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69 Days Until Lughnasadh (nice...)

121 Days Until Mabon

160 Days Until Samhain

211 Days Until Yule

253 Days Until Imbolc

300 Days Until Ostara

Some tag users were saying they wish people would ask them about their practice, and we could use a little spring joy. So here's a little ask game for all of the tag members and all of the other witches out there. Send emojis to ask questions, or send a question of your own. Remember to keep the game going by sending asks to the person you reblogged from.

🌿 What is your "witchcraft origin story"? 🍃 What were your first magical influences vs your influences now? 🧭 If your personal practice had its own unique craft/tradition name, what would it be? 🪶 What specific tradition(s) (if any) do you follow? If you're more eclectic, explain how you put it all together, 🕯️ What does a day-in-the-life look like in your practice? 🧰 What type of workings do you do most frequently? 🌙 What tools do you use the most? 🕊️ What animals and land features do you most often use in your practice and how? 🧠 Do you prefer to do divination with tools or with the inner sense? What are your preferred methods? 🔄 What’s something you believe about magic that’s changed over time? ✨Are you a mundane before magic, mundane beside magic, or magic first type of practitioner? 🌧️ What has been your greatest challenge within your practice? 📚 What magical books are you currently reading / did you last read? 🌱 What is something you are learning, exploring or improving in your magical craft? 💖 What about your practice brings you the most joy?

Bonus:

Send 🔮 for a simple divination reading

"Bury it outside your front door" I LIVE IN AN APARTMENT, I CAN'T DO THAT!

Alternatively, I have some spell jars with dedicated purposes that I just reuse as needed.

There are a lot of opinions in the modern witchcraft community about what sorts of things make the best components for spells. Some go simple, some go fancy. Most published sources focus on specialized materials like crystals, ritual tools, or plants you aren't likely to find outside an occult shop or a botanical supplier.

But any broke witch you talk to will extol the virtues of working with inexpensive common materials from everyday shops or even just items you have lying around the house.

So to that end, here is an exercise you can do at home to familiarize yourself with your available resources and brainstorm new ideas.

Select one room of your home. It can be any room you wish. If you're not sure where to start, the kitchen is usually a good place. Sit in the room for a while and thoughtfully examine the objects around you. Open drawers and cabinets if necessary. Select five to ten items and make a list of them.

Write down all the magical correspondences of the items that you can think of. Brainstorm five ways that each item can be used in a magical working. Brainstorm ten ways that the items can be used in combination with each other. If you're feeling extra creative, try to write a spell that incorporates as many of the items as possible.

Repeat this with other rooms and other items. This will help you build a list of ideas of what you can do with the materials you have to have as well as helping you practice identifying magical correspondences.

For bonus points, turn the exercise around by listing five types of spells and sussing out how to cast multiple examples of each one using just the items you can find around your home.

Pro-tip: Don't just limit yourself to herbs and art supplies. Get creative!

Happy Witching!

More Witchcraft Exercises Here

Four Leaf clovers are very special to me, I've always wanted to find some of my own, Because I'm housebound because of my disability I decided to grow clover this year and hopefully grow my own four-leaf clovers. I ended up successfully growing two so far and they are my first ever naturally found 4 leaf clovers. I sacrificed one for a recent spell, And it worked fucking amazingly.

You can usually find books on witchcraft, yes, but there’s also field guides on local foraging and wildlife, cookbooks, books that teach you how to craft and DIY, books about environmental protection and stewardship, books on how to use herbs medicinally, books about other religions, cultures, and spiritual practices. My favorite local library even has a seed swapping program and fantastic resources to research your own family history!

I'm trying to stay on top of protection, warding, banishing, etc in my home, so I've been going through some of the spells, charms, and such I've collected over the last 20+ years.

Ingredients

Salt

Crushed eggshells (ground into a fine powder)

Rosemary

Pinch of dirt from your yard

Directions

Combine the ingredients. Sprinkle the mixture across the thresholds in your home.

Say, "What seeks to harm cannot settle here."

I’m still a witch when I’m elbow deep in dishwater. Sure you can use it to rinse away things you don’t want in your life, but you don’t have to. Doing the dishes is magical by virtue of the witch doing it.

I don’t know, it just feels like there’s sometimes pressure to be . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. aesthetic . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. about everything, or you aren’t doing it right; nothing could be further from the truth.

