Willow’s Beginner’s Guide To Witchcraft: Where To Begin?

I don’t struggle with autism. I struggle with neurotypicals being assholes about me being autistic

wish fulfillment spell for the full moon

the Hunter's Moon is coming on October 9th, and I just found a cool spell online to do on that night! As always, you can tweak things around according to your circumstances.

Take a glass of any juice you like

Go outside in a moonlit spot

Gaze at the moon while you tell her all your wishes, detailing them as much as you can. When you're done, raise your glass for her and say the following words:

"Mother Goddess, look and see

this chalice I'm offering you.

It's yours for everything you've done,

graceful silver Goddess."

4. Spill the drink on the ground and be sure that your wishes will be fulfilled.

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online grimoire.

credit goes to all the original blogs who made these posts. i just want to organize all my reblogs for myself <3 blessed be

[crystals]

essentials

what harms which crystal

[curses]

red heart

masterlist

[deities]

asatru

contact

devotional tips

norse small devotional acts

-> Artemis

period dedication for artemis

-> Loki

loki masterpost

-> Rán

bedridden witch: ocean

rán devotional acts

rán prayer

rán // rán

ráns runes

[divination]

runes study

scrying mirrors

[misc]

alternatives for lavender

BOS tips

colours

depression

dictionary

herbs and oils substitutes

housewarming

jar alternatives

masterlist

mentally ill

substitutes

water types

[potions]

beauty

glamour

rose water

self love

[pouches]

anxiety relief

money

panic attack relief

[recipes]

poppy seed tea bread

orange honey cake

honey lavender bread

lemon lavender cookies

[sabbats]

-> imbolc

info

-> ostara

-> beltane

prepare

info

-> litha

-> lammas

-> mabon

-> samhain

fall decorations

info

[spell jars]

anti depression

attracting positive things

attract love

confidence/good luck

curse jar

good outcome

honesty

kindness

luck and fortune

luck and protection

manifestation

masterlist

positive energy

protection

self love/happiness

[spells]

anger masterlist

anger

cramming for a test

depression and anxiety

depression and anxiety masterlist

love removal

health/wellness spells

self love and healing

sickness

[tarot]

compass spread

deity identification

inverted heart

mind body spirit self care

planets spreads

samhain

self care tarot spread

tarot timing

the sun trick

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🌙Simple Everyday Things You Can Do For Protection

Source | https://www.instagram.com/mariathearcane/

What are some simple things that you do that you think would help another witch?

🌙My list of daily or easy practices requires little to no prep-work

•Use a protection plant ally like a witch's burr, cloves, thorns, motherwort, black pepper, garlic, or onion. Close your eyes and place your plant ally in your hands. Ask the spirit of the plant if they will offer you protection to see you through the day. Carry it with you.

•Alternatively, you can also use crystals. My go to combo is black tourmaline and red jasper!

•Use a protection archetype tarot card like the Nine of Wands. Nine of Wands, for myself, symbolizes boundaries and protection when it comes to our growth/life path. Place it on your altar with intention since it is a portal to our intentions, our guides, and the liminal, or carry on your person.

•Smoke cleanse the thresholds in your home, yourself, and your loved ones. I personally like rosemary and lavender for this purpose.

•As you leave an offering for your guides/ancestors/deities during your daily conversation with them ask them for their help when it comes to protection.

•Write the word protection or a symbol of protection on a black candle with intention and light.

Witch Bottles? Witch Bottles! - Explained.

Witch bottles traditionally act as what can be described as ‘decoys’ for malevolent or baneful spirits and energies. This includes curses, hexes and jinxes - it includes anything and everything that seeks to ruin that good streak you’ve got goin’ on.

Historically, witch bottles included items such as rusted nails, thorns and wine (yep, you read it right: people used to stick wine in bottles to never be consumed!), and almost always include an item of your physical being, such as a lock of hair, a little bit of spit or blood or semen, etc,… you catch my drift here, right?

**IMPORTANT: if and when you draw blood, don’t just wing it. Use hygienic and sterilized equipment to prevent infection!

When creating a witch bottle of this ilk, your main goal is entrapment so personalize to your heart’s content.

Nowadays, we have witch bottles for protection, entrapment, cursing and myriad other things, but typically they all follow the same basic method of construction (for lack of a better word) as traditional witch bottles, which goes as follows:

For protection against baneful energies and the entrapment of them, some ingredients may include the following:

A item of your physical being

Sea salt

Needles/pins/nails

Broken glass

Sage

Garlic

Blood or wine

A sigil written on paper or the ashes of a burnt sigil

A tangle of black thread

Basil

Cayenne Pepper

If you’re creating a protection bottle, you may want to include protective herbs, (such as Rosemary, St. John’s Wort, Pennyroyal or Mandrake root) and small crystals, like amethyst and quartz, in place of the… angry-ish content of the negativity-trapping bottle.

