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Areas of Research for the Intermediate Witch

When you’ve covered all the basics, the next step is to pick some topics and study them in-depth. Take notes, whether they are online or by hand, and find creative ways to incorporate what you’ve learned into your practice. With depth of knowledge comes depth of understanding, and that will make you a stronger witch. Here are some ideas/topics to get started:

Mesopotamian magic (especially the role of astrology in Mesopotamia)

Go through each of the Sabbats and write down a summary of how they came about. What is their history, purpose and associated mythology?

Hermeticism and its influence on Western magic

The first recorded spells and incantations (hint: they were in ancient Sumer)

Who was Zoroaster?

John Dee and Enochian magic

Freemasonry

The Golden Dawn

The Salem Witch Trials, and how they affected legislation on, and public perception of, witchcraft

Carl Gustav Jung and his work on the connections between psychology and alchemy

Crystal elixirs

Shadow work

Mythology from a variety of cultures - you’re probably familiar with Zeus and Ra, but how much do you know about Ranginui and Papatuanuku? Knowing a variety of mythologies, whether you follow them or not, can help you better understand the deities you work with.

Other religions! It’s the same as mythologies - the more you know, the better.

Buddhist philosophy

Reiki

The fae

Botany - if you can, try to research the plants in your region, and devise correspondences for plants you can find in your local area based on their physical or medicinal properties. Just make sure to be mindful of local/native cultures if there are any.

Make a dream journal, and write down whatever you can remember about your dreams (don’t worry if it’s hard at first, the more you write them down the better you’ll get at remembering). Research possible dream meanings of any dreams that stand out to you!

Astrology, if you’re not already familiar with it. Astrology originated in ancient Mesopotamia as one of the first forms of divination, and as a result is the basis of a lot of magic today.

The natural world. The metaphysical is important but perhaps more so is the world to which it is attached. I’d recommend watching nature documentaries for this one.

Cover all your bases. If there’s a witchcraft 101 area that you never fully learned, now’s the time. Things like grounding, centering, circle casting, meditation, warding, visualisation… these are all important foundations that you need before you can try to build on your knowledge.

Agrippa

The Ethics of Witchcraft

Before you begin practicing witchcraft, it’s a good idea to establish a set of ethical guidelines for your magical practice. It’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the big ethical debates/controversies within witchy communities.

When you’re talking about ethics in witchcraft, it’s kind of impossible to get around Wicca. Even though not all witches are Wiccans, a lot of people are introduced to witchcraft through Wicca, and a lot of these people still follow Wiccan ethics in their craft, even if they don’t identify as Wiccan.

Wiccan ethics can be summed up with a single phrase, which is called the Wiccan Rede. The Rede states: “An it harm none, do as you will.”

Some people interpret the Rede to mean “If it harms none, do what you want.” I personally think this is a little over simplified. The key to understanding the Rede is understanding the difference between “want” and “will.”

In her book Wicca For Beginners, Thea Sabin says, “Want is about earthly things, both trivial and important. Your will, however, is the force that drives you to your ultimate spiritual goal. It transcends want. It’s the thing that Joseph Campbell is referring to when he says, ‘Follow your bliss.’ Campbell’s ‘bliss’ is the inner knowing that puts you on the life path that will lead you to your highest mundane and spiritual purpose.”

So your “will” isn’t just the things you want: it’s your hearts’ desires that are in alignment with your highest good.

Because of this, a better interpretation of the Wiccan Rede would be “If it harms none, do what is in alignment with your higher purpose.” I think this is a great guiding principle for any magical practice, whether you identify as Wiccan or not.

A lot of witches who follow the Wiccan Rede also believe in a concept called the Threefold Law. The Threefold Law states that whatever you put out into the world will come back to you three times.

Some people interpret this to mean that whatever you put out into the world will come back to you three times as strong. Others think it means that whatever you put out will come back to you on three levels: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Either way, the concept is the same: whatever you put out into the universe will find its way back to you in some form.

Even if they don’t believe in the Threefold Law, a lot of witches believe in a similar concept called karma, which comes from Hinduism. In his book Many, Many, Many Gods of Hinduism, Swami Acuthananda says: “The law of karma states that your thoughts, words, and actions — good and bad — circle back to determine your future. Simply put, you are responsible for your own actions. If you plant goodness, you will reap goodness, but if you plant evil, it will come back and hurt you. It is the universal principle of cause and effect.”

The Threefold Law and karma are similar concepts. No matter which one they resonate with, many witches believe that what they put out into the world will eventually come back to them. This is why a lot of witches choose only to do positive or constructive magic, and it’s why many witches don’t perform curses or hexes, because they don’t want that negativity coming back to them.

