When Life Gives You Jewelweed, 1

For the witches and pagans who need to hear it, connecting with nature is supposed to be about like, actually observing nature over long periods of time, not doing stuff like hoarding endangered bird feathers and beach sand, or just meditating out in aesthetically-pleasing locations. Can you tell me exactly when your wildflowers and weeds start blooming? When do your bugs come out of hibernation? When do migratory birds come and go? How does the air feel during different times of year? If you can't do stuff like that, you aren't connecting with nature.

Witch Tip: Get to Know Your Spell Ingredients

Get to know your spell ingredients. Just because one ingredient is good for money doesn't mean it's a good fit for you.

There are a lot of parts to getting to know an ingredient.

You can research its functionality if it has an herbal use whether medicinal or culinary - the classifications of herbals help a lot in understanding a component's working in your spell, ie - how it will do what you want it to do. A warming herb has a different effect than a cooling herb, for example. An herb that drys out the body can also be used to dry out a situation. A purgative can be used to clear things.

You can research the historic uses of the spell ingredients - I would look at both medical and magical uses here. Though we have debunked a lot of old medicinal uses and I by no means mean to suggest that you use herbs by their old medical uses, these practices give an idea of the nature of the plant. Over time, particular cultures develop an understanding of specific planets and if you are respectful, you may be able to tap into this shared knowledge.

You can hold and interact with the ingredient. This is a must for me before I will use anything in my spell work. I am an animist - I believe that all objects (both inanimate and animate) have a spirit - both their own individual spirit and a connection to the great over-arching spirit of their class. For instance, the basil plants in my garden are three things: each is its own individual basil plant, also a combined Basil spirit that is growing in my garden, and a piece of the spirit of Sweet Basil as a whole. When learning to work with the energy of a spell ingredient, I need to know how it feels. How it interacts with my energy. Is it calming? Does touching it make me go buzz buzz. How does it smell? How does it taste (if its safe to consume, of course)?

You can grow/harvest/gather/mine that ingredient yourself. This only furthers your knowledge of this ingredient. Did you see it when it was a tiny seedling? Did you plant it in the ground? Did you spend hours in the woods looking for the perfect specimen or find a field full on your walk home from work one day? Sure, the seashell you picked up on the beach may not be as perfect as the one you can buy online but you have already established a personal connection with that shell by choosing to take it home.

There are so many more ways. You can write/photograph/draw your object. You can meditate with it. You can potentially communicate with it through dreams or other means of divination. You can experiment with using this spell ingredient by doing your usual spell work with it in addition or substitution to something that you normally use - did it make a difference? How did working with that ingredient change your magic?

Take notes on the different ingredients you use and become the scientist in your own witchy life.

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Witch Tip: Pay Attention to Your Protection Magic

Items that you use in your protection spells become a part of your protection. Not just the pieces that you put into your spellwork, that spirit as a whole.

Let's just say that I was protecting with basil (I know that is not the best protection plant, lol, but I'm being consistent and using basil as my forever example). If I had a basil plant that I was growing in my house and it suddenly start dying, I would immediately want to check and make sure that wasn't a sign that something had tried to breach my protections.

There are always mundane reasons that a plant starts dying (not enough or too much water or light and pest pressures) but that doesn't mean that it still isn't a sign. You should see to your plant but then also do some divination to look into things.

I get that "this could be a sign" must be the most frustrating thing to inexperienced witches but also to overly anxious witches.

But here's the thing, anxiety - if well controlled - has some evolutionary advantages. If you are actually looking out for things, you notice what is going on. Some people could have all of the signs of their protection being attacked and they would never notice. Congratulations, you pay attention. Now double-check that it's not something you did (like gross negligence in watering your plant is not a sign) or a story that you made up because you're emotionally dysregulated.

I also want to clarify that seeing a random robin when you have no connection to robins is almost certainly NOT a sign whereas my basil plant is suddenly dying for no reason when you use basil as one of the primary ingredients in your protection spells is more likely a sign.

Do you see what I am putting down here?

