The Magic of a Bell

Bells have a special place in my memories. Most of them relate to one of my favorite childhood holidays: The Lazarus Saturday, otherwise known as “Vrbica” (loosely translated as “The Little Willow” or “Willow Day”) in Serbian folklore. It is a holiday for which children need to don their best apparel and go to the church adorned with willow wreaths and little bells hung around their necks. As the holiday marks the resurrection of Lazarus, the willow branches are given out by a priest (in lieu of palm branches in Central Europe) to represent children greeting Jesus with palm branches, and the bells are supposed to represent the overpowering of death. 

Now, some 30 years later, I was on a quest to find a perfect bell for my ritual space. And if I ever had any particular magical talents, then the talent for setting the intention and finding the right thing would be the one. With unwavering determination, I went into the city and found this gorgeous Tibetan bell in the local occult store.

Many magical attributes are ascribed to bells, the power to cleanse and remove undesired influences being most cited. They may also declare one’s intention, as they are a perfect ritual closer. Still, here the cards remind us of the resurrection story.

The 1810 Neoclassical Tarot, reconstructed by Il Meneghello, Milan.

The real magical power of the bell lies in facilitating the rite of passage. Death of the mundane, and the rebirth in a new heightened state, as the world card would suggest. The bell delineates the mundane from the liminal before the aggregation occurs in the new state. In entering the ritual, we leave the mundane world behind for the liminality of the ritual, from which we never emerge the same as we were before. A true noble purpose.