Lauren

On Samhain, also known as Halloween, the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. This allows for easier communication with spirits and improved divination. Samhain also celebrates the last harvest of the year and the beginning of the “darker half” of the calendar. Some people call it the witch’s new year.

Activities:

Eat an apple or drink apple cider.

Light incense or a candle.

Honor your ancestors and deceased love ones.

Take a bath.

Decorate your altar.

Carve a pumpkin.

Divination.

Spells for protection, honoring the dead, abundance, and clairvoyance.

Go trick-or-treating.

Make a besom.

Take a walk outside.

Collect fallen leaves and acorns.

Stones:

All black stones (obsidian, onyx, jet, etc.), clear quartz, amber, turquoise, smoky quartz, amethyst, beryl, fluorite, moonstone, lapis lazuli, bloodstone, peridot, and tiger’s eye.

Colors:

Orange, yellow, black, purple, silver, gold, and white. 

Symbols:

Fire, besoms, pumpkins, gourds, jack-o-lanterns, nuts (especially acorns), and apples.

Herbs: 

Mugwort, mandrake, cinnamon, sage, black pepper, hazel, rosemary, allspice, and catnip. 

Flowers: 

African violet, cactus, carnation, and dandelion.

Incense: 

Sandwich correspondences

Fruit correspondences

Vegetable correspondences

Tea correspondences (sun tea, tea in general, floral tea)

Flower correspondences- can be used as decoration, for flower crowns, as a fun nature activity (collecting them respectfully, of course), and edible flowers can be used for deserts, drinks, and salads!

Desserts- here’s some witchy dessert recipes, perfect for any picnic!

(Tiny strawberry pies, cranberry pistachio shortbreads, cardamom pear cake, ginger and fig tart, apricot coconut bites, and lavender tea bread)

Locations- fun witchy locations for picnics include:

🌹a botanical garden, floral garden, or any sort of garden (perfect for fae, floral, air, green, life, spring, and summer witchcraft)

☀️a sunny open field/area (probably has wild flowers!, great for air, sun, floral, and weather witchcraft)

🌙⭐a night picnic under the stars and moon! (Perfect for lunar, nocturnal, and cosmic witchcraft)

🌳a park (great for all witchcraft, very versatile)

🌊💧a beach, pond, lake or near any body of water (perfect for water, sea, and love witchcraft)

👻a cemetery (perfect for death, spirit, medium, and floral witchcraft. Just make sure it’s allowed and you’re respectful of graves)

🌲A forest (perfect for forest, tree, nature, green, earth, and hedge witchcraft, here’s some tree correspondences)

Other witchy picnic ideas:

Stones/crystals to bring- it depends a lot on location and the general theme of the picnic! But a few favorites of mine are:

rose quartz, opalite, any aura quartz, sunstone, agate, tigers eye, and selenite (especially peach selenite)

Scents- I like to focus on scents a lot during picnics. It can make the experience so much more enjoyable! Location once again plays a huge role, but you can always spray your picnic blanket with essential oils, use strongly scented herbs or flowers, use a specific perfume, or even a specific tea that smells good. Some scents I like to focus on during picnics are:

lemon, orange, grapefruit, lemongrass, strawberry, orange blossom, gardenia, rose and lavender

Bring some little spells or offerings with you! A picnic in nature is the perfect time to do a little crafting, especially love, self care, fae, peace and happiness spells. And you can correspond your picnic with the intent of the spell!

It’s also a great time for devotional offerings and any other offerings, especially fae offerings.

Put together a picnic spell- an entire picnic can be a spell! Everything from location, to drinks, to food, and the extra stuff you bring along can be in it.

You’ve probably heard “energy work” mentioned, or at least one of the following terms: grounding, shielding, cleansing, raising, charging, visualising, casting. You’ll see these terms in spells and rituals as well as textbooks and theoretical discussions. There are other posts for theory; this post aims to give a rundown of multiple basic concepts of energy work to get you up and running. (Or at least, to help you understand other posts.) Bear in mind that much of this is personal opinion. Since everyone sees energy differently, in my “how-tos” I’ll refer to energy generally - fill in your own views. 

