First off, I have to make mention that I tend to agree with one of my old teachers, Oliver St. John when he said, “tools belong in a shed. We use ritual implements or items”.
As I said, I do agree with that statement however, I’m just as guilty as anyone else. I find myself calling them tools just out of habit.
I guess my point in bringing that up is our ritual “tools” deserve, no, demand respect. Call them what you will but treat them with respect.
For this writing, I’m going to (respectfully) call them “tools”.
Our tools are sacred to us. No one else should handle them unless they have your permission. Personally I would only let someone else touch them while in ritual if at all.
Before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s start with acquiring them.
You probably have a good idea what you need for your rituals. If not, refer to The Complete Book of Demonolatry by S. Connolly. This is a blog post not a book so, I have to keep this condensed.
You have probably heard it is best to be gifted a specific tool or buy it yourself. You can’t buy your own tarot deck, it has to be gifted. Maybe you’ve heard, your athame has to be purchased on a full moon while wearing purple clothes, etc., etc., etc.
I tend to believe those lines of thinking is different from coven to coven. Do what feels right for you. If you are at some occult shop and a certain candle holder “speaks” to you, by all means, get it.
I tend to lean towards the belief that homemade items/tools are better. That is especially true if a fellow magician makes something homemade and gifts it to me. I treasure the time and effort they put into it and it makes that item all the more powerful in my mind during ritual. Some will disagree and say that you don’t want someone else’s energy on your tools. I disagree with that but have heard it stated.
Just for shits and giggles, let’s say you obtained a new scrying mirror for ritual use. Now what?
Well, we want to consecrate it. This part could get long. However, I again remind myself this is a blog post not a book. So I’ll give you one example and if it doesn’t suite you, feel free to look for other ways as there are a ton of them.
For my scrying mirrors, I do not want any artificial light to hit them. Nor do I want sunlight to hit them. Only moonlight and candlelight are acceptable in my world.
So, take your new mirror and wrap it in a black cloth. Leave it protected until there is a full moon. Now that we have a full moon (or maybe even a new moon), take it outside. Place it on the earth and uncover it. Let only the light from the moon reflect on the glass. Don’t let a street light hit it.
You can say a prayer over it, anoint it and even dedicate it to a specific Demon if you like. I left mine in the moonlight all night long. I had to get up before the sun to cover the mirror and take it inside.
So, now I have a scrying mirror that is special to me. I made an effort to make it special. In a sense, I put it through its own ritual. It means something to me. When I call Demons into it, it will be sacred to me.
I will protect it from artificial light and use it only in ritual. The longer I follow this, the more sacred it becomes. Say I used this same mirror for ten years. Then I decide I want to pass it on to a fellow magician. I would hope they would recognize the effort, love, magick, devotion and time that I have put into this “tool” and cherish it, maybe even a little more than I did.
So, now you see why I hate to call them “tools”. It seems to diminish what they really are. It makes them sound common.
They are a magickal part of us and should be treated as such. They help us direct our energy. They help us get into the right state of mind. They help us connect to the divine. Treat them well. They demand it. Your Magick demands it. The Demonic demand it.