May your year be filled with glorious growth, spectacular successes, brilliant energies, great loves, few losses, and overflowing abundance!

Welcome to 2020! It’s great to be in a new year where you can give yourself a calendar-centric new page to your life.

As you can see above, my blessing for the year. Below, I’ll do a little introduction of myself (for new readers and old), a discussion of 2020’s goal and keywords, and then tackle my resolution. Not interested? That’s cool. Scroll to the end of this post for a spell to give your new year’s resolution a magical punch.

Introduction

Me: I’m Samantha, also known as This Crooked Crown. You can call me Samantha, Sam, Crown, or any variation of that. Pronouns are she/her/hers or they/their/them. I’m a professional witch, tarot card reader, seer, spirit walker, and writer. I’m a published author with my novel Spirit Walker and I’ve been practicing witchcraft for twenty five years this year. I started when I was nine!

My magical practice: I am a non-traditional secular polytheist animist witch. My witchcraft is largely folk magic, drawing from folklore, superstitions, and Anglo-Saxon and New England coastline traditions. Spirits are my forte, especially the non-human kinds, but I’ve been a seer for as long as I can remember.

Where I’m from: I hail from Rhode Island in the New England East Coast of the USA and live in a quirky house between two crossroads and alongside a nicknamed The Crossroads House. I live with my mother, my uncle, my brother The Necromancer, my 12 year old Siamese cat named Kiki, and a 14 year old grumpy box turtle named Tama.

Fun facts & details: I’m a Gemini Sun, Gemini Moon, and Tiger. I’m aligned with water first and foremost. I’m a hermit, a major introvert, and have a few chronic and mental illnesses that are often debilitating. I love water, the ocean, reading, libraries, learning, writing, folklore, stories, and curling up in something soft and warm. Autumn is my favorite time of year, but I live for summers where I can swim and be on the water every day. I will always stop to pet any cat willing to approach me.

What I do & where to find me: Etsy, Storenvy, patreon, tumblr, instagram, twitter, pinterest, facebook, and here, of course. I blog about witchcraft and magic. I sell my books, spells, readings, and crafted witchy goods, plus I also teach witchcraft lessons. I try to be open-minded, willing to help, and approachable to all.

That’s me! How many of you older readers learned something new?

2020’s Goal & Keywords

It is beyond weird to type the year “2020”. When I was a kid, I never would have imagined that I’d reach such an age. It seemed so far away! So Jetsons. But then again, I’m terrible when it comes to numbers and time is something that makes sense to other people, not me. I kind of exist in a “time is irrelevant” sort of lifestyle. Which is very liberating and very confusing at the same time. I have to have a calendar notification for things like putting out the trash, so maybe this is just a side effect of working from home? Who knows!

This year’s goal is growth.

Let’s grow and change as people. Let’s grow our minds, our hearts, our spirits. Let’s grow compassion for ourselves and others. Let’s grow positive changes for the future. Let’s grow opportunities for ourselves. Let’s grow abundance and wealth and power. Let’s look back in a year and go ‘we got somewhere’.

2020’s keywords are Sanctuary and Luck.

This year, there should be a major focus on making somewhere in your life a sanctuary. Your home, your bedroom, the local library, your office at work, your favorite coffee shop, the beach. Make that place yours, as much as you’re able. Own it. Take responsibility for it.

If it’s a public space, like the beach or library, join community groups or clean the beach drives to make it the best it can be. If it’s a space you share with others, like the office or a coffee shop, make it yours by greeting people, talking to those who work there, setting up your table or desk just so. If a coffee shop is your place, maybe invest in a travel mug, so you can mentally align with the whole “I am here so often, I even have my own mug for here”. If it’s work, deck out your space as much as possible, with things that make you feel warm and safe and secure enough to do your job 100% every day.

At home should be your sanctuary, but it might not be for a variety of reasons. If possible, make sure your place reflects who you are exactly. You’re a person who changes each and every day so your home will change too! Maybe the paint on the walls isn’t working for you. Maybe it’s time to take down those band posters since you’re not really into them anymore. Maybe you got that leather couch because you have dogs, but you never sit in them because the couches are so cold to the touch. Invest in those warm blankets and throw pillows. Put a new color on the walls. Change the curtains or make a quilt. This place should reflect you, as much as you’re able to make it reflect you. It should feel like home.