Also, in my methods, I mention “get comfortable” a lot - exactly what that means varies, depending on what I’m doing and wearing, but generally, stop fiddling with anything, and make sure you’re in a comfortable position, whatever the position is. You could be standing, sitting, lying down, moving, dancing - whatever, so long as you’re comfortable. 

Visualising

What is visualisation?

I consider visualisation to be a core concept to energy work in general. Visualisation is, essentially, thought. It’s imagination and memory and emotions all rolled up into one. (This is heavy on personal opinion, by the way.) Visualisation is what makes your intent for a spell come to fruition; if you aren’t holding your intent (i.e. thinking about/visualising it) while casting it, you can’t expect your spell to work the way you intended it to. 

How do you visualise?

As mentioned above, everyone sees energy differently, and your way may not be the same as mine. My basic visualisation method can be seen in the way I do any time of energy work: I get comfortable, close my eyes and steady my breath, and I focus on feeling and “seeing” the energy around me (I view all energy as white, incidentally). Say I’m cleansing something, my first step is to hold the object, focus on how it feels (is it cold, smooth, rough?) and “see” it glowing with a white light (energy). Then I’ll move onto cleansing it (see below). 

Your method will be different, but you could start with this or look through other posts for ideas. 

Grounding

What is grounding?

Grounding, basically, is all about ridding yourself of unwanted energy/getting your energy in balance. I kind of view it as a warm-up: you’re getting yourself in the right frame of mind and the right physical state before a workout (or spell). 

How do you ground yourself?

Everyone has their own techniques, and in time, you’ll develop yours. This is my routine:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. 

As you exhale, imagine unwanted energy leaving your body.

As you inhale, imagine the energy you want and need pulling comfortably around you. 

Continue for as long as you like. 

Many people like to visualise different places, or contact with nature. Try different techniques and take what you like from them, and just go with what works for you. 

Cleansing

What is cleansing?

Cleansing is like setting a device back to factory settings, or washing the dishes so they can be used again. You cleanse something to rid it of any unwanted energies - kind of like grounding, but for something that isn’t you. You could cleanse spaces and objects, and it’s generally a good idea to cleanse any items you’ve used before as well as the space you’re using before beginning a spell. It’s also generally a good idea to cleanse anything you use for divination, like tarot cards and pendulums (but I totally don’t cleanse them as often as I should). You can use just visualisation, or you can use tools - water, salt, incense and sage are all pretty common tools for cleansing. 

How do you cleanse?

My method for objects that you can hold:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Hold the item and focus on how it feels - its shape, size, temperature, texture, and scent. 

While holding the item, now focus on how it looks (with or without opening your eyes) - its colour, decorations, the way the light falls/reflects on it.

Still holding the item, visualise energy glowing/pulsing around the object.

Still holding the item, visualise the energy flowing away from the object, leaving it without any glowing energy.

Continue until you feel like the object is cleansed. 

My method for a space, area, or room:

Clear the space you plan on using (physically - move unwanted objects out of the way, pick up any rubbish etc).

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Mark the parameters of the space you’re going to use (this can be a whole room or just part of one - just mentally or physically figure out where the “ends” of your spell space are). I generally walk around the edges of my space.

Focus on how the space around you feels and looks - temperature, light, textures etc. 

Visualise energy glowing/pulsing within the boundaries of your space.

Visualise energy flowing away from the space - if you have a broom, you could sweep the area while visualising the energy moving away as you sweep. You could also use incense or herb bundles while visualising energy moving away from the smoke as you move through the space.

Continue until you feel like the space is cleansed.

Warding

What is warding?

Basically, warding is putting up a shield to stop anything unwanted interfering with your spell, tools, ingredients, intent, belongings, etc.. It’s like an antivirus on a device, or a lock on a door. You could put up wards around your spell space, your home, yourself, anything you own, other people (with their consent) - pretty much anything.  

How do you put up wards?

My method for putting up wards:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Mark the parameters of the space or thing you’re putting up wards around (this could be running your finger around a crystal, walking around an area, stretching your arms and legs out to mark the parameters of your body, etc.)