This is obviously a ton of UPG (why do I have to say that - all fucking magic was once somebody's UPG) but whether you realize it or not, you are interacting with the Spirit of basil every time that you use basil in a spell. And if you used basil for protection - even if you hadn't used the basil from the plant growing in your kitchen (say its brand new, for example) - then the Spirit of basil has to take some of the brunt of any attack on you and it will be reflected in the plant in your kitchen.

That is, by the way, one of the benefits of using plants that you grow yourself in your protection magic but, also, it is also the disadvantage of using the plants that you grow in your protection magic.

It's really quite scary to watch your plant eat a spell. You have to be ready to watch that plant die.

A sacred space is so important in the home, I’m not just talking about an altar either, a sacred space can be anywhere where you feel most comfortable and at peace, the best thing is you can have as many as you want too!

This is only one of 3 of my sacred spaces at home, and it’s just been re-decorated with new flowers and new crystals ✨🤍 do you have a sacred space? 🕯

Insta: hexeandharmony 🖤🌙

Witchcraft Exercises

Just a quick compilation of the posts I've made about exercises to help improve your craft. These can be used as journaling prompts, inspiration for activities, or as methods for pulling yourself out of a slump and recharging your witchy inspiration.

Witchcraft Exercise - Quantifying Your Craft

Witchcraft Exercise - Dig Through The Ditches

Witchcraft Exercise - The Book of Lessons

Witchcraft Exercise - Home Brews

Prompt - Music to Witch By

Most of these are also available in the May 2021 bonus episode of Hex Positive (check your favorite podcatcher).

Happy Witching!

Housewarming Magic

For when you’ve moved into a new living situation or are ready for a new start <3

Finding your home/moving:

House hunting crystals

Spell jar to find a house

Spell for your dream house

Spell for securing a home/property purchase

Property locater spell for house-hunting

Moving witch tips

Moving house cleansing ritual

The witch’s moving checklist

Cleansing:

A deep room cleanse

To absorb negative energy from a room

Magical spring cleaning tips

Summer house cleansing

Witchy cleaners

Clean house powder

Home cleansing tips

Thoroughly clearing spaces

Crystals to cleanse the home

Cleansing your space without smoke

Low energy cleaning + cleansing

Warding + Protection:

A crash course on warding

To ward the home

Threshold magic 101

Protect my home spell

Home protection steam spell

Simple home protection jar spell

Room/home protection

Protection oil for windows and doors

Sharehouse peace witch’s ladder

Wall of fire property & house protection spell

Protection (wind) chimes

The Rowan cross

Protecting the property

Check out the sigils below!

Sigils:

For a magical and happy home

Find a home that will bring you happiness

My new home suits me well

I have found a safe place to rent in my price range

Sospidonum

This space is full of life, light, and bright energy

My home is safe

This home is safe for all

This home is a safe and healthy environment

My house is protected from unwanted influences

My home is protected

I live well on my own

Witchin’ it up:

Happy home spell jar

Home sweet home spell jar

Hestia’s house blessing

House to home spell

Laundry magic

Pleasing household spirits

When a bad guest leaves

Building a magical home

The magical home

Herbal home blessing

Odds and ends:

Magic, and power, in homemaking

The history and creation of witch bottles

Bringing nature inside

Cottage witch tips

Hearth witch tips

The basics of kitchen and cottage witchcraft

You may also like:

Bedridden witch: garden / stale energy / kitchen edition

Spells for job seekers

Travel witchery

Updated April of 2024. Please inform me of broken links via ask-box. Click original post to check for updates!

A charm to enchant your waters, candles, incenses, temporary tools, etc etc.

It's really important to remember this is my own version inspired by Traditional Witchcraft. What is presented here is not a "universal" belief about how magic works, and it is influenced by my experiences and UPG/SPG.

The purpose of this charm is to elevate mundane/inert objects, including commercially harvested/mined plants and stones, so that they become filled with power and magically effective.

This is a basic and simple spell which can be adapted to a wide variety of uses. However, it lacks the power and permanence of a formal consecration.

