Category: Spells, Workings, & Charms

Grimoire or Book of Shadows 101

 

Grimoire and BoS 101

 

Grimoire, Book of Shadows, Book of Secrets, Book of Spells… Magical research is often collected into a book (or two) and is known by a specific name. There isn’t a universal name that is correct for your book. You can name it whatever you want! Although “grimoire” isn’t a technically accurate name for my magical research, I use it as it feels best to me and my personal practice. For this post, I’m going to use BoS to refer to this book, whatever you may call it. BoS is often an abbreviation used within the community so it’s probably already familiar to you.

Let’s clear away some of the nonsense right now. You can have a BoS in a notebook. You can have a BoS that is completely digital on the computer or a website. You do not need to have a super pretty book or even have one book – you can have multiple! And you are not bound to that singular book forever. You can fill a book, decide to retire it, and get rid of it, if you so choose.

The sacredness of the Book of Shadows stems entirely on two things – one, Wiccan covens often have specific  rituals written down in their BoS and those books contain their secrets and initiations rites. The books are secretive and sacred because they need to be, as part of the initiation religion. The second reason why magical books have this air of sacredness is because books are, historically, expensive.

Books aren’t commonplace historically. Your average person rarely owned a book except for the Bible. Literacy wasn’t commonplace until public schools were more accessible and even then, many PoC were banned from learning to read. (In fact, in the US, literacy rates between PoC and white people didn’t equal out until 1979 and PoC still suffer from lack of opportunities for education even today.) The rest of it comes from the fact that education was commonly given to the wealthy. You can look through numerous historical household records and find years worth of expenses – but never once is a book mentioned. Even if a person did read well, there was no guarantee that they would read for pleasure.

The most learned men, until recent history, were clergy. Secular scholars were something of a rarity through much of history. So it isn’t surprising that there’s this idea that books are sacred because, for a long time, they were. Families may only own the Bible. It is literal a sacred book. Plus, as said above, until fairly recently in human history, vast majority of the world didn’t have access to literacy or books. Books could also be poorly translated or contain so much academic wording that the average person would struggle to read it (something that holds true even today.) Information was passed down through word of mouth and if it was written down, things often got left out. This is true for just about everything. I’ve personally have three different recipes written by my grandmother for the same dinner roll recipe. Some of those recipes are just a list of ingredients – and none of the recipes have the same ingredients on the list yet all are titled the same. None of the recipes produce the rolls from my mother’s childhood. If that can happen just passing down a family recipe from grandparent to grandchild, imagine what trying to write down family lore would be like?

Suddenly, the lack of magical books and the sacredness of the written historical rituals we do have becomes extremely important. Books are fragile things. They can be easily destroyed. Technical information can be extremely difficult to copy down correctly by memory. Those are the practical reasons why the BoS gained many of the sacredness it has and why it’s so commonplace within the witchcraft community. It’s why the BoS has names like “book of shadows” or “book of secrets”.

 

 

ANYWAY, none of that gives you the information you need to actually create a BoS.

In order to create a BoS, you need to write or record information you want to keep on hand. That’s it. You don’t NEED to have a dedication. You don’t NEED to have a correspondence chart. Would that help? Sure, if it’s useful to your practice.

The best way to start of BoS is to get a blank journal that you like and can take some damage. So while a school notebook is perfectly acceptable (and I had one as my first BoS as a kid myself), having something that can take some candle wax spilling on it is ideal.

Don’t be afraid to mess up the BoS. I, like many of you, fear messing up a beautiful new journal. But, uh, you bought it for that purpose? If you don’t like how it turns out, you can always rip out the page or cover it with white out.

Binders are actually incredibly common for modern practitioners. It may not be pretty but it sure it handy.  Using a binder allows you to print out spells or resources from online, or type them up and print them out. It also allows you to remove stuff from the BoS without damaging the BoS itself. Plus, tabs. Tabs are great things.

Scrapbooking books are also useful for BoS. I’m very fond of the post-style binders or scrapbooking books because it allows you to remove things like a binder but still have that book feel.

Of course, lots of people also use folders on their computers, information saved to their cloud drives, or private blogs to organize their BoS too. Some people have huge Word documents and others have a neat tumblr blog filled with spells.

As said before, you can also organize things by separating your BoS into different books – one book for dreams, another for spells, a third for divination, etc.

Try different systems until you get one to work for you. If you’re not much of a recorder when it comes to data, that’s OK. Some people just work best off the cuff.

