Tag: herbal spell

Lightning Protection Sigil

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What you’ll need:

  • Mugwort
  • Thunder water
  • Paper

Steep mugwort in thunder water overnight.

The next day, use the steeped water to write a lightning protection sigil on the paper. It’s okay if it isn’t very visible or clear. 

You can make your own sigil or use the one I’ve provided below:

Place the paper at the highest point in your house that you can access. 

Notes:

  • Thunder water is water collected during a thunderstorm. You may know it by other names such as lightning water or storm water.

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Horn and Stone Healing Spell

This healing spell is useful for illnesses and diseases but can be tricky to procure the ingredients. While seeking medical attention when feeling ill is always recommended, sometimes you need just a little boost in healing.

What you’ll need:

  • Bezoar or a regular garden or roadside rock
  • Powdered horn or piece of cattle bone
  • Iron
  • Rosemary
  • Basil
  • Coffee
  • Peppermint  and/or feverfew if feverish or cayenne pepper / paprika and cinnamon if chilled.
  • Bowl, dish, or disposable cloth

Get your dish, bowl, or disposable cloth. Sprinkle the herbs and coffee at the bottom of the dish. Place in the iron.

Now pick up your bezoar or garden rock. Holding it over the dish, sprinkle the powdered horn over bezoar / rock. If you’re using a cattle bone, just pass the bone over, around, and under the bezoar / rock. While doing this, think of how this rock will be able to heal and absorb the illnesses or diseases it comes into contact with. Think of the illness or disease leaving the patient and going into the rock. Imagine that when this happens the rock will get full, heavy, and cold.

When you’re happy with your envisioning, place the bezoar / rock in bed with the patient. Usually under the pillow works but in between layers of a blanket would be good too. You could also hang it on the headboard or leave it on a bedside table very close to the patient. The most ideal way is to have the patient wear the stone but that’s not always possible or safe. Don’t put it under the patient. The bezoar / rock should be on the same level as the patient.

Place the dish of herbs, iron, and powdered horn / cattle bone under the patient’s bed. It should rest directly under the patient while they sleep but if that’s not possible, place it by the end of the bed. Leave it uncovered.

Change out the herbs and coffee as needed but don’t forget to add in the iron or the powdered horn / cattle bone.

Once the patient has started to recovered, you can remove the bezoar / rock and powdered horn or cattle bone. You can keep both to cast the spell again at a later date but eventually both will become too saturated with magic or illness and must be disposed of. To do this, take both far away to a crossroads, graveyard, or abandoned place and bury it.

You can keep the herbs under the bed until the patient has completely recovered. The herbs should be burned or buried in a different place than the bezoar / rock and powdered horn / cattle bone but similarly at a crossroad far away from the patient.

Notes:

  • This spell calls for a lot of hard to find ingredients. Substitutes are probably the way to go for most people here. Picking up a rock from beside the road, a died piece of bone from a steak, and a low-grade nail would work well in place of the above ingredients.
  • This spell is unique in that you can absolutely keep the bezoar / rock or powdered horn / cattle bone and use them as ritual healing tools. You would just need to deeply cleanse the illnesses and diseases from them. I don’t recommend this unless you’re really sure of your cleansing abilities.
  • The herbs and coffee can be used to divine the cause of the illness, the likelihood of the patient’s recovery, the details of the patient’s illness or recovery, and the patient’s immediate future. You can do this by lightly shaking the dish and looking for patterns and symbols, not unlike tea reading.
  • The iron piece can be kept and carried by the patient to guard against relapses.

Originally posted on March 5, 2016.

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Sexy Sheets Magic Spray

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This is an enchanted water that you spray on your sheets to help set the scene for a sexy night. As scent-based water sprays go, this might be on the lighter side, so don’t be afraid to add more essential oils as needed.

What you’ll need:

  • 5 ounce or greater spray bottle
  • 4 ounces distilled water
  • 6 drops rose essential oil
  • 5 drops lavender essential oil
  • 4 drops orange (sweet orange, wild orange, bergamot) essential oil
  • 3 drops ginger essential oil 
  • 3 drops sandalwood essential oil
  • sprinkle of pink Himalayan salt

Clean, cleanse, and dry your spray bottle. 

