Many witches incorporate physically cleaning their space as part of how they cleanse the energy of their space, but most tips out there involve sweeping or adding ingredients to mop water or to surface cleansers. But I have carpets! (and simply vacuuming just didn’t feel like enough).
So, my ingredients are for cleansing, healing, and peace:
Rose
Lavender
Rosemary
Pink Salt
Bay Leaf
Chamomile
Eucalyptus
Cinnamon
Fine Salt
I ground that up in my food processor, but a mortar and pestle works really well too! I just had too much shoulder pain to mess with that lol
Then I added that to baking soda and cornstarch, which help to eliminate odors and lift stains/grease/grossness. I wish I had the measurements but I just poured it in until it seemed right…
Mixed it up really well and ended up with something like that ^ then I added oils with similar properties (here I will specify that the oils I use are herbal infused oils that I get from a small mompop Indian market, not essential oils). Just a couple drops of each, or else the powder will clump up too much:
Lemon oil
Peppermint oil
Rosemary oil
Lemongrass oil
Lavender oil
Eucalyptus oil
Mix all of that up, and then spread it over your carpet. I tried poking holes in the lid of my jar, but that didn’t spread as easily as using my hands. Lightly tossing it to spread it over the carpet also allowed me to be more involved in my intent. Leave the powder on your carpet for about an hour, and then vacuum it up!
For when someone has REALLY done you dirty and you just need a quick and powerful burst of baneful energy. This one is powerful, fast-acting, and short-lived, by nature it can really f a person up and can't be undone/reversed once you've cast it. As always, practice responsibly and be safe!
A lemon (naturally.)
A knife to help handle said lemon
A leaf or piece of paper with your target's name/identifying info on it (taglock)
Ginger/Cayenne Pepper to help empower/speed up the spell. Both preferred, but just one can do.
Salt/Black Pepper, good baseline ingredients for most hexes
Anything nasty or spicy you can think of. Hot sauces/peppers, old vegetable juices, lint/dust, dish scum, you name it.
Important note: This is not a spell you want to use needles, nails, or other hard things in. Keep it soft and organic if you can. You'll see why.
Throughout all of this, I find hexes to be a good opportunity to speak your mind, let the target know exactly how they fucked up and how this is the consequence of their actions.
Prepare your taglock and cut an opening in your lemon. Give it some room in the middle.
Roll up or stuff the taglock inside the lemon alongside all of the other ingredients. Be sure to add the ginger and cayenne for best results.
Once it's all in there, give it a little roll/squeeze to make sure those lemon juices permeate all the nasty insides. Let the citrus sting and the spices burn, let the grossness reflect the grossness they've wrought on your own life being sent back.
Chop the whole thing into pieces in preparation for the next step.
Once you're ready, chuck it into the garbage disposal.
If you don't have a garbage disposal, a blender with some liquid should work too. You could even continue using nasties like lemon or pickle juice.
Your lemon is now ground up and liquefied. Dispose of the remains however you please.
Just some things I've done that have helped me out tremendously with my own.
Cross-reference everything and anything before adding it in with pen. I usually aim for between four and six sources at least.
Table of contents! Number your pages and start a table of contents on the first one. Make sure you reserve the first few pages to continue it.
Print out charts to paste in. I have the wheel of the year in mine! It was so much easier than drawing it.
If you have trouble remembering what a specific plant looks like, and if it's available near you, press-dry a leaf or stem and paste it next to its information.
Sources! Write down where you found the information! If you have further questions that your book isn't answering yet, go to the source!
Cleanse your book when it feels heavy. Not physically heavy - you understand what I mean.
Keep crystals on top of it. Depending on what you keep on it, the qualities of the crystals will keep the book feeling fresh and light.
Don't just copy paragraphs and information straight from your sources. Paraphrase things in your own words so that it's easier for you to keep them in your head. Yes, having a book to reference is great, but it's also great to study it so you don't have to use it every time you have a question!
Share. Sharing grimoires with others can be massively beneficial to everyone involved, especially if you're swapping information. Seeing from other perspectives is always a good idea.
Just a few tricks and tips! As always, do your research, be safe, and blessed be.
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1.) CLEANSING AIR SPRAY
Your first and most simple way to cleanse without smoke would be to make a salt water solution (Fresh Salt Water from a Beach is a big Plus! Or reuse that snow/ Rain Water)
Simply mix the salt to your water until it dissolves fully.
Essential Oils are completely optional, Make your solution your own this is nearly a “base” Recipe but also very effective on its own.
Spray all around your Home, Altar, Car, Body to clear the congested energy.
2.) STEAM CLEANSING AND FLOOR WASH
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ OPTION ONE ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~
Boil water, And Add herbs that work with the intention of your cleanse.
