Wheel Of The Year

Happy October Meow! 🍁🎃🍂

Edinburgh, Scotland.

pics by pandeyrr, lynne.sword.

☽ little tips for witches ☾

here I will leave some very useful tips for those who have been in practice for some time, as well as for beginners. I hope this text will illuminate and help each one on their way! ✨

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• to do energy cleaning in your home, put in a glass: water, coarse salt and charcoal. position it behind the entrance door.

• bury egg shells in a pot or in your home garden to ensure abundance and fertility in your home.

• do not put the ashes left over from the incense out, they can be reused in making the black salt.

• burn dry rosemary to attract protection, purification, psychic abilities and openness for healing.

• to attract positive energies to you, spread several mirrors around your home, just avoid those with sharp details on your edge. they also help to clear the mind.

• to ward off any bother that is bothering you, write the key words of the situation on a white candle. light the candle and ask the fire beings to burn this evil that you want to destroy.

• make a wreath with chamomile flower and hang it on the door to protect the environment throughout the year from physical and spiritual damage.

• use cinnamon to improve your individual skill with prophecy through divination, channeling and working with oracles.

• when making your own oils, use olive oil and dried herbs of your choice.

• press and store rosemary leaves in your books. this will increase your wisdom during your studies and your memory, making you learn more easily.

• burn some thyme on your altar to clean up your magic space. thyme when burned with incense strengthens psychic power.

Too much light! 🌿 🌿

Crow counting

Edit: I didn’t explain what crow counting was, oops! It’s basically a way of divination using the number of crows in a murder (what a lovely word for a flock of crows btw), taking them as an omen or sign. This only really works if crows aren’t a usually occurrence (as how it works with most signs)

One crow-

Bad luck, loss, sorrow

Two crows-

Good luck, a major change, joy

Three crows-

A wedding or celebration, the birth of a girl

Four crows-

New beginnings, the birth of a boy

Five crows-

Money coming, good business

Six crows-

Major money change, could be a loss or a gain

Seven crows-

A secret, mystery, or curse

Eight crows-

Life changing experience (usually positive)

Nine crows-

Love, positive recognition

Ten crows-

Major turn around or change in life

Eleven crows-

News, surprises, secrets revealed

Twelve crows-

Good luck, completion, fulfillment

Thirteen crows-

Completion, the end of a journey

more info from my grimoire notes! Hopefully this one will get as much attention as the salt post (that’s been blowing up oh my gods!), it’s kinda crazy how much people like salt!

La Femme Chauve-souris c.1890 by Albert Pénot

i really wish more witches and practitioners talked about the different types of energy and how you can use them. yeah sure theres the basic elemental energies and everyone knows about using “light” and “imagine a ball of light” and whatnot. but did you know you can use shadows? did you know you could use atoms specifically? did you know you could use colors? the void? the universe? stars? you know that anything that has energy, can be used in energy work?? because when i was a novice, i didn’t. and it made me sad/disconnected because the whole “imagine a white light protecting you” didn’t resonate with me well. but what did was the abundant scale of color, and usage of shadows and darkness. discord <3

source

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

✨Witchcraft and Weaving✨

Good morning loves! In so many religions - new and old - handcrafts are used as a devotional act or magical process. In particular, weaving and braiding are meditative exercises, making it easy to add magical workings to the process. Fibers, in one form or another, have been around for thousands of years, so it makes sense that they've would've been used in ritual work as well. Deities and spirits have also been depicted as weavers and sewers. For example Frigg, in Norse Mythology, is depicted as a weaving goddess; in Sweden and some parts of Germany, the asterism of Orion's Belt is known as her distaff or spindle. 

Color! This is probably the most recommended thing you’ll read online and that’s because it’s easy to do and to the point. Consider what you’re weaving and why. Is it a rug to protect your home? A wall hanging to bring in prosperity? Once you know why you’re weaving you’ll be able to narrow down to the colors you need to use. I made a basic list for reference! You can also combine colors for your set purpose. For instance, I have a wall hanging I made that’s a variation of greens and browns in honor ofJörð and to help bring good health to my plants.

Red: passion, love, creative energy, heat, fire, aggression, warmth, comfort, boldness, power, Yellow: joy, summer, the sun, fertility, harmony, hospitality, optimism, improve concentration and communication White: cleansing, inviting in good energies, repels negativity, peace, spirituality Green: prosperity, good health, healing, abundance, fertility, freedom, nature, renewal, reassurance, safety Orange: vitality, innovation, energy, fun, friendliness, attract positivity, welcoming Blue: calmness, clear mind, intellect, good for studying, tranquility, refreshing, can also be cheerful like a clear summer sky Purple: divination, magic, peace, intuition, luxury, calming, knowledge, intuition Black: protection, shielding, repelling negative energy, honoring the dead, stability, magic Brown: grounding, evoke nature, relaxation, stability, protective, comfort, fertility, ancient wisdom, centering, warmth, comfort Pink: love, refreshing, self care, youth, compassion, peace, playfulness, harmony Grey: neutrality, balance, calm, empathy, quiet, cleansing

Devotional Work! You can create pieces to hang in your home, car, altar, to honor a god you work with. You can also spend the time weaving as a devotional act. Every time I weave I do it in devotion to Frigg, it’s a way to show her my love and appreciation for the things she’s taught me. You can also make it part of ritual if you’re choosing to weave something small that’s only going to a minimal amount of time(aka not days).

Patterns! This accounts for a variety of things, for one you can weave sigils, runes, or staves into your piece for a direct magical purpose. You could weave circles to amplify energy, half circles to bring in energy, and lines to move energy. Weaving images that correspond to your intention is another option. For example, if you want to bring in prosperity you could weave images of barley, wheat, mint, or calendula.

Incantations! These don’t have to be complicated or long it can be a simple word for each line you make, or “knot” you weave. I usually think of a small spell to say in the beginning and at the end depending on the works purpose. You could sing a song! Be creative with this but honestly you don’t have to do it at all if that’s not your not craft.

Witches Ladder! Its intent is similar to that of a rosary – it's more or less a tool for meditation, prayer, and ritual, in which different colors and items are used to show one's intent. It can also used as a counting tool, for in some spell work there is a need to repeat the process a particular number of times or to keep count of something. It's also popularly used for knot magic. Also, if you have a strong connection to the moon, you can create a Moon Braid to honor the three different phases of the moon.

You can weave in other materials. This can be a variety of things; a birch twig for fertility, a pine cone for protection, amethyst for divination, the options are infinite! I personally enjoy weaving with twigs and dried herbs the best as they can make your home smell wonderful and they tend to be easier to work with!

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