Pour the distilled water in and add the salt, shaking the bottle until the salt is dissolved. While you shake the bottle, set your intentions. Think of cleansing all negative energy, anxiety, and ill feelings from whoever touches this water or smells the scent this water will carry.

Add in your essential oils. Take your time to ensure you’ve measured it out properly. As you measure it out, speak or think sexy thoughts. Of being intimate with your partner and the kind of intimacy you’d like to share. 

Shake the bottle to blend, setting your final intentions of the night being consensual and enjoyable to all parties. 

To use, simply spray the water lightly over your sheets and pillows. Let dry a bit before getting into bed.

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Attract Affection & Romance Spell Jar

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This jar spell is meant to attract affection and/or romance. It can be used to bring willing romantic partners to you or encourage new friends or better family relations. The best part of this jar spell? It can sit right out in the open and, depending on the ingredients, can be a long-term sustained spell.

What you’ll need:

  • A jar, bottle, or some other clear container that can seal (A mason jar, pickle jar, water bottle, etc.)
  • Herbs & ingredients for your purpose (see below)
  • Key items you associate with your purpose (A friendship bracelet to rekindle a friendship long past, a business card from a place you’d like to hang out in with your new friends, a rose for romance, photo of your family to boost happy home spells, quartz for more power, etc)
  • Key ingredients for what you want to happen (Coffee so you go out on coffee dates, coaster from a club you’d like to go to with new friends, etc.)
  • Filler such as sand, corn flour, ashes, saw dust, sugar, etc. (optional)
  • Funnel for pouring ingredients (optional)

Herbs and ingredients to use will depend largely on your personal practice and paradigm. Select items that has some sort of folkloric meaning akin to your purpose or that item reminds you of friendship or love.

Here’s a short list for romance:

  • chocolate or cocoa
  • roses
  • apples
  • carnations
  • aster
  • jasmine

A short list for friendship:

  • buttercups
  • lilacs
  • vanilla
  • oranges
  • tea
  • daisies

Filler ingredients are good for people who want a full-looking jar and don’t have enough ingredients to add to the jar or want to hide ingredients from view. I’d recommend picking a filler that means something to you. I’d pick sand, for example, but you might pick campfire ash so you can find camping buddies, or sugar to sweeten current friendships and find new non-toxic friends.

  1. Cleanse your jar and empower it with your purpose. This mean you can add energy to it, tell it your purpose in a couplet or verbally, or hold the jar and envision the future you want this jar to help you achieve happening now.
  2. Gather all your ingredients together and layer them in the jar however you wish. Be as artful or not as you like. As you add them, you can say either verbally or in your head what you’re adding them to the jar for.
  3. Once you’ve run out of ingredients or you’re happy with the jar, go ahead and close it up.
Mason jars are popular but fancy bottles are great too
arsp 02
Midway through the bottle
Just place on a shelf!

Notes:

  • This spell will work best if you carefully think about your purpose before casting the spell and use care in picking your ingredients.
  • Many jar spells require shaking to “wake up” or empower the spell. This one doesn’t but you can shake it if you want.
  • You can add ingredients whenever you want but don’t take out an ingredient.
  • If you do, just scrap the whole jar and start again. If your ingredients start to get moldy, toss them, wash the jar out (boiling water, soap and water, salt water, or vinegar in any combination.)
  • When you want the spell to end, just toss the ingredients (don’t bury them) and wash the jar out.

That’s it! Happy casting!

Does this look familiar? This was originally posted here on May 7th, 2016.

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Flower Self-Love Spell Jar

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This jar is intended to sit out in the open on your altar, vanity, on top of a dresser, or in a dry area of your bathroom.

What you’ll need:

  • Clean, dry jar with a lid (lid should be waterproof if in a damp area like a bathroom)
  • Dried chamomile petals
  • Dried cherry blossoms
  • Dried meadowsweet petals
  • Dried rose petals
  • Dried jasmine petals

Clean, cleanse, and fully dry out your jar.

