The Wiccan

CAUTION: if after reading this story you think you can attend a Wiccan ritual and have hot sex THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. I am not an expert on Wiccan beliefs or practices. I did about three hours of research on the WEB, and remember the World Wide Web is a very unreliable source for anything. The impression I got regarding Wiccan sexual practices is that most Wiccans try to be in tune with nature and believe our sexual desires are natural and not embarrassed by them and are not ashamed of their sexuality. Sometimes there are sexual elements in their rituals but they are generally symbolic. Three web pages created by people who claimed to be Wiccans said they had not heard of, or seen, a ritual that involved overt sexual activity. The rituals I describe borrow bits and pieces from what I read and I modified and wove those elements into rituals that are wholly my imaginary creations.

Vala the Wiccan

Franklin finally satisfied with the presentation he is to give the next day shuts down his laptop. As he gets up to leave the den he sees on the wall clock it is already 10:30 PM. "Shit, I promised Lynn I would help her do the dishes two hours ago, she is probably pissed." Entering the living room he sees no Lynn, he quickly crosses into the dining room and enters the kitchen. Still no Lynn, but he does see the dirty dishes, not scraped or rinsed, on the counter next to the sink. He also sees on the counter next to the coffee maker an open bottle of Lynn's sleeping pills, and an almost empty wine glass and an open bottle of wine. Irritated that she would take her sleeping pills and drink alcohol, a dangerous practice, he is also concerned for her.

Franklin heads down the hall to the master bedroom, and slowly opens the door a crack, peeks in. He sees Lynn sprawled on the bed sleeping, still in her clothes, and on her stomach. He watches her carefully and can see she is still breathing normally and some relief in that if she should vomit she is less likely to choke than if she were sleeping on her back.

Still worried he thinks he needs to check on her again. Franklin starts back for the living room knowing he has to talk to her about her sleeping pills and the increasing amount of wine she is drinking every night, and wonders how they can have that discussion without her getting angry. The reality is that there is probably no right way to talk to her about this without upsetting her.

Franklin scrapes, or chips, the dried leftovers off the plates and scrubs the dishes clean. He peeks into the bedroom again to make sure Lynn is okay and goes to the living room. Sitting down on the living room couch Franklin see the thick novel Lynn is reading,

Sacred Coven of the Forest

, on the coffee table. He thinks he has to distract himself somehow or he will just worry all night about how to have that talk with Lynn so picks up the book. He looks at the picture on the cover and thinks that at least the witches in these Gothic novels all look sexy in their flowing, low cut robes. He opens the book and starts reading, slowly gets involved with the story, better than he expected, and better written than he expected.

Franklin opens his eyes, lifts his head off the back of the couch and realizes he had fallen asleep. The book is still open in his lap. Confused, he thinks a sound woke him up. Then he hears two light raps on the front door. As he gets up off the couch he sees it is now just before midnight, "Who would come at this time of the night?" Then thinks it is probably their daughter, another fight with her boyfriend and wants to spend the night.

Rubbing his eyes Franklin opens the front door and sees, what? A young woman, twenty, maybe as old as twenty-two or twenty-three, in a long white flowing coat, of sorts, a large white shoulder bag, she has short curly blond hair, a slight smile, and the mist that has settled in her hair sparkles like tiny diamonds reflecting the light from the street lamp. She is enchantment itself. Dazzled, Franklin realizes she is speaking.

"I said my name is Vala, could I speak to you? It won't take long."

"Ah, but...but it is almost midnight, and who are you?" Franklin responds.

"I want to help, I can explain, it will just take a few minutes, but I could come back another time," Vala answers. "I think I might be of some help."

Still confused, seeing that the typical Seattle mist is turning into rain he steps back, holding the door open. "Well, ah...you should at least get out of the rain.' Vala steps inside, she surveys the living room, and with interest notices the book on the coffee table as Franklin closes the door.

"Help....help with what?" Franklin asks.

Vala with an innocent yet knowing look replies, "A few people who know you are concerned for you, afraid that your wife's problems are taking a toll on you and want to help you, and your wife, so they specifically asked me to see if I might be of some help."

With an accusing tone Franklin asks, "Who told you we have problems? And why would they ask you to help, you are just a kid?"