 

 

So if the actual physical form of the book doesn’t matter, what does matter?

The information has to mean something to you.

It’s fine to copy things down or take notes for the sake of learning, but what’s the point of writing down a whole bunch of stuff in your BoS if you’re not going to use it? It may be a good idea to keep a separate section, notebook, etc on research that you might want to look back on later but don’t use in your day to day practice.

 

An index is your best friend.

An index is a list of subjects that are contained within a book that lists where you can find those subjects by page. It’s like a table of contents on steroids. And it’s an amazing thing that you’re probably not using.

Your homemade index is probably not going to contain every page a subject is listed on unless you’re super organized or diligent. And if you’re setting up your BoS now, you can plan so you won’t need an index. But for those of you who started a BoS without a plan and are sick of flipping through a hundred pages for that luck spell you KNOW you saw just last week, then you need an index. Take a weekend, write out what pages you can find what information on, and stick that at the front of the book.

Indexes, weirdly, come at the back of the book. Which is super illogical to me because, uh, shouldn’t they all be at the front of the book? So you don’t have to keep flipping to the back of the book to look up something? Do yourself a favorite and put your index at the front of your book. Help your future, exhausted, “I’ve been done with this shit for three hours and just want to go to bed” self out. Not that I’d know that feeling from experiences or anything. Nope, not me.

 

This a labor of love

Writing in your BoS probably won’t be your favorite thing to do. This is especially true if you’re worried about aesthetics. It’s a time consuming task and one that will require consistent and diligent work to be actually useful.

If that’s not your thing, that’s OK! You’re the one who gets to decide how you use that BoS. But if you want it to be indispensable, you’re going to need to put some serious time into it.

 

Space for you to add notes and grow

Most importantly of all, you need to be able to take notes on the information you have written down. Maybe you learned later on that that cool piece of trivia is actually related to some folklore. You might want to add that folklore in but alas! You didn’t save room. Now you’ll need to either add a page or make a note to look up a different page to get your information.

Additionally, your practice will likely grow and change as you grow and change. Your BoS will reflect that over time as well. Make sure there’s enough room to grow or that you’re willing to put your BoS aside and make a new one if the time comes where it no longer serves.

 

 

Of course, you do not need a BoS. You just don’t. My grimoires are spread across a dozen books and, honestly, I barely touch half of them. This is largely because I often make up my spells at a drop of a hat. I don’t really plan out much of my spells so I don’t really need pages upon pages of spells.  Do I have them, sure. But they’re not necessary for me.

Maybe you’re the same. Maybe you’ll find that your BoS isn’t useful to you or that you would be better with a journal style rather than a textbook style BoS. You BoS has to be useful and suit you.

That’s it. That’s all you need! Good luck to the new witchlings out there! And for you old hats, maybe it’s time to dust the cover off that BoS and take a gander at it, hm?

 

 

Links for more reading:

Cornell has a over 3000 books from the time of the Inquisition on witchcraft. http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/w/witch/index.html

I happen to have some online posts on hand regarding household purchases for the 1850-1870s. Keep in mind that the term “dime novels” stems from literally paying a ten cents for a small novel, something that started in 1860. To keep things in perspective, you could buy a pound of granulated sugar or a yard of bleached shirting fabric for the same dime in 1860. Your rent for a four room tenement was $4.45 in 1860.

 

 

How to Create a Deity (Pop Culture Paganism)

How to Create a Deity by This Crooked Crown

 

A few years ago there was quite a kerfuffle about pop culture paganism. Okay, I’m totally downplaying it. It was pretty much a knock-out drag-down fight where people from all over were weighing in on their private blogs and tumblrs. It was a thing for at least a week.

It’s a weird thing to debate to me because I’ve always been using pop culture and non-magical media as inspiration for my magic. I developed my system of energy manipulation through a children’s fantasy book when I was ten. I taught myself scrying from an adult fantasy book not long after that. There is a book series that I’m fairly confident I wouldn’t have survived high school or college without. I read it daily and it helped shaped me in troubled times. I always had a few copies of the books on me, and it got to the point where a friend had copies in her bag in case I forgot mine.

People find hope and faith in all sorts of places. It seems really weird to me that people would disparage anything that others find faith in. Who cares who or what someone else worships? Their worship doesn’t disgrace your deity or deities. If you feel that it does, then it’s something that’s off in your thinking, not the other way around. I mean, there are plenty of faiths that want to have one deity above them all but… uh, that deity’s existence doesn’t necessarily mean other deities don’t exist?

