Happy new year! Here’s a quick list of spells (and other magical things) you might want to cast to get the new year off to a fantastic start.
Keep in mind that many of these spells can be cast on yourself, your home, business, workspace, vehicle, friends, family, pets, loved ones, and so on.Â
01 Cleanse with energy, energetic healing, or reiki
02 Cleanse with sound (bells, music, chanting, verbal meditations)
03 Cleanse with smoke
04 Cleanse with water
05 Ritualized bath for cleansing, good luck, etc
06 Renew persistent / permanent spells. (Example, a spell on the bathroom mirror to boost self confidence or the spell on your business’ door to increase customer sales).
07 Cleanse with a broom
08 Good luck spells
09 Blessings
10 Add or renew wards and protection spells
11 Prosperity, wealth, and abundance spells
12 Meditation in general, but try a different style of meditation than what you normally use.
13 Financial boosting spells
14 Motivation spell (this is good for those new year’s resolutions)
15 Oathing (to yourself, your gods, etc)
16 Dedications / benedictions
17 Divination such as tarot card readings
18 Make a blessings jar. Write down something your grateful for or whenever something good happens on a piece of paper and add it to an empty jar on a shelf. At the end of the year, burn the papers to add prosperity to the coming year. You can do this same idea with any kind of spell.
19 Add or renew the spells on your wardrobe, jewelry, shoes, etc
20 Deep clean your ritual and/or altar space
21 Make potions or bath salt for traits or spells you want in your life (example: sugar scrub to increase love, salt scrub to keep bad vibes away, a tea potion to increase healthy dietary choices, etc)
22 Inventory and organize your magical and/or spiritual supplies (candles, incense, etc). Donate what you don’t need, if possible.
23 Journal the kind of year you want to have, but coat your words with energy, turning your words into a spell.
Bonus! Try to head outside, weather and ability permitting, to go for a walk and get some fresh air.
Rootandrock’s musing post got me thinking. I have several clients that come to me in need of an unhexing, counter-curse, or exorcism. I almost always recommend a cleansing because that helps open oneself up and clears out the muck. Sometimes though that isn’t enough and an uncrossing is needed.
What is an uncrossing?
Rootandrock said it best but essentially sometimes we are so use to living with the bad stuff that even when it’s going we don’t know how to live without that bad stuff so we keep repeating the same patterns and behaviors we were doing before – and essentially creating our own bad stuff all over again. This cycle must break. This is what an uncrossing does.
I tend to like to combine unblocking spells and techniques as well, as many of my clients want to be able to reconnect with the spiritual. Unblocking is just like it sounds – breaking the blockages are typically caused by too much negative crap in your life weighing you down and making you feel fuzzy. Sometimes they’re caused by curses or spirits. Realistically, unblocking spells are a subcategory of uncrossing techniques but that’s not really the point here.
So how do you do the thing?
Mundane measures:
Cleaning.
I always recommend a deep cleaning of the house and your living and working spaces (including your car!) during deep cleansings. The same goes for uncrossings. This isn’t just sweeping and mopping the floor. Change the atmosphere of your living and working arrangements as best you can to help yourself.
This doesn’t have to be an expensive process. Just burning a scented candle, baking a delicious dessert, opening up the curtains and letting in a lot of natural light would help. Rearrange rugs, art on the walls, and/or furniture. Clean out your cupboards and get rid of anything you don’t routinely use (especially if it’s unhealthy) if you can. Focus on areas that you first see when you walk into a room – counter tops, tables, chairs, the floor. Sort though your closet and donate what you don’t need (or refashion it).
For those of you who want a more permanent solution or can purchase things, add mirrors opposite of windows to extend and expand the natural light of the room and increase the size of the room. Have a different set of curtains, blankets, rugs, and even pictures to rotate in and out seasonally.
Why do this? It shakes up the energy of the room. Many magical practitioners don’t do this often if they can help it because it messes with the energy of a room. I did it just the other day – rearranged every corner of my house – and my servitors and spirits grumped about it for half of the next day. It also breaks up routine and adds something new to your life without having to do something.
I’m stuck! Having trouble doing this? Is your house too cluttered? Afraid that it would take too long or is a hopeless cause? Are you simply not able to get up the energy to do this? Check out Unfuck Your Habitat (especially if you don’t have the energy or your home is too cluttered) and HabitRPG (for you gaming type).
