A few of my personal methods, and by no means a complete list.
- Salt, rosemary, and water wash. Combine salt, rosemary, and water into a large bowl. Visualize protective and cleansing energies entering the bowl. Be specific in what you want to be protected from. Use the wash around your home, especially doorways and windows. Create protective sigils using the wash, if you wish.
- Chalk sigils. Draw them on the foundation of your house, sidewalks, underneath floorboards, or in the walls if you’re remodeling your home.
- Wards. Used to defend against specific things, and keep them away.
~ Hex signs – circular painted symbols. Different patterns and colors have different meanings, but you can always create your own.
~ Spider houses – specific spaces designated for spiders to live to keep away insects and other creatures that are pests or feed off of energy. I use rocks, boxes, and small flower pots, and draw protective sigils on them.
~ Alerts – sound makers hung outside of the home. They alert you of possible harm, and defend against it. Chimes can be purposed to do this. You can also create your own using various items, such as string, wire, beads, shells, bells, anything you can think of that makes noise.- Witch Ball. Clear balls hung up around the home to capture harmful energy, that can be cleansed.
- Witch Jar. Jar filled with broken glass, nails, pins, and whatever you feel will protect you. Seal it with wax and bury it in your yard.
- Charm bags. Bags filled with protective herbs and items. If you don’t have sachets or fabric, you can use a coffee filter or paper and string or ribbon. Hang them around the house, in a vehicle, or even carry one with you.
- Amulets. An item worn, usually jewelry, purposed to protect you from specific harms, such as illness, jealousy, or unwanted spirits.
- Glamours. Glamours are intended to make others see you how you want to be seen, or not seen. They can be as simple as a chant, “I will travel unnoticed,” “I will blend in with my surroundings,” “Others will not see me.” Focus on this energy, and push it out of you to create a barrier.
- Energy Shield. Choose an element that you feel connected to, and visualize it creating a protective shield around you. For instance, you might visualize yourself surrounded by fire, waves, lightning storms, or tornadoes.
- Protection Candle. Charge a candle with protective energy. Visualize the energy as an egg, growing around the candle, yourself, and your home. Light the candle any time you feel you need added protection.
- Ask for help. If you work with spirits, ask them if they’re willing to help protect you.
Tag: reference
Mistakes I made with visualization
► I tried to “view” everything in high definition, moment by moment, as if it were a physical thing I could see.
► I lost the forest by focusing on the tree – instead of keeping my goals in mind, I would let it all fall down in order to visualize small details.
► I viewed visualization as a goal in itself, instead of a tool.
► I believed all successful magic had to involve some level of visualization.
► I believed visualization was the best and “realest” way to experience magic and magical events.
Things I now believe which I like a lot more:
► Visualization is nothing but imagination + willpower. Aka, a mental goal + focus.
► Whatever you are visualizing is not physical, otherwise it would be seeing, not visualizing. The faculty of imagination is powerful, we don’t need to put blinders on it and treat it like a third pair of eyes.
► Learn how your imagination likes to create and use that to organically visualize – even if that ‘visualization’ doesn’t involve imagining physical objects.
► Visualization is vastly improved, empowered, and fine-tuned through verbal commands (thought or spoken). Visualize the energy ball, and then think or say, “this energy is forming in to a ball.”
► Visualization is only a tool. It is not necessary or appropriate for all spells or magical actions.
Words which I believe are synonymous with ‘visualize’:
- Imagine
- Believe
- Think
- Feel
- Command
- Desire
- Focus
Witch Tip
Draw sigils on your palms and clap your hands to activate them!
Aim to do something witchy each day!
• cleanse your space
• tend your garden
• collect storm/rain/snow water
• meditate!
• pick herbs/plants
• charge materials
• walk in nature
• top up your supplies
• light a candle
• make a fruit offering to the wild
• practice divination
• read a book on craft
• plant a plant
• clean and collect jars
• go shopping
• read a prayer
• put a wandering bug or a spider friend back outside
• curl up with a cup of tea and scroll through witchy blogs
Spellworkers should approach practicing magic with the patience they’d display while learning any other intricate skill, such as gardening, beading, or loom weaving.
The Goodly Spellbook by Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman) and *Diuvei (Steven Rasmussen)
a quick note about quartz
A lot of people see quartz as the white candle of crystals, and treat it like something you can replace anything with or use for any purpose.
However, one of the reasons why a lot of people like quartz so much is because it amplifies whatever you put into it.
I’ll say that again: it amplifies whatever you put into it.
If that’s not how quartz rolls for you, then cool, whatever, I’m not the Quartz Queen. But if you use it because it’s an amplifier, think a little deeper about the connotations of using it around things you maybe don’t want amplified.
3 Tips for Trusting in Your Cards
The main basis (in my experience) of useful, clear divination is trust. And just like people, you can’t just pick up a deck of cards and expect to fully trust the deck, or for it to trust you.
When I picked up a deck of cards for the VERY first time, I made a lot of mistakes. I’ve come a long way since then, and though I may still be a bit of a novice, I hope I can help some one.
- Draw Cards of the Day!
