Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
“Don’t we need to, like, work up to that?” I asked, running my hands up and down my forearms as I searched Luna’s face.
“Why don’t we get a few things set up first, then?” Luna said, sending me a reassuring smile. I nodded, following her a little further down the beach. Luna turned a circle on the beach, then nodded to herself before using her toe to outline something in the sand. I drifted closer to watch.
“A pentagram?”
“A pentagram facing up, or north, in this instance. I’ll finish by drawing a circle around it for our protection.”
“Far out,” I said and then clamped my mouth shut. Maybe two drinks and only a cup of soup – we all know I hadn’t eaten that salad – hadn’t been the smartest choice.
Luna pulled out what looked like white pillar candles from her bag and set them up at various points around the circle.
“Let’s go, sweets. I don’t know how much longer I can delay this. Time to go skyclad,” Luna said sweetly as she reached for her dress and pulled it over her head. I followed suit, closing my eyes and groaning softly as I whipped the dress over my head and dropped it in a pile at my feet.
Okay, so the night air felt kind of good on my naked skin. Maybe there was more to this skyclad thing than I had originally thought.
Steeling myself, I opened my eyes and looked over to where Luna waited patiently, her hands cocked on her hips, the moonlight making her skin seem to glow softly.
“This is a good light for you,” I said.
Luna laughed and then motioned me forward so that I stood next to her outside the circle. She had several items in her hands, things I couldn’t quite make out even when I squinted.
“So,” Luna began and I forced myself to focus on her words even though I was a little lightheaded from the cocktails. “I’m going to teach you the correct way to cast a circle. There are abbreviated versions of this for when you’re in a rush, but it’s smart to know the full process first.”
I nodded, motioning for her to go ahead.
“First I purify the space,” Luna said, flicking a lighter on and making me jump. She held the flame to the end of an incense stick and the scent of frankincense filled my nostrils. Luna began to walk around the circle, tossing something from her bag into sand as she went.
“I’m sprinkling water and salt, and following the circle with incense. And I light each candle as I pass it,” Luna explained as she poured water from a bottle into a small bowl.
“Why?” I said, then paused, slightly taken aback, as Luna shot me a look. I needed to know these things, didn’t I?
“We are calling upon the elements for protection. Water is for water, incense is for air, candle is for fire, and salt is for the earth. This will help to strengthen our circle.”
I nodded and waited for her to continue.
Luna bent to her bag, setting down the bowl of water and incense and pulling out what looked like a stick. I realized it was a wand.
“I will now cast the circle with my wand – please step inside,” Luna ordered. I hopped forward, stepping close to the pentagram.
Luna raised her arms and I saw a low white light begin to pulse from her hands. Aiming the wand at the sand, she made one circular motion and for a brief moment, a circle lit up in the sand around us.
“Circle of power, I do charge you to be a sacred space and meeting-place between the worlds of the mighty and the worlds of man on a day that is not a day, in a time that is not a time, in a place that is not a place. Oh circle of power, I charge you to be a meeting-place of love and truth and joy…a strong rampart against all evil and harm, and a strong container for energy which is raised until we choose to send it out. In the name of the god and goddesses, I do consecrate you! So mote it be.”
I shivered at her words, my nakedness forgotten as a hum of energy began to pulse around me.
“First you consecrate the circle. Then you invoke the elements,” Luna explained. I nodded – surprised to find that a touch of energy seemed to brush against me – within me.
“I invoke the east, the watcher of the air,” Luna intoned. I stayed quiet as she moved to the south for fire.
“I invoke the west for water,” Luna said.
Just then my cell phone trilled from my bag and I jumped, startled out of the ceremony’s atmosphere and ashamed that my own carelessness was interrupting Luna’s lesson. Reacting on instinct, I stepped from the circle to reach for my bag to silence my phone.
“Thea, no!” Luna yelled at me.
A flash of light out on the water startled me and I watched in confusion as a wash of energy seemed to flow from the water into the circle. A huge plume of white smoke puffed out of nowhere, causing us to cough and wave the acrid smoke away from our eyes and mouths.
“Well, well, well! A lovely sight for my sore eyes,” a voice crowed through the smoke. I squinted, unsure of what I was seeing, wondering if the drinks had been stronger than I’d thought.
Because sure as my breasts need a bra, there was a real life floating pirate, leering at Luna and me in all our naked glory.
See? This is why I don’t play with magick.