I had made some social media posts referencing a working done by a number of people in my greater community, and I did not mean to be vague posting. My genuine thought was the ideas of it could help anyone using magick in these troubled times if it inspired you to do so. A number of wonderful folks asked me for more information and how to participate, so here we go.
There are no rules. There are no meetings. Do as you Will, but these are some of the ideas and patterns I have worked with, and shared with others. A small group of us have been doing this regularly for quite a while adapting as the times and news changes.
The general idea of the ritual is in working with the Soul of the Nation, in this case, the United States of America. Occult tradition talks about individual minds and individual souls, and group minds and group souls. The collective soul of a nation is one of those levels, though in times past, there was a lot of focus on the group soul of a nation being connected not just by the borders of the nation, or the landscape, but the ethnicity, language, religion, and culture of the majority of people in the nation. The national and “ethnic” souls were entwined.
In the United States, we operate under a different set of energies, drawn together by the ideals of the nation, the founding documents and iconography, as well as the shared struggles and “sins” of our formation. There are many subcultures of shared traits and mindsets within the nation, often characterized by region. Author Colin Woodard describes eleven distinct cultures in his book American Nations across the North American Continent, including Yankeedom, Greater Appalachia, Deep South, New France, the Far West and the Left Coast. So the idea here is more complex than a single National Soul, but patterns of consciousness nested within each other.
While the United States’ collective mind is quite divided for a while, some of us have felt that the collective soul, entwined with the land spirits and ancestors, is slumbering, dazed, sedated, or numb. Our national Pluto return, argued as either in 2022 or 2024 by astrologers, served as a fire of destruction and possible transformation, but still, there seems to be no (or slow) clarity. So the work was to awaken and unite all portions of the collective soul, beyond opinion and idea, to the gravity of our current crisis and find common cause for the collective good. Many characters form the collective mythos of the USA, including the Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, and Columbia, but my own visions have seen the collective soul as a giant of the land infused with the qualities of our nation from coast to coast and island to island. Turtles, eagles, and torches show up in these visions as part of the giant’s imagery.
In many traditions of Witchcraft, the “soul” is a composite entity, consisting of many selves or many souls, and the most broad and simple designation is there is a higher soul that is what most people think of as the true soul, middle soul that most people think of as the personal self, and a lower soul that is what most people think of as the child-like, ancestral, or animal self. This three fold division can be found in many cultures and systems, including modern psychology.
For this magick, we use our own alignment with our own personal souls as a proxy for the soul of the nation in which we participate, as an act of sympathetic magick, where we act as the effigy or poppet for greater change. What we do to ourselves in alignment, we do with the collective. As we align our three selves, we align with the nation, and align the three selves of our nation into full consciousness.
Materials:
•Bell, Sing Bowl, Tuning Fork, or Chime – something that makes a tone or noise
•Bowl or vessel made from natural material – glass, ceramic, wood, stone, horn, metal
•Water for the bowl
•Stone/Crystal – A mineral whose energy you align with, or is these stone associated with a planet or Tree of Life sephira you re aligned with currently.
•Herb, Oil or Incense – Aligned with your planet/sephira, or containing a “medicine” you feel is spiritually needed at this time.
•Altar Candle, Lamp or other flame
The ritual is an awakening and threefold aligning of National Mind, National Soul and National Body through mineral/angel, plant/faery, and creature/human/you. Essentially you are being a proxy for the national souls. First we align our three personal souls, then we align the national consciousness in the middle world, underworld, and upper world. Ideally this is best done by those versed in the alignment of the three souls in some form already. When originally shared, it was ideally for our third degree initiates and for those who are actively participating in the mystical teachings of The Society of the Temple (https://templeofwitchcraft.org/sagittarius/society-of-the-temple/).
For those who are graduates of our fourth degree or higher of our mystery school, we often reflect on where we are in the Tree of Life. If you have a sense of where you work is, you will work with the stone, herbs, and archangel of the place on the Tree of Life. For example, if working with the forces of Chokmah it would be Ratziel, Star Ruby, and Amaranth, though aquamarine, jade or amethyst can be used as a stone substitute and wild lettuce, violet, or ylang-ylang can be used for the herb.
If unsure, or not a graduate of W4 or higher, then the correspondences of Malkuth/Earth of the Archangel Sandalphon, the stone of Quartz, and traditionally the herb Dittany of Crete but any earthy herb can be chosen, with oregano or patchouli used often as a substitute for dittany. Anyone can also substitute any herb or stone they feel is appropriate based upon their inner guidance. Many resonate with the correspondence of their zodiac Sun sign.
