Emergency Ritual Kit
Oct. 19th, 2007 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spookyeviloneAs a response to the comment left in a locked post on a community I'm on, the bizarre, facepalmy, and sometimes funny stories of how the kit evolved and how it's been used.
I have a small grey toolbox filled with useful items that comes with me to every ritual I go to unless it's one I'm running, peopled by those I know and trust not to be stupid. That phrase encompasses only people I've actively worked with in a ritual setting before, because long experience has taught me that even the smartest of my pagan friends can do Really Dumb Shit the first time they work with someone new, no matter how long they've known them. I'm also not above falling prey to that myself.
The top tray holds ritual items that may be needed - instant flame, tea lights, a clean knife, a sterile bloodletting knife, cords of various colours, pins, a small hank of sage, various crystals and rocks, some charcoal, generic incense, notepad, pencil, a bottle of water, a lump of modeling clay, and the world's tiniest chalice. (it's a liquer sipper, but appropriately chalice-shaped)
In the bottom of the box, under the tray, is a tiny fire extinguisher, burn salve, gauze, ammonia snap, paper bag, a bottle of blessed water, box of salt, box of baking soda, other herbs that might come in handy, band aids, bottle of black ink, a couple resins, a miner's candle, ipecac syrup, immodium, and a thick wool potholder.
Here are some of the situations where these things became necessary items to have with me.
Instant flame - Matches failed because they were in the pocket of someone and the drum circle frenzy happened first - death by sweat, they were not waterproof. Everyone who had a lighter tried only to have every lighter fail. Level of hysteria rising as the 'portents' look negative. One idiot starts ominously muttering about how he can 'feel the darkness' trying to stop us. The only darkness I felt was coming from the hysterics within the circle. They start talking about defensive net magic. I normally carry a small military ammo bag when I don't have pockets, and my robe at the time didn't. I'd just come home from camping the week before and not unloaded it, for lo, I am lazy. As everyone starts getting more and more worked up and the mood of the circle's going ugly, I calmly reached in, pulled out the instant flame, walked to the fire, and started it, intoning somewhat sarcastically, "And the Light shall banish the Darkness and make all within the Circle safe once more."
Tea lights - to prevent people from using used and un-cleansed ritual candles. Some people don't understand that a dedicated and charged candle's magic doesn't end when the flame goes out. Had someone bring a black wax candle formerly used in a hexed binding ritual into a circle meant to bless a very, very pregnant woman. The fact that they even brought a negatively charged anything near a woman close to term still makes me seethe. Also useful for those long winded, late afternoon rituals where the caster has left the lightswitch outside the circle.
Clean knife - Ever watch someone nearly cut themselves in two by tripping and falling against something that catches on a badly wrapped rope belt, or nearly strangle themselves when their amulet necklaces catch on something? I have. I've also had newly handfasted people whose extremities were turning blue and white due to an overenthusiastic officiant. I once had an officiant go spastic when I cut the knot which he'd deliberately MELTED with a candle, proclaiming doom and gloom and how the pair wouldn't make it. Seventeen years and four children later, Peregrine: 1, Officiant: 0.
Sterile bloodletting knife - I have a small, simple rule - "Thou Shalt Not Break Thine Skin With Anything Unsanitary To Mine Eyes." The sheer number of times someone's decided they neeeeeed a drop of blood and gone for something positively ripe with the potential of a staph infection.. Or the time the caster was caressing the firewood in a way that made me wonder just what fresh new fetish was cropping up there, predictably got deep splinters, and then went to dig them out with an athame. The /many/ times someone's thoughtlessly intended to use an athame on flesh, in a circle they used the athame to cast... ow.
Cords of various colour - Their main use is to keep really stupid people from charging out of the circle to get an appropriately coloured candle. White candle, wrap the base in the colour cord you need so everyone can see what colour the candle 'is', and presto. Also come in handy when someone needs a binding or lose-me-not for legit purposes that were not expressed before the ritual began.
