Mercury’s Open Road - Ritual Recap

Rabbit’s paw and opium smoke, crossroads dirt and fennel wort. Archangel Raphael, Kleidochos of the Keys - bless our endeavors.

I would like to thank everyone who has participated in our Mercury’s Open Road ritual this last Wednesday. If you made a Kleidochos Lamp, I would love to see it! Tag Kitchen Toad on Instagram and I’ll be sure to see it.

I began the preparations for this ritual nearly 4 hours prior to the hour of Mercury. I began by cutting and consecrating the canvas used for the pouches before Hekate. Sprinkling khernips on them, they were made to be the fabric of fate, within which the cosmos resides. If you are familiar with the use of charm bags, this should come as no surprise. Each strip of cloth was purified by Khernips and blessed through smoke and flame. Needle and thread were blessed, and the pouches sewn by hand - one by one - as charms of Mercury and the Fates were recited.

In a similar process, eight worts of virtue were blessed and charged with individual tasks suiting their talents. To these were added dirt from a path crossing the underside of a bridge, collected from the damp space between the river and the shore, as well as that from the crossroads marking the center of my cemetery. Each was paid for in blood and coin, petitioning the elemental spirits and the local Dead.

I prepared the Holy Water according to the Greater Key, and with it I blessed the implements to be used in the ritual itself; the platter, the candles, the censer, the candlestick, and the parchment were each cleansed and charged according to their purpose. The spirits of the Rabbits were washed with this same water, appeasing their already docile nature. Each was fed with Ghost Corn, their spirits empowered and charged with the task of guiding the owner of the pouch towards their goals. Rabbit is a powerful spirit, navigating the thicket, free to come and go between the worlds below and above. It isn’t rare to see Rabbit run behind a tree, to never reappear. At this he is gifted, and so guides us along paths unexpected, through the earthly burrows or the Lunar skies, all according to our needs. The end of each paw was wrapped using enchanted cotton, quickly dipped in saffron waters weeks prior. Locally sourced, blessed beeswax was used to fasten the paw.

As the hour of Mercury began, the 5th pentacle of the same was inscribed on the blessed parchment, as well as on each pouch. The Oration was spoken as each was sprinkled with Holy Water and fumigated with Sandalwood incense. This was done until each pentacle began to shift and glow. Finally, I crafted the petition papers for each of our petitions, inscribing name and birthday, petition, and the sigils of Mercury on each. With this done, our ritual could begin.

I opened the space as I usually do, invoking the four Winds and Rivers, as well as the four Royal stars. The directional powers were called as both guardians and as emanations of the roads to traverse. Each was offered incense, food and water, and asked to bless the work and make open the roads to each participant. The petitions were placed onto the platter, anointed with Holy Anointing Oil, Kleidochos Oil, and Green Lightning Oil, the same being spread onto each candle, which were selected by color according to our specific petitions. The candles set, the spell could now begin.

The conjuration of Wednesday as well as the Orpic Hymn to Mercury were recited 8 times each, each petition presented as this was done. The air in the room shifting to become lighter, airier (if that’s even possible!), and more agitated, Kleidochos was invoked by chanting her name and a particular mantra taught to me prior.

IO KLEIDOCHOS OF THE KEY;⁠
MISTRESS OF THE LOCK;⁠
DEXTROUS HANDS,⁠
BARING THE KEYS OF THE COSMOS;⁠
MAKE OPEN THE WAY.⁠

Now in a steady trance, the Archangel Raphael was invoked by the appropriate names of God, his candle lit as incense was offered. Prayers were recited to both the Archangel and to Hekate Kleidochos, and each candle lit in turn.

As the spell burned, the pouches were filled with the consecrated mixture of herbs and dirts, and the Rabbit’s foot attached to their side as they were stitched closed, capturing within them the incense wafting through the room. Each pouch was held above the blazing flames and life breathed into them by the grace of Hekate. Three pouches were withheld until the end of the burn, at which point the petitions of their owners and remnants of the spell itself were added to their insides.

The spell took a spectacular time to finish burning, engulfing a large portion of our petitions in flames and forming a crossroads of its own within the wax that had dripped onto the platter. I remained with it until its last spark went out, meditating on the outcome whilst listening to the crackling of fennel seeds and the whistling of juniper berries.

AVÉ MERCURIUS

AVÉ MERCURIUS

AVÉ MERCURIUS

These talismanic pouches will be available during our next store update, on Thursday July 15th.

I wish you all the best, and swift development in your affairs.

Cheers,

Mahigan