This post is part of a series, though it need not be read in whole or in order. You can read the first post here. You can find the rest of the posts here.
There are times when the ways seem closed, when you feel that all your efforts are blocked, your vision obscured. You may know what is holding you back, but can see no clear way around, over, or through. Or you may not know what it is that stands between you and your desires and ambitions.
At those times, kneel before your altar and open your book to the appointed pages.
Road Opening / Crossroads Pages
The first time you do this rite, you will need to create your pages. The pages that you use to commune with your familiar spirits will suffice until you perfect your design.
At the center, draw your magic circle: the place where all worlds meet, this is the greatest of all crossroads. To each side, make a place for a candle. Within the magic circle, draw a crossroads sigil where your brazier can be set above it.
Preparations
Collect two candles – red or orange or white or black or whatever color is called for in the traditions of your origin. Collect oil to consecrate your candles – road opener or abramelin or whatever you can consecrate in the moment. Collect charcoal for your brazier and herbs associated with the work: abre camino root, herbs and resins of the Moon or of Mercury or of Saturn, or sacred to Hermes or Hekate, or to the gods on whom you will call.
Set up the space where you will do the ritual: your home altar, a crossroads in the forest, the onramp of an empty highway, the room of the conference hotel where you are struggling to make connections. Set up a candle on each page of the book, just outside the circle you have drawn, and set up your brazier in the center of the circle. Light your charcoal before you begin.
The ideal timing of this ritual is the shortly before the new moon on a day of Mercury or Saturn in an hour of Saturn or Mercury. The first day of a calendar month is also good, as is the 31st of December.
The Opening
Wash your hands with cinnamon.
Ring your bell to the four quarters to purify your space.
Draw your blade in a circle around your space to cast the circle and define or affirm the temple.
Light a candle to illuminate the temple.
Burn incense to consecrate the temple.
Make your offerings to the keepers of the quarters and the dwellers on the threshold, to the gods and spirits of the land, to your guides and allies and familiar spirits.
Stop and take a deep breath. Wait for your charcoal to be ready, focusing on gathering your power as you do.
The Invocation
Put the road opening herbs on the charcoal. Keep the smoke as thick as you can throughout the ritual.
Anoint your candles with oil. As you do so, focus on imbuing each candle with power. Pray in your own words if you can find them. If you cannot, something like the following will suffice: “I consecrate this candle to open the roads and illuminate the paths to my ambition.” or “Open the roads before me; make clear the ways.”
Call to your gods of the crossroads, to the psychopomps and saviors to whom you make offerings.
Hail unto you O you Keepers of the Quarters and Dwellers on the Threshold!
Hail unto you O Hekate; Hail unto you O Hermes; Hail unto you O Hermekate,
Hail unto you, O you gods of roads and crossroads, of the highways and the byways and the hidden places in between!
I call upon you gods and powers, friends and allies, guides and familiars. Open the roads before me and make clear the ways! Remove the obstacles that stand between me and my desires and my ambitions!
Redouble the road opening incense and light the candles.
Repeat the prayer at least three times. If there is a specific path you want opened, name it. If there is a specific obstacle you want removed, name it.
Open the roads, make clear the ways!
Open the roads, make clear the ways!
Open the roads, make clear the ways!
The Closing
When you are exhausted, when the candles burn low, or when you feel that the work is done, stop and sit quietly for a moment. Be open to omens and visions. Throw one last round of incense on the charcoal and thank the gods, your allies, your friends and familiars. Close the circle in accordance with your tradition. Turn your back on your altar and walk away. Do not clear away the detritus until the sun has set (if you performed the rite during the day) or risen (if you performed the rite at night).
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