How do you do it? I use to be a huge mess until I was seriously shamed by an aunt as a kid. It made me want to show her I could be better than she expected. Since then I’ve been pretty neat. I burn incense and candles to change the smells of the room. In the summer I put away my rugs and comforters and leave the windows open to let air in. In the winter, I put down lots of area rugs, double up on curtains to keep the warmth in (and let the act of pushing those curtains aside to let in precious light feel all the more important), and lay on blankets in both size, warmth, and texture to give the room a better feel. I also find getting things off the ground helps with cleaning. Another huge thing I do is Do-It-Yourself projects. I’m a big DIYer and I love repurposing things. I find creating and making things for yourself lets me learn new skills, build a solid connection with whatever I’m making, and learn to love it (and myself) more. Every time I get a compliment on something I’ve made, I feel awesome.
Take a vacation
I don’t just mean book a cruise to Bermuda. Even taking a Sunday afternoon to sit or walk through a large park and breath in the fresh air is enough. Leave your cellphone on silent and maybe bring a sketchbook or a book to read. Combined with a spa day (even at home spa treatments) and a luxurious breakfast, fresh and crisp lunch, and satisfying dinner this can replenish you. The most important bit is to break your cycle.
If you’re a super busy officer worker and you live your life by a strict schedule, don’t schedule a thing during your vacation – go with the flow. If you’re the opposite, keep a strict schedule and have some sort of reason to keep to that schedule. Breaking your cycle of bad behavior is key. It will not be easy. You’ve formed habits and connections with these bad behaviors. You’ll have to actively work to change them.
Why do this? Routine is easy to follow. When the routine is broken, we begin to look at the whys, hows, and whats of things. This is important. If you continually have no energy and change your diet accordingly, but never do anything with the potential new energy, you’ll feel restless and caged. Similarly, if you do the same workout routine three days a week, you’ll never work out or strengthen other parts of your body. Change things up and inspire yourself. Decompress and stretch your body and spirit.
I’m stuck! Set up a reward/punishment system. For example, I use HabitRPGÂ for a reward/punishment system to keep myself on track. If I’ve done something really good, I’ll make a special dessert for myself or buy myself something. If I’ve done something bad, I do something I don’t like such as weeding the garden, an hour at the gym, etc. (Although, this means I cement the idea that those activities are “bad” – so there’s inherent flaws in the system.) If the reward/punishment system doesn’t work for you, or you can’t think of a good enough threat, rope in a friend or set up alarms on your computer/cell phone to pester you to break the routine.
How do you do it? I take a roadtrip. This happen every couple of years, but a roadtrip gives me hours of just me by myself and lets me decompress. If that doesn’t work or isn’t available, I go to the ocean. It’s an instant fix. I don’t live by a schedule or routine so forcing myself to adhere to one, even if only for a few weeks, is a huge change.
Stop buying things/start buying things
This obviously will only apply to some of you.
I know when I’m broke, I spent absolutely zero money on anything. That keeps me home and stressed due to lack of money. To break this cycle I save even as little as 50 cents a week and buy myself something – a new shirt, a coffee, whatever. It brings a little bit of pleasure and makes everything that much more special.
When you’re a materialistic person and buy a lot of stuff – stop. There will always be sales and you’ll probably be able to find whatever you want to buy on Amazon or eBay at a later date. Stop trying to fill the hole in yourself with stuff. If you go out a lot, stay in and try a new recipe or bake a frozen pizza or something. Change up your life.
Why do this? We live in a very instant, very demanding, very materialistic world. Switching off your impulse to buy things (or to hoard what little money you have and have the lack of ability to buy and keep up with the impulse buys) creates a new change in behavior at what is now a fundamental level of society – money and how we spend it. As mentioned above, it creates the break in behavior and allows you to evaluate how, what, what, and when you’re doing something.
How do you do it? I hoard money. When I have it, I spend it. I’m not a saver. However, because I am my own source of income, I hoard my money now and dislike spending it unless I have a cushion to fall back on – which is rare in this economy. So every couple of months I buy something new. New fabric or yarn for a piece of clothing I want to make, a new pair of shoes, pick up a new hobby, or join a club or event.
