2013

Lil concept for intermediate or beginner+ witches

If you've already cast for everything you need in the short to mid-term and you're looking for avenues of practice:

Look ahead and find a very strong astrological election for any desired operation (wealth, social standing, healing, psychism, defenses, etc.). If you need ideas, consider upgrading current enchanted objects or getting permission to cast on a mundane friend.

Dedicate your spare research time to building or modifying an ideal spell for your operation. Especially consider aligning stone, spirit, and herbal allies to the planetary elections you've chosen.

Spend time doing divination as you lead up to this election. Cast small spells to clear the way and prepare conditions for your working.

Seriously, spend several weeks preparing for a single spell. Feel it inside and out. Know why, how, when, where. Still do any other spells you need in the moment... just keep this one in the works.

When the time comes, pour your heart into it. Cast the everliving fuck out of that spell. Let it be The Event that consumes your week, or your month.

Let your research, divination, and development help you grow. Let your casting show you your power. And enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Using tarot to read on magical events in your own practice: quick theory, new card meanings, and spread ideas

this post is OC based on my personal tarot practice; the examples given are hypothetical for the sake of this post.

Well-meaning guy: "If you think that event was a bad omen, why not read tarot to clarify?"

Person who learned tarot from popular online resources and introspection-focused art decks: "I drew the 6/Cups, so I guess my ward falling off the wall is about my inner child?"

Tarot meanings change and evolve over time. Historical meanings are often not the same, or even contrary to, modern meanings. (Consider, 6/Pentacles: the French present moment was misinterpreted to mean presents, gifts).

By acknowledging that many modern meanings available for tarot cards are modern interpretations for modern concerns, many of which have fuckall to do with witchcraft, we can also acknowledge that we can apply our own sets of meanings to tarot to achieve personal interpretations in pursuit of personal goals.

I call this concept symbol sets, and you can apply your own symbol sets to certain tarot readings in order to rapidly obtain information about magical events in your life.

Symbol sets can be swapped out for each reading. You can intend to operate on your "normal meanings" for a typical reading, and then intend to operate with "magical omen meanings" for another reading.

There are no such things as universal tarot card meanings; there are some traditional meanings, some historical meanings, and many modern meanings. Adjust what each card means to you to your heart's delight.

The more symbol sets I've developed and practiced with, the more versatile and accurate my tarot reading has become. Working with custom symbol sets might be the single biggest leap in my reading ability in 16 years of practice. At least, it feels that way!

Quick n' Dirty Symbol Set for Magical Omens, Appropriate for Everyday Use

1. Apply general portents to each suit which matches your magical practice.

Here is one set that could be suitable to troubleshooting potentially magic events:

Swords, or Air: Misfortune, betrayal, malefica, ill-intent, adversity, due to harmful (even if unintentional) spirit action, pointless or wasted effort. Sometimes, banishing, binding and hexes.

Wands, or Fire: A lot of power, excessive power, due to your own actions, uncontained energy, something you did was very much overdone. Sometimes, protection and empowerment.

Pentacles, or Earth: Mundane, physical and normal reasons, an everyday occurrence, mundane but natural growth and change. Sometimes, unlocking and unblocking.

Cups, or Water: Blessings, magic working as intended (even if unexpectedly), the normal course of magical events, magical growth and change. Sometimes, cleansing and purifying.

Major Arcana: Guiding spirits and gods; their behaviors, guidance, or messages.

A spirit worker might like to add an additional layer of complexity, which modifies the prior set:

Court Cards: The actions of another being, such as a practitioner, god, or spirit, whether they acted intentionally to bring about the event or not.

(Further breakdown, as an example: Swords courts are beings intentionally acting badly; Wands courts are the most important spirits of your path; Pentacles courts are mundane folk or spirits unrelated to your path; Water courts are other practitioners, or spirits related to your path without being in your "inner court.")

Interpret any card drawn within these principles. Here are a few random examples. Let's say, a money spell has failed to produce results, and we'd like to know why.

5/Cups [disappointment, failure]: This is the normal course of magical events; the spell wasn't cast well, and so nothing is happening.

9/Wands [determination, boundaries]: A lot of energy was raised, but incorrectly targeted or released; the energy is cooped up.

