There is a justice older than any judge: what is thrown must someday return. On the waning moon a mirror can be taught to remember the hand that struck.
This working does not strike back of its own hunger; it simply refuses to hold what was never yours, and lets the sender come to meet their own sending. It is the quiet law of the threshold. You may keep your gift, and I will keep my peace.
The Working
- Blacken the face of a small mirror with candle-smoke until it holds no reflection but the dark itself.
- On the waning moon, stand the darkened glass upright, facing outward from your home.
- Ring it round with salt, then light incense and walk its boundary in slow, deliberate smoke.
- Fix in your mind the ill you wish returned, but name no living person.
- Turn the dark face toward the quarter the harm came from and speak the incantation.
- Let the candle burn down to nothing before the glass without disturbing it.
- Wrap the mirror in dark cloth and keep it turned to the wall until it is needed once more.
The Incantation
I keep no debt, I hold no hate,
I only send you back your own.
The dark glass will not wear your work,
nor let it settle on my stone.
Salt to ring it, smoke to seal,
the door is shut, the ward is grown.
What you have loosed returns to you,
I keep my peace, and you your own.
When the candle dies the sending is answered; keep the glass veiled and wall-turned until harm comes knocking again.