Focus on how the space or thing feels and looks - temperature, light, textures etc.

Visualise energy glowing/pulsing within the space or thing.

Visualise unwanted energy flowing away from the space - like with cleansing, you could use incense or a broom to aid your visualisation.

Visualise “walls” growing up, over and under the space or object. It’s important that the walls connect, and there aren’t any gaps (unless you want to visualise, say, a door that you can enter and leave from). 

Continue until you feel like the space or thing is warded.

Raising

What is raising energy?

Raising energy is like creating or compiling energy with a specific purpose (intent). Up until now, we’ve been looking at ways of using energy to prepare yourself, your environment and your tools for spells - raising energy is a bit different. The energy that we raise has a specific intent, and generally, we want to use that intent somehow - like in a spell. 

How do you raise energy?

There are so, so many different ways to raise energy - such as music, chanting, dancing, walking, laughing, exercising, and a whole bunch of others. You can also raise energy by visualisation alone - as I describe here.

My method for raising energy:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

If they aren’t already, position your hands so that your palms are open.

Focus on what you want to happen - your intent.

Visualise energy pulsing from your fingertips. The energy moves over your fingers and towards your palm, where it collects. As you do this, keep focusing on your intent.

Visualise the energy, now in your palm, growing larger and larger. As you do this, keep focusing on your intent.

Continue until you feel you have the energy you wanted, or for as long as you like. 

If you’re raising energy from, say, dancing, you might visualise the energy coming from your feet or body instead - I adapt this depending on the activity, but I always like to have a way to “gather” energy in one area. This could be your whole spell area, or it could be an area like the palm of your hand - whatever works for you and the activity. 

Charging

What is charging?

Charging is drawing on energy from elsewhere and putting it into an object to give that object intent. Think charging your phone, or laptop. You can also take energy you’ve raised and put it into an object - the energy can come from anywhere. People often have specific correspondences for different sources, however - so think about the source of the energy if you aren’t raising it yourself. 

How do you charge something?

Like with raising energy, there are entirely too many methods to list here. Some examples include leaving objects in sunlight or moonlight and bathing it in water or fire. You can pretty much do anything, so don’t be afraid to experiment. If you’re raising energy, you can just put it straight into the object (see the method below). If you’re charging something without raising energy yourself, then you can skip this and consider it charged after as much or as little time as you think works. 

My method for charging objects:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Visualise the energy, now in your palm, growing larger and larger. (This is the energy collected by raising energy, with a specific intent.)

Hold the object you want to charge (with one hand if you visualised the energy going to one palm, or with both hands if you visualised the energy going to both palms) and visualise the energy flowing into the object from your palm(s). Continue focusing on your intent as you do this. 

Continue until you feel that all the energy you raised is now in the object, or for as long as you like. 

Once you’ve charged an object, you can leave it indefinitely and use it in a later spell (though if you’re forgetful like me, you might want to put a post-it near it reminding you what you’re using it for).

Casting

What is casting?

Casting is guiding your energy towards the outcome you want. For me, this is the most important part of any spell - this is when you put all that work into making shit happen. So it’s important to be very, very specific. Don’t just focus on needing a job. Focus on finding a job that is right for you, will help you meet your professional goals (you can be specific about the goals, too) and will meet your needs (availability, hours, pay, travel time, benefits etc.), and finding that job at a time that suits you. This is also where you can really have fun with visualising! 

How do you cast?

My method for casting:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Hold the object(s) you’ve charged, or your spell (if it’s a tangible thing, like spell bags, candles, food etc.).

Visualise the situation you want to happen. As described, be specific. If you’re looking for a job, you could visualise a “you’re hired” email, dated at some point that suits you, with the above information that suits you - the hours you want, the pay you want, etc. Morph that situation into your first day, meeting friendly and efficient coworkers and management, then six months or a year into your new job. Visualise yourself feeling productive, happy, and relaxed. Visualise yourself at a review, hearing that you’re doing well and you’ve made great progress.