Judgment [judgment]: An important spirit in your path wants you to deal with what you have been avoiding, and will interfere with your magic until you face them.

Spread Ideas

"What's going on with that thing?" | 3 cards

Card 1: The source or cause

Card 2: The current state of affairs

Card 3: Suggested action

Example; the money jar doesn't work: Card 1, King/Swords: The source of failure was the person in the discord server who promised to curse you for not feeling the same way about Destiel as they did. Card 2, Page/Pentacles: The current state of affairs is that as a symptom of the curse, an unaware person or spirit is blocking the prosperity you seek. Card 3, Queen/Cups: Ask a benevolent spirit or helpful practitioner friend to assist you in unblocking the situation.

Determining responsibility | 2 cards

Card 1: Why this thing happened

Card 2: Why it didn't happen; one thing that wasn't the cause at all

Example; the ward fell off the wall: Card 1, 10/Pentacles: This happened because of random happenstance in the home; it was not a magical event. Card 2, Ace/Swords: This action was unrelated to malefica or bad spirits or things like that.

Foresight Before Acting | 4 cards

Card 1: The current state of affairs

Card 2: The outcome of your intended plan of action

Card 3: Recommended plan of action

Card 4: The outcome of the recommended plan

Example; the spirits did not seem to appear during a spirit petition spell: Card 1, 3/Wands: Sufficient energy was raised to attract the attention of spirits, but they may not have been properly called to action. Card 2, 6/Swords: Your plan to call the spirits back and re-cast the spell is a fruitless attempt at a transition into a new plan. Card 3, Empress: Communicate with your primary goddess or powerful spirit of the earth and obtain input and guidance. Card 4, Magician: This plan will result in obtaining important magical information about this type of summoning spell you are trying to achieve.

my 'this but not that' tarot spread

A very simple spread my friends, to identify what the hecc is happening.

It's a three card draw - any arrangement will do.

first card - "the answer is,"

second card - "that is to say,"

third card - "..and it is not-"

example: "what are these weird vibes I'm getting from my friend?"

first card - "the answer is that your friend feels like they can't relate to your beliefs any more."

second card - "that is to say, your friend is growing emotionally in a direction that makes them question some of your beliefs."

third card - "and it's not that they think your beliefs are actually bad. they're just questioning a lot of things on an emotional level right now."

Since bread metaphors are in, I'd like to express a controversial opinion on correspondences.

As the metaphor goes, if you want to learn how to bake bread extremely well, you may study multiple types of bread from various different cultures, because many of these breads will have something to teach you which you can apply to your own bread.

Additionally, in examining the recipes of a multitude of cultures, you may begin to notice a few common threads.

"Bread," you might then say "Is made with flour." And you would not be incorrect.

"But," someone else might point out, "Flour is for making papier-mâché!" And they would not be incorrect either.

So then, does flour have bread-making capabilities, or papier-mâché-making capabilities? It has both.

And what if someone were to add, "Bread is made with almond flour, which is completely different from wheat flour. In fact, you shouldn't use wheat flour, because some people can't use that bread." ("Well I'm allergic to almonds, so really--")

So, if bread can be made without flour, and flour can make things that are not bread, is there any connection between bread and flour at all?

Obviously, there is.

It's just complicated. If you study the practices of many different cultures, and you find similarities, then you might feel inspired to create your own recipe using some of these common traits-- the ones that you find you like the most.

The correspondences of different things are not fixed-- new ones can be constantly invented. Likewise, your spell can be ruined by a bad combination-- or a bad combination for you.

If something is not working for you, find alternatives.

It's actually been on my mind for a while so now I have an excuse to talk about it!

But I think it's a good idea to read public/beginner oriented/teaching posts with a critical eye to ask how the author might have edited or adapted that information specifically to communicate a concept in only a few hundred words.

In my faith reciprocity and mutual support with spirits is central. It's both spiritually sacred and sorcerously vital. This reciprocity is multifaceted, individualized, and impacted by my bioregion. To fully step out my beliefs on this topic in a public-facing way might take 20k words or so. Longer if it's explicitly for beginners and more things have to be explained along the way.

But in a 400 word post about spirit-working sorcery, this entire sphere of my practice gets distilled down to: "always pay the spirits for their help in your spells."

