It
was many years ago and I had as I do now a cauldron, although then it was just a
small copper affair. It got a lot of use with slips of paper burnt within it,
incense and even a candle from time to time. One evening I was engaged in some
small scale spell work and I set a slip of faux parchment alight. I dropped the
slip of paper into the cauldron and closed my eyes to concentrate.
I
slowly became aware that the room was lighter than it perhaps should be and I
opened my eyes to see flames nearly a foot high, coming from a cauldron that
was barely six inches high. The flames were worryingly close to the curtain at
the back of the altar. I raced to the bathroom, grabbed wet a towel, ran back
and threw it over the cauldron. There was a very loud crack and the cauldron
shattered. On examination I found pieces of copper, two to three inches long
embedded in the towel and in the table top.
I
soon discovered why this had happened. I had neglected to clean out the
cauldron and there was a layer of wax at the bottom. This layer had been set
alight when the slip of parchment had been dropped into the cauldron and the
parchment had very effectively acted as a wick. There is a lesson here for all
beginners.
©
Chattering Magpie 2011
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