Pins - For when you want to unobtrusively stab someone with a non-lethal object. Or pin a cord without tying it. Or your robe develops a gap. Or you get bored and feel the need to fence with your circle neighbor. So many uses.
Sage smudge - Besides the obvious, also useful as a cleansing tool against the people who show up to circle heavily 'annointed' with the oil of their choice (always patchouli) without having taken a shower first. My sage has evergreen in it, so the sage smoke binds to the evergreen resin and cliiiiiings, which helps mask and neutralize the bad, bad body oil. Remember, chilluns, patchouli over unwashed body odour makes baby Kernunos cry.
Rocks and crystals - On hand for the hysteric drama puppies. If they don't show up actually trailing a manifestation of evil, I pull out the Witchier Than Thou authoritaria attitude and use the placebo effect before they can infect anyone else. It's usually less confrontational than asking if they've taken their medication that day. I also keep a few really pretty crystals in there as gifts for newbies who show a remarkable amount of common sense and intelligence, because patting them on the head is generally frowned upon.
Charcoal - Got added the first time I saw an entire circle, sans myself, throw handfuls of detritus - things they wanted to banish from that year - into a fire meant as an eternal flame that was a memorial for a dead friend. It was like hearing a discordant orchestra. Also used to keep people from throwing resins directly in the fire. I mean, sure, if they want to waste the $40 they spent on that gram of resin in a single puff of smoke, fine, but generally they see sense and use the charcoal.
Generic incense - "And now I'll burn a bundle of ritual herbs.." Next thing I knew, I had my fingers sunk into their arm and had taken it away from them. Only after that did I look at what I was holding - pennyroyal, jimson weed (datura), poison sumac were three of the easily identifiable things. When asked what on earth possessed them to use freaking datura, they claimed they thought it would help 'open us all up'. Um. Yeah. The number of times someone's had a 'burn me not' herb in their little ritual bundle.. *sighs*
Modeling clay - Another rule is "Thou Shalt Not Trust A Taper Candle Sans Holder Not To Tip" - stick it in the nice little lump of clay. Also keeps me from strangling people, because I can sit there and fidget with it. Handy for keeping small objects from blowing away if it's windy. For a long time, I had silly putty, but that loses its elasticity over time. It also produces toxic, choking fumes when idiots toss pieces of it in a fire.
Tiny chalice - for all those instances where one is needed and forgotten outside the circle. Convincing the caster that size doesn't matter is oftentimes more difficult than convincing the average male of same. I know it's smaller and not as ornate as the giant cast pewter, crystal covered monstrosities I've seen, but.. y'know.. it's here and doesn't require interrupting a ritual, creating a door in a circle, or outright breaking a circle to get to.
Fire extinguisher - Polyester blend robes. Large Beltane fire. A HP whose initials must have actually stood for Harry Potter from all the swishing and flicking he felt necessary. He went up like the Burning Man. People ran to help pat him out, only to get the defacto Greek Fire on their hands. Broke the damn circle, ran to my car and grabbed an extinguisher and put him out. That also got written up on my list of when it's ok to break the rules. "If someone's on fire, the ritual is over."
First aid supplies - pretty self explanatory. Immodium and ipecac syrup because people will put anything made with 'herbs' in their mouth, no matter how bad for them it is. Usually without even asking what 'herbs' are in it first.
Ammonia snap - People who don't know how to shield or anchor doing deep meditation for the first time and go all scary trance. Or people who can self-hypnotize and don't, y'know, mention that to the rest of us. I don't bother trying to soul call. Snap, shake, good morning, Sunshine - now just what the fuck did you think you were doing? Trust me, the ammonia will bring them running back to their body of their own accord without you needing to touch them or in other ways break their body bond.
Paper bag - for the hysterics who feel the need to hyperventilate, or for the poor folks the hysterics manage to drag into the drama who are actually, truly frightened. Or when you find a dead, decaying squirrel in the area you want to cast a circle in.