Over time I've received a few asks (and a couple vagueblogs! lol) which implicitly assume the basis for my spirit-working is transactional, cash-in-hand gig labor.

I do think that people want to take public-facing posts written for the masses and use them to reverse-engineer insight into someone's practice. I think wanting insight is perfectly fine, of course.

But I also think that it's good to question exactly why Content™ posts are saying what they're saying.

Is the author just parroting what they heard? Do they claim to have direct experience with the topic at hand?

Is the author claiming to be providing insight into their real practice, or are they writing a general how-to on the topic?

Who is the target audience of the post? If it seems like it's for beginners, is it likely the author chose to present only beginner-friendly information?

If the author didn't include disclaimers and warnings, is it likely they would have been scolded for not including them? Does this have an impact on how much of the post relates to their real practice?

Maybe this is just me, but I feel I have very often run into the following 2 situations:

It's pretty clear to me the author has no direct experience, they just learned about something and they're excited about it, and they're parroting warnings, disclaimers, and "rules" because everyone else says them.

It's pretty clear to me the author has a lot of direct experience, knowledge, and insight into the topic, but that they have edited their work to either avoid being yelled at, and/or to surgically install training wheels into the topic to help beginners avoid breaking an ankle.

("Why don't people just be honest with their practice without everything being edited for polite society or the palates of beginners?" because they will be yelled at and driven off the website, lol)

If you want my opinion... I think there are a lot of great writers out there trying to provide good information on how to practice witchcraft. I just would be very hesitant to assume much about what they're actually practicing based on those posts.

Earth-Friendly Witchcraft

Whatever religious or spiritual tradition they identify with, most witches agree that there is something sacred about the natural world. We draw our power from the earth beneath our feet, the sky over our heads, and the air in our lungs.

And yet, many of us live in societies that are actively contributing to the destruction of the natural world. Most developed nations have a linear economy, which means resources are extracted and then sent on a one-way trip to consumers who will use them and then throw them away. This leads to overflowing landfills, air and water pollution, and quickly disappearing resources. The World Economic Forum predicts that, if our habits don’t change, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. And I dearly hope that by now we’re all familiar with the reality of climate change and its devastating impact on global ecosystems.

I’m not trying to scare you, but I do want to point out the hypocrisy of drawing power from the Earth in our magic while simultaneously contributing to her destruction. If we truly want to consider ourselves spiritual allies of the planet, we need to make an effort to live our lives — and practice our magic — in ways that are less harmful to her.

You don’t have to become an environmentalist or switch to a zero waste lifestyle, but we can all make little changes for a more sustainable life. There’s lots of information out there about how to live a more Earth-friendly lifestyle, so in this post I’ll be focusing on how to apply that same philosophy to your witchcraft.

Steps to a more Earth-Friendly Practice:

Limiting your consumption will automatically lower your negative impact on the planet. Follow my previous guidelines for avoiding consumerism to start shrinking your carbon footprint.

Avoid plastic as much as possible. According to the WEF, 70% of our plastic ends up in a landfill or in the world’s waterways, and according to Julia Watkins, author of Simply Living Well, only 9% of household plastics get recycled. Plastic (unlike glass and metal) cannot be recycled indefinitely — it can only be recycled a handful of times before it becomes too degraded to be repurposed any further. There really is no way to make plastic safer for the planet, so it’s best to just avoid it altogether. Look for tools made of metal, wood, or glass instead of plastics, and try to order things shipped in paper and cardboard when possible.

Create spells that won’t leave leftovers. One of the big contributing factors to our current environmental crisis is that we just produce too much waste. You can avoid this in your magical practice by crafting spells that won’t leave you throwing away a big ball of candle wax, herbs, and paper. Kitchen magic is a no-brainer for this, since kitchen spells are meant to be eaten. If you want to do a candle spell, use small candles that will burn up completely — I find larger candles are more likely to leave leftover wax. Making magical bath salts is another great option for leftover-free spells — just make sure everything you include is safe to go down the drain and won’t contribute to water pollution!

