Category: Techniques & How Tos

13 Ways to Break a Curse

Need to break a curse fast? Here’s 13 ways you can do it.

Not sure you’re cursed? Go here and check out the symptoms of being cursed. Have a cursed item? Here’s some tips to end that curse on an object. Want a list of herbs to help break a curse? Go right here.

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1 Smoke cleansing

The best method to use smoke cleansing to break a curse is a two step process. First, pick a non-toxic hex-breaking herb(s) and burn that, waving the smoke around the cursed person, object, or place. Then repeat with a cleansing herb selection. Incense made with or using the scent of hex-breaking herbs will also work.

2 Living Water

Water universally is used in witchcraft and magical practices. The key is to select living water such as a river, ocean, and so on to allow the curse to wash away.

Want a more ritualized version? Go to the ocean and stand in the water while the sun rises. Allow the waves to hit you as many times as you need to feel freed from the curse. Some say being hit seven times with a wave breaks bad luck.

3 Bath Water

Baths are not only relaxing but they can un-hex you too. Create a bath with non-toxic hex-breaking herbs. Soak in the bathwater and scrub your body. Drain the tub, run the bath again this time with relaxing and cleansing herbs. Soak in this water and let yourself drift off, hex-free.

4 Mop Water or Floor Wash

Infuse your cleaning water with hex-breaking herbs to really get in the nitty-gritty. A pinch of herbs for a bucket of water can go a long way and can be used on most surfaces. Don’t forget to wash doors, windows, walls, ceilings, and floors too. Test the water in small areas first in case of staining.

5 Drink it

Make a potion with non-toxic non-allergenic hex-breaking herbs. Drink this before bed. In the morning, make sure you urinate first thing when you wake up. Then shower and wash all your bedding.

6 Egg Method

Get an egg and roll it over your body. Get as much of your body as you can, especially the palms of your hands, your head, gentiles, torso, and the soles of your feet. Then take the egg to a crossroad away from your house and smash it on the ground. Leave in a different direction from which you came.

Candle Smoke

7 Pass It On

Pass the curse on to someone else. You can use a person, a poppet, or even a rock as your subject. You’ll have to have a pretty good idea what the curse is and you’ll probably need a pretty good idea on how to manipulate energy or spells in order to push the spell onto someone else but it’s definitely doable.

A lit candle can also be used to pass the curse on. Then simply blow the candle out and toss it in the trash to be done with it.

8 Reverse It

Reversing the curse or sending it back on the sender is a popular choice. Usually a mirror or reflective surface is used for this. Ideally, you’ll look at the mirror and pronounce that the spell once cast on you is now returned to sender. There are lots of spells of this nature out there so look for one, if you’re interested.

9 Pass Through a Graveyard

Someone could break bad luck by passing through a graveyard on a full moon. Ideally, the graveyard should have two entrances, allowing you to pass through one side and out the other. If that’s not possible, then walk the perimeter of the graveyard in a full circle and pass through the entrance once again. Make sure you can legally enter that graveyard after dark.

10 Destroy the Source

Curses often have some sort of physical component to it. Breaking the physical vessel of the spell may break the spell itself. “May” being the operative word here. Some casters are clever and set up security measures for this sort of thing.

Additionally, some spells are cast in the spiritual realms or use spirits to do the dirty work. A trip to the astral may be needed in order to break the spell, if that’s the case.

11 Blessing Upon You

A simple way to counter a curse is to seek out a blessing. Find a clergy member of any religion capable of giving a blessing and go through the steps needed to cleanse yourself and be blessed in the name of the appropriate entity.

Invoking the name of an entity or deity often works just as well as a full blessing.

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12 Through Fire

Take a fresh picture of yourself and print it out. On the back, write down the symptoms and bad crap that keeps happening to you. Cast this into a flame, let the picture burn completely, and dose the fire. You could say something like “as this fire burns, so does the one who curses me” or “as this fire dies, so does my curse.”

13 Spin around three times and spit

This is an old one but is so commonplace. Plus, it’s the easiest one by far.

 

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to break curses and the above are just a select few. It’s best to arm yourself with a few techniques so you can handle any type of curse or negativity thrown your way.

Cleansing Bell

I love bells. I have a lot of them of all different kinds. It’s a thing. I get a new ones every year and I wear them daily.

Bells have been used in magical practices for a long time and, generally speaking, the tone of a ringing bell is used to cleanse a room. I find bells to be more multi-purpose than that so I use them for protection, warnings, summonings… the list goes on. But today we’re talking about cleansing.