Blessed water, box of salt - for when something shows up that wasn't meant to or something needs to be cleansed quickly. "So, like, if I were to start calling for Agares, he'd show up?" Oh yes, little puppy, please - call the name of a duke of hell who's got a reputation for showing up willingly, in a circle called and raised but not yet consecrated, with at least six people who don't know how to shield. I happened to have been asked to bring a jar of blessed water, to explain to the newbies how it was made. I took great pleasure in dumping the very cold water over the puppy's head, without bothering to explain why. Also makes a quick rehydration kit for those drum circles that get way too wild. Salt has also gotten used to draw a circle when the caster was going to use white paint on public property. I keep hoping for a golem or zombie to use it on, but alas, none yet. It may not amuse anyone but me that my salt is Kosher. (Because it was on sale and I am easily amused.)
Baking soda - non-flammable flame smothering source, because if paraffin overflows and catches fire, it will laugh mockingly at any and all attempts to put it out and the pressure from an extinguisher spreads it faster than it stifles. Also useful for when someone's oil-annointed robes catch. Or for when *cough* I pick up a bottle of essential oil by the wrong end and get it on my clothes. Removes wine or juice stains if you get the soda on the stain while it's damp and fresh. Baking soda + water = pain/itch relieving paste for poison ivy, stinging nettle, bee stings, mosquito allergy, sunburn, and heat rash. Ah, the joys of skyclad rituals on summer nights in the woods. None of that list are personal injuries, for lo, my godlings believe in both sunscreen and bug repellent and have blessed me with a lack of uriol allergy.
Black ink - "What's that, you say? You want to work a binding ritual in your own blood? Um. No." Srsly, what is with the 'Need to write something, guess I'll use my own blood as ink' thing? Why doesn't anyone ever use a pen?! Black ink and a pin will work in a pinch, when they invariably claim that a pen isn't 'arcane enough'. Works especially well since I make my own ink, and it both looks and smells 'arcane enough'. (Dragon's blood, black walnut husks, lavendar or eucalyptus oil, melted copal, lampblack, gum arabic and Everclear oh my. And if it amuses anyone but me, I use Daemonorops and not Dracaena.)
Resins - Goes in the 'prevent someone from burning something detrimental to health or in other ways moronic' category. Also useful for arcane reasons. Not that I've ever used them for that.
Miner's candle - thick, white, long burning candle with a flat base. Wax is not runny and dries very quickly, so spills are minimized. Interesting story - first time I bought some, I got them from a spelunking store, because I was 15 and didn't know they were the same thing sold in hardware stores as 'emergency candles'. Though I found out they're slightly different. The wick of true miner's candles is treated with something that makes the flame go funny colours in the presence of marsh gas. Marsh gas and methane are very similar. The flame went funny colours, I started to worry, because I felt nothing yet had visible sign of a manifestation - until I realized the squirming and strange faces of one of my circle mates meant something entirely different - a bad case of wind and not a maleficent entity. (Though it made the air so ripe shortly after that it almost qualified.)
Wool potholder/hotpad - Because I'd rather not use the burn salve and convincing someone that really, the handle of the cast iron cauldron will be hot after it's had a flame in/under it takes significantly more time and meets more resistance than simply handing them the hot pad.
So there you have it. My way more practical than necessary emergency ritual kit.
[EDIT: In light of the interest in this list, I'veunlocked the post re-locked the post on the original forum and transferred it here so it can be linked. If you link it, I ask that you drop a comment here so I know where it's going on the intardnetzweb. You may link it to anywhere but WitchVox, provided it is properly credited to "Peregrine". I don't mind if you publish it as long as you do not receive compensation for it, as long as it's credited.]