Forage for your own spell materials. One of the best ways to avoid plastic packaging and cut down on emissions from shipping is to use materials from your backyard! Learn about the plants, animals, and minerals native to your area, and take regular nature walks where you can gather what you need. Remember to only take as much as you need and to be careful never to damage the plants you harvest from. Make sure to carefully disinfect any animals bits you pick up — you can do this by burying them in salt for a full moon cycle and/or setting them in the sun/under a UV light for several days. If you find a dead animal and want to strip and clean its bones for use in ritual, this is a much more involved process and will require special research, equipment, and lots of time. And, of course, never eat anything you have foraged unless you happen to have an advanced degree in botany.

Keep a magical garden. Another great way to connect with the planet and shrink your carbon footprint is to grow your own herbs, vegetables, and fruits. You can, of course, grow food for your kitchen if you have space, but even if you live in a tiny apartment you can grow a handful of magical herbs in pots. For a list of common houseplants and their magical associations, check out this post.

Shop for spell materials at a local farmer’s market. Buying local is a great way to avoid the environmental impact of shipping produce, and it allows you to support small farms. Farmer’s markets also typically carry seasonal produce, which can help you align your magical practice with the cycles of nature. Farmer’s markets are a great way to find seasonal fruits and vegetables for kitchen magic, but you can use the produce you find there for other types of spells as well.

Trade paraffin wax candles for beeswax or soy wax. Paraffin, the material used for most cheap candles, is a by-product of crude oil, which is not only highly unsustainable but contains carcinogens (chemicals that may cause cancer). Beeswax is a sustainable alternative, and beeswax candles produce a “clean” burn, meaning it does not negatively affect air quality. Soy wax is a slightly pricier, vegan-friendly sustainable option that also produces a clean burn.

Use undyed, unbleached paper for your written spells. The bleaches and dyes used in most commercially available paper have a toxic effect on the environment. Colored paper cannot be recycled or composted because it will contaminate everything it touches. Use plain, unbleached paper for your written spells, especially if you plan to bury them in the ground or dispose of them outside.

Make sure your essential oils are ethically harvested. Essential oils are tricky — although they are marketed as natural, many of them are produced through unsustainable methods. Because essential oils are concentrated, it may take thousands of pounds of plants to produce a single pound of oil. This can have a devastating impact, especially for endangered plants like white sage or palo santo. Look for ethically-sourced, wild-harvested essential oils — these are oils that are gathered from the wild in ways that don’t hurt the local ecosystem. Mountain Rose Herbs and Eden’s Garden are two brands that are committed to sustainable essential oil production.

Instead of burying a spell in a jar, bury it in a hollowed-out fruit or vegetable. Many traditions call for spells to be buried in the ground. Items like jar spells and witch bottles are traditionally buried on the witch’s property. The problem with this is that plastic and glass bottles do not biodegrade, and will remain in the ground for years. Instead of putting these materials in the ground, bury your spells in a hollowed-out fruit or vegetable. As a bonus, you can choose this item to support your intention. For example, you might use an apple for a love spell or a spicy pepper for protection. Just make sure everything inside the spell is also biodegradable!

Keep a compost pile as an offering to your local land spirits. Compost is an easy way to reduce food waste, and it gives your garden a boost! Even if you don’t have your own garden, you can give your compost to a fiend who does or look into donating it to a community garden. When composting, it’s important to maintain a balance between carbon-rich “brown” ingredients (leaves, undyed paper, cardboard, etc.) and nitrogen-rich “greens” (fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc.) — you want about four times as much brown as green in your compost. Start your compost with a layer of brown — preferably twigs or straw to allow good airflow. Alternate layers of green and brown materials as you add to the pile. Every time you add to your compost, verbally express your gratitude to the land spirits. Your compost should be moist, but not soggy — you’ll know it’s ready when it’s dark and crumbly and smells like soil.

Make your own tea blends with loose herbs and a reusable tea strainer instead of buying teabags. Witches and tea go together like peanut butter and chocolate, but the individual wrappers on teabags create a lot of waste. On top of that, since many of these wrappers are dyed, they may not even be recyclable. Keep your teas earth-friendly by buying dried herbs in bulk and blending your own teas. Making your own blends is not only better for the planet, but also allows you to choose each ingredient for a specific magical intention.