Still standing just inside the door Vala reaches out and places a very gentle hand on Franklin's arm, her hand surprisingly warm, comforting. "I believe your wife and I share an interest in medieval spiritual practices, rituals, and literature. So she might be able to relate to me, and open up a bit. Perhaps all I can do to help is share my interests in ancient cultures and literature with her, to distract her from her sadness about her mother's death. So she could have a break from her sadness, even if it is just for a few minutes."

"So that's it, some girl talk about Gothic romances and ancient rites?" Franklin asks.

Her hand still on Franklin's arm, feeling even warmer, distracting but pleasant, Vala answers, "I hope more than that, I would like to help her achieve more balance, and we could do a few exercises that might help."

"Balance, is this some kind of yoga thing?"

"Well, it is very similar to what yoga does, but we use symbols rather than positions to achieve spiritual balance. So maybe in some way what we do would be similar to what psychotherapist who practice image therapy do, but we believe ancient symbols have deep roots in human memory and rely on them to energize our imaginative powers, and we don't get too involved in symbol interpretation. I could show you a simple exercise."

Franklin with his natural inclination towards cynicism asks, "And who is this 'we'?"

Vala lets her hand fall back to her side, looks down for a moment, pondering how to respond, finally looking Franklin in the eye again says, "The 'we' I mentioned is my Circle, but I suppose most people would call it a coven, and yes I am a Wiccan."

Disappointed Franklin reacts, "So you are a witch and you are going to heal Lynn with magic, is that right?" He immediately regrets his tone, misses the warm hand that was on his arm.

Vala takes a half step closer, seems saddened by Franklin's response, she continues, "Yes I am a witch, and we, I, practice magic but it is not at all what you think...if you will let me explain." She pauses, Franklin seems to be listening. "A few Wiccan witches believe that if they could just achieve perfect harmony with the spirit forces then they could do magic just like in the Harry Potter movies. Most of us believe they are going to be sorely disappointed and will never be able to use witch hazel wand to make the captain of the football team fall in love with them."

"Most of us believe the symbols, chants, and rituals embower the imagination much the same way many psychotherapist use image therapy, but we spend less time interpreting these symbols trusting in their power as learned from experience over thousands of years. So it is not as outrageous as many people, especially conservative Christians, want to believe, and they have sought to denigrate pagan and Wiccan beliefs because of their own insecurities."

"A few Wiccans are more like Buddhist and believe that the power of magic is merely a form of meditation, the chants and symbols narrow the focus of the mind to create inner peace."

"And which are you?" Franklin, getting curious, asks.

"I am in the first group. I don't believe our magic calls metaphysical forces into play. But, I do believe our practices can powerfully incite the imagination, which then might be seen as metaphysical. I believe if we had a better understanding of how the mind works we would see these responses are natural functions of the mind, and the mind is much more attuned to our surroundings than is commonly believed."

Vala again reaches up, and again places her hand on Franklins arm, he briefly closes his eyes, feels the comforting warmth. When he opens his eyes he sees Vala has a warm, inviting smile. Franklin asks, "So you are not going to wave a magic wand but after some chants Lynn will no longer feel the need for alcohol and sleeping pills to sleep."

With a sad sympathetic look Vala answers, "I wish it could be that quick. What I would do will take more time; and I would like to help both of you."

Franklin tenses again, steps back as Vala's hand slides off his arm. "Ah, I don't have a problem; it's Lynn that needs help."

"Do you worry a lot about Lynn? Have trouble sleeping because of your worries, scared that you have not found a way to talk to her about her problems?" Franklin answers with barely a nod. "Then you have a problem and maybe I can help. Perhaps all I can do is provide you with a distraction so you get a break from your worries, perhaps there are some rituals or symbols that will touch you, help you relax when you try to talk to Lynn. I don't know if that will work, but I would like to try...and, I could do a simple ritual right now, would just take a few minutes. Then you can see if it is worthwhile, I don't think a debate will settle this. Even if the magic doesn't work, it might be an interesting distraction. What do you say?"

Franklin seems undecided, Vala asks, "Since I started explaining magic have you been consciously worried about your wife?"

"No, but...I was just paying attention to you."

"See," responds Vala, "the magic is already working. Remember I said magic isn't about hocus-pocus Harry Potter spells, it is practical. So, want to try a bit of magic."