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My favorite way to use bells is to wear them!

 

There’s a ton of ways to set up a cleansing bell and there’s a lot of rituals out there that can show you how to do this or how to use a bell to cleanse. In various practices, there’s specific steps to using them. But, since I don’t follow any of those practices, I’ll talk about how I use them and how to make one for yourself.

First, get yourself a bell. Any bell will do. For cleansing, it’s the tone and sound of the bell that’s important so pick a bell that sounds good. It should have a tone that is pleasing to the ear to you and yet has a clear tone that radiates energy and light to you.

To test the bell’s sound and energy, close your eyes, take a deep breath and release it. Then ring the bell. Pay attention to how you feel and how it sounds. Do you feel more relaxed? Does the sound make you smile?

The bell can be in any shape, size, color, material, or even come in a set. You could even use cowbells if you want! I recommend Irona Works to buy handmade bells. If you’re more inclined towards DIY you can give this simple clay bell tutorial a whirl.

 

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Irona Works’ Oh So Tiny and Cute Mixed Windchimes. https://www.etsy.com/listing/97450188/sale-oh-so-tiny-and-cute-mixed

Once you’ve picked a bell,  it’s time to wash it. Since most bells are made of metal, you can give it a wipe down with some holy, blessed, or magical water. Moon water collected during a full or new moon will work as well. Salt water may also work, depending on the metal type (some metals may have chemical reactions so double check first!)

If your bell cannot be washed, such as in the case of very old bells with beautiful patinas or clay bells, then you might want to try leaving the bell in a place where it can get as much moonlight or sunlight as possible for a full 24-hour period. (Although, if your bell is painted, you may wish to avoid direct sunlight so it doesn’t fade.)

You can also use a blast of energy to overwhelm and reset the bell’s energy. However, this should only be done on days you’re feeling centered and balanced, so you don’t accidentally send out negative energy in the process.

It should be noted that not all bells will need cleansing! I once picked up an antique bell that had the perfect energy. Resetting that bell’s energy would have been a terrible shame. On the other hand, I once was given a bell that had some weird nastiness to it and it needed resetting and cleansing three times before I was happy with it. It will really depend on the bell and you to determine what’s best.

Stair Bells

My favorite way to use bells is to wear them!

 

Now that the bell’s cleansed and reset, it’s time to get cozy with it. On a day that you’re in a good mood and at peace, sit with the bell nearby you. You can do anything you want during that time, but the bell should be within reach. Just sitting near it will give the bell your energy. You can also meditate with the bell and focus on passing on peace and serenity. (Or whatever you want your home to feel like when cleansed).

Time for cleansing! Now walk around the space you want to cleanse and ring the bell! That’s all you need to do. You can walk in a particular direction, such as clockwise, to invoke certain energies or counter clock-wise if you want to banish energies. (Or you can walk in the pattern of a sigil or any direction you want.) I recommend cracking a window or door just a bit so any entities that want to flee can do so.

You can say anything you want during this time or add anything to the cleansing. I like to put on a fun playlist that embodies the energy I want in my home. I sometimes cleanse the space with incense and follow up with the bell. But sometimes I just pick up a bell and ring it.

Hanging Bell

My favorite way to use bells is to wear them!

 

 

That’s it. That’s all there is to bell cleansing. This is a great technique for your repertoire and can work beautifully for stealth practitioners or someone who wants to always have a cleansing method on-hand. Besides, it’s always fun to pull out a little bell from wherever and give it a ring.

How to Design Your Own Spiritual Calendar

The Wheel of the Year is one of the most popular new age systems of calendars but it’s not the only one out there. Hellenics and Heathens, for example, often follow a calendar of festival and holidays of historical relevance and reverence to their practice.

But what about everyone else?

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Source: Wikipedia.com

The Wheel of the Year is a fairly modern creation cobbled from historical (and in some cases still practiced) festivals and holidays, notably with Western European origins. But the world is not comprised with entirely Western European practices. Even if you don’t have a specific culture you work within, the Wheel of the Year might not appeal to you for many reasons. It feels weird to me to have a harvest festival when I don’t have a crop to harvest and it feels odd to celebrate the coming of spring when winter will go on for another six weeks in my neck of the woods. The Wheel of the Year works well for a select group of people and in a select climate and everything else is somewhat forced.

If you love the Wheel of the Year and want to use it, for whatever reason, that’s totally up to you. But if you want something different, stick around.