Next, you put all of your ingredients into your chosen bottle which can be made of glass, clay, metal or ceramics, and seal it as tightly as possible with a lid or stopper (cork). Now, shake! If the mood takes you, fill the bottle with whatever thoughts and feelings fit the intent for a little extra oomph.

Now you must take a candle that again, corresponds with the intent of the bottle. Black for protection (for me!), - but each witch has their own colour correspondences, remember - and drop the hot wax over the lid/stopper of your witch bottle. Before you play with hot wax, set some paper down underneath your bottle to protect whatever surface you’re working on and please, please take care not to let the wax touch your skin whilst it’s hot!

Traditionally, again, ceramic witch bottles were burnt or placed in a fire or hearth and the ashes/remains then buried somewhere on the witches’ property. Nowadays this isn’t always an option, and many of us choose to use glass bottles or jars. In this instance, you can run the jar/bottle through the smoke of an incense that befits yours needs and wants, and then leave the witch bottle somewhere dark/somewhere it won’t be disturbed.

Picture Credit [x]

⛤History of Mabon⛤

The Mabon or Autumn Equinox is a holiday that takes place from the 21st of September to the 24th of the same month.

⛤The autumn equinox divides day and night equally - here we should all take a moment to pay homage to the impending darkness.

We also thank the sunset light, as we store this year's crop of crops.

The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to the trees.

On this holiday it is appropriate to dress in elegant clothes and dine and celebrate in luxurious surroundings.

It is time to finish the old jobs and prepare for a period of rest, relaxation and reflection.

⛤ Pagans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort, the Lord, as she prepares for death and rebirth.

⛤The feast of the autumn equinox is also known by other names: Feast of the second harvest, Feast of Wine, Feast of Avalon, Autumn Equinox, or Cornucopia.

The Teutonic name, Winter Finding, spans a period of time between Mabon and October 15, which is the New Year in Old Norse.

The Romans celebrated a festival dedicated to Pomona, the goddess of fruit and growing things.

However, the most famous ancient myth comes from Greece. The autumn equinox marks Persephone's return to the underworld:

⛤In ancient Greek mythology, the beginning of the fall is closely linked to the story of the abduction of Persephone, also called Kore or Cora. Daughter of Demeter, goddess of earth and fertility, she was kidnapped and taken to the underworld to become the wife of Hades, the god-king of the underworld. After a period of mourning and struggle, Demeter eventually brought her daughter back from Hades to the light, but only for six months of the year. Each fall, Persephone must return to the underworld to spend six months with Hades. During these months, Nature withdraws.

⛤Mabon is a relatively modern neo-pagan celebration, which takes place around the September equinox.

⛤In the 1970s, the American author Aidan Kelley gave new names to the six pagan holidays rooted in the ancient Celtic tradition and added two new celebrations proper to the September and March equinox.

These holidays are celebrations based on the cycles of the sun.

⛤Inspired by a proper name derived from the Welsh word mab / map, meaning "son" or "boy", Kelly chose Mabon as the name for the autumn equinox celebration, and founded the ceremony he had composed for the festival in the Greek myth of Persephone.

⛤Mabon celebrates the second harvest and the start of winter preparations, and it's time to respect the impending darkness while giving thanks in the sunlight.

⛤Druids and pagans also flock to Stonehenge, the famous 5,000-year-old site in Wiltshire, and Castlerigg, another megalithic stone circle near Keswick, Cumbria, to watch the equinox dawn.

⛤The Christian church replaced many pagan celebrations with Christian observances. The most famous is Christmas, which replaced the ancient Yule festival around the December solstice.

⛤The closest Christian celebration to the September equinox is Michaelmas, also known as the feast of St. Michael and all angels, on September 29th. In this period, the feast of St. Michael is mainly observed in the Catholic church.

⛤Centuries ago in England, the time around the feast of St. Michael also had a commercial side: servants were paid wages after the harvest and workers looked for new jobs at job fairs that also became a place for celebrations.

⛤Mabon is a time full of magic, all connected to the changing seasons of the earth, this is the Second Harvest, the Fruit Harvest and the Great Thanksgiving.

⛤The Goddess is radiant and the God eventually dies with her gift of pure love with the cutting of the last grain. As the grain is harvested in abundance during Lammas and reaches completion, we enjoy the abundance of fruits and vegetables at this time.