Plus, historically, there are a lot of deities we recognize now that were sort of adapted or merged from other deities. Some of this is due to our historical understanding and some of it was due to regionalism. This is basic, Wikipedia-level knowledge.

Creating deities isn’t new. And worshiping non-deities isn’t new either. It just isn’t. After all, some traditions invoke the elements into their circles, and they aren’t typically considered deities. Sacred, yes, but not deities. Ancestor worship is a world-wide phenomenon and those ancestors aren’t considered gods. Pop culture paganism isn’t just interested in pop culture based pantheons but all aspects of paganism. So pop culture based spells, sacred entities, and so on.

And why not now? Why not now when there’s so much else in the world then there was back then? Who cares if someone you know online worships a god of coffee or a goddess of procrastination? Who cares if they are following the Outsider from Dishonored or are serious about the Elven pantheon from Dragon Age? Who cares if Link and the Legend of Zelda is their source material? What difference does it make if they live by the Jedi codes? So what if they have a shrine to the deity of quantum mechanics? That entity gives them hope, faith, courage, and strength. It makes them stronger. It’s one of the major reasons why people become involved in religions to begin with.

Anyway, there is no proper list of requirements or a checkbox one must fill in to become a deity. There is no list. There is absolutely no such thing as a proper deity because any deity is a proper deity. This is a personal thing. You’re going to have to make up your rules or what is and isn’t a deity yourself.

I could tell you each deity needs attributes or associations, but that’s not strictly true. What each deity usually has is a sphere of influence.

A sphere of influence is the things the deity influences around them. Let’s take Hermes. Hermes is the god of boundaries and thresholds; doorways. This means he crosses between worlds. In fact, except for a few rare occasions, he’s the only deity that can cross between the realm of the dead (as he’s conductor of the dead and an emissary), the mortal realm, and the realm of the gods. This means he has influence in all three locations. Let’s go further. He’s a god of traveling, of journeys (since he’s a god of doorways). He’s also a god of transition, movement: again, traveling, change, etc. This means he’s key and ideal for anyone who’s livelihood relies on traveling. He’s a messenger, right? An emissary. He passes knowledge and information onto others, especially the masses. This means he’s key for any knowledge, wisdom, speechcrafting, or works of art or literature. He’s passing that information on, giving up that culture to others. He’s even a bit of a trickster in some myths, which plays well with his cleverness and previously discussed influences. These are the things he is: we know this because of the source material, the literature we have on him.

So, Hermes is a god of herdsman (travelers), heraldry (messenger), omens (messenger), trade (travelers, messengers and bringing things to the home), travel, luck (because you’d bloody well need it with traveling and hoping someone doesn’t kill the messenger), the dead (again, emissary of the dead), thievery (literally within his mythos), language, education, the arts, literature (again, communication via messenger), athletics (you do that much traveling and you’d be in shape too), and finally the home.

Now the home is interesting here isn’t it? He’s a god of travel but he’s also a god of doorways. Your doorways. To your home. Why the hell wouldn’t you ask such a god to guard your doorways from trespassers? Why wouldn’t you ask for luck and grace as you pass under his doorway each and everyday? You return the same way as well.

That’s all in his sphere of influence. And it goes further. Hermes is associated with rams, due to mythology. So rams are in his sphere of influence. So are certain types of trees, symbols (winged hat, shoes, and staff anyone?). Hermai are a specific symbol that appear over doorways, crossroads, and regular roads as a mini shrine to Hermes himself. And that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure someone out there has a whole huge list of what he’s associated with, all information gathered through mythology and historical, cultural research.

That’s his sphere of influence. Now, how does this relate?

Hearth by This Crooked Crown

Each deity there is can be broken into spheres of influence. Anything from the smallest fae to the greatest deity. All can be broken down into their associations, into their spheres of influence. As a creator of your own deities, you have to create your own mythology and spheres of influence for each of your deities. How detailed they are is up to you. You’ll find it’ll grow through associations humans make with objects.

I’ll take an example from one of my fictional novels-in-progress.