Change you.
This one’s a bit harder and would be if you seriously need some uncrossing. Changing you is the hardest part. There will always be bits of you that will never change. However, it can be a superficial change. Get a new haircut, buy, make, or restyle a new wardrobe, toss clutter that has sentimental value but things you wouldn’t miss (let’s be honest, there’s stuff most of us keep that might remind us of an event or thing but isn’t the only thing we have from great grandma – that’s what I’m talking about). If you can’t toss it, box it up and stick it in a closet. If you don’t miss it or think of it by the time you rediscover the box again, get rid of it. I pretty much only keep awards, yearbooks, etc or things I can use again (theatre programs I’ve designed as a part my resume). Change your style, if possible, or the way you walk, talk, or act in public. Again, this will not be easy and will be a difficult choice to make.
Why do this? If you’re so caught up in muck that you can’t break free, shed your skin and start anew. It sounds as harsh as it’s meant to be. This potentially is the most difficult advice I could offer because it requires you to discover a new you. It’s more than a breaking of the cycle – it’s breaking the old your and birthing a new one.
How do you do it? I’ve only done this a few times and each time it was making a truly difficult choice to modify my behavior. One time it gained me friends and a whole new lifestyle. Another time was to break the toxicity that lifestyle contained. I regret neither but it was hard at the time to deal with the overwhelming new situation – breaking through my shyness and expressing my opinions to strangers and then to break away from fair-weather friends and toxic situations. (And no, I know not everyone can remove themselves from toxic people or situations but it you can do so.)
Magical and spiritual measures:
Petition an entity, join a new religion, or become a follower of a new deity.
Sometimes we need help. Petitioning a deity or joining a new religion is a great way of getting a helping hand. It’s not just deities but also spirits, saints, and other beings. This is a very common practice but if you aren’t doing it or haven’t in a while, it may be time to give it a try.
Working with these beings can be as simple as asking for a blessing or sign and then receiving it. Ask for guidance or a path to follow, the power and strength to succeed on that path and finally the physical, mental, and spiritual health and will to do so.
Any deity or spirit can be a source of help but the following are especially known as potential sources of unblocking and uncrossing assistance or to see a better way of dealing with the problem (just be wary of cultural appropriation):
Papa Legba (source 1)
Ganesha (source 1)
Hecate (source 1)
Ogun (source 1)
Yemaya (source 1)
Anubis (source 2)
Dosojin (source 2)
Akasagarbha or Kokuzo (source 2)
Lubana (source 2)
Sarutahiko (source 2)
Amaterasu
Uzume
Amatsumara
Why do this? As mentioned, sometimes help is needed. Perhaps you need someone to throw you a floating device when you’re drowning. It’s not weakness to ask for help.
I’m stuck! If you’re not getting answers when petitioning a specific deity, send out a general, universal distress call but be VERY sure to read all the fine print before agreeing to anything. Please also remember that a deity can be communication with you without you directly hearing their voices or receiving a obvious sign. Deities can live within the everyday – you just have to find something that strikes you as meaningful.
What do you do? I’ve worked with a malevolent spirit before as well as two Norse deities indirectly and pop culture entities. The deities and pop culture entities were gentle guidance in an off-hand manner – I found solace in their stories than them as beings. The spirit and I came to an agreement of sorts but that’s not really a story I want to tell. I don’t tend to turn to deities when I’m in trouble. I’m independent, however I’ve taken a lot of inspiration and guidance from the aforementioned. I literally could not say where I would be without the pop culture entities. I never worked with them as spirits or deities but their stories helped create the person I am today.
Divination.
Typically divination is used to diagnose a problem but it can also be used for insight to figure out way around a problem. Meditating with the meaning of a card or using the card’s deep meaning to help you understand a way out of or through your problem. Some cards can be used to progress through the problem (the Tower for example is a personal favorite). Some people even use cards in spells. If you do you can literally choose cards from your current status moving in realistic steps towards your uncrossed goal.
Why do this? Primarily, it helps identify and offers solutions to the problem. As a secondary measure it can be used directly to affect change on yourself as a spell.
I’m stuck! Get a reader to do a reading for you. In fact, ask a few different readers for advice, if you can. There are plenty of people that will give a free reading. Â Try it yourself, if you’re able. Find people use use different techniques if you’re only selecting tarot cards.