Especially if you have a brand new deck, or one you haven’t worked with in a very long time. Not only does it open the door for interaction in a very simple, open-ended way, but by doing so you can get a better grip on what the cards mean and your own interpretations of them.- Get comfortable!
Clear a space where you can feel safe and unhindered. This could include a separate room, or your kitchen table. Wherever you plan on card reading, I suggest a flat, completely soild surface covered by a cloth unique to your card readings (though it’s completely up to you if you’d like to work without it!) Sit however you’d like- on the floor, on a footstool. Sit up straight, sit cross-legged. Make the room dark or as light as you’d like, etc. The more you relax with and around your cards, the better they can receive your energy, and the more in tune you’ll be! And if standing on your head with one shoe on and Enya playing works for you, then so be it!
- DO NOT REDRAW
The BIGGEST mistake I’ve ever made, was not believing my cards were telling me the truth. I would redraw to see if I got the same cards again, or if the answer I received seemed unlikely I would disregard it altogether. Believe. In. Your. Cards! If something seems unlikely, trust in in- but with a grain of salt. Never ever EVER redo your draw- you will just to be disappointed when you don’t draw the same card(s)! This creates a barrier and disconnection- just like with a person. If you accuse all your friends of being liars, or need to check and recheck their answers constantly- you won’t have many left! Of course, if you feel the cards’ message was muddy or unclear redrawing for clarification is a-okay. But don’t redraw just to test them!
Herbs To Avoid When Making Dream Pillows
by Jim Long
ARTEMISIA (except for Mugwort) should be avoided, as many kinds of
artemisia can cause frightening dreams and, after waking, headaches.BAY which sometimes causes headaches upon waking, can also add a
gray-brown colour and violent quality to dreams.FIXATIVES are not recommended for use in dream blends. These include
cellulose (processed corncobs) and orrisroot. Since they contain
some fragrance they may change the texture of the dream blend,
making the results unpredictable. Orrisroot can also cause headaches
upon waking.OILS of any kind are not recommended. Oils are highly concentrated
and can overpower other herbs.RUSSIAN TARRAGON can cause frightening nightmares.
SAGE can create a haunting feeling in dreams. However, garden sage
blossoms and clary sage blossoms can be used in small amounts in
dream blends.TANSY which can cause violent and terrifying nightmares, can also
produce headaches upon waking.by Jim Long
Free Witch PDFS
Most posts like this have book recommendations and have links for books, I will just list my top 5 websites I go to when I want to download books.
ALL OF THESE BOOKS ARE FREE TO DOWNLOAD
(dark books in my opinion is a pain to download from)
http://www.golden-dawn-canada.com/library.html
(easy to download from a good small collection)
(Good for when you have a specific author in mind otherwise you may get lost)
https://www.sacred-archive.com/library.html
(easy to browse and to download from)
http://www.globalgreyebooks.com/
(constantly being updated, easy to download from and my personal favorite on this list)
As always
-Nick
A Witch’s Guide to Book Buying
- Read reviews. On Goodreads, on Amazon, on blogs. You’ll save a lot of money this way.
- Read the classics of the 20th century pagan scenes (Fortune, Hutton, Adler, Gardner, Valiente etc.) they may be dated and contain misinformation, but will show you how ideas have developed and allow you to spot derivative works.
- Become familiar with publishers as well as authors, they have their own reputations. However, keep in mind that it can be hard to get books on witchcraft published and some decent authors have worked with the likes of Llewellyn and Element in the past.
- Unfortunately, most of the witchcraft books found in chain bookstores contain very little accurate or valuable information. Buy online from the publishers, or second hand, or through specialist occult booksellers.
- You don’t need the pretty snakeskin talismanic edition of a book. Sure, if you have the money to indulge, go ahead, but there is nothing lesser about the paperback or standard edition. The trend for this recently means that quite a few books seem to be offered in binding that outshines their contents.
- Be suspicious of authors who come out with a new book on a different tradition every year, especially when each book is presented as a definitive handbook to that tradition.
- There is a lot of truth in the saying ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ beware of authors who claim to be shamans, witches, hoodoo practitioners, druids and clairvoyants all in the same breath.
- Be cautious of authors writing on living, culturally specific traditions to which they do not belong, or from cultures they weren’t raised in.
- If an author is talking about historical practices, in any way shape or form, expect citations or at very least a bibliography. If these are absent, be skeptical of any claims they make.
- Don’t be scared of academic texts, if you’re interested in the real history of witchcraft and magic they are goldmines and often include spells and charms. How to spot an academic text? The publisher will be a university press or the author will be attached to a university.
- Likewise, don’t be put off by pre-modern and early modern texts and grimoires (Agrippa, Paracelsus, etc.). They are increasingly available online for free, or in cheap paperbacks. If you struggle with the language, get an annotated edition or translation.
- If you’re tired of Witchcraft 101 books, which rehash the same information in various guises, try some new search terms: occult philosophy, folklore, alchemy, hermeticism, astrology, western esotericism. You don’t need twenty books that tell you about ‘tools’ and how to cast a circle and some of the best witchcraft books don’t even use the term.
- This is a personal bias – but I tend to avoid authors who use pseudonyms befitting a fantasy elf (Moondrop Ravenwind etc.) YMMV.
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