Deandr is a god of death, luck, intoxicants, war, and madness. He shares madness with two other godesses, the goddess of love and passion and the goddess of music, tricksters, and inspiration. Because Deandr’s a god of death and war, he’s worshiped by warriors. He’s a god of fighting (see: death)  and intoxicants so he’d be popular among brawlers and drunkards. He’s a god of luck so gamblers and thieves would find him irresistible. He’s also a god of madness – madness from drinking, from the throes of winning and losing, of adrenaline, blood lust, grief, despair, death, etc. He’s a god of a lot of things. Carrion birds, flesh-eating animals, animals used in combat (like horses), animals considered lucky (rare animals, like albinos, or two headed snakes) would all be part of his sphere of influence. Any plan used to make alcohol or intoxicants would be in his sphere of influence. Lesser attached but still considered would be children born of illicit drunken affairs, prizes from war, money and commerce, crafting, brewing, games. These are things that are attached to him simply by association, even if they strictly aren’t in his sphere of influence.

Now, obviously, spheres of influence can overlap with deities – this is true of all mythology, again, using Hermes as an example, he shares his status as a god of messengers with Iris and he shares his status as a god of the home with Hera and Hestia, depending on the home.

Spell and Herb Candle by This Crooked Crown

 

So the answer is there is no list. You have to decide what each god is in control of and from there let the associations grow. What does that god influence?

I’ll use a pop culture example. Let’s go with Cecil from Welcome to Night Vale. He’s the Voice of Night Vale – so speaking is his thing. But he’s also a messenger of news and plays music residents might not otherwise hear. So he’s the the bringing of new things, changes. He’s ruler of words, carefully crafted. But it goes deeper than that. He’s charismatic. He has influence and can dominate over people. He can sway public opinion, for good or bad. It goes, again, further. He’d also be great at self-deception, love at first sight, and living or creating his own world. He’s a big part of his community and clearly loves it so he’d be great for worship within a community.

For our purposes, this means he’s skilled with all chants and word spells, he’s mesmerizing so he’d be great with influencing and dominating others. As a radio host he’d had a radio personality – meaning he’s partially an illusion. He’d definitely be the entity you’d want to call upon if you had to make a public speech, need to convince someone to do something for you, or send a secret message. Associations would be music, words, voice recordings, any type of broadcasting equipment, broadcasting towers, cats, Carlos, and various other things he’s mentioned as a personal interest. All that from a character who’s physical appearance and off-radio personality we don’t even know.

Bonfire by This Crooked Crown

 

So when you create your deities, sit and really think about them. If they’re a god of water then what does water effect? Well, there’s animals living within it, there’s atmospheres of the sea, there’s darkness and light. There’s stillness and movement. It creates life and can kill. It’s literally a whole world. It can partially suspend gravity (as shit can float on water). And that’s just the beginning. That doesn’t even get into the composition of the water itself or how humans use it. It doesn’t get into that we’re made up of water. Water comes from the sky as well, can be both solid, semi-solid, and liquid (transforming much?). And it goes a ton further than that.

All of that before you get to the setting up of the altar, shrines, or holy spaces. All of that before offerings, rituals, and invocations. Can you skip those steps, sure. But you’ll find that you’ll connect much easier on a rational level when you have things laid out. You’ll find people will take you more seriously (and you’ll take yourself more seriously) when you have it all laid out.

This is a long-term, deeply personal project for each person. It will require quite a lot of thinking and researching the source material. It’ll require you to decide which source materials to follow when you have conflicting information. It’ll require you to think and really connect with this entity as you develop your practice. No two people approach the same entity in the same way – that’s true in any religion. It’s true in pop culture paganism too.

Good luck to those starting this endeavor. I hope this helps provide some thoughts on your path. I’m happy to be a sounding board to bounce ideas off of, if you’re stuck! Just drop me an email. Best wishes!

[Updated and adapted from my original post here.]

Protection During Storms [Spell Saturday #70]

This spell will not guarantee your safety but it should help provide opportunities to keep you safe. This spell is ideal for situations where you may be evacuated due to weather. Remember to heed safety and rescue instructions when you’re dealing with severe weather conditions. And please, be safe.

What you’ll need:

  • Nettle
  • Mugwort
  • Mullein
  • Thyme
  • Chalcedony
  • Coins
  • Red bag

 

Gather all the ingredients together. You only need a pinch of each of the herbs. They can be dried or fresh. This spell is best made up ahead of time, especially if you fear you may need to move quickly or be evacuated.