Find ways to use your trash in your craft. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Instead of throwing things away, find ways to use them in your magic! Use food scraps from cooking, like carrot greens and potato peels, in spells. Turn an old shoe box into a travel altar. Add your coffee grounds to spells to ground them and manifest results in the physical world. You get the idea. Be creative!

Research different models for Earth-friendly living, like the zero waste/low waste lifestyle, sustainability, and the solarpunk movement. This will give you more ideas for a sustainable lifestyle, as well as a sustainable magical practice.

The funny thing about Earth-friendly living is that, the more time you spend taking care of the planet, the more connected you feel to it. I encourage you to try some of the ideas on this list — you’ll be amazed by how quickly you develop a deeper relationship with the Earth and all her creatures.

Resources:

Of Blood and Bones by Kate Freuler

Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins

“By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans, study says” from The Washington Post

A Sustainable Mind podcast

Practical(ly) Zero Waste podcast

When it comes to kitchen magic (or really witchcraft in general), people get too hung up in correspondences, esp when first starting out. And I think focusing too heavily on correspondences is what ends up making people feel like they cant advance their craft.

In my opinion part of it is "you need to make your own correspondences". Sure some rosemary in a stew might work for healing or purification, but do you also associate the herb that way? I think of my beautiful rosemary bushes over the years, tying and drying their branches, the beautiful scent, previous spells I have done. It feels me with a certain feeling of safety that I can then channel into my work.

When it comes to cooking, I feel like it's a lot of energy work. All spell work incorporates our energies in some way, I especially feel it with cooking. Your hands and cooking tools are vessels to transfer your energy. You transfer your energy when you knead bread, cut veggies, wash the rice, stir the soup, you get the idea. Yes you can focus on a specific mantra, but the point is you don't always have to do that. You using your energy to change ingredients into something new, something nourishing for the body, is magic in and of itself.

I also use my energy to charm my tools instead of individual meals/drinks. A special tea cup charmed with a spell to bring me relaxation doesn't need me to do a small spell or mantra every time I make a cup of tea (because I would forget to do that anyways). Instead it holds the calming energies I have already given it until I feel it needs to be charged again. A favorite soup stirring spoon is going to spread my love to every meal I make using it just because it has picked up my own energy throughout its use.

I think just accepting the magic of the everyday and of your energy is esp important for those of us who feel like we have less spoons. Me cooking uses enough of my precious energy, but it's something I do out of love and because I enjoy it. That's where the real magic is.

A charm to enchant your waters, candles, incenses, temporary tools, etc etc.

It's really important to remember this is my own version inspired by Traditional Witchcraft. What is presented here is not a "universal" belief about how magic works, and it is influenced by my experiences and UPG/SPG.

The purpose of this charm is to elevate mundane/inert objects, including commercially harvested/mined plants and stones, so that they become filled with power and magically effective.

This is a basic and simple spell which can be adapted to a wide variety of uses. However, it lacks the power and permanence of a formal consecration.

I recommend performing this charm right before you use whatever it is you're enchanting. So, right before drinking the tea, right before using your broom to sweep out energies, etc.

I use a charm similar to this one to prepare spellcasting materials, such as enchanting salt and candles before using them in a spell.

This charm has like two steps and takes about fifteen seconds to do in the moment, but this post runs a little long because I explain the theory along the way.

Materials:

Whatever it is to be enchanted

A traditional symbol of spiritual power, ideally one simple enough that you can draw it in the air with your finger or picture it in your mind

A very short little incantation (you will be writing it)

A traditional symbol of spiritual power, eh?

"Traditional" as in you didn't make it up - so, not your own sigils.

This is based on my belief about how this charm and magical symbols work.

If you use a really old and powerful magical symbol - like a five-pointed star or the Christian cross - you're tapping into the power of the symbol itself.

If you use a sigil that you created and charged with your own energy, you're going to be drawing on your own power to use this charm. Which of course, totally fine - it's just that it's more draining.

("What if my sigil is designed to channel external power?" you still have to spend your energy to maintain the sigil, like having to repair a bucket you use to carry water)

Whatever symbol you use definitely matters. If you use one of the elemental triangles, it's going to impart elemental energy into the charm. If you use Brigid's Cross, it's going to impart her energy into the charm. If you want to impart your own energy on purpose, you can use your own signature :)

It's worth putting thought into what energies you want to impart. You can keep a collection of symbols handy to impart special kinds of energy if you want, or use something universal like the pentagram for everything.