Layer your flower petals in the jar in whatever pattern pleases you. As you fill your jar, speak self-love affirmations to yourself. Or you can write up a personal chant to repeat to yourself daily.

Examples: “I am beautiful. I am loved. I am kind to myself. I am compassionate. I am strong. I am confident. I am a gift. I deserve respect. I deserve loyalty. I am successful. I am allowed to take up space. I am worthy of love. I am happy.”

Seal the jar and put it on a shelf where you’ll see it daily. Whenever you feel like you need a boost, hold the jar and take a moment to soak in the positive, loving energy.

Notes:

  • If you aren’t storing this in a damp area like a bathroom, you don’t need a waterproof lid. If you are, you’ll need one to avoid molding of your ingredients. Your jar can have a water-tight lid but you can also swap it for an sort of lid so long as you have enough sealing wax to cover it.
  • You can substitute any of the flowers listed the following: yarrow, sunflower, plumeria (frangipangi), orange blossoms, apple blossoms, peach blossoms, lavender, pear blossoms, lovage, plum blossoms, poppy petals, gardenia petals, tulip petals, moonwort
  • Remember gravity: heavier flower petals will fall to the bottom of the jar.

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Favorite Foods + Drinks Before a Ritual

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I’m very much a spontaneous kind of spell caster. I rarely plan out full rituals, but when I do, prep is an important step.

One of the steps that’s easy to forget to do is eating before the ritual. Truthfully, if you’re going to be using your own energy for a ritual (rather than channeling fully from elsewhere) you should be eating something both before and after the ritual. So you have a lot of energy to start with and to restore the energy you consumed during the ritual.

So an hour or so before the ritual, these are what I reach for:

  • Fresh fruit, such as strawberries, apples, oranges, bananas, raspberries, blueberries, pomegranates, and grapes
  • Fresh vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes (yes, yes technically a fruit), carrots, broccoli, radishes, and celery.
  • Fresh salad, usually with lots of variation but not as much salad dressing, cheese, meat, or croutons as I might normally like.
  • Seeds and nuts, like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, honeyed peanuts. I try to keep the amount I eat on the smaller side here, as sometimes too many nuts and seeds can feel heavy.
  • A small sandwich or wrap, heavily on the vegetables and flavors. Think afternoon tea sandwich size.
  • Yogurt
  • Smoothies
  • Tea
  • Water
  • Fruit juice, often watered down
  • Sweet alcohol, fruit-based alcohol
  • Wine or harsher spirits. I usually go with this when I need to jump directly into some sort of alternative stage of consciousness or drop inhibitions (ie feeling self-conscious) as quickly as possible.

As you can see, I tend to reach for fresh foods before a ritual, usually light on meat and bread. I’m not particular when it comes to my diet – the only thing I really steer away from is organ meat and diary – but I like to go with a light meal usually paired with tea or sweet alcohol before a ritual.

I find this helps keep the energy up and still allows me to move freely during a ritual – very important with how I tend to cast rituals – and not weigh me down. They also can usually be consumed while I go over my ritual notes or do other prep work before the ritual.

This isn’t to say that you MUST eat one of these foods before a ritual. It really does depend on a person and their personal taste. Let your body guide you to the best choices for you.

It should be noted that, for some rituals, I will intentionally skip this step. I won’t eat before vigils for example where I need to do a lot of spirit work and often do trances during that time. I will often skip food beforehand when I perform oracles or medium work. I personally find that I work better that way, but it’s not something I recommend without knowing exactly how to fast safely.

That being said, I do recommend to try and ensure that you’re taking care of yourself before your rituals as much as afterwards and consider trying different food combinations to see what gives you the best results with your magical and spiritual work.

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Gifting Apple Spell for New Beginnings

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Apples are often a traditional gift. Fresh fruit was, and still is, considered a good gift because your average person, historically, didn’t have regular access to fresh fruit often. And apples travel well and last much longer than most fresh fruit.

There’s a tradition of gifting (or bobbing for) apples on Halloween night to grant luck to each member of a house. Halloween is sometimes used as a the end of the year, so this spell sort of falls into a similar category, but isn’t really the same thing.