Amused for the first time in weeks Franklin smiles and says, "Okay."

Vala looks around the living room, turns her warm gaze back on Franklin, "Could we move the coffee table closer to the couch, then we will have a little more room in front of the fireplace to do a simple healing ritual?"

Franklin shrugs then walks over and pushes the coffee table up against the couch, "Is this okay?"

"That's perfect."

"Would you like me to start a fire?"

"That would be nice," Vala answers. She walks over to stand by the couch, and sets her white woven bag on the couch as she watches Franklin puts a fresh log on the fire, and starts the fire with the gas lighter. Franklin stands up, watches the fire catch. He turns to face Vala and sees her take five short glass tumblers, each with a candle inside, out of her bag and puts the glasses on the coffee table. Vala asks, "After I light the candles could you turn the lights out? It's not necessary but a darker room, especially one with flickering shadows, intensifies imaginations, and remember I said that the magic I believe in is all about imagination."

Franklin, now very curious, walks over to the wall near the entrance and stands by the lighting control on the wall.

Vala takes a slender electric lighter out of her bag, bends over the coffee table and lights the five candles. She looks up at Franklin, "If you would dim the lights now, please. Then watch me place the candles in a circle on the floor around the rug in front of the fireplace. When the candles are placed please come over and stand just outside of the circle formed by the candles, on the left side of the fireplace. I will stand on the opposite side. Please say nothing, watch me and pay attention. When we are standing on opposite sides of the candle circle I will explain the ritual and you can ask questions, and, of course, you can say you don't want to do this and I will leave....okay?"

Franklin with increasing curiosity slowly dims the light until the only light is from the fireplace and candles casting flickering shadows about the room, and has created an admittedly enchanting atmosphere. He watches as Vala takes each candle, one at a time, and places them on the floor just off the circular rug. The candles are equidistant from each other, forming a circle more than fifteen feet in diameter. The candles placed she goes to her bag on the couch and takes out smaller bag and returns to the candle circle and kneels. From the bag she takes a square, black cloth with a silver pentagram inscribed on it, and places it on the rug in the center of the circle. She takes out a small knife made of knapped obsidian with a wrapped cord handle, and then takes out a pomegranate. With the knife she carefully cuts the crown off the fruit and slices deep scores in the fruit cutting down from the top to the bottom. She slowly peels back the scored segments revealing the dark red seeds bulging out, seeds moist, sparkle in the firelight. Vala places the open pomegranate fruit on the black cloth. Finally she places the knife, with red juice from the seeds on the blade, on the cloth next to the fruit. Then she places the pomegranate crown, a few fallen seed in the small bag. She stands and steps out of the candle circle, turns to nod at Franklin as she places the smaller bag on the coffee table.

Franklin is enticed by the charm of dancing light and shadows, and the erotic moist, open fruit, and Vala's shinning pink lips. Almost in a daze he slowly walks around the couch to stand on the left side of the circle.

As Vala moves back to the right side of the circle of light she explains, "The candles form a circle around the rug. If you draw a straight line from each candle to the next then they form a pentagon, the candles could also be the points on a five pointed star. She smiles, says nothing for a few moments, "Please let me explain fully the magic ritual we are going to do before you speak. I know initially you are going to object, but please let me explain. If after my explanation you want me to leave I will do so without argument."

Vala looks into Franklins eyes and can see he is curious about what he has witnessed, even a bit enchanted, and she suspects by the way his eyes keep moving from the lustrous open pomegranate to her that he is a least a bit aroused. "Your wife's emotional wounds are deep and will require great spiritual energy to begin the healing process.... our greatest source of spiritual energy is sexual. I will be invoking our sexual energies to call upon the spirits of goddesses to channel the healing power of your love to heal Lynn."

Franklin looking doubtful says, "Sexual energies...you mean I will be aroused? Ah...I couldn't betray Lynn, especially now while she is grieving."

Vala appreciating Franklin's loyalty toward his wife replies, "You have been married for quite some time. In all that time you never were aroused by another woman, or an image?"

"Of course I was."

"And you kept that secret from Lynn. She doesn't know you were ever aroused by another woman?"

"Yes, of course she knows," Franklin answers. "We don't have inhuman expectations of each other."

