Ever have a spirit friend that you just kind of forgot about? Or that seems to just… go away?
There are many reasons why a relationship with a spirit or spirit guide isn’t as strong as it was beforehand. Here are a few common ones.
The first is you didn’t put in any effort to maintain that relationship. Like any relationship, you actually need to touch base with them regularly to keep up the relationship. We all get busy, but you do need to stop by and say hi to them fairly often for them to be loyal or friendly to you.
The second is you don’t need them anymore. This is usually true for guides, but it can be true for any spirits that you’re friendly with. Sometimes those friendships from work don’t actually carry over outside of work or after you quit a job. It’s the same idea. If you don’t need their support anymore – or don’t seem to need it – then they probably have better things to do with their energy and time.
The third reason is that the spirit is naturally fading away. Spirits often fade away naturally. They get weaker and weaker until they no longer exist in the form that you know them to be in. This is especially common in ghosts or spirits without ties or very old ties. It’s also true for spirits that have no one to call on them. Even if you do call on them, sometimes those spirits are simply tired and cannot go on.
This third reason is also why magical servitors (ie spirits bound or created to serve you, often not very intelligent) fade away. If you create an energy lifeform like that and forget them – which absolutely is easy to do – then they will fade away from your life, sometimes even ceasing to exist.
Spirits are easy to forget about because they’re not tangible. You don’t see them and without a really serious memory to tie them to you, you’ll forget about them. Even if you have a serious memory, they can still slip from your mind. This is why it’s ideal to always have a physical object that you mentally (or even spiritually or magically) attach to the spirit. This gives them weight in your memory and makes them less likely to fade.
There are other reasons why a spirit might be gone from your life – your contract with them is complete, they were destroyed by another spirit, banished, exorcised / cleansed, etc. but the three outlined are the most common for the fading feeling when a spirit returns to you more distant and weaker each time you see them.
I don’t really use elements in your traditional ritual set up. I do sometimes use them but it’s often in a more alchemical way than an earth-air-fire-water way.
One of my favorite ways to use elements is to combine them.
A good example of elemental combinations is an air plant. An air plant largely lives on air (with the occasional misting of water) but it’s still a plant so it’s an earth element. That’s three associations (air-water-earth) to deal with for one tiny little plant!
But elemental combinations are actually a really smart way to help set up an altar or a spell on the go. You can just roll with it. Instead of packing a ton of ritual items, you can just pack one or two herbs and that can suffice. It helps if you travel a lot, do a lot of on-the-go rituals, or need to be low-key.
It can also lend a lot of strength to ritual magic. By adding extra fire in a ritual, you’re creation more power so speed things along and adding passion or anger.
Elemental combinations also have the benefit of being dual purpose so you can bring two different energies into a spell at the same time. Need both fire and water? A dried water plan may be the best way to go – just burn it with a candle.
One thing to consider when doing elemental combinations is how they affect one another. Fire and water obviously don’t mix unless you want to destroy the fire or evaporate the water. Similarly, air and earth don’t always get along either. They can change one another though. Air (and water and fire) can all move earth by force. Wind can blow soil, erosion can destroy shorelines, and fire burns through the ground when it can. However, earth can strength air by tunneling it through canyons and caves, water seeps into the ground so it can spread everywhere, and fire lives on wood and natural gases for decades. Similarly, air can strength fire to an uncontrollable level or it can blow a flame out.
In general, all the elements can strengthen and weaken one another, when used in the right balance. You just have to stop and think about how an element functions and what kind of action you want it to perform.
When you combine multiple elements, make sure you’re keeping them in the balance you want. If you only want a little earth, then pick something with a less strong earth element. In my air plant example above, earth is the weakest of the elements because while an air plant is a plant, it isn’t planted in the soil. Water actually is actually stronger with an air plant because you do need to water air plants as needed. Air, obviously, is the strongest of all for an air plant.