This spell can use any fruit you want. I’ve chosen apples because it’s a common gifting fruit, but oranges are popular too in some regions of the world. I tend to choose the fruit depending on the person I’m gifting it to. You can also gift many fruits at the same time with this spell. Just repeat the spell on each piece of fruit.

You can also do this spell outside of the calendar New Year. It’s intended for new beginnings, so it can be for any time – someone buying a house, moving in together, a baby, etc. I’ve used it for college students too, who could probably use a bit of fresh fruit in between the usual coffee-pizza-beer diet. It’s also a lovely way of marking your calendar year when it doesn’t match up with the standard Gregorian calendar year.

Of course, one should remember that you are gifting enchanted food – so make sure the party you’re gifting it to will appreciate it for what it is and knows what to expect. And don’t forget to check the notes after the spell!


What you’ll need:

  • Apples or fruit
  • Sun water
  • Moon water
  • Purified, clean drinking water (see notes)
  • Cloth or towel to dry the apple with

First, pick the best apples for your gift. This is purely personal choice, but you may wish to take into account the flavor of the apple, texture variations in the varieties of apples, and the apple color.

Make sure to wash the apple’s skin, prepping it for eating. You can use the purified drinking water for this step, if you like, but tap water is fine too.

Pour sun water over the fruit, saying “I douse this apple in the sun’s warmth, so it brings joy, abundance, and light to the one who eats it.”

Pour moon water over the apple and say, “I douse this apple in the moon’s light, so it brings power, strength, and courage to the one who eats it.”

Wash the apple with the purified drinking water and say, “I clean this apple in pure water, to bring health and clarity to the one who eats it.”

Dry the apple off with your cloth and say, “The one who eats this apple is gifted all the opportunities they want and need to take advantage of this new beginning.”

Then simply gift the apples to your intended recipient.

Notes:

  • As said above, any fruit can be used, but fruit with skin like apples or oranges fair better than softer fruits that may be damaged by so much water.
  • Sun water is simply water that is has been infused by pure, bright sunlight.
  • Moon water here refers to full moon water, water that is infused under the light of a full moon
  • The purified drinking water here serves as an important step. Not only does it bring health as an additive to the spell, but it also cleans off the sun and moon water, which may be stagnate and not the healthiest water to drink/eat.

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Teacher’s Good Graces Apple Spell

Anyone who’s taken a class with a large amount of students knows that sometimes you’re just a pile of things to grade to that teacher and not actually a person or face attached to that name/grade. I doubt that’s as much of an issue right now since the education systems had to adapt to current (pandemic) times.

I was recently going through a massive shoebox-thick stack of papers and discovered some notes I made about this spell during college. (I was deciding if certain apple types were better than others – the answer is maybe yes, a sweeter apple gives ever-so-slightly better results.) I mentally named it “Apple Teacher Friendship Spell” but that’s not what it is.

This spell’s purpose is to make you known to your teacher or professor in a positive way. It means that you’re starting off with a bit of a boost because they’ll think kindly of you. Will it give you a better grade? Maybe. I suppose it depends on how your teacher grades and how much their emotional states play into the grading itself.

It’s a pretty simple spell, so most broke college students can scrape together the coin to make this spell happen.

What you’ll need:

  • An apple (sweeter varieties are slightly better, but just get an apple you’ll eat. Bonus: if you can get one from your school’s cafeteria, even better.)
  • Your teacher’s names, spelled correctly.
  • A knife or something to carve with
  • Honey, caramel, or other sweet fruit dip
  • A bag you’ll carry to class (see below)
  • Plate, bowl, small cup (optional)

This spell ideally should be cast before you start class. However, sometimes that’s not possible or you’re on the fence about taking the course at all. You can cast the spell after you’ve met the teacher, but try to do it within the first few times you’ve met them.

Acquire an apple. Sweeter varieties have tested slightly better than sour or tart varieties, but just get an apple you’ll eat. (The eating part is important for this spell). If you can get an apple from your school’s cafeteria, then that’s even better.

Get some sort of sweet fruit dip. Caramel is a classic choice, honey, sweet or chocolate hummus, or just a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar are also good. The dip itself isn’t important so much the process of coating the apple’s flesh with something sweet then eating it. Pick what’ll taste good, so long as it has a bit of sugar in it.