⛤It is time to thank the waning sun for the richness of the harvest that has been bestowed on us.

⛤Sometimes it seems like every Holiday calls for thanks, and it really is: every spin of the Wheel brings both inner and outer gifts and insights, so Mabon is a celebration and also a period of rest after harvest work.

⛤In terms of your life path, it is time to reap what you have sown, time to look at the hopes and aspirations of Imbolc and Ostara and reflect on how they have manifested.

⛤It is time to complete projects, to clear out and leave what is no longer wanted or needed as we prepare for the descent, so that winter can offer a time for reflection and peace.

⛤And it's time to plant seeds of new ideas and hopes that lie dormant but nurtured in the dark, until spring returns.

I'll be posting more Mabon related content during the week so stay tuned for spells, rituals, prayers, history and affirmations!

Hopefully, you'll have a great Celebration this year too!

⛤Isidora⛤

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born to always mourn the present like it’s already become a memory

Common plants and their uses in Magick

Belladonna (Deadly Nightshade)- Poisonous, so do not ingest. Used for flight (on a broom and astral projection), for youth and beauty spells, and to summon the dead.

Betony- For purification and protection. Prevents nightmares.

Caraway- Good for love spells and as an aphrodisiac 

Cinquefoil- Prosperity, purification and protection

Clover- cures madness, also useful in youth and beauty spells.

Cowslip- Invites those who have passed to visit in dreams.

Dragons Blood- Cures impotency, good for love spells

Elecampane- Aids in raising spirits.

Eyebright- Make a tincture and anoint your eyelids to induce visions.

Frankincense- Powerful aid to meditation.

Garlic- protection, healing, courage, and of course exorcism.

Hawthorn- Protects against evil spirits, good for marital happiness.

Hellebore- Can make you invisible. Useful in exorcisms.

Henbane- Aids in flight (on a broom, but also astral projection.

Holly- Powerful protection against evil. Enhances masculinity, Invites prophetic dreams.

Honeysuckle- Useful for prosperity and love charms

Hyssop- Purifies. Useful in preparing for astral projection and for banishing evil spirits.

Juniper- Protects against accidents and theft.

Lavender- Provides clarity of thought, aids in having visions. Good for peace and protection.

Lemon Balm- Aphrodisiac, also soothes a broken heart.

Mandrake- Powerful protective charm. Increases strength and courage, as well as virility and fertility.

Marigold- Useful in prophesying. Helps you see magickal creatures. 

Majoram- Helps overcome grief.

Mistletoe- Mainly used in love spells and to aid in conception, also provides protection.

Mugwort- Aids in astral projection, enhances psychic abilities, prevents fatigue.

Myrtle- Long history of use in love spells.

Pimpernel- Helps detect lies and deceit.

Rosemary- “Rosemary for remembrance”. Improves memory and mental function, useful in youth spells.

Sage- Good for fertility and wisdom, also aids in health and longevity.

St Johns Wort- Increases courage and willpower, good for banishing evil spirits.

Thyme- Renews energy, purifies the spirit

Vervain- Cleanses ritual spaces. Good for prosperity and creativity.

Wormwood- Releases the wandering dead so they may rest. Useful in divination.

Yarrow- Enhances perception and psychic abilities.

Practical Magic: Circle Casting

If you’re brand new to witchcraft, you’re probably seeing this phrase left and right: casting the circle, or circle casting. For some, it seems fairly obvious, because casting circles is often represented in pop culture, from the Devil’s Traps in Supernatural to the circle of brooms in Practical Magic. 

However, what purpose does casting a circle serve? How do you cast a circle? Why does it have to be a circle and not, say, a square? And do I always need to cast a circle when working magick?

Well, we’ll take this in small bits!

Why should I cast a circle?

A circle serves several different purposes in witchcraft. For some, it’s a means of protection. To others, it’s a means of magnifying ritual energy. For still others, it encourages slipping into meditative consciousness. Whatever the reasons for the tradition, it remains a rather good way of getting the spell started.

In terms of protection, the circle acts sort of like a bubble. After all, it’s not just a cylindrical wall. When a witch casts the circle, he or she is envisioning the energy rising up from where it had been cast on the floor and forming a dome over the ritual space, and below the floor to encase the space in a bubble of intent. For many witches, this forms a sort of shield from outside spiritual influences, and to enter the circle after it’s been cast would require cutting a doorway into it.