Once you have everything, lay it out in front of you and prepare the small bag you’ll need to store and carry these items with. Red is used to create energy, protect, and to help you be seen. Draw, cast, or place protective sigils and symbols on the bag. You can even wash the bag in protective or sacred water.

Focus on feeling safe, powerful, and capable. Hold each ingredient in front of you, in turn, and say the following,

Hold the mugwort in front of you, concentrating on it.

“Mugwort, I call upon you to lessen fatigue,

I carry you to protect me

From storms and enemies, at home or away.

Protect me while I travel,

Let me weather the storms around me.”

Place the mugwort in your bag. Pick up the nettle, place it in front of you and say,

“Nettle,  I call upon you to calm the storm,

I carry you to give me courage

From fear and pain, brought by others and myself.

Protect me from what will harm me,

Guide me to where I can weather this storm.”

Place the nettle in the bag. Pick up the mullein, hold it in front of you and say,

“Mullein, I call upon you to ease my weariness

I carry you to keep my lungs clear, 

From pain and cowardice, allowing my voice to be heard.

Protect me from what will ail me,

Guard my health and body as I weather this storm.”

Place the mullein in the bag. Pick up the thyme, holding it in front of you as you say,

“Thyme, I call upon you protect me

I carry you to strength me 

From the depths of my heart and soul, protecting and encouraging.

Protect me from all which will bring misery,

Bring me what I need to survive and thrive.”

Place the thyme in the bag.

Pick up the chalcedony and hold it to your heart. Concentrate on you and your loved ones being safe and healthy through the storms. Place it in the bag. Chalcedony is good for traveling and protecting yourself during political upheaval.

Gather the coins in your hands. Rub the coins between your hands, like you’re lathering soap. The coins are meant to figuratively allow you to pay your way past trouble and malicious spirits. Say or think as you rub your hands.

“These coins pay my way on the road ahead.”

Place the coins in the bag. When and if you feel like you’re being hunted by spirits or bad luck, take out a coin and leave it somewhere. After you place the coin, leave that place and don’t look back.

After everything’s in the bag, close the bag up and keep it on you until fair skies return.

Notes:

  • If you’re in a pinch, items can be stored in a sock or envelope or even shoved into the pocket of a coat or bag.
  • Red is used to create energy, protect, and to help you be seen. Blue can be used to protect, if you prefer.

Elemental Combinations

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 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 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.

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.

Of course, the thing with element associations is that they are NOT universal. Every practitioner will need to rely on their cultural or traditional folklore in addition to their own personal associations.

 

However, correspondence charts are super helpful, especially when they’re well-researched. To that end, I’m happy to announce that I’m releasing online correspondence charts for free to you all.

These are heavily researched with sources. As in, you can look up where each correspondence comes from right down to the page. Right now, we’re starting with herbal correspondences because I have hundreds readily available but stones, metals, and other correspondences will come along in time.

I’m super happy to finally be sharing this with you. Keep an eye on the correspondence charts because they will constantly be updated. I will eventually create a downloadable PDF with all the correspondences but for now, it’s online only. Enjoy!

Protection from Fire [Spell Saturday #69]

This is a spell designed to protect a home, business, or location in general from fire. This is not going to guarantee your home will be fire-free so make sure you have appropriate renters, business, or homeowner’s insurances along with fire safety equipment.

Seriously, don’t be foolish. Don’t use just this spell to protect your home.

What you’ll need:

  • A sigil against fire
  • Ashes from a fire that has burned in your home or on your property
  • Holy water or water enchanted with protective energies (see notes)

First, create a sigil that is to protect you and the surrounding area from fire. You can use any method you like to create the sigil or you can borrow a sigil from another source. Or you can just take a picture of a fire. Print or write out the sigil. It doesn’t have to be a big image, just visible enough to define clearly.

Gather the ashes from a fire. The ashes can be from a fire pit, fireplace, or even some paper burned in a metal trash can. You’ll probably need a handful or more of ashes so make sure you have enough before starting this.

Take the ashes and mix them, little by little with the holy or protective water. You’re trying to make a slightly thin paste. It should feel a bit like pancake batter or ointment – thicker than paint but thinner than a buttercream frosting.

Once you have your paste, go up to the lowest accessible point in your house and trace the sigil on the paper (or, even better, onto the house itself) with the paste. Allow to dry.

Not go to the highest accessible point of your house and do the same thing. You may also want to repeat the procedure in all four corners of the house.

Toss the paste once you’re done. Keep holy water or protective water on hand. Every year or so, go back over the sigil with the holy water.