Buff the apple’s skin while thinking or speaking aloud of how you want to be treated in general by these teachers. Do they know your name? Do they ask you to speak in front of the class or do they ask favors from you? Do they grade you well? Do they ask how you are and genuinely care about the answer? Do they notice if you’re missing from class or if you’ve been acting out of sorts? Think on how you want to be treated and express that.

Once ready, slice the apple into as many slices as you have teachers. If you have six teachers, then you’ll need six slices. Ideally, they should be the same size, but don’t worry if they’re not.

Save the apple seeds! Set them aside on a plate or dish of some kind and let them dry out completely. Turn them over occasionally to make sure they dry on both sides.

Now on one side of the slice, carve into the apple your teacher’s name including any title they have. If the name is too long, you can use initials, but it’s better if you can carve the whole name out. Each apple slice should have the name of a different teacher.

Once you’ve gotten your apple slices carved, dip the apple as much as you can into your apple dip and eat the slices.

When the apple seeds have fully dried, put them in a little charm bag. This charm bag should be carried every time you go to class or school. You can also put the seeds in your pencil case or in a pocket of your school bag if you don’t want to make a charm bag.

Notes:

  • Buffing an apple is done by using a piece of cloth (kitchen towel, shirt, etc) and rubbing the apple’s skin to promote a shininess to the skin. Don’t press too hard as you might bruise softer apple varieties. Some apples don’t buff to a shine well and that’s okay. It’s just the act of buffing the apple that’s more important than the shiny factor.
  • Making a charm bag for classes is a really good idea for students. Add the seeds to dried herbs and crystals that promote your studies, concentration, and serenity.
  • This spell can be done even if you’ve never met your teacher and you’re doing classes online. The only change I’d suggest is that you keep the apple seeds in a glass jar next to your computer or studying area.

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Scarecrow Harvest Protection Spell

Anyone who grows a garden has struggled with pests and thieves. It could be squirrels digging up your plants, birds plucking your berries, rabbits nibbling on the cabbage, deer grazing on your flowers, neighbors stealing your dear pumpkins, or spirits eating the essence of the peppers. (Is that last one a problem for other people or just me?)

This spell is is best used for growing rows of plants in the ground, but it can be used even in a small pot.

What you’ll need:

  • A scarecrow vessel (see below)
  • Soil from the plants you’re protecting (see below)
  • Juniper leaf
  • Garlic clove
  • Onion
  • Rose petals
  • Rose thorns
  • Rosemary
  • Water (see notes)

First, make or buy a scarecrow. Ideally, the scarecrow would be made of juniper, but it can be anything. It doesn’t even have to be a scarecrow. It could be a garden statue or pinwheel, but scarecrows (and similar) do help keep pets away in a mundane fashion.

Next, make a potion. In a large jar, bowl, pot, or cauldron, fill it up halfway with water. Put the juniper leaves, garlic, onion, rose petals, rose thorns, and rosemary in it. As you put them in, think or say out loud what you want to protect and what you want to protect it from.

Cover the jar and let it sit for twenty-four hours. It may be best to put it outside in the garden if you can. It may not smell great.

Alternatively, you can heat the water if you want and put the juniper leaves, garlic, onion, rose, and rosemary in it. Remember to enchant the water as you work. Let it sit and steep for an hour.

When the potion is done, strain out the ingredients and save the water. You can toss the used ingredients in your compost pile or bury them outside of your garden space.

Next go to each corner of your garden plot and collect a bit of soil. If you’re using a round plot or a pot, just take a bit of soil from the edge of the circle.

Once you have the soil, rub it over the scarecrow. Then wash the soil away with half of the potion. Use only the half of the remaining half, sprinkle a bit in the places you took the soil from.

Now place the scarecrow where you want it to go and use the last of the potion to sprinkle over it. Tell the scarecrow that you want it to protect the garden.

Notes:

  • The water can be any kind. Water from whatever source you water your plants from is good. Water purified by the sun or the moon (sun or moon water) or holy or sacred water is also great.