Of course, the thing with element associations is that they are NOT universal. Asian occult systems have a lovely elemental system that includes the very combination I’m expressing here in a different way – but they use five elements: earth, air, water, fire, metal. Every practitioner will need to rely on their cultural or traditional folklore in addition to their own personal associations.
Want a quick way to look up correspondences? Check out my online sourced correspondences list.
Does this post look familiar? That’s because some of it appeared in this post from 2017. I’ve expanded upon it here to get further into details on how elemental combinations work.
Sometimes, you just need to present a very specific aspect of yourself (your face) and let the other parts of yourself slip into shadow for a little while. This works well making excellent first impressions, especially during presentations, job interviews, etc.
This isn’t a confidence spell, although it may seem like one. It’s a bit of a mood boosting or uplifting spell. It could even be used for self-love and to support mental health. It was originally intended, however, to be more of a “you don’t see the things you would think of as flaws” spell. It’s not a deception, because you’re not hiding aspects of yourself. They’re just not paying as much attention to what they consider a flaw or undesireable trait.Â
Here’s how you do it:
Pick a moment that’s as close to the start of the event you’re doing the glamour for. You should be ready to go or nearly ready.
Take a deep breath and even your breathing so you’re taking slow, deep breaths that are comfortable for you. This helps focus and boosts concentration while casting the glamour.
Now, think of a time limit. This should be something like, “For the duration of this meeting, I am…”, Until work today is done”, or “Until sunset, I am…” This time limit is intended to let you control when this glamour ends. This means you end up using your work persona when you’re trying to help your kids with your homework, getting cozy with your significant other, or trying to relax with your pets.
Think of what you want to display. For a job interview, you might have your best “customer face” or display confidence, intelligence, and success. For a presentation, you might want to appear competent and as an expert. You need to have a clear idea on what you want to happen, but try and make it as simple as possible. The more complicated a glamour is, the more likely it is to find cracks in it.
I tend to use verbal phrases to really nail the glamour. For example, if I was going to do a major presentation, I’d use “Until I return home, I am eloquent, competent, successful, and skilled. I am an expert and you see me as someone to learn from and listen to.” I’d repeat what I considered the most important aspects, probably “I am a expert you want to listen to.” I’d repeat it several times, usually seven or more.
Now take a few moments to gather your energy around you. If you’re skilled at energy manipulation, you’ll want to surround yourself and flare out your aura. If that isn’t your jam, then imagine yourself surrounded entirely by the glamour. If neither of these work for you, you can just repeat the glamour description over and over again as a chant in your head or under your breath.
Isn’t this just affirmations? Not really. Yes, it’s intended to shift the mindset. It works that way when you’re casting the glamour on yourself for yourself. But glamours are intended to nudge other people into seeing you how you wish to be seen.
Can this spell fail? Sure. If someone’s got a good resistance to this sort of magic, yes. Animals don’t tend to fall for glamours too easily, so it’s my belief that people with heightened senses will instinctually fight against a glamour. (Similarly, there are some people who are particularly susceptible to glamours.) Of course, spirits, fae, and magical practitioners are all perfectly capable of sensing or seeing through glamours.
Not everyone sees glamours the same way. A trained observer will be able to spot you faster than someone who isn’t if you’re trying to be invisible. Someone that’s always looking at fashion might pick about your glamour subconsciously because they’re use to critiquing clothing. It varies.
Still, glamours are a very handy spell to have in your pocket and can be done at the drop of a hat, especially once you’ve practiced with them.
A glamour is a type of illusion spell, meant to manipulate, disguise, or otherwise mask something or someone.
That being said, just because they’re manipulation doesn’t mean they’re harmful, negative, or baneful magic.
There are many reasons why someone might use a glamour. They can be used to keep someone safe, to be identified the right way, to boost their self-esteem or confidence, or even to be seen as harmless or helpful to others.
There are a few ways to help determine when a glamour is in use.