What do you do? I’m a seer so I do divination daily. However, I’ve used the aforementioned spread to work through a problem and help write a spell for change. (I personally don’t like using my cards in spells as it adds energy the cards don’t need.)
Chakras and Reiki
I’m not trained in Reiki (although I know the basic principles, premises, and techniques) and there’s a lot of information out there. I recommend seeking out a certified practitioner. I can name a few very good ones for you. Otherwise, Google is your friend. Reiki is a defined practice with a specific education, rankings, and certified teachers and practitioners. The theory of of Reiki is more widespread but actual Reiki is pretty defined.
You can also cleanse your chakras and enable you to move forward. There’s a variety of ways to do that and, again, I recommend a certified Reiki practitioner or taking a Reiki class.
Why do this? Cleansing the body and chakras is a good way of resetting and refreshing the body. Reiki can also heal you which would be ideal for those with bodily afflictions.
I’m stuck! Please seek a certified Reiki master.
What do you do? As mentioned I’m familiar with Reiki as a practice so I usually do a session for myself. If I really needed a cleansing or assistance, I would contact one of the Reiki masters I know and have them assist.
Astral Uncrossing and/or Spiritual Uncrossing or Meditation or Shadow Work
This is especially useful it you’re being afflicted by a spirit or entity. You must first cross into the astral/fade/spirit realms, find the source of the negative muckery, and destroy it. Sometimes this will involve diving deep into the afflicted person’s psyche and spirit to rid them of the affliction. If you’re doing this on yourself, you’ll have to either lucid dream or meditation to achieve a deep enough state to rend yourself apart, rid yourself of the negativity, and patch yourself up. This is similar to Reiki’s techniques and . It’s not unlike Reiki in a cleansing but instead of energy, it’s more forceful and takes place either in your mind or in the astral. it can be very harsh and cautious must be made of clearing out too much negativity too soon as you’ll need to recover.
For meditation and shadow work, you’ll need to dive into yourself in a deep meditation state an discover the parts of you that are “bad” or “negative” and either come to terms with them or change them in ways to better yourself.
Why do this? This is, as mentioned, useful for when this is a state afflicted on you or it has set deep inside of you. This is excellent for people who are powerful spirit workers or are more powerful in their mind or in the astral than elsewhere.
I’m stuck! Some practitioners may assist you in this. Guided meditation may also be useful.
What do you do? Depending on the circumstances I either tear into the issue in the spirit realms or use my Mind Room (read: Mind Palace) to clear out the junk and fix myself.
Select Spells and Techniques
These are spells and techniques used specifically for uncrossing and unblocking. If you haven’t already tried a cleansing spell or technique, try that first.
Uncrossing Oil (source 1, page 1056-1057)
Essential oil of hyssop
Essential oil of angelica
Essential oil of frankincense
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Sprig of rue
Sliver of fresh garlic
Section of broken chain
Castor oil and jojoba oil base
Add ingredients. The chain and angelica are the most important elements. Angelica has photosensitive properties so be careful of the sun if you use it on the body.
[Crown’s Notes: You can absolutely mix this spell up. I use different oil bases and herbs in my recipe.]
Crown’s Too Heavy a Cross Spell
Make a cross with two sticks and some twine. If you’re really burdened, add more sticks. Really pour your problems into the sticks as you make it. Douse is in Uncrossing Oil (recipe above). If there’s a specific area being affected, brush the over the area. Envision your negative energy and experiences as you set it on fire and watch it burn.
Scents and materials to use:
Benzoin (burn as needed to remove blockages)
Citrus (as described in the cleansing post, but all the citrus scented or flavored things! watch for the sun and photosensitivity)
Vetiver (boil, steep, let cool, add to bathwater for nine consecutive days)
Devil’s Shoestring (boil, strain, let cool, pour over yourself, air dry, for seven days)
Larch (burn to unblock yourself)
Peridot (charge and carry)
Sardonyx (charge and carry)
Quartz crystal (charge and carry)
Frankincense (burn as needed)
Rosemary (charge and carry or burn as needed or add steeped liquid to bath water)
Wahoo bark (infusion)
OK! I’ve done an uncrossing. Now what?