 

Notes:

  • Google “sigil generator” to find an online generator if you’re really stuck when it comes to a sigil.
  • Protective water can be anything you like. It could be gathered from a stream on your property, salt water, blessed water, or holy water. Even full moon water is good. Any of these waters are perfectly acceptable. It just has to be water that you feel is incredibly protective.
  • Make sure that the paste didn’t mold. A couple days after you’ve done the spell, double check to make sure it hasn’t gotten moldy or gross. If it has, you can scrape it clean and trace the sigil again with the holy water.
  • If you’re writing on the paper and not the house, make sure that you have enough sigil papers to go around. If the paper gets to be too worn to use, make up a new one and repeat the spell.

Cursed By The Stars [Spell Saturday #68]

Ever hate someone so much that you wish them to forever be cursed? It’s a serious commitment and require a serious amount of thinking time before you take the plunge. If you really think someone deserve this kind of punishment, keep on reading.

This spell is meant to curse someone using the energy of the stars they were born under.  So long as they walk under the star’s light or can see the stars in the sky, they’re cursed.

 

What you’ll need:

  • Target’s full name
  • Target’s birthday
  • Target’s birth location
  • Bonfire
  • A star-filled night
  • Offering for the stars (see notes)

First, write down your target’s name, birthday, and place of birth. Try to get as close as possible for the birthplace (city or hospital is preferred.) Fold the piece of paper up and carry it close to your heart for one day and one night.

During that twenty four hour period, think of them often and how much you hate them. You can think of what you want happen to them or you can just keep that hatred vague. Up to you.

Once the twenty-four hour period is done, travel to a place where there stars are brightest, if possible. Light a campfire or bonfire that is visible to the stars. If you’re with others, wait until they go to bed or are away from the fire to cast the spell.

Now invoke the stars. You might call upon the stars in your zodiac constellation or a star you’ve felt particularly drawn to. Or you can just ask the stars to listen to your request. Be as poetic or are blunt as possible. This needs to come entirely from the heart. Say something like, “Oh stars above, listen to my pleas, and curse the one whose name I offer thee”.

Now that you’ve gotten the stars’ attention, leave your offering to them somewhere within sight of the stars but out of sight for humans. Try sticking the offering in a tree or tucked under some bushes.

Take the piece of paper with your target’s name on it and hold it in front of you. Raise it above your head so the stars can see it and say something like, “Stars, I curse this person who has done me wrong. Curse them with your heavenly light. May they days be ever dark and filled with the torment they have brought me. As long as they walk under your light, they are cursed.” Again, this is something that needs to come from the heart so be as specific or as vague as you want. Just talk to the stars and tell them what you want to happen.

When done, toss the paper into the fire’s heart and watch it burn up, the ashes going into the sky. Thank the stars if you want and allow your hatred to burn. Whether that hatred continues after this fire or begins to abate is up to you.

In the morning or at dawn, go through a cleansing process and cast a protection and blessing spell over yourself.

Notes:

  • Offering for the stars can be anything. A bundle of sweet herbs to scent the fire, shining coins to reflect their light, a mirror, stones, whatever you think is appropriate. It’s up to you. Make sure that the offering is either completely degradable or is something that doesn’t degrade at all. You don’t want to harm the animals or earth here.
  • It’s probably best to cast this spell in a place where you can see as many stars as possible. A place with less light pollution. If this isn’t possible in your home, maybe take a camping trip and cast the spell then.
  • Using magical ink, war water, or body fluids to write the spell out is a good idea. Similarly, try using magical paper.
  • A campfire or bonfire is important to this spell because we’re interested in the ashes and smoke rising from the fire. A candle doesn’t generate enough flames for this spell to work properly.

The Sun’s Invitation [Spell Saturday #67]

This is a very adaptable spell. It’s used to increase the things you want more of in your life. So if you want love, you’ll add that component. If you want money, you add that. It’s used for what you want. Unlike the full moon or sun variations of this spell, this one can be used to invite things you do not currently possess into your life.

That being said, this can be a tricky spell to pull off in some people’s home environments. You need complete darkness on a new moon night.

Ingredients:

  • Items you want to increase in your life
  • Solar Water [see notes]

Collect together items that represents the things you want in your life. You might have a handful of cash, a picture of a college diploma, a love letter written to a dream lover, or anything else. Think creatively and simply. If you want to travel to Aruba, put in a picture of Aruba. Don’t make things hard for yourself by trying to collect the perfect representations. If you can’t get a visual, write or draw it.

