Throwback Thursday: A Wishing Spell by Kelly Jarvis

Timing:

The moon need not be waxing.

It need not be the second Sunday of Spring,

Or quarter-past midnight on the Dark Sabbat,

But the magick will be most powerful

On the anniversary of your first breath,

That day when the sharp intake of cold and painful air

Set your mortal cries in motion.

Materials:

A frosted cake (at least two layers), a candle, and a match.

Instructions:

Gather those you love around you.

Place the candle deep into the soft soil of the cake.

Strike the match. Light the wick. Chant a familiar tune.

Watch the flame flicker; watch shadows spill like liquid night.

Inhale--and in the pause

Between one breath and the next,

Summon your wish from the secret spaces of your soul.

Do not speak. Do not share your wish.

Words bring great danger and may result in ruin

(Like an unsightly sausage stuck to the tip of your nose).

Exhale—let your breath extinguish the flame.

Your silent wish will rise upward with the candle’s smoke,

An offering and a prayer.

Kelly Jarvis is the Special Projects Writer and Contributing Editor for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has appeared in Eternal Haunted Summer, Blue Heron Review, Forget-Me-Not Press, Mermaids Monthly, The Chamber Magazine, and Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. She teaches at Central Connecticut State University.