Sanctuary is more than just “I am safe in this place”. It should also be a feeling of security. Secure enough to be yourself. Secure enough to be happy. Secure enough to be and fill the space. Banish that unwanted shit from your life. It’s time to let it go.

Some things are outside of your direct control. Money, for example, has a way of making people feel very insecure. If this is you, then maybe this year is the year to try and make yourself more secure financially. Start a savings account or talk to your college loans and see if they’re willing to smaller payments so you can have more financial breathing space.

Family and friends too, has a way of making people feel insecure. Some families and friends just aren’t good and some people are just plain toxic for you. We all have them. This may be the time to finally go through your contact lists and delete some people. Unfriend that obnoxious aunt on facebook and block uncle bigotry from your lift. Chances are you can live without contact them and any news they or you need to share can probably be passed through other members of the family. Dump the friend who only comes around when they need something. You’re not a doormat. Don’t make things difficult on yourself just because etiquette or peer pressures says you should. You should be able to cultivate a space space – a sanctuary – in your own personal network of people.

You may also want to take this year to make somewhere safe for someone else. There’s lot of hatred right now in the world. A lot of fear. Let’s make this year the year of open hearts and minds. A place where religion, gender, skin color, race, and sexual orientation is accepted and normalized. It’s not an easy road, but it’s one that needs to be walked.

Luck is also a keyword this year. To me, this screams that you just need to turn your magic all the way the fuck up. Just be that witch 100% of the time.

You don’t need to have a reason to cast a luck spell. Make it so when you wash your face, you’re washing away the bad luck. Brush your hair chanting good luck is coming your way. Cast luck spells for all the endeavors. Job interview? Luck spell. Date? Luck spell. Party? Luck spell. Going for a walk? Luck spell. Luck isn’t always about hitting the lottery. It can be lucky to find a pretty stone on a walk or catch up with an old friend at the grocery store.

More than that, it’s also a good time to consider doing spells to achieve your goals or at least a clear direction for what you want. Not all of us have big, splashy dreams. Some people feel lost because they don’t know what they want. When that happens, it can feel like everything you do has no purpose or isn’t going to lead you anywhere worthwhile. If you feel this way, then it may be time to do a spell to find your own way or a new dream or goal. Or get a divination reading. Or at least make some sort of goal, like exercising once a week or read five books a year. Those goals may seem tiny or insignificant compared to a goal of publishing a novel or getting a PhD or buying a house, but it’s still a goal. It can still be accomplished. And it may lead to a milestone goal, such as buying a house. When one is lost, even those small goals can be HUGE accomplishments. Take pride in the things you accomplish, no matter how small. Even teeny, tiny steps forward are still steps forward.

My 2020 Resolution: Finish It!

The goal of 2020 is growth and my resolution is similar. I want 2020 to be the year of growth, but I also want it to be the year of finishing stuff. I have so much in the works right now. SO MUCH. I have five finished books in various stages of editing or are just straight-up finished and sitting, forgotten on a virtual shelf. FIVE. I’m also working on an oracle deck, revamping my witchcraft courses, and more behind the scenes stuff.

This year is going to be the year that shit will be finished. That the projects already started are going to be finished. A lot of times, I start things and never finish them because of fear. Fear of imperfect. Fear of not including all the things that need to be said. Fear or mistakes or failure. ADHD, OCD, and anxiety play a lot into this, but mostly, it’s just the fear of not being good enough. I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I can routinely push past that (after some procrastination, so it’s a work in progress thing).

BTW, that’s my suggestion for overcoming things. Spite and understanding in equal measures. Like, I understand why I leave things hanging and I also want to drop-kick that fear in the face. How dare it stop me? I’m going to prove that fear and myself wrong by… doing exactly what I need to do to spite it. My brain’s a fun place sometimes.

So year’s goals are all about growing and becoming, but it’s also about finishing and achieving. It’s going somewhere, it’s doing something, it’s getting shit done, but finishing what I’ve started.