Once you have together your items, take them and place them on a table next to a window where there is sunlight all day long. If your space is secure, put it outside on a balcony or in your yard. Or take it to the park or beach with you. You want as much light as possible to sit on these items.

Be smart about this. Don’t leave a wad of cash on your windowsill and expect it to not get stolen if you live on the ground floor and leave the window open. Be as discreet as possible with your items but don’t cover them up. If something will become faded by the sun and you still want to keep it, take a picture of it and use that instead.

Place a drop of solar water on each item then leave them there all day long. You can leave the items untouched for a full 24 hour period or you can take the items away immediately. You may wish to avoid spending any money used in this spell until after the full moon.

You can repeat this spell as often as you like.

Notes: 

  • Solar water recipe is to gather water on a bright sunny day from a sunny location. A good example would be to collect water from a river on a sunny day. A more reasonable alternative is to pour tap or filtered water into a jar and leave that in the sun for a full day (sunrise to sunset).
  • If you’re charging water, crystals, or anything else by the moon’s light, do this in a separate location than this spell.
  • If something is water sensitive, you can just dab the water on your finger and run it along the least sensitive surface and wipe it off. Or dampen a cloth with the solar water and wash the item that way.
  • We avoid putting the items in a bag or container so the lack of sunlight can touch them. A good middle ground is a big glass mason jar.

Happy casting!

Star of the Apple’s Heart Faerie Love Spell [Spell Saturday #66]

Apples are one of the most ubiquitous fruits in magic and folklore. I mean, it’s an apple. I can say, with fair confidence, that apples can be used in just about any type of spell.

This one is a love spell, designed to ask for a lover to be brought to you by the faeries. I can literally hear some of you screaming “no!” at why this might be a bad idea. Typically and traditionally speaking, faeries aren’t likely to bring you anything but mischief and trouble. When they help, they take something in return. It’s extremely rare to run into a faerie story where the human is gifted something by the faeries for nothing.

However, if one is on good terms with faeries or if one is willing to take a risk, the love a faerie might bring you in exchange for your offering could be fantastic. You may meet a physical lover, a charming new neighbor or co-worker to fall in love with. You might have a passionate affair. Or, you may be offered a spirit lover, such as the faerie themselves or some other spirit.

Remember to read the notes at the end for more details.

What you’ll need:

  • Two fresh, sweet red apple, washed and shined
  • A great offering to the faeries (suggestions here)
  • A place where you can leave your offerings to the faeries
  • A knife to cut the an apple with

First, select your offerings. This step is the most important and requires the most prep. Pick natural containers to store your offerings. So if you’re pouring milk, pour it into a quickly compost-friendly bowl or cup. Or you can pour the liquid into the shell of a piece of fruit.

Next, secure the place where you’re going to cast the spell. As tempted as you might be to cast this spell at your altar or work space, it’s better to go to the faeries themselves. Find a place that feels most connected to the fae and ensure you won’t be disturbed for at least half an hour.

Now, set up your offering. You can leave the offering at the base of a tree or on a fallen log. Or you can leave it along the shore or on a rock. When you’re happy with the set up, put one of the apples in front of or in a prominent place in the offerings and say,

“Spirits of this place,

Faeries of this glen,

I bring to you an offering.

In return, I ask of you a boon,

Bring to me a lover new.

One who is fair, loyal, and kind.

One who will endeavor not to harm or hide.”

Pick up the second apple and say,

“With this apple, I cast a spell,

Using the boon of the faeries

And the blessing of the stars.

One half for me and the other for my love.”

Now cut the apple in half so the center is visible. Hold the apple halves up so the light of the stars or sun, respectively, can shine on it for a moment.

“I take this spell into myself and offer a gift,

Bring to me the one who will accept my kiss.”

Then kiss one half of the apple and bite into the other half. Leave the kissed half of the apple by the faerie offering and eat the other half of the apple. Then take your leave of that place for now. You should soon find yourself the center of romantic attention from someone, if you offering was accepted.

Accept the lover offered to you. The way this spell is designed is that you can mark out the type of behavior this lover demonstrates. Unlike other “describe your future lover” spells, this isn’t to bring you someone who fits a long list of ideals but rather the kind of behavior you will find acceptable and tolerable in your relationship. This lover probably won’t be someone that you would normally date or normally meet. If you reject the lover offered, then there’s no way of knowing how the faerie will respond. They may bring you a different choice or they may be offended that you rejected their offering.