How do you feel? Better? No different? Either can be true and if you feel don’t feel different that doesn’t mean it isn’t working. Your next steps could be any of the following:
Healing spells
Protection and warding spells (for you and your home)
Luck spells
Financial assistance spells
Binding and banish spells (if a person or entity is involved)
This spell is pretty simple, but intended to be used daily. It requires some specific items, but once it’s set up, you’ll only need to do basic maintenance to keep it going.
Ingredients:
A soap dispenser / soap dish (see notes)
Hand soap (see notes for tips)
Sharpie
A four-leaf clover
A coin
Super glue, clear nail polish, or modpodge
Purchase or adapt your bathroom soap dispenser. Ideally, this soap dispenser should be large enough to hide a coin under the base. Very ideally, the base should be designed so you can fit a coin underneath and not have the soap dispenser become unbalanced. This may take a little work to find what you’re looking for or you may need to pick a thinner or smaller coin. (An US dime instead of an US quarter, for example.)
Once you’ve found your soap dispenser, write on the bottom of the soap dispenser in sharpie a lucky symbol. This can be a four leaf clover, a key, your lucky numbers, a horseshoe, or whatever you find to be most lucky. Thinly coat the symbol in superglue, nail polish, or modpodge.
As you cover it, say the follow,
"Luck be with me every day,
Bad luck I wash away.
With each sunrise, my good luck grows.
With these lucky hands, abundance and luck flows."
When dry, place the four leaf clover over the symbol and coat it so it’s completely sealed to the base. Repeat the above verse. Let dry again and repeat again with the coin and verse.
Let dry completely, then fill the soap dispenser with soap. Make sure that you keep the soap dispenser filled.
Notes:
For bar soap, do the same thing above with a soap dish.
A liquid soap dispenser is the most aesthetically pleasing solution to this spell. An alternative is to get a soap dish (or a ring dish) and place your liquid soap bottle on top of the dish. The result is the same.
You can use any kind of soap here. Bars of soap or liquid soap. That being said, any nut, berry, and flower related scents are associated with luck and growing abundance. So you can totally use your jasmine-ginger-pineapple-coconut hand soap.
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.
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
Full Moon Water
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.
Once you have together your items, take them and place them on a table next to a window where no light will shine from outside on it. You can also leave it on the windowsill itself. 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.
Place a drop of full moon water on each item then leave them overnight. You can leave the items there until the full moon 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:
If you’re charging water, crystals, or anything else by the new moon’s light, do this in a separate location than this spell.
We avoid putting the items in a bag or container so the lack of moonlight can touch them. A good middle ground is a big glass mason jar.
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.
What you’ll need:
Items you want to increase in your life
Full Moon Water
A starry night
Quartz crystal charged by a new moon.
Charge a quartz crystal on a new moon. Before you go to bed (or before the sun rises) , take the crystal away and wrap it up in a cloth until the next new moon.
On a starry night of the new moon, 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.
Once you have together your items, take them and place them on a table next to a window where no light will shine from outside on it. You can also leave it on the windowsill itself. 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.
Unwrap your charged quartz crystal and wave it over the items slowly, making circular passes from east to west. Make as many passes as you’d like, using a sacred, magical, or favorite number, if you like. When done, place the crystal in the middle of the collected items.
Place a drop of full moon water on each item then leave them overnight. You can leave the items there until the full moon 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:
If you’re charging water, crystals, or anything else by the new moon’s light, do this in a separate location than this spell.
We avoid putting the items in a bag or container so the lack of moonlight can touch them. A good middle ground is a big glass mason jar.
Quartz crystal is selected because it’s a good neutral stone. If you have a moon related stone you’d prefer to use, use that.
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.
Spring cleaning? Just moving into a new place? You’ll want to make sure that home is happy, right?
This spell is good for people who want to bring their lives and homes into focus. Some people create their homes to be an oasis of something – productivity, happiness, zen-like peace, relaxation, or fun. If this sounds like something you want to do, then this spell will help dedicate your home’s energy to just that. You’ll still be able to live and work as normal but there will be a definite air towards whatever you want to focus on.