1) Aura reading / Energy reading
Most often, energy manipulation is used to create glamours. If you’re skilled at reading aura or energy, then you’ll be able to pick up on an altered aura or energy around the person. This is especially true if you already know what that person’s energy or aura is like. The change in aura or energy might feel bright, expanded, stretched, or wrapped around the subject. You may even be able to detect what kind of glamour is being cast depending on how “loud” it is.
2) Herbal assistance
Oak leaves, eyebright, ash leaves, sandalwood, cinnamon, rose, wormwood, yarrow, mugwort, nutmeg, and rowan can all be used to help see through glamours. Oak leaves are especially traditional for this purpose.
Carry any of these herbs with you to help see beyond what’s presented to you.
3) Hag stone
A traditional hag stone (a stone with a natural hole through the center of it) can often see past glamours. I’ve used seashells with natural holes in them for the same purpose, although sometimes the energy gets “wishy”.
4) Counterspell
You can cast a spell on yourself to see past glamours. I find this is sometimes hit or miss. I think it depends on the type of glamour, who’s casting the glamour, and the power and intention behind each.
5) Declaration
Sometimes, if you know a glamour has been cast, you can simply ignore the glamour. It’s like in any form of media where a character repeats that something isn’t real to beat an illusion or trauma. Same thing. Denying the glamour doesn’t erase the glamour, but it doesn’t work as well if know it’s there. Essentially, by denying it, you’re confirming it’s active.
This glamour spell can be for any intention but it’s set into a crystal that you store in your purse or pocket. This allows you to simply recharge the crystal to get the spell going rather than reset the spell every time you want to use it.
It’s very easy to do and can make a difference in your day to day life.
What you’ll need:
A crystal or gemstone of some kind
Select a crystal or gemstone to use. This could be a stone that helps your confidence like aventurine or a stone that enhances beauty like rose quartz . You could also use quartz crystal or a stone that feels uplifting to get your spell across. If you’re trying to avoid being seen or noticed, a clear stone like quartz crystal or even a simple garden stone may do the trick. Put a little thought into what stone would be best for you and your glamour.
If you have a piece of jewelry with a stone you’d like to do, you can absolutely cast the glamour on that jewelry instead.
Sit with your chosen stone in your hand and think or speak what you want the glamour to do. Focus until the image in your head is as clear as possible or you’ve described the scenario you want to happen. Take your time.
Push that idea into the stone, letting your energy flow over and into the stone. Awaken the wanted characteristics of the stone you want that match what you’re trying to achieve with the glamour.
This may take a while or it may take just a few seconds. Feel free to come back and set the intention with the stone again if you need a break.
Once you’re satisfied with the stone’s glamour intention, you’re done. Carry it with you and the stone will passively emit the glamour. If you feel like the stone isn’t working as well or you need an extra boost of the glamour, touch the stone and pass a little extra energy onto the stone. You can even repeat your glamour’s purpose to remind the stone what it’s suppose to be doing.
Notes:
Recharging the stone monthly with a full moon (or new moon, if the stone is intended to camoflague you) can keep the stone’s glamour running for a long time.
If you’re using a camoflague intended glamour, make sure you add a second spell to the stone so you both remember the stone’s existence (so you can recharge it) and so that you can find the stone when you want to.
A glamour spell is a type of illusion, usually one to help boost some aspect of yourself, like your confidence or beauty. It’s also often used to camouflage or hide something, like an object or even yourself so you aren’t as noticeable. Essentially, they’re either spotlight or invisibility spells.Â
I like glamour spells and I use them often. I find them great practice for more subtle spells and can be used in any everyday situation. They are often utilitarian. They can be cast at the drop of a hat without any tools. And they are great for when you want to cast a spell but you don’t know what to cast.
How it’s done is simple.
1) Decide what kind of illusion magic you want to cast. Be specific. Do you want to enhance the shine of your hair or the color of your lips? Do you want people to gender you properly? Do you want extra confidence? Do you want people to not notice you or see you as harmless?