However, there ARE witches who do not follow the Wiccan Rede or believe in karma, and there ARE witches who cast curses and hexes. For example, Hoodoo is one magic tradition that doesn’t include any of these concepts, and many Hoodoo practitioners have no problem with destructive magic like curses. But at the same time, a lot of Hoodoo practitioners believe that a spell won’t work unless it is justified — so a curse won’t be effective unless the target deserves it. It really depends on the beliefs and morals of the practitioner. [Note: Hoodoo is a closed tradition. I am mentioning it in this post as a real world example of a pro-cursing magic system, but you do not have to practice Hoodoo to be pro-cursing.]

Cursing has a very long history all over the world. In Ancient Egypt, doctor-magicians treated patients by cursing the disease that was making them sick. In Ancient Rome, people would write curses on stone or lead tablets and bury them in the ground to ask the gods or spirits to carry out the curse — this is another case where the curse would only work if the gods felt it was justified. In ancient Ireland, poets could create a satire of someone, which was essentially a way of calling them out for doing something wrong. If the satire was true, it could cause blisters on the face of the person being satirized, or even cause their death. If the satire was not true, the curse would be directed back on the poet.

In most of these historical cases, it again seems like curses were only believed to work if the target deserved them, and there were serious consequences for cursing an innocent person. These are all things to keep in mind when deciding if you want to include cursing and other destructive magic in your practice.

Cursing is one of the biggest ethical debates in witchcraft, but there are others. Another big debate is whether or not it’s okay to do spells on other people.

A lot of witches choose not to do any magic that might violate another person’s free will. For example, a lot of witches will not do a love spell on a specific person. You can do a spell to attract a partner, or even to attract a certain type of person, but using magic to make someone specific fall in love with you violates that person’s free will.

For me, personally, consent is really important. If I want to do a spell for a friend or family member, even if it’s a helpful, positive spell, I only do it if they’ve asked me to or if I’ve gotten their permission. This way I know that my magic isn’t going against what they want.

Other witches feel like it’s okay to do helpful magic for other people without telling them about it. Most religious people don’t ask permission to pray for their loved ones, so some witches feel like they don’t need to ask permission to do positive spells for others. Again, it really depends on your personal ethics, but I’m of the opinion that it’s always best to have informed consent from everyone involved.

Of course, all of this is assuming that you choose to keep your witchcraft practice separate from your religious or spiritual practices. There are witches who choose to incorporate their spiritual beliefs into their magical practice. We’ve already talked about Wiccan ethics. A Christian witch will follow Christian ethics in their magic. An Muslim witch will follow Muslim ethics. A Buddhist witch will follow Buddhist ethics. And so on.

Before you start doing spellwork, you need to sit down and figure out your personal ethics. I recommend literally writing out a set of rules or guidelines for your ethical magical practice, before you ever cast a spell. You can refer back to those rules whenever you encounter an ethical question in your craft.

Guess who’s coming for Halloween!

Colour Correspondences

Black:

Element: Earth

Astrological correspondences: Saturn

Magickal correspondences: Protection, the night, truth, banishing/binding, patience, karma, death, civil servants, removing hexes

Other information: Used to invoke the power of Saturn

Brown:

Element: Earth

Astrological correspondences: Scorpio, Capricorn

Magickal correspondences: Endurance, grounding, stability, house blessing, strengthening, concentration, solidifying

Other information: Used in animal magick and for locating lost items

Dark blue:

Element: Water

Astrological correspondences: Jupiter, Moon, Virgo, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

Magickal correspondences: Truth, meditation, opportunity, psychic ability, astral projection, wisdom, protection, good fortune

Other information: Used to invoke the power of water

Green:

Element: Earth

Astrological correspondences: Venus, Mercury, Aquarius, Cancer

Magickal correspondences: Luck, money, fertility, healing, prosperity, growth, courage, change, peace, friendship, grace, nature

Other information: Used in faerie magick

Gold:

Element: Fire

Astrological correspondences: Sun

Magickal correspondences: Power, success, great fortune, divination, money, justice, healing, physical strength, ambition

Other information: Associated with masculine or male energy

Light blue:

Element: Water

Astrological correspondences: Jupiter, Moon, Virgo, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

Magickal correspondences: Astral projection, truth, justice, will power, peace, tranquility, healing, calmness, focusing the mind

Other information: Used to invoke the power of water

Orange:

Element: Fire

Astrological correspondences: Sun, Leo, Sagittarius

Magickal correspondences: The God, strength, healing, luck, justice, dominance, happiness, opportunity, harvest, vitality

Other information: N/A

Pink:

Element: Fire

Astrological correspondences: Venus, Mars

Magickal correspondences: Love, friendship, harmony, honour, mortality, self-love, action, children, compassion, passion. maturity, sex

Other information: Associated with femininity and homosexuality

Purple:

Element: Air

Astrological correspondences: Mercury, Saturn, Capricorn, Jupiter, Gemini, Sagittarius

Magickal correspondences: Wisdom, banishing negativity, dreams, protection, intuition, defence, psychic abilities/power, ambition

Other information: N/A

Red:

Element: Fire

Astrological correspondences: Aries, Scorpio, Mars, Saturn

Magickal correspondences: Power, strength, courage, passion, vitality, health, energy, protection, renewal, joy, sexuality, war

Other information: N/A

Silver:

Element: Water

Astrological correspondences: Moon, Mercury

Magickal correspondences: Communication, meditation, intuition, balance, psychic ability, success, dreams, luck

Other information: Associated with feminine energy, used in lunar magick

White:

Element: Air

Astrological correspondences: Moon, Pisces

Magickal correspondences: New beginnings, purity, peace, clarity, truth, transformation, healing, cleansing, balance, innocence

Other information: White candles can be used as substitute for any other candle colour

Yellow:

Element: Air

Astrological correspondences:  Sun, Mercury, Taurus, Libra

Magickal correspondences: Health, success, confidence, creativity, harmony, divination, learning, travel, happiness, friendship, itellect

Other information: N/A

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Please feel free to contact me with any additional information you feel I should add

Sunrise magic

Sunrises hold a special magic to them that you can harness like the magic from the sun or the moon. For water, place it to the East as the sun rises and let the morning rays bless the water.

It has a very delicate and gentle power, but it is amazing.

Properties of sunrise water:

Newness, new beginnings, new opportunities

Second chances

Peace, calm, relaxing, ease anxiety or depression

Refresh and recharge

If made with birds singing: beauty, healing, happiness, good for the arts

If made when it's foggy: add a layer of mystery (if using it on behalf of someone else it will be like a secret blessing), slowly releases magic (great for spells you want to last a while)

If made when it's windy: stronger, more energy behind it, magic will work faster, a push to something new

Orange sunrise: joy, happiness, safety

Pink: best for spells or potions dealing with yourself, care, love, gentleness

This is some of my favorite water and energy to work with as it's so calm and soft.

🦉 Familiars & Allies 🦉

(also my long-ass I'M BACK! post)

Okay so what are Familiars & Allies??

Familiar - is a specific, individual creature with whom you have established a psychic bond with. A familiar's presence may be sufficient to spark and enhance your magic. Basically, familiars are creatures who can realistically live with you.

A familiar may be considered an animal ally but allies transcend the boundaries of familiars.

Animal Allies - a form of spiritual relationship: because the relationship may occur entirely in the realm of the spirit, any animal may be approached. The presiding spirit of the animal may also be approached, rather than any individual creature.

Also a person may have as many familiars and/or allies as needed!!

And now onto the spells!!

Animal Communication Spell :

(this spell uses Eve Oil as it assists and enhances communication with animals)

Place apple blossoms, dried pomegranate seeds, and snake root in a bottle.

Cover with sweet almond and jojoba oil.

Dress candles with Eve Oil to accompany visualization as well as actual physical communication.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Familiar Consecration Spell :

(for cementing and/or formalising the psychic bond between you and your familiar)

Cast a circle large enough to hold you, your familiar and any magical tools that you wish simultaneously to consecrate.

Burn frankincense on the periphery of the circle.

Sit within the circle, with your familiar, until you feel that it’s time to come out.

Repeat as needed.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Animal Ally Invitation Spell:

Choose a focal image for your altar, something that represents your ally for you. Use a toy, a photograph, or an image. It is more crucial that it resonates strongly for you than that it be a literal depiction.

Surround it with objects or images that would normally be used to lure this creature. Make the invitation as strong as possible.

If you can find candles in the shape of your desired ally or its food, add them to the altar.

Grind cinnamon and frankincense together and burn them as a spirit-summoning incense.

In addition to #2, offer literal food. Alternatively, burn images of appropriate food.

Relax. Let your eyes go slightly out of focus and await visitations.

Try this for up to thirty minutes a day, until you receive results.

Your response may still occur during your dreams so have paper and pen by your bedside to record any significant dreams.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Animal Spiritual Dedication Ritual:

A specific animal is chosen to be dedicated to a specific deity.

Purify the animal with juniper incense.

Sprinkle it with wine.

Decorate the animal with ribbons in colors associated with the specific spirit.

The animal is returned home or to its flock. It is now left alone to enjoy life as a gesture of sacrificial devotion.

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