I recommend performing this charm right before you use whatever it is you're enchanting. So, right before drinking the tea, right before using your broom to sweep out energies, etc.

I use a charm similar to this one to prepare spellcasting materials, such as enchanting salt and candles before using them in a spell.

This charm has like two steps and takes about fifteen seconds to do in the moment, but this post runs a little long because I explain the theory along the way.

Materials:

Whatever it is to be enchanted

A traditional symbol of spiritual power, ideally one simple enough that you can draw it in the air with your finger or picture it in your mind

A very short little incantation (you will be writing it)

A traditional symbol of spiritual power, eh?

"Traditional" as in you didn't make it up - so, not your own sigils.

This is based on my belief about how this charm and magical symbols work.

If you use a really old and powerful magical symbol - like a five-pointed star or the Christian cross - you're tapping into the power of the symbol itself.

If you use a sigil that you created and charged with your own energy, you're going to be drawing on your own power to use this charm. Which of course, totally fine - it's just that it's more draining.

("What if my sigil is designed to channel external power?" you still have to spend your energy to maintain the sigil, like having to repair a bucket you use to carry water)

Whatever symbol you use definitely matters. If you use one of the elemental triangles, it's going to impart elemental energy into the charm. If you use Brigid's Cross, it's going to impart her energy into the charm. If you want to impart your own energy on purpose, you can use your own signature :)

It's worth putting thought into what energies you want to impart. You can keep a collection of symbols handy to impart special kinds of energy if you want, or use something universal like the pentagram for everything.

A very short little incantation

This can be anything. I enjoy somewhat standardizing mine, it just helps me get into the groove. You usually want your incantation to do 3 things:

Acknowledge the power behind the symbol you're using.

State that you need the power provided by the symbol and that you want this power to go into the object you're enchanting.

Clearly state what you want the outcome to be.

Here are a couple of examples. Materials in [brackets] indicate that word should be swapped out depending on what you're actually charming. You can be plain or poetic, whatever works:

By the power of Christ, I charm this [candle] to purify. Through Him this room will be cleansed.

Five elements fill you one by one, 'till this [salt] shines like the sun. Hear this task assigned to thee: help my spell and make it well. As my will, so shall it be.

I empower this [incense] to dispel unwanted spirits through the powers of the Sun and Moon.

You do not need to speak it aloud. Just reading it or going over it in your mind will suffice.

Focus and willpower?

Eh. If you've got focus and willpower to spare, feel free to spend them on this. But you don't really need them.

If you're using symbols of actual spiritual power and clearly directing them unto a goal, it should work. Powers don't need your belief in order to be powerful. Energies can still move when you're not focused on them.

If your incantation includes directions that clearly indicates you are A) calling on magical power, B) that the power needs to go into the object, and C) what the power should do for you, then that's all you need.

Staying in the present moment is really helpful, but you don't need to really burn the lamp oil on this, you know?

Putting it all together:

Using your finger, draw the spiritual symbol over the thing you want to charm. Alternatively:

Draw it on a piece of paper and hold the paper nearby

Picture the symbol in your mind

Speak, think, or sign your very short little incantation. Make sure you are clearly indicating that you are using the symbol for its power, that you want the power to go into the object, and that all this is being done so that the object aligns to your stated intent.

That's it :)

Wee bit of troubleshooting

Magical symbols are like the crystalized form of the powers they represent. The charm has power because the symbol you employ radiates with power. It is then up to you to direct it and instruct it according to your needs.

If you're not having success, try changing the symbol you use.

If the symbol is one representing a specific deity or being, ensure you've got at least a neutral relationship with them. If you skipped out on an oath to a god and you're avoiding them, using their symbol is probably not a great idea.

If you are new to magic, spending more willpower and focus will likely be of assistance to you.

Kitchen Witchery: Elminx's Anti-anxietea

In honor of eclipse season, I wanted to share a recipe to bring your buzz down a notch (or two). I've been drinking this nervine tea for nearly five years now; it features all of my favorite herbal flavors! I'm not going to go into detailed herbal profiles for each of these botanicals, but I suggest looking into them more if you are curious. I think learning the basics of herbalism can greatly benefit the kitchen witch.