As you cast your spell or work your rite, the energy you send out interacts with your altar, your tools, yourself, and your ritual space. The circle acts sort of like a can of soda that’s been shaken up. It holds in all of that energy, allowing it to increase in concentration and potency, allowing it to continuously interact with all ritual components, including the witch casting it. When the rite is done and the circle is opened, it sends all of that energy out into the world with extra force and intent, allowing it to more effectively do as the witch desires. This is particularly useful for rites and spells intended for someone else, or for spells intended to cause large changes.

Furthermore, casting a circle is usually the first or second act done in a spell - often a witch will cleanse a ritual space by asperging or smoke cleansing before casting the circle. As a result, casting the circle is an ideal start to a rite because it begins to set you into the state of mind you need for spellwork. By channeling intent and starting up the circle, you get your magical energy moving so that by the time the ritual starts, you’re already warmed up (like an athlete taking a couple of laps around the track so she can be warmed up and ready to go for practice or for the game). 

Why does it need to be a circle instead of another shape?

This largely is rooted in tradition. If you really feel that a different shape is more sacred than a circle, you’re welcome to use that instead in your practice - some cultures believed in triangles being the shape of perfection. However, in most cultures and beliefs, the circle is a rather sacred shape. We see it everywhere, the only shape that can truly be called perfect - no corners, no sharp edges, no beginnings, no endings. It is a symbol of eternity, and reflects the shape of Mother Moon and Father Sun.

The circle also has another impact in witchcraft in that it can be seen as a fertility symbol - representing the full womb. 

When casting a spell and beginning with a circle, you’re creating a sphere of energy - a magical manifestation of the principle of “as above, so below.” In a sense, you’re not casting a circle, but instead casting a sphere. It allows you to encompass your ritual space in a way where the energy can flow smoothly and freely like water. In general, other shapes don’t allow this kind of movement. Just like in Feng Shui, corners collect energy, prohibiting it from moving freely and causing it to grow stale and potentially sour into negative energy. Without the corners, you don’t have to worry about stale energy.

Do I always need to cast a circle in order to work magick?

The simple answer is no. The more accurate answer is that it largely depends upon the tradition you follow and what brand of magick you work. There are witches out there who will absolutely refuse to cast any kind of magic without the protection of the circle. Meanwhile, there are witches out there who only cast the circle for esbats and Sabbats. What feels best for you should be what dictates how frequently you cast your circles.

In my case, I always cast a circle when I am doing a full rite. Since many of my spells are done on the fly (intuition is key for me, so I don’t always write out elaborate spells), I don’t cast a circle for every working I do. Instead, with some spells I make use of circle imagery in order to provide the same effect - the pentacle is basically a mini circle. If you’ve seen the picture I showed of the protection altar I made for a friend of mine, you would notice that I have the pentacle there, but on either side of the pentacle are crystals pointing outward - through the use of imagery, and by using the crystals to project the energy, I’ve managed to cast my circle in the process of casting the spell.

When I’m working in my kitchen, I never cast full ritual circles - the pots and pans provide the shape, and I can cast the circles in the bottoms of those utensils if I need to empower the food.

I do, however, recommend casting circles any time you wish to work with spirits or any time you perform divination or healing spells. This is as much for empowerment as it is for protection.

How do I cast a circle?

Casting a circle can be as elaborate or as easy as you feel it needs to be. It can make use of actually drawing a circle on the floor, or it can be entirely energetic and felt. Ultimately, like any aspect of magick, the circle should be cast in the way that you feel it should be. The guidelines I give here are exactly that: guidelines. Work with them however you feel works best for you!

Step One: Cleanse your space

Cleansing your ritual space is necessary for any magick, depending  upon your craft. When doing a ritual spell, I always cleanse with sage smoke or asperge with holy water. When you feel your ritual space is cleansed of all negativity, you’re ready to begin the casting of the circle.

In my practice, I go around the circle a total of three times. The first time is when cleansing the space. In addition to cleansing the room, I cleanse the circle in a clockwise direction, stopping briefly at each cardinal point to allow the smoke to linger in the space. For me, this helps begin the process of casting, and enhances the visualization.

Step Two: Physical Representation (If Any)

I don’t often draw a circle on the floor. This is largely because most of my magic is intuitive. However, when working with the coven, we sometimes do lay out a circle depending upon the rite we’re working. Especially for new witches who struggle with visualization, laying out a circle can be very nifty and helpful. As such, if you’re new to witchcraft, I do recommend laying out a circle if you feel it helps. If you’re still in the broom closet and want to cast a circle discreetly, you may have to rely upon visualization alone.