What you’ll need:
A representation of the key focus of your home
Sunshine water (optional)
The first thing you’ll need to do is to consider what is the key focus of your home and how you want to represent it. Do you want to have fun? Then a printed photo of you having fun is a good choice. Want to bring peace, then write down a meditation instead. Want to be known as the neighborhood baker? Write your favorite recipe down. How about studious? Print out a school curriculum. You get the idea. It needs to be a piece of paper that represents what you want to do most in your home. If you’re a business owner and casting this spell on your shop space, then use paper money.
Whatever you choose to use, make sure that you spend a lot of time thinking and remembering good times when writing it down. If you’re using a photo, then write on the back of the printed copy what you loved about that time. If you’re using money, cleanse the bill and hold the money thinking or telling the bill how you want to bring more money into the business / home.
Once you have your representation, clean and cleanse your home. Use whatever techniques you want. You just want your home in the freshest possible condition.
Stand in the heart of your home. This will be the place where you spend the most time and are happiest. Where your family and housemates will meet up. It could be the living room, kitchen, etc. For business, it should be the place where you create your products or your counter where sales are packaged up.
You can write down the representation onto the floor / wall / permanent counter in the sunshine water. (Make sure that water doesn’t actually show on the floor / wall / counter, as it sometimes can.)
Once you finish with the sunshine water, you can slip the paper into the ceiling or under the floor. (Try the basement or attic). If none of those options are available, place it under or on top of a piece of furniture that doesn’t move from that room.
Now stand in the middle of the room (as much as possible) and spend time with the home’s energy. You can meditation, say a prayer, or chant a happy home. The dedication is done.
Sunshine water is water that has soaked up sunshine. It’s super easy to make. You get a clear jar of water and stick it in direct sunlight where it cannot be touched by shadow. Bring it in before dark.
Illusions are one of those types of spells that everyone hears about in fantasy games or novels but rarely sees in the magical community. Save for glamours, which are a type of illusion, this sort of spell work is rare.
But rare doesn’t mean it can’t be troublesome. Illusion magic is not unlike a curse in that you may find yourself disoriented or lost and not sure how that happened. Confusion and an irresistible but unexplained draw to something you normally wouldn’t be drawn to is also common.
Here’s a simple spell to ward off illusions and to disperse them from you. It works excellent on glamours and, better yet, is extremely low key. Perfect for date night. Make sure to check the notes for some useful tips.
What you’ll need:
A clear drinking glass
Drinkable water or drinkable liquid
Get a clear glass of drinkable water. It you’re out in public, simply order a glass of water. There should be light shining through your drink and drinking glass so you may need to move around a bit until this happens.
Keep your target in sight and run your finger around the top rim of the drinking glass. As you do this, think or say softly,
“You in my sights
I see through your charms
I see through your spells
I see through you
You are as clear to me as glass
You hold no power over me”
Since the above verse is a bit long to say, you can shorten it the following but I find that it isn’t as directed and thus isn’t as useful as the full above verse.
“You in my sights
You hold no power over me”
No matter what verse you use, take a drink from your glass while keeping your target in sight at the end of the verse. You should become disillusioned from the target now and they may seem less attractive or less desirable than before. If nothing happens, you may need to ramp up your spell casting to a cleansing or analyze whether what you’re feeling in genuine interest in that person.
Notes:
The drinking cup should be clear-ish. Tinted glass won’t change the spell but opaque glasses such as solid plastic cups will.
Water is used in this spell but any drinkable liquid is just fine so long as it reflect light a bit. You can definitely cast this spell with an alcoholic beverage.
If you really can’t get your hands on a clear drinking glass and you need this spell in a hurry, tilt the cup back and forth until your drink reflects in the light. Do this a few times and carry on with the spell. It’ll work in a pinch.
This spell could easily be used for other spell dismissing or even a way to separate yourself from someone overbearing.
If you’ve hung around fairy tales long enough, you’ve run into the concept of using objects to achieve second sight.
Second sight is the ability to see things that are beyond normal perception such as spirits or energy. Some people are naturally gifted at this and others train themselves to use it. It sits firmly on the line between psychic ability and intuition.
Let’s be clear on one thing – just because someone has the second sight does not mean that they’re seeing spirits all the time. It doesn’t mean that they’re able to see all spirits. It doesn’t mean that they are always seeing spirits with their physical eyes. Spiritual beings aren’t always able to be perceive with physical eyes. It’s far more minute than “can you see that ghost?” even if it doesn’t seem like it.