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Magical Gardening Tips for Complete Beginners

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Witches and plants go hand in hand. (Generally, of course. I’m not the boss of your craft, but, you know, it’s generally a thing.)

But gardening is expensive. So expensive. You wouldn’t think nature, the thing we live on, in, around, and with would be difficult to acquire, but it is. You can easily drop hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year on gardening – just indoor gardening. Never mind external gardens.

And witchy plants? SO MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE. Either you need to safely wildcraft them (and some of those plants shouldn’t be removed from their environment if you aren’t 1000% sure you can handle them, because the plants need all the propagation opportunities possible) or you buy those plants. Buying seeds can be a few bucks here and a few bucks there, but there’s always a good chance that your plant won’t grow. Then you’re out a few bucks and all you have is a jar of failed dirt. Buying live plants is a better middle ground, but plants do experience trauma so you still have a risk of them dying.

Aside from the expense of the actual plants, you may need to purchase soil, soil additives (because soil is not the same everywhere and some plants are unhappy without certain soil), pots and planters, plant trays and moving wheeled platforms for larger pots, plant food, and possibly plant lights or a water system. That’s for indoor plants. Outdoors? That’s a whole different expensive level. 

So, here’s some witchy truths and tips for indoor gardens.

True Facts

  • You will fail. Plants will die. You may feel like a murderer. It happens to us all.
  • Google plant care for your plant. It may just save your plant’s life.
  • Ask fellow gardeners and witches for advice. This is something all of us do in regards to plants so many are quite happy to talk about it.
  • It’s better to have one healthy plant than six unhealthy plants.
  • Plants do not always smell good. Some plants smell like ass and others will smell like death, piss, or onions. The prize may outweigh the cost, but not always. 
  • You will have bugs. Even indoors, there will be bugs.
  • Sometimes the organic or better quality stuff isn’t best. Think before you buy stuff for your garden. You organic soil may sprout mushrooms that kill your plants (true story) and you may find that a clear vase of water with a handful of rocks is better for a plant than a specific growing pot. Trial and error helps here, but don’t sink a ton of money on something without trying to more common stuff first.
  • Many, many, many plants are invasive. Mugwort, mullein, chamomile, and mint are common invasive plants used in witchcraft. I recommend googling before purchasing or at least googling before planting in the ground for all plants. Some plants spread like crazy and will destroy your garden if giving the chance. 
  • Annual means that it grows for less than two years and will need to be replaced, most lasting a single season. Perennial means it comes back again and again. Some perennials self-sow so you may get a perennial plant to come back, just not the same plant as before.
  • Keep an eye on how warm your plants can get. Too much heat will kill them, but so will too much cold. It may be best to put a plant on a table near a window than in a cold window sill, even if the window gets better light. 
  • Not all plants are pet-friendly. Google may tell you if a plant is toxic to animals, but a better bet is to just keep them out of a pet’s range.
  • Plants do weird shit. Expect to be surprised.

Where to get your plants

  • Grow from seeds
  • Get a cutting or live plant from a friend
  • Grow them from kitchen scraps
  • Buy a live plant at a store or nursery (online or local)
  • Wildcraft one (so long as the population of said plant is super stable)
  • Check the clearance section of a store or nursery 

I’ll be honest. I normally search the clearance section of stores first for plants to rescue. Normally these are plants that are growing weirdly, need transplanting desperately, or simply look unhealthy. And they may be all of that! But they’re usually really cheap so I tend to rescue them first and foremost.

I can, have, and do grow plants from seeds. I usually keep my plant purchases to a minimum from seeds, merely because I don’t have space to give lots of plants a head-start indoors. (Most of my growing space is a single large window where all the indoor plants live during the cooler months). I normally harvest seeds from foods I’ve consumed (like avocado or lemons), but I also buy seeds from Baker’s Creek (rareseeds.com). They sell heirloom vegetables seeds as well as flower and herb seeds.

My favorite (and cheapest) suggestion is to grow plants from fruits and vegetables you already have purchased. I’ve gotten ginger, scallions (green onions), potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, garlic, and pineapples from kitchen scraps. Root vegetables and plants with bases like celery are easier to re-grow, in my opinion. A quick google search of ‘food you can re-grow from kitchen scraps’ will yield good results. 