Each of these ingredients can be found in any decent grocery store, bought online, or grown yourself. The combination is designed with flavor and herbal actions in mind; it's not a measure of exact ingredients - mix with your heart. All of these botanicals are well tolerated and can be drunk regularly by most people. Please be careful when trying new herbs; allergic or other adverse reactions can occur.

Hibiscus, Hibiscus sabdariffa Hibiscus is the primary flavoring agent in this blend. It gives our tea its Cool, Moist, and Sour properties. Please keep in mind that hibiscus will stain anything it comes into contact with, including clothing, wooden spoons, and even countertops. If you don't think you're familiar with hibiscus, it is the primary flavor in all "Zinger" teas. It tastes tart and inexplicably red.

Peppermint, Mentha piperito

Peppermint is the first of our gentle nervines to be added to our tea. Nervines do exactly what you expect them to: they calm your nerves. In addition to being a nervine (primary benefit), Peppermint adds its properties of Pungent, Sweet, Cool, Warm, and Dry to our tea. I'm sure you're all familiar with peppermint; you could probably substitute a different mint here with similar effect.

Lemon Balm, Melissa officinalis

Lemon balm is a nervine and a mild sedative. It brings the properties of Sour, Cool, and Dry to our tea. Some people don't like the taste of lemon balm, saying that it tastes like Pledge. If that's you, just omit it from this drink. The taste of hibiscus strongly overpowers the lemon balm, though, so maybe try it first.

Tulsi (Holy Basil), Ocimun santum

Tulsi is a nervine and adaptogenic herb, which means that it helps the body manage stress better. Its properties are Pungent, Sweet, Bitter, and Warm. With its heady, peppery notes, Tulsi is certainly an acquired flavor. If you get along with this herb, you will know almost immediately upon drinking it for the first time. A little goes a long way; you don't need to overdo it.

Dried Apple, Malus sp.

Although apple is primarily a flavoring agent (and sometimes a sweetening agent) in this blend, it does have mild sedative effects that lend themselves to the overall feel of this tea. I suggest using the apples you would eat in this recipe; you can dry slices of apples by putting them in your oven at 225F for 1.5 to 2 hours. Use a sweeter apple if you want a sweeter tea.

Minx's Anti-Anxietea

2 parts hibiscus

1 part peppermint

1 part lemon balm

1-2 parts dried apple

.5 part tulsi

Start by adding 1 tsp tea to hot water and steeping for 8 minutes. Adjust to your tastes from there.

This drink tastes great, hot or cold.

I've never sweetened this tea because I like my drinks bitter like my soul, but I bet a dollop of honey would be lovely in this—especially a nice summery wildflower honey. I've added sweetened cranberries in the past (1-2 parts) for more sweetness. And honestly, I don't measure. I know when it smells right.

I apply this drink liberally, but some people may find it too strong a diuretic to consume more than once daily. I drink it any time that I feel especially anxious or when I know I am going to be under a lot of stress. My partner likes to drink it before bedtime and claims it's one of the only things that will calm them down when they feel like they have too many thoughts.

You can witch this up (it's a verb now!) as little or as much as you like. I like to work calming energy into the drink step by step as I create the mixture by working with each botanical individually. You could charge this with a candle or sigil, dedicate it to one of your favorite gods or spirits, or store it on your altar. I create bindrunes for my favorite tea blends and use them as magical labels.

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Some of you may have already come upon this one, but I’ve found that when it comes to objects I want to imbue with magic or bring to “life” (in an animist sense), simply just breathing on them goes a long way. Like a rock can be “dead” and then you can just breathe on it and the little fella just wakes up. Of course you can do this on anything you want, like stuffed animals and figurines and all of your tools. You could even do it on a snowman if ya want. So yeah. :D ETA: Breathing on things can also be fine for quick cleansings. Just blow on ‘em like you’re blowing off dust or whatever.

2013