There’s lots of folk information on how to achieve this. Looking through a hagstone or enchanting object are just one of the ways. You can use sandalwood, wisteria, wild thyme, and a number of other herbs to see what’s beyond normal vision. Trance inducers like flying ointments also work in this manner.
Look through a hagstone or doorway is another way to see these things. It’s about threshold crossing which is known to allow one to step between the worlds. (Hence the word “hedge-crossing”). Using this method, you’ll look through a hagstone (a stone with a natural hole in the center but shells with holes in the center work well too) and see what there is to see. Threshold crossing can be any kind of threshold. Stepping between two poles could be a threshold. Crossing between a wall and a hedge could be a threshold. There’s tons of ways to cross like that.
Weirdly, enchanting objects to allow you to see things is common in folk stories and fairy tales but not a common technique shared in modern day. I have no idea why this is.
In order to enchant an object to see what’s beyond normal sight, you’ll first need to pick an object that can be held up to your eye. Eyeglasses and sunglasses are absolutely the easiest and more available for this. A camera could also be used. You may want to pick a necklace you can hold up to your eye. This will be a constant spell so it’ll always be working.
That could actually be a problem. Anyone who has the second sight can tell you that it can be really distracting to see stuff that isn’t there. I’ve braked suddenly while driving thinking I was going to run over a dog that wasn’t there. I nearly jumped out a chair just last night because I thought something ran across the wall directly next to me – but nothing was there. If you’re not use to seeing these beings, you can absolutely end up looking a bit weird. It’s not a consistent thing but at least once a week I end up being startle by some spirit shenanigans that I wasn’t expecting and no one else can see.
You could also pick an object that you wear in order to give you second sight. This gives you more control over the ability. A pair of earrings is a good choice but a necklace or even an article of clothing can be a good choice too.
The technique is very simple but gathering the ingredients can be very complex. It can take up two or three months to set this up if you don’t have any of the materials on hand. For best results, it could take years because you should collect the water and plants on the first of May and then cast the enchantment then as well – which could be difficult if the moon’s not working with you. You could, alternatively also or exchange May Day for October 31st or some other spirit important holiday. I don’t bother because that’s a lot of hurry up and wait for me but to each their own.
First gather water from an old water source – an old river, well, the ocean, etc. I specifically mention old as a pond newly made in a golf course isn’t going to have the same kind of results we want.
Gather the first morning dew for about seven days. You can do this by placing a jar outside overnight and picking it up as the sun rises the next morning. It probably won’t amount to much but that’s OK.
Create full moon water and new moon water by placing jars of water in window sills under the moonlight (or lack of moonlight).
Pour water from each of these sources into a bowl and place any of the following into it: calendula petals, wisteria leaves, powdered sandalwood, mugwort, ash leaves, violets, wild thyme, lavender, or woodworm. Pick as many or as few as you’d like. Let this sit under the full moon for a full night but remove it from sight before the sun rises. You can strain this water now, if you want.
Cleanse the object you intend to enchant. Wash the object with each water source. Make sure that you concentrate on the surfaces of the object. For a pair of glasses, you’ll trace the water along the eyeglass frame then wash the lenses on both sides. Repeat once more with the herb infused water.
Sleep with the object at your side on the night that you wash it. Then it’s ready to use. To use it, concentrate on what’s before you with your mind to see if there’s anything there for you to see. This should allow you to see spirits and energy far more frequently than before. As stated above, you may not physically see things with your eyes all the time but you should be able to sense things and see glimpses more easily.
In addition to the problem mentioned above with reacting to things as if they’re physically in front of you, there’s another thing to be aware of. When spirits begin to notice that you’re able to see them, then they start paying attention to you. This can be fun for some people and terrifying for others. It depends on the beings you end up meeting and how you interact with them. If you’re not thinking about spirit work, then you might want to consider against this entirely. In the end, that’s a choice you’ll have to make.
It can be difficult to see spirits. Sometimes they simply don’t want to be seen or the circumstances aren’t right. Or maybe they don’t even have a physical form for you to see. You may need to just roll with whatever they give you. Good luck!
This Crooked Crown 