Now visualise the energy in your spell moving “towards” that situation. (I like to “keep” the situation in one part of my spell space, usually in the air in front of me, so I can “see” the energy from the spell I’m holding moving towards it. 

Continue until you feel that all the energy from your spell has “made it” to the situation, or for as long as you like.  

Bringing it all together

So, this looks like quite a lot. I promise it’s easier in practice, especially once you’ve done it a few times. Also, remember that this is a post that largely focuses on visualisation - you can minimise effort by charging objects in light or water (aka leaving them on a windowsill for a few hours) instead of by using visualisation to raise power and charge them. 

In practice, a routine for a spell might look like:

Ground yourself.

Cleanse your space, and any tools or ingredients you’re going to use.

Put up wards.

Raise power (you could raise power individually for individual ingredients, or all at once for all your ingredients).

Charge your ingredients (either individually, or all at once). 

Cast your spell. 

Personally, I can do the first 3 in about 5-10 minutes altogether. The last three are more time-consuming, and could take 5-10 minutes each, per item. So a quick, simple spell with no ingredients could be cast in 15 minutes (I would just skip charging and put the raised energy straight to casting). Let’s take an example of a kitchen spell, making soup:

Ground self.

Cleanse space, tools, ingredients.

Put up wards around the kitchen.

Raise power while doing food prep.

Put ingredients in pot.

Charge ingredients through stirring - energy goes into the soup through the wooden spoon.

Leave to simmer and continue charging.

Cast spell by eating. 

When I do kitchen magic, I’m already doing most of this just by cooking. I just add more visualisation in, and put some thought into the ingredients, and I have a spell! 

I hope this helps! You might find my other posts helpful:

The problem with correspondence lists

How to correspondence: food & herbs

How to correspondence: when to spell

What to use: food & herbs

When to spell: by moon phases

When to spell: by time of day

When to spell: by day of the week

Astral projection and dreams

When we dream, we have out-of-body experiences on the astral plane. Conscious astral projection involves getting into a meditative state, moving your astral body out of your physical body, and traveling around on the astral plane.

Astral Body

Between you as spirit and your physical body there is an intermediate body known as your astral body. It is lighter and more changeable than your physical body. But the astral body has more shape and density than pure spirit. Your astral body may often be recognizable as your human form, but it can also change appearance, shift shapes, and do fun things like moving through walls.

Astral Plane

The world between the physical and spiritual world is known as the astral plane, or the astral. While it is commonly referred to in the singular as the astral plane, there are actually many different levels of the astral, or astral planes. We move through these astral planes in our dreams.

Astral Travel

The astral world is much more fluid than the physical world. Astral travel is not bound by the limitations of time and space. You can visit different dimensions and travel to past or future experiences on the astral. For many people, it is also easier to connect with deceased loved ones on the astral.

Astral planes vary from the ordinary, to the phantasmagorical, to the divine. Defying easy definition, the astral planes intersect with both physical reality and the symbolic realms of the dream world. Astral travel can take you to dimensions beyond your imagination.

Astral Dream Experiences

Your astral body plays a key role in creating new developments which have not yet manifested in your physical life. The astral is like a giant laboratory in which you experiment with your life and your creations.

The astral can also offer great insight, as it allows you to come at things from a different angle. Astral dream experiences allow you to see things from a different perspective than your normal awareness. As a result, astral dreams can be especially useful for working on situations that–for one reason or another–may be difficult to face directly in daily life.

Astral Projection Meditation

Astral projection typically involves getting into a meditative state so you can consciously move your astral body out of your physical body. With practice, astral projection allows you to develop greater awareness of out-of-body and astral experiences.

These are simple directions for an astral meditation that is suitable for beginners…

ASTRAL PROJECTION EXERCISE:

Preparing the Space, Preparing Yourself…

Find a quiet, comfortable place for yourself–where you will not be disturbed. Create a relaxing atmosphere. You may want to light a candle, burn incense, or play some quiet, soothing music in the background. Begin to relax in general. Take some deep breaths and perhaps do some light stretching. Sit upright in a comfortable position with an open posture.