Some of my best plants I get from nurseries. Yup, they’re more expensive (but not much more, to be honest, then home improvement stores), but they’re way happier plants. And you can get some beautiful selections you might not get elsewhere. Plus, you’re supporting a local small business, which is always a good thing to do. Two years ago, my household scored black petunias (actually a very dark purple) at a nursery whereas we had never seen them before. My preferred nursery is owned and operated by a single woman and conveniently is a few houses down from my preferred farmer’s market. I just have to remember to grab some bug spray before going and I’m a happy witch.

I rarely get plants in other ways. I sometimes will transplant a wild plant to save it from becoming someone’s lawn clippings (like I did with my bittersweet nightshade) and I’ve gotten plants from other people, but largely, I acquire my plants in the above ways right now.

Planting and grow your plants

Following your plant’s care recommendations, provided by google, is best. Seriously. Each plant will require a learning curve. 

My favorite pots for growing are a large clear glass jar and some cheap clay pots. I do have plastic ones, but I tend to only use them for very, very large plants. Ceramic pots are great too and I use them often. I skip concrete planters – they’re very heavy and I’ve had them crack in the New England cold winters. Who knew? Most of the time though, you’ll find a lot of my water-based plants growing in recycled olive or jam jars. I love the eclectic look of the different pots and jars, but if you like things more streamline and uniform, pick something that’s netural and available widely in a variety of sizes.

You can also use a double pot system. Plant your plant in something that might not be pretty, but you can place inside something that is pretty. I do this with plants that haven’t outgrown the pots they come in. Grow pots are cheap plastic and aren’t great, but sometimes moving a plant isn’t the best idea. I often just leave plants alone until they need some attention. I’ve done best at keeping things alive when I work in this manner.

I use decent but not stellar soil for my indoor plants (and I skip the organic stuff after a mushroom episode). I use dollar stone china plates for the bottom of my planters when I can’t find a real one to fit. Driveway gravel is great for draining rocks for the bottom of my planters, but it can be a bit sharp for some delicate rooted plants.. I dig using my hands and end up with dirt everywhere. I water as needed (unless the plants are liars) and feed them as often as I dare.

Working outdoors is a whole different game. There I have shovels, trowels, work gloves, clippers, shears, scissors, ladders, and every other thing under the sun. I use decent soil to bolster the land as needed or dive for gardening tomes to help balance the PH in the soil. I use mulch and large brim hats and consider the merits of growing compost and curse my yard’s poor dirt.

How I set up my pots generally follows like this:

  1. I pick a pot about slightly less than twice the size of the pot the plant currently is in. If it’s a seed, then I use a very small pot about six inches tall and three inches wide. If the plant is very root bound (as in the roots are all tangled together inside the pot), I’ll upgrade to a larger pot.
  2. I put a small layer of driveway gravel at the bottom of the pot. This is so the water doesn’t sit on the roots or soak the soil too much. If your pot has holes at the bottom (and you have a plant liner tray) then you can skip this step, but I generally always use the gravel. The gravel is somewhat pointy so be aware that it may damage very tender roots, so handle with care. I add more gravel if I’m planting something that needs drier soil, like a succulent or cactus. Some water plants are anchored by gravel and use smaller rocks for additional root assistance.
  3. Then I put a little soil in, just enough to cover the rocks (or more if the plant is short but deep roots or it’s a seed)
  4. I pull the plant out of the pot it’s already in, shaking some of the soil from the roots. If the plant is a seed, just plop it in the soil and plant according to recommendations. If it’s very root bound, you may end up spending several minutes loosening up the soil between the roots so the plant can have more room to grow. Be careful not to break the roots or any stems when handling the plant. Be gentle.
  5. Then I pad the sides of the plant with soil, layering on more and more until the roots are completely covered and the plant is well secured.
  6. Sometimes I add rocks at the top, but that’s largely depending on how much I want or need to protect the plant from soil erosion by water. 
  7. Then I drizzle water on the plant until the soil is wet. Finally, the plant can be placed happily in where I want it to go. I’ll add watering and feeding times to my calendar, as suggested by plant growing guides, and call it a day. 