The first thing you really have to consider is selecting what days are important to you and how you’re going to incorporating your calendar with everyone else’s. Your family and fellow practitioners probably has certain holidays they consider important so that’s worth tracking as well. But what’s key is to pick out the events that you want to be most important to you.

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You might start off with just a single day for now but give it time and thought and often you’ll find that the calendar fills up. Maybe you need a day of rest and meditation after each college semester or you want to hold a ritual to pray for family and friends on the third of every month. Do you want to mark down the times with the best waves as an ocean witch? Maybe gardening practitioners want to hold their spring festivals on the days the frost is over for the year. There’s so many places you can go with this!

Don’t forget to look at historical holidays too. Are there special holidays or days associated with deities, gods, or spirits you worship or work with? Are there heroes you want to honor? Is there some pop culture being you wish to emulate? Dates and seasons relevant to these entities can all be marked on your calendar. Maybe you just raise a glass in their name or maybe you devise a ritual for them. How you denote what to do on those days is up to you.

You may also want to consider what’s a cornerstone festival and what’s more secondary. Do you need to add something to your calendar as an obligation? Or maybe something holds a more personal significance to you. It may not be spiritual or religious but it’s still time you want to spend doing something personally important to you. Figuring this out can save your sanity and let you focus on what’s really important and what’s nice to do when you have the time.

For example, the first week of September I spend rereading the entire Harry Potter series. It’s not spiritually important but it has personal importance to me. For another example, I hold seer’s vigils for spirits and the dead to clear the crossroads every couple of months. This isn’t a witchcraft or spiritual thing. It’s more of being a friendly neighbor duty to me. If I ever moved away from the Crossroads house, I probably wouldn’t need to hold those vigils anymore. Both these events aren’t nearly as important as my Demon Festivals however so if it came down to only paying attention to one holiday, the Demon Festivals would win out for me.

calendar 2

 

You can have as many or as few holidays and festivals as you like and they can serve whatever purpose you want. Do you want a three day event where you spend as much time as possible having sex and conducting fertility rites with a consenting lover? Have fun! Do you want to dedicate five days of rituals and rites to an honored goddess? Go for it. Want to include birthdays, a cleaning schedule, or your family TV shows schedules? You can add that too. It might not be religious but it’s still important to mark down and is good for mental health. Plus, having everything in one place is usually a good idea.

Start with days and events that are important to you and go from there. My calendar is a mix of religious and spiritual events with practical events (like the vigils) and personal events like Harry Potter Week. They all have some sort of significance to me but they serve different purposes.

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You can physically design your calendar any way you want. I have my calendar copied in full on Google Calendar (as shown above) but I also write down major events in my business planner. I don’t bother copying it, however, on a hanging calendar as I feel like it’s not necessary. I really adore using a calendar like Moon Planner which is set up by the phases of the moon. (The English version is available under “For Foreigners” and only as a PDF right now.) This could be a great option if you’re very into moon-based rituals.

And that’s how you design a holiday calendar personalized to your practice and you! A calendar is meant to keep track of days and events that you consider important. You can add or subtract to that calendar at any given time so there’s no reason to not give it a try. It’ll take time so don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works for you. You can always add days in addition to the Wheel of the Year as well, so you can be as flexible as you want.

 

Blessing & Ensorcelling Your Plants

Earth day is here. Some practitioners will even have rituals to renew the environment, praise mother nature, or volunteer to help clean up pollution. Others will spend their day adding or tending their garden or houseplants. And then there’s some who don’t care or have “oh shit!” moments ten minutes to midnight and light a candle and dust off their cactus. To each their own.

 

Nature tends to be a very large portion of a great many people’s practices and growing the plants used in your practice is kind of assumed at times. But gardening isn’t easy. Some plants are notoriously difficult to grow like mandrake and others like mint can go wildly out of control if caution isn’t taken. You have to decide what’s better for you to grow versus what’s better for you to buy when needed. Then you add in your climate, local laws, and just how much space you even need to grow plants. Gardening is a huge endeavor and can get expensive very quickly.

I’m no green thumb. I kill plants all the time. I blame this largely because of space issues – I have too much space in the Crossroads House. House plants are far-flung so it becomes a hassle to care for them in a timely manner and when conveniently or aesthetically placed, there’s little sun for the plants to grow. Outside, the soil’s not great but it’s the layout of the property itself that makes it a gardening challenge. And let me tell you: It is a major annoyance of mine. My neighbors have this palatial garden next door and it irks me so much.

