On Any Given Night…

Thought this would be loved here…

Your craft is more than your tools

I see a lot of posts on #witchblr for baby witches saying you need to collect this and that when you are starting out. (So many lists!) As though you can't make magic without a particular starter kit of cups and cards and crystals. I don't think this kind of materialistic approach is useful.

Now, I'm not saying that it's not nice to have shiny rocks and floral potpourri, but it is not necessary. Tools can help focus and enhance spell work, but the spell comes from within first and foremost.

So my advice to baby witches is to not run around and spend all your coin on the aesthetic, but instead invest your time into research, reflection and meditation.

This will give you a much better idea of the things that will actually help you get the most out of your workings—instead of accumulating seasonings that will rot in your pantry—if you even feel you need anything at all.

Finally, if you research well you will probably find that what you have in your home and/or neighbourhood is all you need (markers, paper, salt, flour, matches, water, cups, books, playing cards, birthday candles, perfume, text articles and PDFs on the internet, rocks, leaves, etc.) in terms of tools.

Wheel of the year

Things to put in your book of shadows

Of course, only put in your book of shadows/grimoire what you want. If you don't want to put certain subjects in your book then that's fine. It's your book, utilize it how you want. This is just a masterlist of ideas that I've put together. Feel free to add anything else to the list that I may have missed, because there's absolutely no way I included everything.

And for the love of all the gods, if you come across a closed entity or practice, don't try to work with the entity or practice if you're not already part of that group or tradition. You can research it but don't practice it.

+ A blessing and/or protection

+ A table of contents

+ About you:

Your current path

Your personal beliefs

Your spiritual journey

Favorite crystals/herbs/animals

Natal chart

Craft name

How you got into the craft

Astrology signs

Birthday correspondences (birth tarot card, birth stone, etc)

Goals (if you have any)

Anything other relating to your personal practice

+ Safety

Fire safety

What NOT to burn

Plants and oils that can be toxic to your pets

What crystals shouldn't be in water, sunlight, etc

Things that shouldn't be put out in nature (salt, glass, etc)

Potion safety

How to incorporate blood safely

+ Core concepts:

Intention and how it works

Directing energy

Protection

Banishing

Cleansing

Charging

Shielding

Grounding and centering

Visualization

Consencration/Blessing

Warding

Enchanting

Manifestation

+ Correspondence

Personal correspondence

Crystals and rocks

Herbs and spices

Food and drink

Colors

Metals

Number

Tarot card

Elemental (fire, water, air, earth)

Trees and woods

Flowers

Days

Months

Moon phases

Zodiac

Planets

Incense

Teas

Essential oils

Directions (north, south, east, west)

Animals

Local plants, animals, etc

Dream symbology

+ Different practices

Practices that are closed to you (some examples below)

Voodoo and Hoodoo **Closed**

Santeria and Brujeria **Closed**

Shamanism and native american practices **Closed**

Wicca and wiccan paths

Satanism, both theistic and non-theistic paths

+ Different types/practices of magick

Pop culture magick

Technology magick

Chaos magick

Green witchcraft

Lunar magick

Sea witchcraft

Kitchen magick

Ceremonial magick

Hedge witchcraft

Death witchcraft

Grey witchcraft

Eclectic witchcraft

Norse witchcraft

Hellenic witchcraft

Animism

+ Deities

The deity/deities you worship

Different pantheons (the main five are Celtic, Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Norse, all open)

Deities and pantheons that are closed to you

Common offerings

Their epithets

Their mythology

Their family

Deity worship vs deity work

Prayers and how to make your own

Deity communication guide

Devotional acts

Ways to get closer to them

+ Other spiritual entities

Angels

Ancestor work

Spirit guides

The fae

Demons

Familiars

House spirits, animal spirits and plant spirits

Other various folklore entities

Spirit etiquette

Cemetery etiquette

Setting boundaries with the spirits

Communication guide and etiquette

Grounding, banishing, protection and cleansing, aka: "Spirit work safety guide"

How they appear to you

Common offerings

Circle casting

+ Divination

Tarot cards

Oracle cards

Tarot and oracle spreads

Pendulum

Numerology

Scrying

Palmistry/palm reading

Tasseography (Tea leaf reading)

Rune stones

Shufflemancy (Shuffling of a playlist)

Dice divination

Bibliomancy (Randomly picking a phrase from a book)

Carromancy (Melted wax)

Pyromancy (Reading flames)

Psychic abilities

Astrology

Aura reading

Divination via playing cards

Lenormand 

Sacred geometry

Angel numbers

+ Other types of magick

Candle magick

Crystal magick

Herbalism/herbal magick

Glamour magick

Hexing

Jinxing

Cursing

Weather magick

Astral work

Shadow work

Energy work

Sigils

Art magick

Knot magick

Crystal grids

Color grids

Music magick

Charms, talismans and amulets

+ Spellwork

What makes a spell work

Basic spell structure

What NOT to do

Disposing of spell ingredients

Revitalizing long term spells

How to cast spells

What to put in spells (See correspondence)

Spell mediums- Jar spells, spoken spells, candle spells, sigils, etc

Spell timing

Setting up a ritual

Taglocks: What they are and how to use them

+ Holidays and Esbats

Yule

Imbolc

Ostara

Beltane

Litha

Lughnasadh/Lammas

Mabon

Samhain

The 12 full moons (Esbats)