As to why I re-locked the original and moved it here - because I have the dumb and it didn't dawn on me until this morning that an open post on a pagan-centric forum that gets crosslinked all over the intardnetz, right before Samhain, is pretty much setting out trollbait and switching on the psycho magnet. I really like that community and feel bad about doing that to our mods. They were gracious and didn't smack me over it - but it's a problem and this is my way of fixing it. Sorry, mods! I think you're doing a great job and I love that comm!
I have a small grey toolbox filled with useful items that comes with me to every ritual I go to unless it's one I'm running, peopled by those I know and trust not to be stupid. That phrase encompasses only people I've actively worked with in a ritual setting before, because long experience has taught me that even the smartest of my pagan friends can do Really Dumb Shit the first time they work with someone new, no matter how long they've known them. I'm also not above falling prey to that myself.
The top tray holds ritual items that may be needed - instant flame, tea lights, a clean knife, a sterile bloodletting knife, cords of various colours, pins, a small hank of sage, various crystals and rocks, some charcoal, generic incense, notepad, pencil, a bottle of water, a lump of modeling clay, and the world's tiniest chalice. (it's a liquer sipper, but appropriately chalice-shaped)
In the bottom of the box, under the tray, is a tiny fire extinguisher, burn salve, gauze, ammonia snap, paper bag, a bottle of blessed water, box of salt, box of baking soda, other herbs that might come in handy, band aids, bottle of black ink, a couple resins, a miner's candle, ipecac syrup, immodium, and a thick wool potholder.
Here are some of the situations where these things became necessary items to have with me.
Instant flame - Matches failed because they were in the pocket of someone and the drum circle frenzy happened first - death by sweat, they were not waterproof. Everyone who had a lighter tried only to have every lighter fail. Level of hysteria rising as the 'portents' look negative. One idiot starts ominously muttering about how he can 'feel the darkness' trying to stop us. The only darkness I felt was coming from the hysterics within the circle. They start talking about defensive net magic. I normally carry a small military ammo bag when I don't have pockets, and my robe at the time didn't. I'd just come home from camping the week before and not unloaded it, for lo, I am lazy. As everyone starts getting more and more worked up and the mood of the circle's going ugly, I calmly reached in, pulled out the instant flame, walked to the fire, and started it, intoning somewhat sarcastically, "And the Light shall banish the Darkness and make all within the Circle safe once more."
Tea lights - to prevent people from using used and un-cleansed ritual candles. Some people don't understand that a dedicated and charged candle's magic doesn't end when the flame goes out. Had someone bring a black wax candle formerly used in a hexed binding ritual into a circle meant to bless a very, very pregnant woman. The fact that they even brought a negatively charged anything near a woman close to term still makes me seethe. Also useful for those long winded, late afternoon rituals where the caster has left the lightswitch outside the circle.
Clean knife - Ever watch someone nearly cut themselves in two by tripping and falling against something that catches on a badly wrapped rope belt, or nearly strangle themselves when their amulet necklaces catch on something? I have. I've also had newly handfasted people whose extremities were turning blue and white due to an overenthusiastic officiant. I once had an officiant go spastic when I cut the knot which he'd deliberately MELTED with a candle, proclaiming doom and gloom and how the pair wouldn't make it. Seventeen years and four children later, Peregrine: 1, Officiant: 0.
Sterile bloodletting knife - I have a small, simple rule - "Thou Shalt Not Break Thine Skin With Anything Unsanitary To Mine Eyes." The sheer number of times someone's decided they neeeeeed a drop of blood and gone for something positively ripe with the potential of a staph infection.. Or the time the caster was caressing the firewood in a way that made me wonder just what fresh new fetish was cropping up there, predictably got deep splinters, and then went to dig them out with an athame. The /many/ times someone's thoughtlessly intended to use an athame on flesh, in a circle they used the athame to cast... ow.
Cords of various colour - Their main use is to keep really stupid people from charging out of the circle to get an appropriately coloured candle. White candle, wrap the base in the colour cord you need so everyone can see what colour the candle 'is', and presto. Also come in handy when someone needs a binding or lose-me-not for legit purposes that were not expressed before the ritual began.