My number one gardening tip is to take it slow. Pick two or three plants a growing season and focus on them. Read up about their care and see how that does. Then pick up another few the next year. Over time you’ll have all the plants you want and you’ll know how to care for them without sinking a big chunk of cash into it. Plus, you’ll develop gardening habits so six weeks in you don’t slack off and kill hundreds of dollars worth of plants.

But what do you do with them? Outside of caring for them and using the bits in your practice, how do you work magic with living plants? There’s numerous ways to do it.

 

Plant with a blessing. For my 21st birthday I asked for a tree and a cat. I got Kiki and a cherry blossom tree. My tree is now huge and beautiful but it didn’t grow that way without help. When I planted my tree, I layered clean water on blessed herbal water on clean water, then murmured numerous beneficial inspiration and motivation as I planted it. I layered in spells for protection and health. Make the entire act of planting a spell and ritual.

Add enchanted decoration. Hanging a crystal from a tree branch or adding quartz to a flower pot not only adds an aesthetic beauty but also can add energy to the plant itself. Crystals aren’t the only thing you can use though! I enchant a very large number of wind chimes to my purposes and hang them up.  I’ve also used pinwheels, tiny statues, and wooden signs.

 

Placement and pots. Adding a fun or funny pot can make or break a “boring” plant. Planting flowers with interesting color combinations can really make your garden stunning. Enchant those things. When you add soil to your garden or water the grow before planting, mutter your spells and send energy towards it. I write in chalk or water sigils or spells inside and outside the pot to encourage growth, strength, and health.

Work with what you got. Look to see what already grows naturally around you. The Crossroads House came with grapevines so I had a crash course in how to care for them. To my delight, poke weed and bittersweet nightshade all grow naturally in my yard (but so does poison ivy and poison sumac. Oops.) But don’t be afraid to ditch what you got. I’m not a fan of hostas but there were over a dozen of them when we bought the house. I ended up re-homing a bunch of them to friends back in college and I’m still finding more of them half a decade later. Just because you have plants you didn’t super want doesn’t mean you can’t enchant them too. When I cut back or rearrange the creeping jenny and grapevines, I put spells on them.

Ask the plant! If you’re an animist, then you’re probably of the school of thought that plants have spirits. So simply ask the plant what spells they should be used in. I tend to plop down somewhere sunny and meditate with the plant for a little while until I get a sense of what I should do. Sometimes it follows along with folklore and sometimes it’s out of left field. For example, I have a climbing rose bush that I only use for curses or vengeful bindings because the plant is mean and vindictive. I never come away working with that rose bush without several new wounds. No other rose bush gives me that trouble. My bittersweet nightshade is a sweetie though and super laid back. My hydrangeas are perfectly happy to protect, encourage, or connect to the spiritual world – in exchange for a a gallon or so of water. Maybe I’m projecting but my spells work and the plants are alive still so I give it the benefit of a doubt.

 

But what kind of spells can you use? Anything. Growth, protection, and health spells are the easiest to pull off. But money or job spells? Sure. I grow basil as a money spell. Curses? Yup. My creeping jenny will stop any enemy or thief in their tracks. It’ll take care of curses too. And that’s just from telling it what I want it to do while taking care of it. I find plants to be a really great alternative to positive jar spells. Plant some sunflowers or marigolds in soil mixed with a few pinches of other herbs can really boost household happiness.

Heads up though. Unless killing the plant is the purpose, be careful with what you add to your plant. You might want to toss in a bunch of ingredients to have a living spell but the weird additions to the soil ends up killing your plant – and your spell.

 

As for myself, this Earth Day I’ll spend my day picking up one of the local beaches, painting a few clever sayings on some pots, and getting to know my new plant friends.

How to Tell If You’ve Been Cursed

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Being cursed is one of the the most fearful things for a practitioner or superstitious person. I’ll be honest with you: I’m pro-curse and I’ve been cursed in the past at least a dozen times. It’s a thing, it has a history, and people kind of need to get over hating on those people who do decide to curse.

I am passionate about education. And I feel that even if you’re not going to curse someone ever you still need to know how curses work so you can create effective protections. Knowing how you can be hurt is one of the best ways to prevent being hurt, after all.

Plus, even if you’re not going to curse someone that doesn’t mean someone else won’t curse you. It’s a two way street after all.

What is a curse?