I imagine some of you are in the same boat, so I invite you to join me on this little adventure. Let’s arm ourselves with a shield of spite and a sword of determination. Let’s wield the magics of getting shit done and I’ve got this. Let’s shout our war-cry of “fuck this shit!” Let’s defeat the hoards of haters and journey through the lands of self-doubt and fear, following the road paved with good intentions, to defeat the final boss known as the dreaded To Do List.

(Everything sounds more epic when you make it an adventure. Try it next time you go grocery shopping or to the gym. It can be a wild ride and shake up even the worst days. It’s like trying to say ‘bubbles’ in an angry voice. Impossible to stay in a bad mood and yet weirdly satisfying.)

The Spell

Okay, if you skipped to the end, hi! If you read the whole post, then wow and thanks for reading my rambling! Either way, here’s your spell.

New Year’s Resolution Self-Dedication Spell

This spell’s intended goal is to turn your regular ol’ new year’s resolution into a magical dedication to yourself. A magical promise. Here’s what you’ll need.

Ingredients:

• An item you touch every single day (your phone, hair brush, keys, the fridge)
• Citrus (an orange, for example)
• Your new year’s resolution written on paper
• Water

Write down your new year’s resolution on a slip of paper.

Fill a jar or cup with water. Ideally, it should be solar water (water infused with a full day of sunshine), but it can be moon water or even just regular tap water.

Zest the orange into the water. If you have no idea what zesting is, I’ll explain. Essentially, you take your orange (or whatever citrus you’re using) and you take a knife or vegetable peeler, and you peel a sliver of the rind or skin of the citrus fruit. It doesn’t need to be a big or deep sliver. You’re aiming for the peel rather than the fruit or the membrane around the fruit (the white stuff in an orange), but if you get some of the fruit or membrane, that’s ok. I’d add seven pieces of zest to the water, but you can do as much or as little as you’d like. Alternatively, you can use a citrus extract, a citrus essence, or a citrus essential oil.

Now add the paper with your resolution into the water. Allow to sit, at least twenty minutes (for the year 2020). If you’re using this spell at any other time, I’d recommend seven hours, for luck. But you can leave it for any period of time that feels magically important to you.

While you wait, it’s time to consider a magical symbol. You can make a sigil from the new year’s resolution with any method you like. Or you can pick a magical symbol that holds importance to you (like a pentacle, arrow, cross, etc). You can also draw any symbol that represents your resolution, like a graduation cap for graduating college, a dumbbell for the gym, or a book for reading more. You could also just write out your new year’s resolution in words or even abbreviate it. Or you can mix and match the aforementioned ideas to come up with your own little symbol.

You may also want to take this time to lightly cleanse the object you’re enchanting. Not enough of a cleansing to wipe away any previous enchantment, but enough to serve as a refresh or breath of fresh air. I tend to use bell chimes for this, but to each their own. It’s a completely optional step though.

Once the time’s up, using your finger, a paintbrush, or a wand, draw or write your chosen phrase or image onto the surface of the chosen object with the orange water. Take your time and say the resolution aloud as you write or draw.

When done, say the following:

"Enchanted now you are,
Bespelled you will be, 
You'll keep me to my promise
Of [your new year's resolution].
With my breath, I seal this spell
And set myself my goal.
One I will achieve,
As long as this spell you hold." 

Now take a deep breath and exhale it over the drawn surface.

That’s it! You’re done. Every time you touch the object, you should feel a pull to achieve your resolution. You can add a line to the verse to give yourself a punishment if you don’t achieve your resolution, but I don’t like to punish myself for not doing something, because life happens. You do you though.

You can wipe down the object later or clean it as normal. Just wait at least 20 minutes (in 2020) or at least 7 minutes (any other time) to do so.

Does that spell look great but don’t want to cast it yourself? Contact me and I can cast the spell for you. Details here.

Also, there’s a bunch of spells ready to be cast for you in the Buy A Spell section, including a 2020 New Year Ritual that’s pretty extensive and one I’m pretty proud of.

That’s it! I hope your new year is absolutely wonderful!

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