A very short little incantation

This can be anything. I enjoy somewhat standardizing mine, it just helps me get into the groove. You usually want your incantation to do 3 things:

Acknowledge the power behind the symbol you're using.

State that you need the power provided by the symbol and that you want this power to go into the object you're enchanting.

Clearly state what you want the outcome to be.

Here are a couple of examples. Materials in [brackets] indicate that word should be swapped out depending on what you're actually charming. You can be plain or poetic, whatever works:

By the power of Christ, I charm this [candle] to purify. Through Him this room will be cleansed.

Five elements fill you one by one, 'till this [salt] shines like the sun. Hear this task assigned to thee: help my spell and make it well. As my will, so shall it be.

I empower this [incense] to dispel unwanted spirits through the powers of the Sun and Moon.

You do not need to speak it aloud. Just reading it or going over it in your mind will suffice.

Focus and willpower?

Eh. If you've got focus and willpower to spare, feel free to spend them on this. But you don't really need them.

If you're using symbols of actual spiritual power and clearly directing them unto a goal, it should work. Powers don't need your belief in order to be powerful. Energies can still move when you're not focused on them.

If your incantation includes directions that clearly indicates you are A) calling on magical power, B) that the power needs to go into the object, and C) what the power should do for you, then that's all you need.

Staying in the present moment is really helpful, but you don't need to really burn the lamp oil on this, you know?

Putting it all together:

Using your finger, draw the spiritual symbol over the thing you want to charm. Alternatively:

Draw it on a piece of paper and hold the paper nearby

Picture the symbol in your mind

Speak, think, or sign your very short little incantation. Make sure you are clearly indicating that you are using the symbol for its power, that you want the power to go into the object, and that all this is being done so that the object aligns to your stated intent.

That's it :)

Wee bit of troubleshooting

Magical symbols are like the crystalized form of the powers they represent. The charm has power because the symbol you employ radiates with power. It is then up to you to direct it and instruct it according to your needs.

If you're not having success, try changing the symbol you use.

If the symbol is one representing a specific deity or being, ensure you've got at least a neutral relationship with them. If you skipped out on an oath to a god and you're avoiding them, using their symbol is probably not a great idea.

If you are new to magic, spending more willpower and focus will likely be of assistance to you.

The Lemon Hex

For when someone has REALLY done you dirty and you just need a quick and powerful burst of baneful energy. This one is powerful, fast-acting, and short-lived, by nature it can really f a person up and can't be undone/reversed once you've cast it. As always, practice responsibly and be safe!

What You Need

A lemon (naturally.)

A knife to help handle said lemon

A leaf or piece of paper with your target's name/identifying info on it (taglock)

Ginger/Cayenne Pepper to help empower/speed up the spell. Both preferred, but just one can do.

Salt/Black Pepper, good baseline ingredients for most hexes

Anything nasty or spicy you can think of. Hot sauces/peppers, old vegetable juices, lint/dust, dish scum, you name it.

Important note: This is not a spell you want to use needles, nails, or other hard things in. Keep it soft and organic if you can. You'll see why.

Steps

Throughout all of this, I find hexes to be a good opportunity to speak your mind, let the target know exactly how they fucked up and how this is the consequence of their actions.

Prepare your taglock and cut an opening in your lemon. Give it some room in the middle.

Roll up or stuff the taglock inside the lemon alongside all of the other ingredients. Be sure to add the ginger and cayenne for best results.

Once it's all in there, give it a little roll/squeeze to make sure those lemon juices permeate all the nasty insides. Let the citrus sting and the spices burn, let the grossness reflect the grossness they've wrought on your own life being sent back.

Chop the whole thing into pieces in preparation for the next step.

Once you're ready, chuck it into the garbage disposal.

If you don't have a garbage disposal, a blender with some liquid should work too. You could even continue using nasties like lemon or pickle juice.

Your lemon is now ground up and liquefied. Dispose of the remains however you please.

Norse Animism is based on the notion that we can socialize with the world and that the world socializes in return.

Which means our relationship with anything is inherently collaborative. We are not just interactinv with things, but participating in their existence as they participate in ours.