2) Do you want to attach it to an object? If you want your lips to look a particular shade of pink and you achieve that look with lipstick or something similar, you can place a glamour on the lipstick itself to enhance that color and perhaps ignore any imperfections in today’s makeup or ignore a part of yourself that you don’t want to draw attention to. Putting a “I’m harmless and you don’t see me” glamour on a hoodie before going for a run is a great idea against muggings and other violence.
3) To cast the glamour, whether on an object or yourself is requires a clear picture of what you want to happen. You must be absolutely unwavering with the goal. You can be scared, angry, or any other emotion at the time, but you must be solid in what you want to happen.
I find that a specific repeatable phrase helps. “I am beautiful”. “I am seen as harmless to others”. “You do not see me.” “I am not worth your attention.” “You respect me for my confidence and skills.” Affirmation phrases work wonderfully for this, but even a simple phrase can help really hone what the goal is of the glamour. If it’s a simple phrase, then you can repeat it over and over again. You can also repeat it to re-enchant an object with a glamour placed on it.
Once you’ve got your idea down, gather your energy around you. If you’re into aura manipulation or energy manipulation, this is the exact same thing. If energy manipulation isn’t your thing, clear your thoughts and concentrate on making your willpower behind the phrase nice and strong.
If you’re enchanting an object, push the energy into it. Have the energy and your willpower weave into the threads, along the facets of the crystal, along the curve or straight lines of the glass.
If you’re casting it on yourself, pull the energy or your intent around you, like you’re pulling a blanket around your chest and shoulders.
4) To dismiss the glamour, you can let it fade naturally or simply cleanse yourself or the object.
I do find that certain glamours work better with certain techniques, so practice with different kinds and methods of spellcasting to see what works best for you.
Increasing and honing your intuition isn’t a simple or quick task. It requires dedication and consistent practice. However, there are steps you can take to make things a bit easier to practice that intuition of yours.
Children tend to have very good intuitions but as they grow older, it tends to wane. The same is true for people who take a step back from practicing their intuition. It can stagnate and grow weak. It’s just like the physical body. As a child, you might not have thought anything about sprinting down the street or being particularly flexible. As an adult, it’s less likely that you’ll be able to do what you so easily could as a child without continuous practice.
Write your dreams down
Writing your dreams down can help boost intuition. Many times, premonitions or psychic impressions come to us via dreams. Dreams also provide insight into subconscious thinking and the self.
Try to also record your first thoughts when waking up. This is a difficult habit to get into for some and for others, it’s great to do alongside journaling.
Write down your predictions
Simply writing down things you think (or intuit) might happen is a great way of tracking how often you’re right on these things. It’s similar to testing your psychic awareness with ESP cards. This another journaling technique, but you can also just do it every-so-often and leave that document in a notebook to be discovered later. It’s definitely a long-term test, but it’s one I use often with great results.
Stretching the senses
Sit quietly and extend your senses, trying to hear and sense what’s going on in other rooms and beyond the confines of your home. This is remote viewing, when it’s practiced at a decent range, but mostly it’s just practicing extending your energy and psychic awareness. Think “spider sense”, if that reference is meaningful to you.
A test to see how accurate your sense is needs a second person or camera to record the direction you’re sensing in, so you can validate what happened.
Third-eye Opening Meditation
Meditation is often used for many things and there’s a lot you can get out of it. A third eye opening guided meditation or one that focuses on your intuition is a great and relatively easy way of practicing with a bit of guidance. Repeat your chosen meditation every day or at least consistently to get good results.
Herbal or Crystal Support
There are herbs, incense, scents, and crystals to support intuition. The following is a wide variety of ingredients and tools that can be used to assist, attune, or increase your psychic awareness or intuition. This is not a completed list, especially the crystals section.
Some of these ingredients can be used as a tool, just held or kept nearby, while others might be used topically or even consumed. Everyone will tolerate these ingredients and tools differently, so be sure to check to see which ones are helpful to you.
NOTE! I’ve marked some of the more dangerous or potentially illegal ones with an asterisk *. DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE USING!!!