"Did you ever talk about each other's arousals?"

"A few times, I suppose the first time we were both uncomfortable, later we could joke or even tease about other people we thought were sexy."

Vala with an amused smile, "Well then, this won't be any different will it? You may get aroused but we are not going to have intercourse, and we are not going to touch each other. And I hope at some point you can joke with Lynn about it....so, you want to do this or should I leave now?"

Silence, then, "No, let's do this."

Vala looks down, slowly starts to unbutton her coat, more like a cloak. Cloak unbuttoned she lets it slowly slide off her shoulders and onto the floor revealing she is only wearing a white, translucent lacy bra, a matching garter belt with straps, white stockings and is in shinny white low heels, no panties.

Franklin gasps, not a perfect body but healthy, and in the dancing shadows mysterious and alluring. He feels himself being aroused, and is barely able to say, "I, I don't know about this...you're sure, no sex, no touching?"

Softly, "I am sure," Vala answers. "Now look at the open pomegranate. It represents the feminine spirit, fertility, and was used as a healing agent. The knife represents the male, fire for purifying and is symbolic of penetration during sex. Focus on those two objects and feel their power, to purify, to heal, and to arouse." Vala closes her eyes, waits, then, "Franklin, step into the circle with me, we will stand facing each other with the sacred objects between us." Vala opens her eyes and steps into the circle and is followed by Franklin. "Why are we doing this ritual, Franklin?"

Aroused and nervous Franklin answers, "To call upon the spirits to help heal Lynn's dependence on alcohol and sleeping pills."

Vala with a big smile says, "Very good Franklin." She closes her eyes, tilts her head back and holds her hands out to her sides, palms up, "We ask that the spirits, gods, and goddesses bless this ritual to heal and give balance to Lynn that she will be freed of her dependence on drugs and alcohol." Vala lowers herself to her knees and indicates Franklin should do the same. She slowly bends down, lowering her lips to almost touch the obsidian blade, she invokes, "May our passions rise and heal." She raises back upright on her knees. "Franklin, bend down close to the pomegranate and repeat what I said."

Franklin, nervous but entranced bends over the pomegranate and says, "May our passion rise and heal."

Gentle approving smile Vala directs Franklin, "Place the obsidian knife on the open pomegranate so the obsidian blade is touching the open fruit and repeat 'with love in our hearts make Lynn well again,' aloud or silently, throughout the ritual."

Franklin with both hands gently lifts the knife and places the obsidian blade on the open fruit and repeats the affirmation.

Vala places her hands on her tummy, one hand over the other and says, "I call upon water, fire, earth and air," as she slides her hands slowly up her tummy and over her breasts.

Franklin sees her nipples swell through the translucent fabric of her bra, his mouth open, stopping his silent affirmation, then, with effort, continues the affirmation as he feels his erection harden.

Vala's hands slowly caress her breasts and gracefully begin to slide down, down her tummy as she says, "I call upon the goddesses Brigid and Cybele." Her lower lip quivers as her hands move down over her pubis and onto her thighs. A slight shiver runs through her body.

Franklin almost overcome by how aroused he is has to struggle to keep repeating the affirmation. Vala sensuously slides her hands across her thighs and begins to draw her hands back up toward her hips, her breathing quickening, she says, "I call upon the powers of our lusts, and the love of Franklin for his wife."

Vala's hands sensuously move from her hips across and onto her pubis, then very slowly, index fingers stretched out her fingers slides over her swollen vulva, she gasps. In the flickering light of the fire, Franklin can see her oozing juices glisten. Vala intones, "I call upon the powers in Lynn, make her well again as she was," Franklin struggling to remember repeats the affirmation.

She slowly, gracefully, slides her hand to her tummy, one hand on the other, and again repeats the process and the spell, her chest flushed, ending with her fingers brushing her vulva. Her fingers slide up her moist pussy lips, back down, her head titled back, eyes closed. Franklin watches her fingers push the flesh exposing her clit as the other hand, finger extended slides across her clit. Vala gasps, her lips part, trembling she repeats, "make her well again," as her body spasms, then again harder, Franklin repeating the affirmation suddenly, urgently feels his cock throb and release, he involuntarily thrusts his loins forward as he watches Vala's body spasm again and again. Struggling to remember he mutters, "Make her well again."