Sage- Clears ALL energys
Sweet Grass- Think “Sweet” promotes love
Rosemary- Love, Cleansing, Protection, Money Your all purpose herb
Cinnamon: Protection, Love
Lavender: Peace, Tranquility, Happiness
Cloves: Exorcizing, Banishing negativity
Rue: Exorcizing, Expelling, Hex Breaking
Chamomile: Keeping, And Promoting peace, Happiness
Basil: Luck
Angelica Root: Protection against Malevolent spirits
(Research different herbs, Mix and Match to make YOUR Perfect blend)
Boil all of of your herbs together, Until you get a rich, Dark Color. Use this time to “add” Your intentions and energy’s into your mixture. Make your magic Happen! Take the pot and “Smudge” with the steam. All nooks, All cranny’s, All corners, All Rooms.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Now here is your “Second Option“ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
ONCE THE MIXTURE HAS REACHED ROOM TEMPERATURE use your decoction as a Floor Wash. You can add any detergents, Or Fragrances at this time
Clean all your floors, Base boards, Window Sills, What ever feels right, Although I would always start with the Floor.
(You may want to dilute in clean water, As some herbal mixes can stain)
This gives your Home Cleansing some extra OOMPH
You can dispose of your mixture Naturally, Outside, Or down the drain, Its up to you. This is an eco friendly solution.
Witchcraft is a complicated business. There are lots of moving parts, dozens of things to study, and so much information to try and keep straight in your head. It’s easy to become overwhelmed. Sometimes we forget things. Not just when the full moon is (although plenty of us do) but what it is we want to do with our craft.
And sometimes we feel like we’ve lost our drive. Like whatever moved us to become witches in the first place has somehow slipped away, leaving us with just the dregs. Sometimes we feel stuck, unable to make progress. It’s easy to become frustrated too, but it’s important to push on.
To that end, I offer this exercise.
Choose a journal or open a word document and begin quantifying your craft.
Start by outlining the broad concepts. Do you follow a particular path or tradition? How would you classify your craft, i.e. green witchcraft, cottagecraft, sea witch, lunar witch, and so on? Do you work with any deities, and if so, which ones? Do you work alone or with others? How long have you been practicing? What, to you, is the most important aspect of your craft?
Then get into your working space. Do you have an altar? If so, what’s on it and why? Do you have a dedicated workspace, or a place you go to work magic outside of your home? If you could describe your ideal workspace, what would it look like?
Next, describe your tools. Do you have cards or runes or a wand or other specialized tools that you work with? What do you use most frequently? Do you have favorites? Do you make or grow any of your components? Where do you acquire the things you use in your magic, if you can’t make them at home? Do you have a personal library? What are your favorite sources of information? Do you have ritual garb or jewelry that connects you with your craft?
Sketch out your year as a witch. What holidays do you observe and how do you celebrate them? What seasonal festivals or special occasions do you mark? Which ones do you enjoy the most? Is there a time of year when you feel more energized?
Once you have all of this recorded, think back to what first interested you in magic and witchcraft and describe that. Was it a movie? A favorite book? A personal experience? Were you raised in the craft or did you come to it on your own? What made you decide to become a witch?
Then think about how you’ve progressed since you started. Have you achieved a particular goal you set when you began, or are you closer to achieving it then you were? What have you gotten really good at? Where are you still struggling? Where would you like to be a year from now? Are there things you’d like to try but haven’t yet?
And of course, if anything else occurs to you, record that too.
There is no need to share these thoughts with anyone if you don’t want to. This is purely a personal exercise, to help you understand where you are, where you’ve come from, and where you want to go. Quantifying this information might provide some much-needed inspiration, in addition to helping you solidify any nebulous thoughts that might be floating around. It’s much easier to progress in your craft if you have an outline for what you’re already doing.
Happy Witching!
What do you use deadnettle for?
Mostly I use it for magic pertaining to happiness, growth, beauty, or opportunity. I also associate deadnettle with the ability to make proper use of available resources, so I sometimes add it to a spell if a little bit of flexibility, fortitude, or Making The Best Of Things is called for.
Purple deadnettle is an early spring flower, very popular with the bees, and it grows abundantly pretty much anywhere it can find loose damp soil. It turns my yard into an oasis of tiny bell-shaped wildflowers and happily bumbling bees long before the early summer clover begins to bloom. This sweet little flower was one of the first gifts my new home gave me and it helped kickstart the bond I'm developing with the land.
(Apparently, it's also edible, although I've never tried it.)
Pictured: A patch of purple deadnettle in my yard, with vetchweed and dandelion puffballs mixed in.
your only job on this earth is to be so intrinsically yourself that the right people gravitate toward you and the wrong people move out of your way
Note: I'm drawing here from my knowledge of herbal energetics as they are recognized in multiple herbalism systems, my knowledge of astrology, and the concepts of sympathetic magic - if this isn't your thing, please just move along.