The guiding archangel of the USA, a nation born in July thus a Cancer, is Gabriel. If you rather work with Gabriel and Lunar correspondences as the overall guide you can. If working outside of the USA, adapt the following for your nation. Use the accepted astrological chart for the modern ‘birth” of your nation to find the planetary angel. Use your own history to reflect upon the karma that needs to be healed at the root.
For tools, I am using a small singing bowl as both bowl and bell, an aquamarine, and the flower essence of Solomon’s Seal.
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Start with your personal Triple Soul Alignment.
If you have other preliminary rituals to start your workings, do them. In TOW, it could be any combination of the Four (or Five) Hallows, Shamanic Smudging, LBRP, Merkaba Meditation or Three Rays meditation. If you do something more physical prior to the three souls alignment, such as an LBRP, start with that.
Three Soul Alignment (Personal)
Inhale through the heart: “I am the Namer.”
Inhale through the soles of the feet, the roots: “I am the Shaper.”
Inhale through the crown of the head: “I am the Watcher.”
Inhale through all three zones: “I am the Three in One.”
Inhale through all three zones: “The One in Three.”
Inhale through all three zones: “As it was, as it is, as it always shall be.”
Meditate for a few moments, then move onto the National Soul Alignment.
National Three Soul Alignment
Call upon the Goddess as Weaver of Fate.
Call upon the God as Singer of the Word.
Call upon your chosen Archangel(s).
Hold the bowl of water on one hand or before you on the altar or floor.
National Body and the Middle Soul:
Place the stone into the bowl of water first.
Pause and reflect upon the body of the world.
Think of the land and let your mind drift to the many lands in our nation from coast to coast, the lands between the water, and the islands. Encompass the entire nation.
Think of the ancestors buried in the land.
Think of the nature spirits of the land, from those in wild places to those dwelling in urban and suburban lands.
Call upon them to awaken as illuminated, justified beings, filled with wisdom as Guardians of the Land and Nation.
Focus on a local land mass or feature as your local “heart.” (For me its the White Mountains of N.H.)
Inhale through the heart: “We are the Namer.”
National Mind and the Lower Soul:
Sprinkle your herb/oil/incense into the water.
Pause and reflect upon the mind, and emotions of the nation.
Pause and reflect upon the lower soul of the nation, the reactions and responses, the animalistic nature, and the inherited skills and problems.
Reflect upon the original wounds of the nation- the colonization and genocide of the native people and the institutions of slavery and white supremacy. These must be faced to move forward in healing.
Let the images of the literal land descend into the underworld of the nation where both pain and healing can be found.
Think of the ancestors of our national soul from famous and imperfect founders to all those across history unknown and unremembered.
Think of the spiritual medicine of your herb.
Evoke its healing power as a plant ally.
Call upon the elder race, the pre-human ancestors of the fey, for aid if you work with them.
Inhale through the soles of the feet, the roots: “We are the Shaper.”
National Soul and the Higher Soul:
Catch the reflection of flame in the water by tilting the bowl if needed, or changing your own perspective to it. If you can’t, simply imagine a line of light from the flame to the water, filling the water with a flame of light.
Pause and reflect upon the soul of the nation, its higher will and karmic patterns.
Think of the ideals held in the formation of the nation, the best expression even if we have never met it yet.
What is the highest ideal in love, will, and wisdom?
What are the patterns that prevent that manifestation?
How does the light guide us into awakening and moving towards those ideals?
Inhale through the crown of the head: “We are the Watcher.”
Think of the many regions of land and community as smaller giants consisting of different people who collectively form the greater giant of the entire nation dwelling deep within the depths slumbering.
The light in the water is really the star within the soul of the nation, the Watcher.
Think of Archangel Gabriel guiding the nation and Archangel Sandalphon guiding the planet, and your Archangel guiding you in this time and place.
Breathe and feel the three souls of the nation come into alignment.
Inhale through all three zones: “We are the Three in One.”
Strike the bell or other instrument and awaken the souls of the nation in alignment to awaken and rise fully conscious to the higher will with love and wisdom.
Strike 12 times. You might feel the presence of the zodiacal angels, or the twelve Temple of Witchcraft Spirits with each ring like an alarm clock the time is now to awaken and take action.
Speak the word AZOTHTOZA three times for transmutation.
(Azoth is the alchemical fire of transformation, in a palindrome form.)
Inhale through all three zones: “The One in Three.”
Reflect and allow any visions to arise.
Feel the giant rise up from the depths into the middle world and take collective action for the greatest good in the nation and the world.
Inhale through all three zones: “As it was, as it is, as it always shall be.”
Thank the Goddess, God and archangels.
Return to center with necessary clearance and balance.
When done, go outside and pour water upon the land and repeat this practice again, daily or as you see fit. Keep the same stone. Add more herb each time.
(Adapt this work as your Holy Guardian Angel and spirits guide you to do so.)