A curse is a prayer, utterance, or spell with the intent to cause harm, trouble, or ill luck to befall another. The word hex has an Pennsylvania origin, from what I can tell, and it meant from meaning simply ‘witch’ or ‘to practice witchcraft’ to ‘to cast a spell on’ and now it has a darker meaning. That probably comes from the ill-reputation that magic workers had for a long time, if I had to hazard a guess. I personally define hex as a short-term spell meant to cause mischief and trouble. Like a casual curse or minor vengeance. But it is regional speech so you’re probably better off just using the word curse and calling it a day.

So what are the symptoms of a curse?

Curses can be really casual such as spilling coffee on yourself. An extreme example would be someone who spills coffee on themselves, has a car break down, has the tow truck driver drop the tow bar ON THE CAR crushing it, is late for work, finds out they’re being laid off, and has a lover break up with them on the same day.

Other things to look for:

  • Nightmares
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Loss of energy (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and so on)
  • Sudden legal troubles
  • Sudden relationship troubles
  • Sudden medical issues
  • Sudden financial issues
  • Random pain and aches
  • Scattered mind and unable to gather your thoughts, confusion, disorientation
  • Bad luck

Generally, it’s a culmination of several of these things at once. Please, please, please, check with doctors when you’re feeling aches, pain, or medical issues. Whether something medical is induce via a curse doesn’t mean that the curse breaking will actually REMOVE those issues. Same goes for any other issues that crop up. You’ll still have to deal with that shit. Removing the curse or hex means that nothing additional should crop up (beyond the normal “shit happens, that’s life” kind of deal)

How to tell if you’re cursed

The above symptoms should occur consistently and suddenly. They are persistent. You don’t ever catch a break. There are curses that last years and years but they are very rare. Most end up fading out over time. By and large, you can counter a curse simply by changing your lifestyle or behavior (but not always).

I’m going to be honest. There are some curses or hexes that won’t register because they’ve been designed to avoid detection. If you think this might be the case, simply move onto hex breaking and curse removal methods, followed by cleansing and protection.

However, there are some methods to determine if you’ve been cursed. Divination is the easiest way to go about it. Tarot cards, oracle cards, pendulums – you pick whatever method works best for you.

For a deity and/or spirit workers, I would ask for a sign of some kind within the next three days to confirm that there’s a curse. And then pray for help with the removal.

If you’re unsure still or want to be extra sure, just skip right onto the curse breaking and hex removing methods. Remember, don’t panic. You are your own worse enemy when you panic. (I know that’s nearly impossible for some folks with paranoia or anxiety but it’s something to keep in mind)

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How much do I have to worry about curses? Really?

You probably aren’t cursed. It’s just bad luck which happens to everyone. If you’re not a practitioner, then it’s even more likely that you’re not cursed. Sometimes bad shit just happens. But, when you deal with other practitioners, don’t be surprised to find that you’ve annoyed one of them and they fired back at you. I’m not saying that curses or hexes never happen, they absolutely do, but they’re not super common either.

But if you want to take some preventative measures, it can’t hurt either, right?

 

Adapted from my original post here.

Sources:

Cleansing Yourself

Bringing this back for spring!

thiscrookedcrown's avatarThis Crooked Crown

Cleansing yourself (or other people or your home) is the spiritual equivalent of “did you try turning it off?” (Meditation, of course, being the equivalent of “is it plugged in?”)

Even though it is such a common remedy for so many things, it is often one of the things people just don’t know how to do or only know one method of. This intent of this particular post is to list and describe a few common cleansing practices. For some folks, this will be basic 101 stuff and others may find revelation in this. Wherever you fall in that spectrum, hopefully this is an interesting read and it helps you some.

First, safety tips: Don’t use anything you’re allergic to. It’s very likely a quick 40 seconds google search will give you an idea whether the mixtures suggested elsewhere or even here will be harmful for you. Use common sense and…

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Morals & Ethics of Enchanting Food & Drink

I was asked to write this post about a year ago on tumblr but with St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching, enchanting food and drink is something that comes readily to my mind.

First, let’s cover what we’re even talking about here. Enchanting food and drink is the process of magically enhancing a piece of food or drink for a specific purpose via some magical process, like a spell. The food and drink is then to be consumed by the person you want that purpose to work on.

An example is you want to be more productive and inspired throughout the day so you add a pinch of cinnamon to your coffee that morning to give you an bit of a boost and stir the spoon clockwise and lift the mug to your lips while facing the sun. Sounds easy right?

