and powers that you wish.  Clean your wounds and bandage them well. Use the handsaw to cut your staff to the length you desire.  Cut any “scrap” wood from the tree that you wish to use for besom handles, wands, etc.  Scatter the remaining wood and branches throughout the grove, leaving as little trace of your work as possible.

If you are working from a piece of dead-fall wood be certain that it has not been compromised by rot or insects, then proceed to blood the wood just as you would with a newly felled tree.

You may choose to adorn your staff however you wish.  You may remove the bark, or leave it on.  Your staff can be as elaborate or as simple as you like, and it may evolve in style and decoration as you grow and change in the Craft.  Some witches choose to keep their crane bag hanging from their staff.

One thing that must be done before the staff is used formally in ritual is the shodding of the staff.  You may choose to do this during a consecration ritual for the staff.  To shod the staff you need only to drive a nail up into the bottom end of the staff.  This seals the staff as a weapon in the name of Qayin, and creates it as a properly iron shod steed.

The staff may now be used to cut the boundary of the river of life and death when laying the compass.  It can also be ridden both as a gandreigh and a tool for treading the mill.

The staff is a truly personal tool of a witch. It is not passed down as a kuthun to students or family.  It is best if the staff is destroyed upon a witch's passing, or that it is given back to earth, water, or fire with the witch's remains.

The Three Knives

Lay of the Arthame

by Nigel Jackson

This is the Metal: it dropp’d from the sky,

A ferrous tear of the Fire-Drake’s eye,

That burned through cloud and seared the soil 

and set the furious seas a boil,

That lay in ancient pores of earth,

Til Blacksmith’s brought it to birth,

Thrice-purified in Tubalo’s fire

It suffered the ordeal of the pyre; cast into waters, hissed it’s song,

The starry viper’s iron tongue was tempered on the anvil-stone,

Til radiant as changeless bone, 

With whispered charge and wordless spell,

The gramarye of Azazel. 

The edge was ground and thus was made,

The narrow road of sharpened blade. 

This is the metal: ‘twas shaped by Cain

Who wrought the heavenly Arthame.

There are three knives associated with our tradition. These knives each represent the three realms, and the White Goddess, the Black Goddess, and the Red God. Each knife is used in a very specific and exclusive way.

The first of the knives is the black-handled blade, the Athame. It is the tool of the first realm and relates to the Black Goddess. The Athame is used for cutting and describing numen. It is used primarily to cut and direct energy links and sometimes to delineate sacred space. Gate portals are cut with the Athame, and it is the Witch's primary weapon when in liminal space.

The second knife is the white-handled blade, the Kerfane. It is the tool of the second realm and relates to the White Goddess. The Kerfane is used for cutting and carving in the physical realm. It may be used to fashion a wand, carve into a candle, cut cords, or harvest herbs. If the Kerfane is sickle-shaped and used for harvesting plant materials it is referred to as a boline. If the Kerfane is shaped like a pin and is used for inscribing materials it is referred to as a burin.

The third knife is the red blade, the Shelg. It is the tool of the third realm and relates to the Red God of the Forge, Tubal Qayin. 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. 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.

The three knives are used in a test of fate during initiation to bind the Witch in service to one of the three deities of our Clan.