For some people, they can see or sense spirits easily but not other forms of energy – or vice versa. Someone might be particularly skilled at working with faeries but struggles to read the energy in an item. Or they might have no difficulties what-so-ever in reading the future, but they’re blind to spirits.
If you’re able to work with some sort of spirit, deity, or being, you may be able to ask for guidance in sensing other forms of energy. This will largely depend on your relationship, but it’s something to explore.
Familiars and Constructs
A Familiar, as I defined them, is a being who makes some sort of agreement or contract to work alongside or serve you. This is a spiritual bond and may feel destined.
A Construct, as I defined it, is a being whom you create to serve you. If handled poorly, Constructs may go rouge and become malicious spirits. Older Constructs may developed self-awareness and become spirits or familiars.
Now that the terminology is out of the way, these beings may be able to lend extra boost in power or assist in seeing or sensing what you cannot. They also can warn you, like your intuition would. By using their perceptions alongside your own intuition, you can verify what your intuition is saying. Assuming this sort of verification is meaningful to you.
Divination
Divination is a way of tapping into your intuition. By practicing your chosen divination techniques routinely, you’ll increase your intuition.
This is especially true for divination techniques like scrying, where your intuition and second sight is what’s showing you the future or what you want to see.
There’s a lot of different way to increase your intuition, but the most useful method is consistency and practice. Few people can master a new musical instrument or get a super-fit body in a single day and the same is true with intuition.
This spell is to boost confidence. It’s good for events and situations where you need to be a little more confident, such as job interviews, dates, and so on.
What you’ll need:
Mirror
Water, divided
Sea salt
Rosemary
Roses
Hydrangea
Nasturtium
Two bowls
Dahlia
Paper towel or rag
In one bowl, mix half of the water with sea salt until the salt dissolves. Wash the mirror with the salt water to cleanse the mirror.
In another bowl, steep rosemary, hydrangea, roses, nasturtium, and dahlia petals in the other half of the water. Wash the mirror again with this water to enchant the mirror with confidence boosting. You can say the following chant or similar affirmations.
"I am confidentI am strongI am bloomingI am powerfulI am unshakeableI am confident."
When you’re ready to activate the spell, flick some water at the mirror and repeat the above chant or similar affirmations.
Notes:
Any “showy” flowers would work for this spell. Pick your favorites.
If you’ve picked up a beginner’s witchcraft book, especially an older book, you’ll often find these long lists of items for you to acquire as you start your magical or pagan practice. But how much of it all do you really need?
First, let’s cover the basics –
You can absolutely use stuff you already have for magic, just make sure you’re not mixing the bowl you eat your cereal in with the bowl you worked non-edible herbs in, for safety’s sake.
You don’t need the super expensive or specialty stuff right away. Yes, they’re pretty, support artisans, and may be made a certain way that helps increase your practice, but you don’t need them to start. Wait a bit and see if you’re even going to use that item at all. Instead, swap in with a more common items for now – like a $10 hardware store broom rather than the $300 hand-made besom. You can always upgrade later.
Used goods store and discount dollar stores can be extremely useful. Cups, glasses, jars, candles, incense, craft supplies, paper, bowls, and more can be purchased cheaply here and that allows you a bit more freedom to play with items that you think you might need but aren’t sure of.
Still, the lists are often useful because they’re a combination of commonly used items and items the authors probably use themselves. It’s a good thing to look at them because you can see how different people use different things to reach similar results.
When you get lists like this (or you’ve written down lists of stuff you’d like), break down those lists of things you want into five categories: necessities, ritual items, spell items, aesthetics, and miscellaneous.
Necessities are things like lighters, a fire proof bowl, a jar, a candle holder… You get it. It’s stuff that, for most people, you’ll just need. If you don’t work with fire, you won’t need that fire-related stuff, but by and large, 95% of us use the same kind of necessities.