Planting Outside

I won’t cover planting outside right now, because it’s a super large topic and the advice will vary depending on soil type, weather, climate, sun/shade ratios, wind, what’s already growing, wildlife, and how much time you have to devote to it all.

My general advice for outdoor gardeners is to do a soil test, then you’ll have a general idea how much work you’ll need to do to adjust to plants. That being said, it may be easier for you to simply grow in containers than in the ground, especially if there’s a lot of trees, roots, shade, or something buried in the ground, like a septic tank.

Take photos and notes of the areas you want to grow in for at least a week at various times of the day. I just leave a little notebook in the window closest to that area and take notes and a photo every time I walk by. This will help you determine how much sun, wind, and shade that area gets at various times of the day. It also may tell you what wildlife is nearby.

Armed with that information, you can start planning a garden. Again, this is a huge topic, but I typically suggest raised beds, because they’re just so much easier to take care of and work with.

Now, if you have specific plants you want to grow in a specific area, then do a test. I plant my desired plant in a container and place it in a spot where I’d like to plant it in the ground in the future. It helps determine whether or not the plant will survive there. There’s no guarantee even if all this is done. Some plants just don’t do well in certain soils. You’ll have to risk failure to succeed.

You’ll also want to keep in mind how much a plant will grow and how invasive it’ll be. Mint, for example, grows easily in containers, but shouldn’t be planted in the ground or it’ll take over the whole yard. Ground cover can be useful, but sometimes it’s impossible to get rid of later and becomes a nightmare. Do your research before you plant something with a reputation of being invasive in this manner.

Adding some magic

Magic can be added to any part of the routine.

When selecting plants, I seek out the ones that are calling for help or seem to want me specifically. I listen to what the plant wants and that’s how I get many of my plants to do well. This is an animist’s point of view, of course, but I find that it really works well.

You can plant by the phases of the moon and some people do really well with it. I have a theory that if you have a lot of water on the property, planting by the moon works better, but I don’t have near enough data to really propose this seriously right now.

Water can be enchanted with the power of the sun or moon. You can also used infused water, like a tea or water from making pasta to water plants with. This will largely depend on the plant itself. For example, I use nothing but clear, clean filtered or purified water for my indoor bamboo. If I use anything else at all, it dies rapidly and it very difficult to save. Google will, yet again, be your friend.

What you fertilize your plants with can also be enchanted. Rose, according to some gardeners, like calcium so planting a hank of your hair alongside your roses is good for them. I’ve tried eggshells, but I didn’t notice any changes with my rose bush, but I think that’s largely due to the location rather than the plant itself. Once you figure out what weird things you can fertilize your plants with, the magical connections should come quickly after that.

Of course, you can additionally enchant the soil you plant in with enchanted water, carefully made compost, or enchanted draining rocks with sigils painted on them in environmentally friendly paint.

Pots are probably the easiest to enchant. You can draw or paint with environmentally safe paint on the outside and inside of the plant to encourage grow and health in the plant. This can be as simple as a sigil or written word or as complicated as an intricate painting. The choice is yours.

Placing decorations inside the pot is also useful. This can be done by placing a tiny statue in the pot with the plant in a manner where the plant won’t be crowded. I’m plotting to turn the soil around my palm plant into a tiny fairy cottage, lacing each item I acquire or make with spells for prosperity, abundance, and household happiness and health.

There are many other ways to enchant your gardening too. Garden tools can be enchanted for strength and to be rust-proof. Gloves can be enchanting to keep the hands safe. Support for plants can be soaked in enchanted water.

Don’t forget that you can simply verbalize spells by talking to your plants. There’s some research to support that plants like being talked to nicely and sweetly and that backs up my experience nicely. (The only plant I ever struggle with is a climbing rose I’ve named Diva and she’s the most prickly thing I’ve ever met. She gets me every time, no matter what I’m doing.) I like to hum or sing-song to my plants as I work on them, if I’m not just straight-out having a one-sided conversation with them. I get some strange looks, especially from my brother, but I don’t mind.

Those are some basic tips! Hope it helps!

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