Wrong. There’s a LOT that goes into this area of magic and a lot of be considered. A lot of people have food related allergies and others have food related taboos for spiritual, religious, or ethical reasons.

For example, I will rarely knowingly consume organ meat for spiritual reasons. The exceptions for this would be if I was starving and if I want to counter those spiritual reasons. I’m also slightly allergic to lactose so I tread carefully when consuming certain kinds of dairy like cheesecake so I don’t get sick.

Allergies and taboos are obvious clues to tread carefully but many people also don’t inform people about their allergies so you handing them an enchanted glass of water with a pinch of cinnamon when they’re allergic to cinnamon is really bad.

The obvious solution for this is to ask first before enchanting the food or drink or tell people that it’s enchanted. And that’s the real crux of the issue. Whether you even should enchant food you’re making for others. You’ll want to consider the morals and ethics of casting a spell on someone unknowingly. Often, food and drink is a stealth technique, used to cast a spell on someone subtly. Therefore, it’s pretty hard to ask permission if you’re trying to ensorcel them on the sly.

Additionally, many of the stealth techniques are used to make a person do something against their will. This is commonly seen in targeted love spells to make a specific person fall in love with you. Some spells even go so far where they’re the magical equivalent of a roofie. (Yes, really.)

Plus there’s witches enchanting other witches to “steal their power” or curse them via food or drink. Something to think about when you head over to your next witchy get together.

Not to mention there’s so many different way to enchant food and drink to from what you put into physical (ingredients) to the spells said over it to the way it’s stir and when and why it’s made. There’s so much. Food and drinks can be spells in and of themselves.

There’s no real true right answer for this. You’ll have to sit down and consider what you feel is right or wrong when it comes to enchanting food or drink. What’s your real intent (not magical intent, I mean your logical purpose) behind the spell? Why are you doing this? Address that issue and be honest. If you don’t like the answer you come up with, give the enchanting a miss.

As for me? Well, I bake a lot. A lot. In fact, there’s almost always a dessert hanging around my house. However, since I typically make my food for me, I enchant it. So when offering it to others, I’ll mention what I’ve enchanted it with. Just as a “hey, this food was made with cinnamon and is meant to inspire. I can make something else unenchanted if you want.” I feel like that covers my bases (plus, it gives me an excuse to keep a non-enchanted cake in the freezer.) Any chance to have more cake, right?

 

Let’s Talk About Spells in Witchy Shops

Shops catering to the  magical community use to be like rare unicorns – hard to find a good one and often expensive. But also often necessary for information, community, and finding hard to source products. Then the internet came. Now you can get almost anything through Amazon or the magic of Google. This diminishes the need for in person shops and the community. No longer must you travel to get spell candles or rare herbs. With a few clicks of a button and your credit card, it can be delivered to you. Which is awesome.

A lot of people reading this weren’t really consumers with purchasing power when the internet was in it’s infancy. Some of you may have never lived without the internet at all. That’s not me making a snide remark. I’m actually really happy about that. The internet is an amazing thing. I’m a huge fan.

A few months back there was a fuss about people using glamours in their image graphics. And that lead to some discussion on spells used in businesses. But the discussion was largely covered up by people clamoring about spells to counter said glamours. Now, the specifics of that event I won’t get into because there’s a lot more context about it hidden in there and none of it touches the point of this post.

People have always used spells in their shops and businesses. No, seriously, go back and read that again. People have always used spells in their shops and businesses. Always.

Twenty years ago, as a baby witch, I wandered into local witchy shops and there were spells to entice business, to encourage buys, to spend money, to bring in wealth, to protect, and to turn away thieves. When I was able to drive and expand my circle, I found more shops that did the same thing. And they’re fine. They’re rarely the sort of spells that will interfere with your own magic and they’re rarely going to make you buy something that you didn’t want or need. Most often, they’re kind of like that friend that eggs you on when you’re on the fence about buying something. They mean well (but they also want your money).

Some stores had aggressive spells. Store owners would curse thieves or turn away problematic clientele. Some even did spells to keep out people who weren’t witchy or of their own coven. Spells to curse or turn people against competitors, belittle those who don’t agree with them, curse troublesome customers, and a whole host of other nasty things. Usually though, these sorts of aggressive spells were the kind that annoyed and irked if you weren’t looking for them. Often going in those stores left you with a headache or buying something you didn’t want or need. Impulse buys were common and the spells are intrusive.