Ritual items are objects used for rituals or worship. This could be an idol statue of your goddess or it could be a veil to use during ritual ceremonies. You may have nothing in this category, depending on your practice, or you may have a lot of stuff. Try and keep this list short when you’re starting out. Sure, you’d love to have a beautiful altar for your deity, but do you really need that expensive hand-carved ritual bowl right now? Probably not.
Spell items are objects used for spell casting. This could be rosemary and bay leaves. It might be a mortar and pestle or herb grinder. It could be materials for a poppet. It could be a box of candles. It depends on your spell casting style.
Aesthetics are just that – things you have because they are beautiful. Typically these are items that are expensive or something that’s just pretty. This isn’t to say they don’t have a use! You may have some beautiful objects that are just pretty but are also useful in your practice. I like to think of this as a “if I never had this, would I miss it?”
Miscellaneous is a category for things that don’t fit anywhere else. Your miscellaneous category might not match anyone else’s. Maybe you want a besom for cleansing, but that’s not a spell or ritual task for you. It’s not a necessity – you could do without it – but you want it. It takes some thinking. It may also be things that aren’t “necessary”, but are just plain useful.
My practice consists of a lot of things so my personal list of things is going to be wildly different from other people’s. This is my list below and a little later in this post I’ll give a recommended list.
Necessities – Lighter or matches, stoneware bowl, bells, paper and ink, knife, water, thread and ribbon (all colors), sea salt
Spell items – bones or hair, blood, sharp scissors, jars, candles (all colors), iron or metal, herbs and similar, sewing needles and fabric, honey
Aesthetics – Most besoms, scarf or veil, cauldron, baskets, ritual clothing
Miscellaneous – Most crystals, beeswax, sand, brooms (not besom), wands, stirring spoons, mortar and pestle, divination tools including tarot decks
My items are a bit odd for some. For example, I heavily use bells in my daily magical practices. I use a specific set of scissors for my practice and a few different kind of knives. A regular stoneware cereal bowl often doubles as a candle holder during spells – I rarely use traditional candle holders in spell work because of this.
You’ll see the usual accompaniments of a besom and cauldron are in the aesthetics category. I don’t use them much. My cauldron is actually really handy when I need a fireproof bowl or a bonfire, but I also have a firepit and metal trashcan. I’d never miss it, if I didn’t have it. I use a veil for divination purposes, but I don’t need it. Same thing with most rocks and crystals. They are in my life and I love them, but I don’t use them as others do. Divination tools aren’t spells for me but they aren’t rituals either. They exist in some weird third space for me.
Whereas my ritual category is pretty basic, but I including cleaning supplies in addition to cleansing supplies. I keep a tiny broom, dusting clothes, sacred waters, and dustpan for cleaning the shrine areas exclusively. Usually it’s just for dust and incense ash, but I like the feeling of even ordinary actions like sweeping can be made sacred this way. It’s all about honoring those there, even the mundane cleaning bits. But, that’s just me and it’s part of my private spiritual beliefs.
Of course, I can define my practice’s items easily because I’ve been at it for over quarter a century. And it does fluctuate over some years as I get into certain hobbies or try new ways of using old tools. If you’re new to practicing, it may be difficult to define these categories or know exactly what you’ll use. It’s still a handy technique, especially if your budget is a concern or you’re trying to keep your materialism to a minimum.
And, since this question you probably want to know, this is my recommended list for beginners of most practices:
Stoneware bowls or baking dishes
Tealight candles and matches or a lighter or LED candles
Glass jars or bottles with lids (or cork that fits the jars / bottles)
Embroidery thread, twine, or ribbon
Quartz crystals
Most of these items can be purchased at a used goods store or discount dollar stores. The rest should, ideally, be acquired from independent small businesses. Check your kitchen cabinets for herbs or spices and neighborhood sidewalks for rouge flowers. Books can often be borrowed from the library, some even accessible online through your your library.
Take your time gathering things. It’s part of the journey to your witchcraft practice.
This Crooked Crown 