🫧 sound

music, bells, pots and pans, singing

🫧 liquid

charged or blessed water, alcohol, vinegar, essential oil sprays

🫧 scents

candles, essential oils (diffused)

🫧 physical cleaning

sweep

vacuum

wipe down

*make a blend of cleansing herbs, sprinkle around your space, and either sweep it out the back door or vacuum it up and dispose of the contents

🫧 simmer pots [for the steam]

🫧 rearrange your space

🫧 open your windows

🫧 visualization + meditation

🫧 sun, moon, or starlight

🫧 rain + storms

🫧 the elements

earth - salt floor sweep

air - breath and wind

fire - heat and sunlight

water - see above

🫧 salt

place a bowl of salt in the main room of your home

🫧 crystals

place in the center or corner of the space you want to cleanse

The cards are more than paper — they are a veil, a voice, a vessel for power.

To divine the future Unravel what lies ahead, thread by thread.

To speak with spirits Call, and they may answer — softly, from beyond the veil.

To meditate Choose a card, gaze upon it, and enter the world within.

To reveal someone's true self Ask the deck what masks they wear… and what lies beneath.

To glimpse your past lives Some faces never fade — only return, over and over.

To interpret dreams Dreams speak in symbols. The cards speak the same language.

To cast spells Each card is a key. Choose one to unlock your intention.

To uncover hidden talents Your gifts may slumber — the Tarot knows how to wake them.

To predict timing Ask when, and the answer may come cloaked in suit and number.

To read for others Your insight becomes a lantern. Guide, if you dare.

If you can't use smoke for cleansing, either for health reasons or because your living situation doesn't allow for it, you have plenty of options. Some alternatives are water, sound, light, energy, or will. It doesn't much matter which one you choose, since it's your own determination to cleanse and protect your space that counts.

For water, you can use plain water, blessed water, or a simple potion. To cleanse as you would with smoke, spritz or flick a few drops of water wherever you feel it's needed. If you're leaning towards potions, you can use a few drops of essential oil to add scent or boost the efficacy. My personal favorite cleansing spray is a blend of water, lemon juice, a little rubbing alcohol, and essential oils of basil, rosemary, and lavender. It smells great and leaves my home feeling fresh and safe.

For sound, you tread the same areas you would with a burning bundle of herbs, but instead you carry a bell or a clutch of bells. Something with a good clear tone and good resonance that lingers a bit is best, but I've used a bundle of jingle bells from the craft shop in the past and they work well too.

Sunlight or electric light can be used as well. Sometimes a room will feel heavy because it's been dark or dim for too long, and bringing light into the space can help to dispel it. This can be done with candles as well, but if the smoke is a problem, make sure you swap out wax candles for LED ones. (You can even get models that change color, which is GREAT for witchy ambience.)

Cleansing with energy or will is a little more abstract. Cleansing with energy can be a meditative exercise, where you sit and focus on creating a safe bubble of energy around yourself and then expanding it to fill whatever space you're in. Cleansing with will, in my experience, is best done alongside housework. Basically, you're "cleaning with intent," getting rid of stale or unwanted energies as you scrub or dust or tidy your home. It doesn't have to be a full-house deep clean and your home doesn't have to be perfectly clean for it to work either. But it can be very satisfying to visualize casting out negativity or illness or bad luck as you're sweeping the floor or taking out the garbage.

If you're looking for alternatives to incense for offerings, one might suggest flowers, fruit, greenery, small amounts of juice or alcohol, or less tangible things such as acts of service, written adulations, dancing, playing music, singing, or creating a craft in honor of whomever you're venerating.

Alcohol in general is a very potent ingredient and can either be used for positive or negative outcomes. Often times, alcohol is used as an offering to gods and goddess. Alcohol is also purified by the process of making it, so all of them can be used for cleansing in general spell work. In general alcohol is used minimally and should not be used if you have/had an addiction. This is for general knowledge!

🧚‍ Absinthe - It is an anise-flavored spirit derived from botanicals, including the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium (“grand wormwood”), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. While the hallucinogenic absinthe is banned in the US, you can still find a less severe version today. Good for psychic dreams, and protection spells.