Pins - For when you want to unobtrusively stab someone with a non-lethal object. Or pin a cord without tying it. Or your robe develops a gap. Or you get bored and feel the need to fence with your circle neighbor. So many uses.
Sage smudge - Besides the obvious, also useful as a cleansing tool against the people who show up to circle heavily 'annointed' with the oil of their choice (always patchouli) without having taken a shower first. My sage has evergreen in it, so the sage smoke binds to the evergreen resin and cliiiiiings, which helps mask and neutralize the bad, bad body oil. Remember, chilluns, patchouli over unwashed body odour makes baby Kernunos cry.
Rocks and crystals - On hand for the hysteric drama puppies. If they don't show up actually trailing a manifestation of evil, I pull out the Witchier Than Thou authoritaria attitude and use the placebo effect before they can infect anyone else. It's usually less confrontational than asking if they've taken their medication that day. I also keep a few really pretty crystals in there as gifts for newbies who show a remarkable amount of common sense and intelligence, because patting them on the head is generally frowned upon.
Charcoal - Got added the first time I saw an entire circle, sans myself, throw handfuls of detritus - things they wanted to banish from that year - into a fire meant as an eternal flame that was a memorial for a dead friend. It was like hearing a discordant orchestra. Also used to keep people from throwing resins directly in the fire. I mean, sure, if they want to waste the $40 they spent on that gram of resin in a single puff of smoke, fine, but generally they see sense and use the charcoal.
Generic incense - "And now I'll burn a bundle of ritual herbs.." Next thing I knew, I had my fingers sunk into their arm and had taken it away from them. Only after that did I look at what I was holding - pennyroyal, jimson weed (datura), poison sumac were three of the easily identifiable things. When asked what on earth possessed them to use freaking datura, they claimed they thought it would help 'open us all up'. Um. Yeah. The number of times someone's had a 'burn me not' herb in their little ritual bundle.. *sighs*
Modeling clay - Another rule is "Thou Shalt Not Trust A Taper Candle Sans Holder Not To Tip" - stick it in the nice little lump of clay. Also keeps me from strangling people, because I can sit there and fidget with it. Handy for keeping small objects from blowing away if it's windy. For a long time, I had silly putty, but that loses its elasticity over time. It also produces toxic, choking fumes when idiots toss pieces of it in a fire.
Tiny chalice - for all those instances where one is needed and forgotten outside the circle. Convincing the caster that size doesn't matter is oftentimes more difficult than convincing the average male of same. I know it's smaller and not as ornate as the giant cast pewter, crystal covered monstrosities I've seen, but.. y'know.. it's here and doesn't require interrupting a ritual, creating a door in a circle, or outright breaking a circle to get to.
Fire extinguisher - Polyester blend robes. Large Beltane fire. A HP whose initials must have actually stood for Harry Potter from all the swishing and flicking he felt necessary. He went up like the Burning Man. People ran to help pat him out, only to get the defacto Greek Fire on their hands. Broke the damn circle, ran to my car and grabbed an extinguisher and put him out. That also got written up on my list of when it's ok to break the rules. "If someone's on fire, the ritual is over."
First aid supplies - pretty self explanatory. Immodium and ipecac syrup because people will put anything made with 'herbs' in their mouth, no matter how bad for them it is. Usually without even asking what 'herbs' are in it first.
Ammonia snap - People who don't know how to shield or anchor doing deep meditation for the first time and go all scary trance. Or people who can self-hypnotize and don't, y'know, mention that to the rest of us. I don't bother trying to soul call. Snap, shake, good morning, Sunshine - now just what the fuck did you think you were doing? Trust me, the ammonia will bring them running back to their body of their own accord without you needing to touch them or in other ways break their body bond.