The four elements and the concepts of Energetics run consistently through the framework of much of the Western magic systems but it's something that is often overlooked. Suppose rather than relegating the elements to something that we call upon ritualistically to join us in our magic works (or, that must be represented on an altar), we instead stop and consider what they are, and what they do. In that case, we can gain a deeper understanding of how magic works on a human being.
The idea of the four elements and their associated qualities (dry, warm, cool, and moist - now known as herbal energetics) comes from the Athenian philosopher Aristotle. The fire element is warm, the earth element is cool, the air element is dry, and the water element is wet. This shows a remarkable difference from the modern astrological association of earth being opposed to water, and air to fire as it is shown on the astrological wheel; here, hot is opposed to cold (fire to earth) and dry to wet (air to water). It is worth noting that this can be somewhat proven through action - earth puts out fire, for instance. Today, we understand that there is more to healthfulness than balancing energetics (thank you antibiotics, vaccines, and insert your favorite modern medical miracle here) but there are still a number of views on wellness that encourage considering them. Maybe someday I will write more of this and how it relates to synastry, but let's focus on how this can be used in magic.
From here, we need to take a dive into modern herbalism. Why are we doing this? Because most people use all sorts of herbal components as ingredients in our spells and many of our correspondences have their roots in how that plant matter interacts with the human body. One of the major considerations when choosing an herb is what its Action is on the human body. These actions include Heating (Warm/Fire), Cooling (Cool/Water), Drying (Dry/Air), and Wetting (Moist/Water).
We use these actions all of the time without even knowing that we are doing them. Most cocktail people know that you want to drink a Mint Julip in the summer to cool you down (mint is a Cooling herb). On the other hand, if you need a pick me up, Chai tea which is full of warming herbs - even noncaffeinated versions like Bengal Spice - does the trick. The marshmallow (a Moist herb) does the coating of the throat in "Throat Coat" tea. The conditions of warm/cool/dry/moist are so normal to use as human beings that we tend to overlook them and adjust for them automatically.
With this in mind, I want to bring up a few ways in which this can be applied in witchcraft.
Warm is nice and pleasant. A lot of the warming herbs are used in money and sex magic - they make us feel good. But, like any good thing, they might need to be consumed in moderation. Candles carry the innate action of warmth and just think about how important fire safety is. Some herbs that warm cannot always be handled with bare hands (spicy peppers cause capsaicin burns) and these have long-documented uses in baneful magics of all kinds.
Cool magic can be used to calm and control. It can be used to put a particular situation on ice so that you don't have to deal with it. It can bring down fevers. It can soothe bad tempers and hot-headedness. It can preserve. It can also protect and insulate.
Dry magic can also be used to preserve. It can dry up emotions and stifle passion. It can draw out something or draw something away from a situation. It can create space.
Moist magic can be overflowing and generous. It can also be stagnant and suffocating. Moisture can revive life. It can also drown it.
It is worth noting that all aspects of these factors are always present in our lives. And they don't exist in a vacuum - everything is a combination of the two Aristotlean categories: you have Warm Moist or Warm Dry, and Cool Moist or Cool Dry.
We use these principles in magic all of the time. Anytime that you are using a liquid in a jar spell, you are applying the concept of Moist. If you are applying salt or rice to drain an object, you are using the concept of Dry. A freezer spell is an obvious example of Cool and any time that you are burning something you are using the concept of Warm.
But let's go a step further. If you are trying to do a warming spell, wouldn't it make sense to use specifically only warming herbs - or, at least - herbs that don't counteract Warmth (aka abstain from using cooling herbs?). Remember, these herbs have a natural and calculable effect on the human body so one would assume that, when used as part of a spell directed at a human body, they will have a similar effect. Even if you're a total candle head (I get it - I LOVE candle magic), consider not adding a candle to a spell meant to freeze somebody out.
When casting a hex, it is worth considering whether you want to burn them out with fire or take the slower more calculated path of ice. (Stop me from quoting Robert Frost here...) If you need to separate a couple who thrives on relationship conflict, drying them out could be a good option - more specifically, I'd probably use cool/dry.
Really we are getting into the basics of all sympathetic magic: using a thing that has an obvious effect to transfer that effect, through our spell, to the spell's intended target. This is why I have been very specific in saying that this applies to magic cast on a human being - here we are using the principles of Energetics and how they affect humans. For a spell on an animal or your house, entirely different sympathetic principles would apply.
The next time that you are choosing between two herbs that are said to have the same associations, consider whether one might be better than the other based on the Energetic nature of that plant. You might find a whole new level of casting open up to you.
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Norse Animism is based on the notion that we can socialize with the world and that the world socializes in return.
Which means our relationship with anything is inherently collaborative. We are not just interactinv with things, but participating in their existence as they participate in ours.