🌿 Wormwood - Independence, psychic, love, passion

🌿 Anise - Happiness, psychic, protection, purification, youth, luck, ward, prevent nightmares

🌿 Fennel - Love, protection, healing, vitality, virility, prevents curses, hexes, possessions and negative problems

🍺 Beer -  is brewed from cereal grains—most commonly from malted barley, though wheat, maize (corn), and rice are also used. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours. Very good to add an extra punch to your spell work, as well as having many different types uses.

🌾 Barley - Love, Healing, protection, fertility, marriage, financial luck, energy.

🌾 Wheat - Energy, prosperity and protection

🌽 Corn - Growth, transformation, fertility

🍚 Rice - Blessing, prosperity, protection,

🌿 Hops - Healing, sleep

🍺 Ale - s a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. Very good for non-sleep/drowsy spells.

🍷 Brandy -  is produced by distilling wine. Acts like a wine, but tends to be a little more general, while wine can have different effects based on color/type/location.

🍇 See ‘Grapes’

🍺 Cider - made from the fermented juice of apples. Extremely powerful, and generally very positive. Use sparingly though! Use real apples when you can instead.

🍎 Apples - immortality, health, love

🍸 Gin - derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries.

🍒 Juniper berries - Health, protection

🐝 Mead - created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops. Make sure to find what kind of mead you are drinking if it has added ingredients!

🍯 Honey - Connection, prosperity, love

🍸 Mezcal - is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave plant native to Mexico. Very similar to Tequila. Tequila is simply made from the Blue Agave plant.

🌵 Agave - Transformation, truth

🥤 Rum -  made from molasses or honey, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels. Very good in any love/relationship magic

🍬 Sugar - Clarity, love

🍬 Molasses - Strength, love

🍯 See ‘Honey’

🍶 Sake - made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran.

🍚 See ‘Rice’

🍷 Wine - made from grapes. Extremely diversified and useful. An easy go to for most things.

Colors of Wine/Types correspondences

🍇 Grapes - Fertility, happiness, prosperity

🍷 Port - is a Portuguese fortified wine that is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, though it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties. Good for love magic.

🍷 Vermouth - is an aromatized, fortified wine flavored with various botanicals (roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs, and spices). A good combo if you find the different ingredients listed.

🏺 Santorini - is a Greek wine region located on the archipelago of Santorini in the southern Cyclades islands of Greece. Wine has been produced there since ancient times, but it was during the Middle Ages that the wine of Santorini became famous worldwide under the influence of the Republic of Venice. Probably a good choice for offerings if you worship the Olympian gods.

🥃 Whiskey - is distilled from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn (maize), rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, generally made of charred white oak. The charred oak is really your ticket here to add a kick.

🌾 Rye - Protection, strength

🌾 See ‘Wheat’

🌽 See ‘Corn’

🌾 See ‘Barley’

~There are lots of different whiskeys with the only real difference being location of where it was made.

🥂 Liqueur - made from a distilled spirit that has been flavored with either fruit, cream, herbs, spices, flowers or nuts, and is bottled with added sugars and other sweeteners. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet. Good for any offering, or prosperity spells.

🌳 Oak Wood casks - Money, success, strength, fertility, stability, health, healing, potency and good luck.

🌳White Oak - solidity and strength

🌳 Charred casks - Transformation, prophetic

🔥 Proofs - I bring this up because if you want to use fire with the alcohol you need over 100 proof (in US at least - I believe Europe/Canada/UK use a different measuring system) to light alcohol on fire. Anything less will not stay lit/light at all.

🚫 Cleaning Alcohol -  or Isopropyl alcohol is very toxic. Be careful. I would not recommend using it outside of its usual purpose. It’s extremely flammable, should not be consumed, and is a skin irritant! Just don’t use it!!

Choose an herb that you have in your pantry. Write a blessing spell that features that herb.

After the work last week with luck correspondences, I just couldn’t resist this blessing.

I’ve read up a little on the properties of chamomile regarding luck, gambling, and games of chance. The gist is that in the past, gamblers would wash their hands with a brew of chamomile before playing to ensure a winning game, so this is a twist on that folk magic.

Brew up a good, strong pot of chamomile tea. Let it cool.

