Coverners then walk in a steady deliberate manner while chanting the verses below.
This procedure is called Turning the Mill because it is likened to turning a huge grindstone in an old mill for grinding grain into flour.
Air breath and air blow,
Make the mill of magick go.
Work the will for which we pray
Io dio hah heh ey.
Fire flame and fire burn,
Make the mill of magick turn.
Work the will for which we pray,
Io dio hah heh ey.
Water bubble and water boil,
Make the mill of magick toil.
Work the will for which we pray,
Io dio hah heh ey. .
Earth without and earth within,
Make the mill of magick spin.
Work the will for which we pray,
Io dio hah heh ey!
These verses of the Mill Dance are usually chanted three times, sometimes four times, to raise power while walking clockwise, deosil, sunwise. As the walk they slowly pick up speed and chant faster.
This increasing momentum of the Mill Dance is similar to the method of wheeling around steadily faster in a Ring Dance, except the energy in a Ring Dance can sometimes feels more giddy.
Like the type of cord magick in which coveners would loop their cords together so that the cords looked wheel spokes, this dance is not performed around the altar. It is usually performed to the south of the altar.
Some covens do not perform the Mill Dance often because there is simply not enough room in their ritual space. The limitations of space in coveners' apartment or house are often a factor in what groups do and do not do. In fact, it can be difficult to perform the Mill Dance with more than six or seven coveners standing together to Turn the Mill.