Regardless, there are a couple of ways you can lay out your physical circle. The first is to only provide representations at the Corners, or Cardinal Points - North, East, South, and West. If laying out the circle is ritualized for you, it is often recommended to start in the East and move clockwise around the circle. When providing only representations at the Corners, you can either place candles in each direction, or you can provide something that represents the element associated with it (a feather for air at the east, a candle for fire at the south, a glass of water at the west, and a jar of salt for earth at the north, for instance). My coven has considered casting spells at the beach, and we all loved the idea of taking tiki torches and setting one up in each corner, lighting them as we greet each guardian.

The other way of laying a physical circle is to actually draw out the whole circle in some way. If you’re at the beach or in an area where you can draw a circle in the earth, you’re set. But other times, you may be in an area where there’s a bit of foliage, or you’re indoors and don’t have the luxury of scratching a circle into your apartment’s carpet. Depending on what kind of surface you’re using, you can pour salt around the ritual space as a circle, or you can use a protection powder (such as ground eggshells, or ground cinnamon). If laying down something that’s granulated or powdered is a bad idea, because carpets, some witches will use ribbon instead.

One of my favorite moments with my coven was when we had cast a circle on a hill for a Sabbat rite. The hill was rather overgrown, and we were working in a small, grassy clearing. Since the rite was for Imbolc, we had decided that spring flowers would be beautiful. So we took flowers and laid them out in a circle around our ritual space.

Whatever method you use, it is often easier to lay out the physical circle before casting it spiritually.

Step Three: Greeting the Quarters

The second pass around the circle is done as a means of welcoming the Quarters. If your tradition does not have guardians at the cardinal points, you may substitute as needed (welcoming the Faeries, or welcoming deity, for example) or you may omit this step entirely.

Starting at whatever direction is traditional for you (I always start in the north, but many witches prefer to start in the east), greet the guardian, welcoming it to the circle. I do this with an invocation and with the ringing of a bell. Something to the effect of:

I welcome the element of Earth to the North, that it strengthen the circle.

Or

I welcome the Guardian of the North, that it may bear witness to my work. Come in peace and love, so mote it be!

You would move in a clockwise direction around the circle, stopping at each cardinal point and welcoming its guardian or spirit in turn.

Once done, return to the altar.

Step Four: Casting the Circle

My third pass around the circle is the actual casting of it on a spiritual level. Depending upon your tradition, you would do this with a staff, sword, athame, or wand. My personal tradition is flexible - cast it with your hand if you feel that is more effective. I do, however, often cast the circle with a wand - the quartz in my wand helps to empower the circle, and I love encouraging that as much as possible.

With whatever implement you prefer in your casting hand (some traditions emphasize casting hands, others don’t; in general, your casting hand is your dominant hand or whatever hand you use to write with most often; if you’re ambidextrous, this could be either hand), start with the point you began at. Point the implement toward the floor at that point (physical circles help with this - point at the border you’ve created) and begin moving clockwise about the circle, envisioning your energy flowing outward from you, through your implement/fingertips, to the floor and creating a barrier.

Personally, I always tend to see energy as being like slow, fire-like mist that glows blue. I see it coming outward from my heart, traveling down my arm, through the wand (glowing brighter as it passes through each crystal) and then passing onto the ground where it ignites like a little wall of fire. Every witch sees it differently. That’s just how I visualize it.

Some witches will see the circle forming a sphere on its own. Great! If you feel you need to shape the sphere yourself, you can do so. Once you’ve cast the circle, go back to the altar and lift the energy upward from the floor until it closes above your head, creating a dome, and then push it downward in the same manner so that the sphere encloses the space below ground.

Visualization is key.

Congratulations! You’ve cast your circle. Some traditions will mark this in the ritual format: “Here is the border where the circle is cast none but love may enter, none but love may leave” or “The circle is cast in the presence of Goddess and God, so mote it be!”

When doing a simple spell and casting a circle for it, I acknowledge the casting quietly before setting to my work.

In Conclusion…

As you can see, casting a circle is something that can be very elaborate or very simple. It can be required for all workings or it can only be required for some. I feel that the way you cast your circle is often deeply personal. For that reason, in the steps I gave as an example above are only some of the key parts of how I cast the circle without revealing any personal details of what I do for it when not working with the coven.

Every tradition, every path, every witch casts circles differently. If you are starting out as a witch, I greatly encourage you to create your own, personalized method of casting the circle. If you keep a Book of Shadows (as most witches do), the way you cast your circle should be one of the first things that you write down in it.

All that said, may all your circles be unbroken!

Blessed Be! )O(

i think it’s so wholesome that whenever me or my friends have issues w our plants 🌱 .. i always send my mom a pic and she gives us a diagnosis and what to do