Notes:

  • I recommend overdoing the offering rather than try to match or undersell it.
  • To create a fruit skin to put your offerings in is simple. First, pick a large, thickly or solid skinned fruit. Cut the fruit in half and scoop out the flesh of the fruit. Wash the skin and set in the sun to dry if you’re not going to make your offering immediately but do make the offering in the next few days. Toss any skins that begin to become crumbly or soft. Mango and avocado skins are particularly good choices but similar fruits or vegetables can be used. You can also simply hollow out a large, dense fruit to make your offering in, like a potato, apple, or watermelon.
  • Change the wording as needed. If you’re working in a desert, you won’t say the word “glen” for example. If you’re looking for something specific in a lover, mention it in the spell. The spell does not have to rhyme. Keep your list of attributes short but make sure you mention the critical things most important to you. You don’t want to give the faerie wiggle room or loopholes on the things that matter. For example, if you want to date a man who will not abuse you in any capacity, make sure to outright say that. It may be something that’s seemingly obvious in other love spells but you want to cover all the bases here.

By the Luck of the Moon [Spell Saturday #65]

The Moon is often associated with love, death, and other things. It isn’t often associate with money. The Sun tends to take that claim. This is especially true when it comes to gambling and games of chance.

Here is a spell that is designed to grant you a boost of luck using the moon’s power. It’s a spell that’s useful only when the moon is visible and will work better when the moon is waxing or full. Avoid this spell during the waning or new moon.

 

What you’ll need:

  • Moonwater

Before you go out or attempt a game of chance, wash your hands in moonwater made during a full moon’s night. Allow to air dry.

Now step outside where you can see the moon and hold out your hands. Say the following,

Moon above,

Shining star’s reflection

Grant to me your blessing

My hands will on this night,

Bring luck to my side.”

The spell will last until sunrise.

Notes:

  • This spell is ideal for when you’re playing games of chance with your hands, such as cards, dice, or slot machines. It’s less useful for gambling such as the lottery or racing.
  • Washing your hands may disable the spell. It’s been hit or miss with it working as soon as you wash your hands. You can reapply the moonwater and recast the spell but I find that it’s kind of a one hit wonder in this regard. I try to avoid washing my hands while using this spell unless sanitation is required.

Treat Me Better Spell [Spell Saturday #64]

We’ve all had people treat us like shit sometimes. Maybe you have a friend that doesn’t understand that sometimes they go too far with the jokes or they use you as a doormat. Maybe they always go on and on about their problems but aren’t they for you all the time. They’re not bad people and they’re not necessarily a bad friend, they just don’t think of how they’re treating you.

This spell is designed to encourage them to treat you better. This isn’t going to make them see the error of their ways though. It’s not designed as an “eye opener” spell but rather just a spell to make someone treat you nicer.

What you’ll need:

  • Sugar for sweetness
  • Hydrangea petals to ego boosting and sweetness
  • Meadowsweet for happiness
  • Apple blossom for happiness
  • Calendula for happiness
  • Gardenia for friendship
  • Rue to work against jealousy
  • Snapdragons to work against lies and deception
  • Heliotrope for friendly words
  • Clover for luck
  • Bottle or bag to carry with you

Gather all of your herbal ingredients and place them in a bowl in direct sunlight for about an hour. Then take the herbs inside and pour the sugar on top of the herbs. You don’t need to cover the herbs but you should be able to see the sugar throughout.

Place your hand lightly on top of the herbs and say,

“Sweetness you’ll become

When in the presence of this mixture“

If there’s someone specific you want to make treat you better, say the following (or something like it). If you’re just trying to make people in general around you treat you better, skip the ahead.

“Treat me as I desire

I encourage you to try

To be better and kind. 

Treat me better,

Treat me kind,

By this spell and power mine.”

No matter which version of the spell you’re doing, place the herbs and sugar in a bag or bottle and carry it with you.

Notes:

  • Use substitutes for the above herbs as needed. I gave the reasons I selected those herbs so feel free to swap them out as needed.
  • Remember to change up the wording as it suits your needs
  • You can absolutely use a plastic container or ziploc bag for spells. Plastic will not hurt your spells, as far as I’ve experienced. A tic-tac container or similarly shaped bottle works well.