When the internet came, these spells were less obvious. No longer can you see the chicken feet tied behind the door but instead there’s spells taped to the back of the monitor or keyboard. Clever folks will lace invisible words in their images or in their website’s HTML. And that’s still OK. It’s no different than those witchy shop spells of before.

So here’s the moral gray zone right now. There’s a lot of spells you can use in your shops and stores that help your business but at what point do you say “hey, this isn’t cool?” And you, as a consumer, what kind of spells are you willing to accept and what spells aren’t you willing to deal with?

I’ll be blatantly honest here: I use spells to encourage people to buy things they want or need if they can afford it. I do spells to encourage people to look at my items (but not necessarily buy them) and I do spells to keep away potential problematic customers for both our sakes’. Oh, there’s a whole host of spells to bring money, wealth, prosperity, and so on too, but those aren’t directed at my clients specifically. They’re general.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m clever. I know plenty of ways to make customers buy things. But that’s not the kind of shop I want to run and that’s not the kind of witch I want to be.

So the TL;DR is this: witchy shop always have and always will use magic to draw in customers. It’s how those spells work and what their purpose is that’s important to consider here. Are these spells the kind to encourage you to spend your rent money or are they the kind to say “hey, maybe next week, OK?”

Dream Magic 101

Dream magic is something I did a lot as a teen but less now. However, it can be incredibly useful if you keep in mind that it’s a dream.

Here’s some quick things to keep in mind when dealing with dreams or dream magic.

  • Dreams do not mean reality. Don’t confuse the two.
  • Dreams are an incredibly personal and individual thing. Each person has their own system of personal symbolism derived largely from environment, past experiences, education, and culture. So an encyclopedia isn’t going to help a whole lot beyond giving you a jumping point for your search.
  • Sometimes dreams are just dreams.

Differences between dreams and astral travel

This is one of those fields that gets… murky when we talk about separation. I define it as this: dreaming is internalized and in your own head. Astral projection or Out of Body Experiences (OBE) take place in this realm or plane of existence but happen externally, outside of your body. Astral travel is an astral project or OBE that goes elsewhere, to another realm of plane of existence.

That doesn’t mean the realm of dreams aren’t connected to this realm or the spiritual realms. I think they are connected and you can slid in and out of them fairly easily. So it’s really more of a matter of semantics and fine-point differences that we can’t readily agree on.

I think of things this way: Does the experience matter to you in some way? Even if you only get a laugh out of it, that experienced mattered for that moment. If so, then it doesn’t matter what that experience actually was so long as you derive something from it. So a vision or religious experience could be gained from sickness or drug-induced and it can still offer relevant experience and meaning for you.

Dream Magic

As a whole dream magic can be lots of fun and interesting. Often used for helping out in shadow work or introspection, it can also be a form of divination. However, you can get a lot of inspiration or answers from dreams. Even objects or symbols like sigils can come from dreams.

The most common kind of spell seen here are simple, often using herbs or stones to help encourage dreaming. This typically is followed by statements of intent or keeping the exact purpose behind your dream magic in your mind before you fall asleep.

Some people will even dream of rituals or spells continuing after they’ve gone to bed. It’s like a second part of the spell or ritual. Pretty useful and is a neat way of putting out more energy into the world.

Many people have trouble remembering dreams. Just because you don’t remember a dream doesn’t mean the dream magic didn’t work. It may come back to you or maybe it’s done but you weren’t suppose to remember.

Dreamwalking

Because, as mentioned above, it’s commonly believed that the realm of dreams is a shared space or can be accessed by others, you can actually walk into someone else’s dreams.

You can even alter or implant ideas in someone’s dreams, encouraging them upon waking to do something you want them to do like call you or skip work. They might even look for something for you, even if they wouldn’t have thought of it before. These sorts of things tend to appear as unshakable feelings in the target.

This might cross into moral gray areas so tread carefully.

Examples

For example, I often dream of full, detail-chocked novels with complicated characters and twisting plots. Sometimes they’re nonsensical and other times they are so complete that they simply need to be written down.

My Lavender Dreams flying ointment came to me in a dream. Upon waking I immediately wrote down the ingredients and within an hour created a new flying ointment.

I’m also in the process of writing up my own oracle. Each card comes from a dream or has a dream inspiration.

Originally written over on tumblr.

Happy Home Jar Spell (Spell Saturday #10)

With the winter holidays fast approaching, we’re pushed to have a lot of holiday cheer. For some people, that’s very easy and for others, the winter holidays are nightmarish. I wrote this spell to help out everyone in those situations.