Paper bag - for the hysterics who feel the need to hyperventilate, or for the poor folks the hysterics manage to drag into the drama who are actually, truly frightened. Or when you find a dead, decaying squirrel in the area you want to cast a circle in.
Blessed water, box of salt - for when something shows up that wasn't meant to or something needs to be cleansed quickly. "So, like, if I were to start calling for Agares, he'd show up?" Oh yes, little puppy, please - call the name of a duke of hell who's got a reputation for showing up willingly, in a circle called and raised but not yet consecrated, with at least six people who don't know how to shield. I happened to have been asked to bring a jar of blessed water, to explain to the newbies how it was made. I took great pleasure in dumping the very cold water over the puppy's head, without bothering to explain why. Also makes a quick rehydration kit for those drum circles that get way too wild. Salt has also gotten used to draw a circle when the caster was going to use white paint on public property. I keep hoping for a golem or zombie to use it on, but alas, none yet. It may not amuse anyone but me that my salt is Kosher. (Because it was on sale and I am easily amused.)
Baking soda - non-flammable flame smothering source, because if paraffin overflows and catches fire, it will laugh mockingly at any and all attempts to put it out and the pressure from an extinguisher spreads it faster than it stifles. Also useful for when someone's oil-annointed robes catch. Or for when *cough* I pick up a bottle of essential oil by the wrong end and get it on my clothes. Removes wine or juice stains if you get the soda on the stain while it's damp and fresh. Baking soda + water = pain/itch relieving paste for poison ivy, stinging nettle, bee stings, mosquito allergy, sunburn, and heat rash. Ah, the joys of skyclad rituals on summer nights in the woods. None of that list are personal injuries, for lo, my godlings believe in both sunscreen and bug repellent and have blessed me with a lack of uriol allergy.
Black ink - "What's that, you say? You want to work a binding ritual in your own blood? Um. No." Srsly, what is with the 'Need to write something, guess I'll use my own blood as ink' thing? Why doesn't anyone ever use a pen?! Black ink and a pin will work in a pinch, when they invariably claim that a pen isn't 'arcane enough'. Works especially well since I make my own ink, and it both looks and smells 'arcane enough'. (Dragon's blood, black walnut husks, lavendar or eucalyptus oil, melted copal, lampblack, gum arabic and Everclear oh my. And if it amuses anyone but me, I use Daemonorops and not Dracaena.)
Resins - Goes in the 'prevent someone from burning something detrimental to health or in other ways moronic' category. Also useful for arcane reasons. Not that I've ever used them for that.
Miner's candle - thick, white, long burning candle with a flat base. Wax is not runny and dries very quickly, so spills are minimized. Interesting story - first time I bought some, I got them from a spelunking store, because I was 15 and didn't know they were the same thing sold in hardware stores as 'emergency candles'. Though I found out they're slightly different. The wick of true miner's candles is treated with something that makes the flame go funny colours in the presence of marsh gas. Marsh gas and methane are very similar. The flame went funny colours, I started to worry, because I felt nothing yet had visible sign of a manifestation - until I realized the squirming and strange faces of one of my circle mates meant something entirely different - a bad case of wind and not a maleficent entity. (Though it made the air so ripe shortly after that it almost qualified.)
Wool potholder/hotpad - Because I'd rather not use the burn salve and convincing someone that really, the handle of the cast iron cauldron will be hot after it's had a flame in/under it takes significantly more time and meets more resistance than simply handing them the hot pad.
So there you have it. My way more practical than necessary emergency ritual kit.
[EDIT: In light of the interest in this list, I've
As to why I re-locked the original and moved it here - because I have the dumb and it didn't dawn on me until this morning that an open post on a pagan-centric forum that gets crosslinked all over the intardnetz, right before Samhain, is pretty much setting out trollbait and switching on the psycho magnet. I really like that community and feel bad about doing that to our mods. They were gracious and didn't smack me over it - but it's a problem and this is my way of fixing it. Sorry, mods! I think you're doing a great job and I love that comm!