Witches & pagans to perform special ritual for King Charles’ coronation – here’s why they are casting spells
WITCHES and pagans from across the country will gather to cast a spell in support of King Charles in a special coronation ritual.
The spell will involve lighting blue, red and white candles, burning incense, scattering rose petals and giving magical gifts to each other on coronation day.
And the witches have already begun casting spells to ensure good weather for King Charles’s big day.
“We’re all doing spells at the moment for good weather,” pagan, witch and main organiser Julie Aspinall, 58, told The Sun.
“I’m doing a spell every day for good weather – it doesn’t have to be boiling hot, just no rain. And so far the forecast is no rain, so I’ll keep doing it.”
The coronation ritual will take place at the Festival of Witches and Pagans, being held in Coventry over coronation weekend.
More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the event, which will feature spell a range of workshops and rituals from wand-making to crystal skull healing.
The event has been organised by Julie and her coven, the Coven of Gaia, who said that King Charles had always been very supportive of the pagan community.
“We know King Charles is the head of the Church of England but to us he’s very Pagan in his beliefs too,” Julie, a security dog trainer by day, told The Sun.
“His invitation featured the Green Man and lots of other Pagan symbolism.
“His mother the Queen was adopted as a druid in Wales when she was young.
“The royal family has always been supportive of Pagan beliefs.
“King Charles is very much into saving the family, saving the trees, nature – and that’s how we live so we wanted to include him in the ceremony.”
The special Coronation ritual takes place on Sunday and will involve the witches and pagans gathering in a circle and chanting a dedication to Charles.
Under our spell
The wording of the witches' spell for King Charles
Today we are gathered as one to celebrate and welcome King Charles III to the throne.
King Charles, we thank you for taking on your role as Soverieign of the state.
From our family to yours, we bless this coronation day.
From our family to yours, we wish you well on your path.
From our family to yours, we bless your coronation day.
Today is the day for showing someone you care. We care about this planet, we care about the future.
“We’d already had our festival booked when the King’s coronation was announced so we thought it would be nice to do something for him,” Julie, known as the coven mother, said.
“So on the Sunday in the main area we’ve got a ritual called Friends and Family dedicated to King Charles.
“Everyone has to bring something that no longer serves them, it might just be a little crystal or something as a gift.
“We have a dedication to the King where we hope his reign goes well and we wish him health and happiness and then everyone gives their gift to the person on their left. It’s probably an hour-long ritual.
“There’ll be candles, rose petals. We scattered rose petals in the lake for the Queen’s funeral so we’ll be doing the same for the King.
“Rose petals symbolise love and harmony, which is fitting because we want him to have a harmonious reign. We’ll be using incense and red, blue and white candles to symbolize the flag.
“The Queen’s ceremony was very beautiful, we scattered the rose petals in the lake to wish her on her way on her journey – because to us when you die you’re just waiting to be reborn.
“So it was a celebration of her life and then a sending her on her way. It will be similar to Charles’s one. The whole idea is about uniting and joining people together as friends and family. We’ll all be in a big circle in the main arena and then we’ll walk to the lake.”
When asked how popular King Charles is among the pagan and witch community, Julie says she’d had a lot of interest in the coronation ritual so far.
“Lots of people have asked us if we’ll be showing the actual coronation so we’ll have a screen for that and lots of people have said they want to join in the ritual so I think we’ll see exactly how popular he is when we do the ritual on Sunday,” she said.
Julia said the idea for the festival to unite witches and pagans from across the country came to her as a dream – and the event has been growing in popularity each year.
“I had an idea to have a festival that would bring all the witches and pagans together as a family so that’s why I started it – I had a dream I should set it up – so I did.
“Everything that I needed to help me just appeared and offered to help me. I know it sounds crazy but that’s how it happened.
“The first festival was two years ago and about 1,500 people came and then we did another the May after and about 1,700 people and we did one last September which was very odd because it fell on the Queen’s funeral.
“We have lots of new and old pagans and witches and people who just want to see what it’s all about. It’s there to help people explore the path.
“Witchcraft and paganism are becoming so much more popular. People are looking back to the old ways because they are not happy with this life.
“After lockdown, people began to turn to it more and more. They’ve stopped believing what they are being told by the churches. We are nature based. We are trying to take care of Mother Earth and live in it peacefully. What you see is what you get with us and people like that.
“We have a slower way of life, people need that, they need to slow down. People are also less about making money and more about having a happy life. We get lots of walk-ins on the day and they just want to have a look and have a feel of it.
“It’s a very peaceful place. We bless the land before it starts to make sure the land spirits keep everyone safe.”
As well as the King Charles ritual, the festival will have dozens of workshops including broomstick-making for kids, Viking demonstrations, rune and tarot reading and special nighttime events.
“There will be lots of workshops about witchcraft and paganism. Then we have night rituals in the forest,” Julie said.
“A lot of it is focused on letting go of things, we all carry burdens, so it’s to help you let go of that.
“I do a ritual to Hecate, the goddess of the underworld and she helps you if you are at a crossroads in your life and don’t know which path to take. We will do a supper, a meditation and then we’ll leave an offering at a crossroads.
“There are six massive marquees and every hour each marquee has a different workshop or ritual going on. Were expecting about 2,300 and hopefully we can push that to 3,000.”
The festival will take place May 6-7 at the Heart of England Conference Centre, Meriden, Warwickshire. Tickets can be bought here or on on the day.