Holding the dice in your strong hand, slowly pour the cooled tea over the dice and say:

O’ Sweet Chamomile, strong and true, bless these dice with the power of good luck. May they roll in my favor and for that of my party. Let us succeed and adventure forth with good luck and great fun.

you can do multiple things with one item

But the idea of celebrating the wheel of the year is a very neo-pagan one we have some evidence that the equinoxes were celebrated by some pagans in history, but having an organized set wheel with multiple sabbats is a modern invention and doesn't work for every hemisphere

The neopagan Wheel of the Year™ was literally invented in the 1950s by two guys: Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols.

At the time, revival druidry (of which they were both part) was celebrating 4 annual festival, at the solstices and equinoxes.

Also, there was a popular (if incorrect) notion that much British and European folklore represented continuous pre-Christian traditions, including the 4 Irish festivals (incorrectly categorised as pan-Celtic 'fire' festivals*) of Beltane, Lammas, Samhain, and Imbolc.

* Check out Ronald Hutton's Stations of the Sun (1996) for an in-depth history of the British ritual year, including all 4 of these festivals, and popular perceptions of them.

They decided to combine the two to create the 8-spoked 'wheel of the year'. (And Aidan Kelly came along in the 1970s and added the more romantic Wiccan names to the solstices and equinoxes)

The 8-spoked 'Wheel of the Year' festival structure is part of Wicca (founded by Gerald Gardner) and OBOD (the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, a revival druid order founded by Ross Nichols).

If you're not a member of OBOD or any formal Wiccan tradition? You have absolutely zero requirement or obligation to follow/observe/celebrate the Wheel of the Year™.

You obviously can!

You can observe all of them. Observe some but not others. Rename them. Adapt them. Cannibalise it and turn it into something new.

(Personally, I like the structure, so I kept that and built my own whole thing on top of it.)

You also don't need to as much as acknowledge it in your practice if you don't want to.

It's not some Ancient, Universal, Correct thing. It was literally just made up by two guys.

You can follow seasonal events based on your location, your culture, your folklore, your history. You can make things up just because you want to. Or you can not observe any seasonal festivals.

ingredience:

lemons/limes (this needs to make up the bulk of the fruit being used, like at least 80%)

whatever other fruits or fruit scraps you want, plus any herbs/other flavorings you want to try. by fruit scraps I mean things like cherry pits, apple peels, pineapple cores, strawberry ends, things like that.

granulated white sugar, the coarser the better, 50% by weight of total citrus rinds + 100% by weight of any additional fruit. you'll measure this after you prep the fruit.

water as needed

equipment:

a few nonmetallic mixing bowls

a mesh strainer

a chinoise, ricer or some cheesecloth

a kitchen scale

a citrus juicer or reamer (manual or electric)

a potato masher

juice the citrus through a strainer - saving all rinds -  and refrigerate the juice for the time being. dice the rinds and other fruits if any, keeping the rinds separate. make note of weights, and measure your sugar.

 Place sugar in a large nonmetallic bowl. If using non-citrus fruits and/or any other flavorings, mix them in with the sugar and mash with potato masher. add diced citrus rinds, mix thoroughly, and mash again. cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 4 hours. this allows the sugar to draw out flavors that would otherwise get discarded with the rinds, and the rinds' acids should be enough to dissolve the sugar into a syrup.

Afterward, mash one last time, then collect the syrup by pressing the macerated mixture through a strainer/chinoise or ricer, or squeeze it through cheesecloth. if you want, this can be saved as a standalone syrup at this point, for use in cocktails or desserts. if not, slowly pour the reserved juice through the solids to to help get the remaining syrup out, and squeeze/press again. do the same thing one more time with warm water (roughly the same amount of water as juice). discard solids (or try making sangria with them!).

taste the mixture and add more water if necessary. a stronger mix is totally fine if you anticipate serving over ice on a hot day, or adding booze, or if there was a lot of non-sour fruit. keep in mind that it will taste a bit less sweet once it's chilled. pour into a pitcher and refrigerate.

citrus oils will float to the top, so stir/shake before serving. love you. enjoy.

some tried and true flavor combos:

straight lemon or lime, or any combination of the two, is of course an untouchable classic

lemon & strawberries (that's pussy babe!)

lemon & orange with a hint of vanilla (creamsiclemonade...?)

lemon & apples or apple peels with cinnamon/ginger/allspice (for late summer)

some cocktail type combos, booze optional:

lemon or lime & berries with basil + gin

lime & mint + white rum

lime & ginger + dark rum

lime & cucumber + gin

lime & orange (berries optional) + tequila