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Sacred Salt
About Salt
* A reader asks... Consecrated salt -- is that sea salt or just a blessed form of table salt?
You can use any salt and bless it ritually. However, its purpose on your altar is to represent the element of Earth. Once you think of it that way, sea salt might not seem like a good idea for general altar use. Some folks will say the same, or worse, about table salt because it has iodine added -- "It's not naturally pure", they may say. Well, I feel that salt is salt as a stone is a stone; it's still salt and it is a miracle to the planet! It all depends on what you feel when you're working with it, but table sat is certainly better than none at all in some situations.
If the salt is to be used only as a representative of Earth on your altar and in earth related spells, then blessed consecrated table salt is fine for the job. I'm sure "straight from the earth" block salt is obtainable on the Net if that feels like what you need. For ocean spellwork, Goddess and water works I'd use sea salt, personally. It can be purchased from the spice wrack at a local grocery store these days.
WARNING: Salt IS corrosive so don't use metal bowls, & don't bury the tip of an athame into it. It will mar the metal and may damage other surfaces.
How to Bless Salt for Ritual, Ceremony & Spell Use
Salt is blessed, basically, by first casting a casual circle -- it doesn't have to be fancy, but you will be calling the quarters & invoking the Gods. So it's formal in attitude, but a ring of candles on the floor isn't called for nor fancy dressings. Once you've invoked & so forth in your usual manner, place the tip of your athame, wand, or the index finger of your most dominate hand, into the top or just over the salt. You want to first remove any prior energies the salt may have picked up through processing and handling. You might declare something such as...
"This salt is clean. The pattern of it's energy is returned to a state of natural purity. This salt is clean, this salt is clean, this salt is clean!"
Recite a declaration prayer. You are declaring that this salt is sacred, blessed & will purify all that it touches. You can write a blessing prayer yourself based upon the words ...
"This salt is sacred, blessed & will purify all that it touches by the purity of Nature. Salt is Earth, salt is life!", or some such phrase.
What matters most is that you feel the words to be true & pull that energy down from the Gods, (or Universe), to direct it into the salt. This is good practice for charging items for a spell, or your self for ritual work too because the salt doesn't really need to be charged. It's more like you are programming it. Salt is sacred all by itself, you need not worry if you've not gotten the hang of bringing down energy or raising it when blessing salt. What you're doing is just basically telling the salt what job you want it to do and inviting the Deities to give it a boost! The same basic method is used for charging an item for ritual use & programming stones for use too.
