Course Three: Practice 123
between two glass plates,...a nest of field mice
all alive-o.... —T.H. White,
The Sword in the Stone, pp. 33–34)If you have room in your sanctum—or even elsewhere
in your home—you might wish to create a little
magickal menagerie of fascinating creatures. The most
important thing about keeping any animals, of course,
is knowing how to take proper care of them so they
will thrive in your hands. Your local pet store will
have little booklets on the care and keeping of vari-
ous types of critters, and you should pick up copies
of these for any animals you choose to keep.Terraria (terra, “earth”): These are the easiest
“starter kits” for small critters. All you need is a large
aquarium with a secure screen lid. Measure the di-
mensions of the bottom, and then go out and cut a
piece of natural sod to fit. Cut the sod about 3” thick,
and leave room for a 3” deep water pan, at least 6”
square, at one end. If you can get a square-sided pan
of clear plastic or glass (like a baking pan), that would
be ideal. Put it against the front of the aquarium so
you can see underwater.
In such a terrarium you can keep frogs, toads,
newts, turtles, lizards, small snakes, and large bugs—
all of which you can find in the wild or buy in a pet
shop. Of course, you should be aware that frogs, toads,
turtles, and some snakes eat bugs and worms, and
some snakes eat toads and frogs. So if you are par-
ticularly fond of any critters, don’t put them in the
same terrarium with their natural predators!
I recommend having a separate terrarium alto-
gether for interesting bugs. There you can keep
beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, centipedes,
millipedes, grubs, worms, and caterpiggles (caterpil-
lars, as some folks call them). Spiders, of course, eat
smaller bugs, so you should gather a bunch of little
insects just for spider food.
When I set up my first terrarium as a boy, I en-
joyed going out into the fields and fens searching for
little critters to take home and keep. In my insect ter-
rarium, I collected caterpiggles and cocoons, and loved
watching the new butterflies and moths break out and
unfold their wings before I released them. One time I
got hold of a praying mantis egg case (which can be
ordered for pest control through garden stores). Each
egg case hatches out about a hundred tiny mantids,
and I had fun raising these up, feeding them first on
fruit flies (easy to do; just leave an overripe banana in
your terrarium with a small opening, and soon you’ll
have plenty!), and later on crickets. Mantids are no-
toriously cannibalistic, so long before they were grown
there were only a few left. Eventually, of course, they
escaped, and there were all these really weird 6”-long
bugs all over the house.... I thought they were cool;
my Mom was remarkably indulgent, as I look back....Aquaria (aqua, “water”): Of course, you can al-
ways go the fancy route, with store-bought tropical
fish and cute little plastic castles, divers, and sunken
ships. But my favorite aquariums were ones in which
I planted natural water plants and filled with local pond
life. I would go down to the marsh with a net and
bucket, and catch crayfish, minnows, baby turtles,
tadpoles, newts, snails, and water bugs. Some of these
killed and ate each other, but I could always go and
get replacements.Aviaria (avis, “bird”): If you don’t have a cat, and
have room in your house, you can hang a birdcage
and keep small birds, such as canaries, finches, and
budgies. Make sure it’s big enough for them! I have
developed a great appreciation for birds since I learned
that they are the last surviving dinosaurs!Lesson 7: Resources
Supplies and equipment for your sanctum sanctorum
can be obtained from various sources, some quite in-
expensively. Stuff doesn’t have to be new—in fact,
the older the better! So the first place you should look
is junk shops, used stuff stores, flea markets, yard
sales, and so on. Just about everything I’ve mentioned
above I have found in such places—quite cheap!
Newer items may be found in magickal stores (look
in your local Yellow Pages under “Metaphysical &
Occult Supplies”).
Here are a few on-line resources for magickal
supplies:My altar statues and Elemental wall plaques can be
found at: http://www.MythicImages.com.
Abby Willowroot’s metal wands, magickal jewelry,
and altar items are at: http://www.RealMagicWands.com.
Don Waterhawk’s incredible wizardly creations are
at: http://www.WaterhawkCreations.com.
Katlyn Breen’s incense, censers, books, mirrors, and
oils are at: http://www.HeartMagic.com.
Beautiful cloaks, tapestries, drums, masks, and jewelry
(including my designs) are at: http://www.AncientCircles.com.
Raven’s Loft specializes in a wide variety of tradi-
tional occult supplies: http://www.RavensLoft.biz.- Practice.p65 123 1/14/2004, 4:21 PM