How to celebrate

Deity specific holidays

+ Altars and tools

What they are

The different types and their uses (travel altar, working altar, deity altar, ancestor altar, etc)

What you can put on your altar

What you use your altars for

Common tools in witchcraft

How to use the tools

Food and drink

Common herbs in recipes

Sabbat recipes

Moon water: What it is and how to use it

Potion bases

Tea magick

How to get your herbs

Foraging

+ Mental health and self care

Bath magick

Affirmations

Burnout prevention

Aromatherapy

Stress management

Mental health coping mechanisms

+ History of witchcraft

+ Dream records

+ How to differentiate between the magickal and the mundane

+ Calendar of celestial events (Esbats, retrogrades, etc)

+ How to dry herbs and flowers

+ What chakras actually are and how they work within Hinduism

+ History and traditional uses of reiki

+ The witches' alphabet

+ The runic alphabet

+ Common witchcraft terms

+ Common symbols in witchcraft

+ Your own witch tips

+ Good witchcraft books and authors to avoid

+ Any online resources you utilize often

CELEBRITIES ON MANIFESTING

JIM CARREY

“I would visualize having directors interested in me and people that I respected saying, “I like your work.” I would visualize things coming to me that I wanted and I had nothing at that time but it just made me feel better. At that time, all it really was for me was making me feel better. I would drive home and think, “Well, I do have these things. They’re out there, I just don’t have a hold of them yet but they’re out there.”

“I wrote myself a check for $10 million for acting services rendered and I gave myself 3 years. I dated it Thanksgiving 1995 and I put it in my wallet and it deteriorated and deteriorated. Then, just before Thanksgiving 1995, I found out that I was going to make $10 million on Dumb and Dumber.”

LADY GAGA

“It happened around 5 years ago but it’s sort of like a mantra. You repeat it to yourself every day. “Music is my life. Music is my life. The fame is inside of me. I’m going to make a number one record and the number one hit.” And it’s not yet, it’s a lie. You’re saying a lie over and over and over again but then one day, the lie is true.”

OPRAH WINFREY

“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.”

STEVE HARVEY

Like attracts like. You have to understand: you are a magnet. Whatever you are, that’s what you draw to you. If you’re negative, you’re going to draw negativity. You positive? You draw positive. You’re a kind person? Most people are kind to you…If you see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hand. This is so true.”

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

“When I was very young I visualized myself being and having what it was I wanted. Mentally I never had any doubts about it. The mind is really so incredible. Before I won my first Mr. Universe title, I walked around the tournament like I owned it. The title was already mine. I had won it so many times in my mind that there was no doubt I would win it. Then when I moved on to the movies, the same thing. I visualized myself being a famous actor and earning big money. I could feel and taste success. I just knew it would all happen.”

LMFAO

“At the same time, it could be what you don’t want as well. Why am I always broke? Why don’t I get girls? You’re going to attract that. You’re imagining yourself being broke, you’re imagining yourself not attracting girls and that’s going to be your result. If that law is true, then you might as well just think about what you want. In a nutshell, that’s what we did.”

JAY-Z

“I believe you can speak things into existence.”

JENNIFER LOPEZ

“Your thoughts create your life, and so you have to think positive thoughts,” All the time – you have to force yourself to think positive at times.  And so I do a lot of affirmation… “I am whole. I am good on my own. I love myself. I love you, Jennifer. I love the universe, the universe loves me. God loves me. I am youthful and timeless at every age. I am enough"”.

STEVE HARVEY

“Like attracts like. You have to understand: you are a magnet. Whatever you are, that’s what you draw to you. If you’re negative, you’re going to draw negativity. You positive? You draw positive. You’re a kind person? Most people are kind to you…If you see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hand. This is so true.”

ALBERT EINSTEIN

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

MUHAMMAD ALI

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”

CONOR MCGREGOR

“If you have a clear picture in your head that something is going to happen and a clear belief that it will happen no matter what then nothing can stop it. It is destined to happen. It’s perfect.”

Just letting people know that "Shifting", that thing on TikTok that was popular, isn't real.

Dream scripting however is, and has been used to help people cope with PTSD dreams and other negative dreams. It is a useful skill, but you have to understand that it is a dream.

Lucid dreaming is also very real, and very fun! I've done it multiple times, and it's a skill you can learn.

"Shifting" is dangerous because it ends up targetting mental ill people and vulnerable people who want to escape their current reality and believe they are actually going to another reality. This can cause them to ignore their real life, the real world, and their real health.

This is a very unhealthy coping mechanism and I cannot stress enough that "Shifting" is not real.

"Shifting" is dangerous to believe in because it can seriously impact people's mental health. And I am so sorry to those who do believe in shifting, I really want you to reach out to a therapist to try and find healthy coping skills so you don't feel the need to escape this reality.

A Lesson for Young Witches

If you cannot find representations for a given element, remember…

You are supported by a rigid skeleton made of minerals. You are earth.

Your body is over 70% fluid. You are water.

Your lungs take in and expel breath. You are air.

Your blood is warm and your brain runs on electrical impulses. You are fire.

Your essence, however you describe it, resides within you. You are spirit.

You are composed of gifts from every element, and every element is given marvelous life in you.

Never feel that you are insufficiently magical for lack of icons or accoutrements or accessories.

You are ALWAYS magic. You are ALWAYS enough.