Casting your spell

Casting your Spell

This plaque can be found in the square in the middle of Devizes, a market town in Wiltshire. It tells a story of a Ruth Pierce in 1753 who was buying some wheat with three other women here in the market place. It says:
'One of these women in collecting the several quotas of money discovered a deficiency and demanded of Ruth Pierce the sum which was wanting to make good the amount. Ruth Pierce protested that she had paid her share and said she wished she might drop down dead if she had not. She rashly repeated this awful wish when to the consternation and terror of the surrounding multitude she instantly fell down and expired having the money concealed in her hand.'
On reading this plaque I couldn't stop thinking about it. I have come to understand the phrase 'casting a spell', the idea that with each thought we can truly bring that idea into being. When we utter or indeed write words, spelling the word, we are literally creating our world. The phrase 'careful what you wish for' comes to mind but the awareness of the power of prayer reminds me of the positivity of this action too. It is always so easy to get hooked into the negative aspect of an idea and this story certainly does. The idea of Ruth Pierce wishing to drop down dead if she was lying, knowing full well she was, is a harsh lesson to learn. I think it is time to choose a positive way forward, to choose to believe that we if create positive thoughts we can create a positive environment to live in.
As I feel that this year is a year of removing all old energies from our lives so we can step forward with new and clear energy, taking responsibility for our actions, past and present, is a very important step towards healing all aspects of ourselves. Realising that even the words we utter hold huge amounts of power is part of taking that responsibility. It's so easy to throw words away carelessly, words that can damage ourselves or others really makes no difference. To add as an after thought that 'I didn't really mean it' makes little difference as the spell has already been cast.
Its time to take that responsibilty, think before we act, think about the world we want to bring into being through words and deeds. Let's choose to build a better world knowing we all have the power to do so within us.