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The purpose of this spell is to bring happiness and joy into the household. Ideally, people won’t get up in arms about life choices made and old arguments. and maybe wounds may begin to heal.

What you need:

  • Jar or bottle of plastic or glass. Size, shape, and color up to you.
  • Water, pot to boil water in, and salt
  • Herbs or flora: Basil, blue hydrangea, sea holly (erynogo), lavender, angelica root, chamomile, bay laurel, flax seed, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger, motherwort, garlic, citrus zest (orange, lemon, lime, etc peels), vervain, vanilla, vetiver, yarrow, or rosemary.
  • Sugar: golden sugar preferred but brown sugar or just regular white cane sugar, or sugar alternatives will certainly do.
  • Other: myrrh, dragon’s blood, benzoin, regular table salt, sea salt, pink salt, cascarilla (powdered eggshell), citrine, amethyst, chrysoprase, pink or blue tourmaline, turquoise, rose quartz, aquamarine, chalcedony, malachite, sodalite, or calcite.
  • Personal items from each target person or pet: hair, nails, etc. Alternatively, you can have a list of names instead. Dirt, ashes, or rocks from the family home or fireplace can also be used.

Note: You don’t have to have everything on the list above. Just pick out what you have or want to add in. Family items such as dirt from the family home might not be useful if you live in an apartment building or move a lot and personal items of the family could be omitted if you want a more general happy home spell.

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  1. Select a jar or bottle. Ideally, the bottle should be glass but plastic will work as well.The size, color, and shape it up to you but consider any traveling the bottle might do or where it’s going to sit. Small plastic bottles would be useful if you travel for the holidays but a larger more decorative jar can be put out on the counter during cooking to keep things copacetic.
  2. Wash the jar in boiling hot salt water. This can be done by getting pot larger than your jar and filling it with water and adding a few pinches of salt in. Make sure the salt dissolves and put the jar in before letting the water boil. Once the water boils, turn off the water and let it cool before removing it from the water. If you’re worried about the jar melting, just wash it in very hot salt water.
  3. Let the jar cool and dry completely before attempting to use. Now would be a good time to consider painting or otherwise decorating the jar or jar lid if applicable.
  4. Now layer in the heavier items like salt, resin pieces, ashes, dirt, or even the stones. Personal items should be also mixed in here but shouldn’t be seen through the glass or plastic so put down a layer of something else first and keep those personal items towards the middle. When you add them say “This is the foundation of my family, strong. We are unified.“
  5. Next add in the botanical materials. You can mix this however you want. When you add them in say “This brings peace to our home. We are happy and unified.“
  6. Now add a thin layer of sugar to the top. You can put your stones or other items on top as decoration, if you like. When you set up this layer say “This brings us kindness. We are happy and joyful.”
  7. Now seal the jar up. You can do this with tape, paint, glue, or wax. Blue’s a good chosen color. However, you can simply just cork or screw the jar shut if that’s easier for you. Hold the jar in your hands and imagine or say aloud how you want the home to be like. People enjoying each other’s company, sharing a meal, going home safely, no arguments or crying, etc. Dream of the perfect family environment. Push your energy into the jar as you do this.
  8. You can now set the jar somewhere where it can be seen in a busy place in your household (a high shelf or tucked into a corner on the counter will work nicely. Or you can carry the jar as needed. Shake or add more energy to give the spell a boost as needed.

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Tips:

  • This jar spells can be very easily adapted for your personal usage and can even be made travel size. All that you need to do is to select a jar or bottle that suits your needs and go from there.
  • If you’re using a jar that has labels on it, the boiling water trick will remove it. If the adhesive is still on, rubbing it with some baking soda will take it off. If you do this however, boil it a second time in clean salt water.
  • If you can’t avoid the personal items being seen in the jar, don’t worry about it too much. It’s more for decorative purposes and peace of mind than anything else. The spell won’t suffer from it.
  • Normally jar spells have wet items it in. I skipped this because I wanted the jar to be decorative for a long time. If you want to add liquids, I recommend the following: honey, sugar water, sunflower oil, Four Thieves Vinegar, or even salt water.
  • This is a long-term spell so it can sit out or be added to as needed. If the spell seems to be fading, you can swap out the ingredients for fresh material, give the jar a little shake, or push more energy and magic into the jar.
  • In order to get rid of the spell, pour out the ingredients into a dug hold on your family’s yard or garden. Alternatively, you can bury it at a park or even toss it in the trash.

That’s it! Happy casting!