Cleanse and Consecrate Ritual Tools

You should personalize, cleanse and consecrate your ritual tools before they are used in any spells or rituals. With the growing popularity of pagan religions, many ritual tools have become available to the mass market. If you purchase rather than create your ritual tools, it is even more important that you personalize, cleanse and consecrate them.

Personalizing

You should personalize your ritual tools to make them more your own. You may even build some tools from raw materials. Some tools, however, require expensive and specialized equipment to create. Example of this include metal athame blades, fabric altar cloths, and bells.

Cleansing

Every ritual tool should be cleansed before its first use. They should also be cleansed occasionally to remove residual energies. You can cleanse your tools by smudging, by using salt or salt water, or by grounding them in the earth. If you are an energy healing practitioner, you can also use this energy to cleanse your ritual tools. My wife and I often use Reiki to help cleanse our tools.

Consecrating

Consecration is a formal ritual in which you dedicate your ritual tools to their magical or spiritual purpose. Our consecration ritual uses a white candle, salt, white sage (or a purifying incense), and small dish of water. If you have an altar, you should perform all consecration rituals upon it. If you do not have an altar, simply read the work "altar" in the ritual below to mean "working space". Your projective hand is the one that, given a choice, you would throw a baseball with. It is also usually the hand you use to write with.

• You should begin by creating a protective or ritual circle.
• Place the cleansed tool in the center of your altar.
• Place your projective hand over the tool and visualize pure energy flowing from the Earth, through your body, out your hand and into the tool.
• While you are sending this energy, name the tool and declare that you are consecrating it for use in magic and ritual.
• If you are the type who gives everything a unique name, feel free to do so, but it is not required. It is enough to name the ritual tool by its purpose, for example: "I consecrate this Wand for use in my Sacred Circle".
• Note: as you perform each of the following steps, focus on the purpose of the actions you are performing. Many people find it helpful to state what they are doing at each step, for example: "With this salt, I imbue you with the Power of the element of Earth."
• Sprinkle salt over the tool to imbue it with the power of the Element of Earth
• Pass the tool through the incense or sage smoke to imbue it with the power of the Element of Air
• Pass the tool through (or near, if it is flammable) the candle flame to imbue it with the power of the Element of Fire
• Note: is you are consecrating a large object such as an altar or large cauldron, you should pass the incense and candle flame near it rather than the other way around. After all, it would be silly to pass a table over a candle when you can pass the candle under the table much easier!
• Sprinkle a little water over the tool to imbue it with the power of the Element of Water
• After the tool has been empowered with each of the elements, say the following or something similar: "By the God and Goddess, I bless and consecrate [name of tool] so that it can be used in my/our rituals. May it always be used for the best and highest good. So Mote It Be!"
• You ritual tool is now ready for use.

You should consecrate each tool individually. If you have several tools to consecrate, you should repeat your ritual for each tool. Always remember, at the end of every ritual, to give thanks to the God(s) and Goddess(es), ground any excess energy into the earth, and release your circle.

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