Part I: Aura Meditation

Get yourself centered and grounded by doing the Aura Meditation in How to Meditate. You will also need to repeat this after your astral projection meditation.

Notice how you experience yourself before doing the Astral Projection exercise. Then close your eyes and focus your attention inward…

Part II: Astral Projection Meditation

Be aware of your body. Notice how you experience the density of your physical body. Then be aware of your aura about an arm’s length all the way around your body. Notice how you experience the lightness of your spiritual energy. Then start to open up your awareness of an intermediate body between your physical body and you as spirit. Notice how you experience the vibration of your astral body.

Allow yourself to shift your awareness to your astral body. Be present in your astral body.

Float your astral body up to a corner of the room. Be present in your astral body in that upper corner of the room. From that upper corner of the room, be aware of your physical body down below you, sitting in the chair. Notice how you experience your physical body down below you.

Then float your astral body up through the ceiling and be on the roof of your building. Be aware of your astral body standing on the roof of your building. On the roof, move around a bit in your astral body. Notice how you experience being in your astral body. Be aware of the world around from the roof of your building. Notice how you experience the world from your astral body.

Then bring your astral body down through the roof and be in an upper corner of the room again. From the upper corner of the room, notice your physical body sitting in the chair below you.

Float your astral body above your physical body. Notice what it’s like to be above your physical body. Then gently lower yourself down into your physical body. First be aware of being in your astral body in your physical body. Then allow yourself to shift your awareness to your physical body itself. Allow yourself to come back fully into your physical body.

Part III: Repeat the Aura Meditation

Get yourself centered and grounded by doing the Aura Meditation in How to Meditate. Draw all of your energy back from above you. Feel your feet on the floor. Feel your legs, torso, arms, neck and head. Be aware of your aura an arm’s length around your body. Notice what it’s like to be grounded back in your body.

When you feel ready, take a few deep breaths, gently open your eyes, and slowly begin to move. Notice how you experience yourself after doing the Astral Projection exercise. Give yourself some time to integrate this experience and enjoy being relaxed before moving on to other activities. (Especially after you first start practicing this meditation–you may want to journal your experience, have a cup of tea, or go for a quiet walk.)

If you practice astral meditation on a regular basis, it will become easier to do and your out-of-body experiences will gradually become clearer. - Oakwulf

Blessings to all of you! 

Lots of love, 

In spirit work, we often connect with the spirits that have crossed over and are present in the physical world. However, there are also ways to cross over into the spirit world and connect with spirits in their home environment.

Pathworking

As I mentioned in a previous post, a pathworking is a specific type of meditation where you go on a psychic journey, but are still anchored to your physical body. It’s sort of like dipping your toes into the spirit world.

There are two important elements to a pathworking: a clear entrance/exit point and a way to retrace your steps. Pathworking journeys are typically cyclical — there is both a journey out and a return where you go back the way you came. This makes it easier to fully return your consciousness to your body, and failing to do so can cause you to feel disoriented upon the return.

Your entry/exit point can be absolutely anything, but common examples include a door, a gateway, a tree (or sometimes The World Tree), a cave/tunnel, or a natural landmark like a beach or mountaintop. What’s important is that it’s recognizable and easy to find your way back to.

If you want to try pathworking, make a rough “road map” of your journey beforehand. This doesn’t have to be super specific, but it should contain the following: a goal for the pathworking (such as to connect with a certain spirit), an entry/exit point, and a general idea for the route you’re going to take. If you’re worried about getting lost, author Thea Sabin recommends using “the Theseus trick.” Like in the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, you can tie a golden thread or rope to your entry point and the other end to your astral body. If you get lost, you can follow the thread back.

Pathworking is fairly beginner friendly, and I highly, highly, highly recommend starting with pathworking and becoming comfortable with this method before trying astral travel. Even for more advanced witches, pathworking is often a better option than astral travel because it’s less involved and requires a little bit less effort. I personally prefer pathworking for most situations.

Performing a Pathworking

Before you begin, establish a clear goal for your pathworking and write out a rough “road map.” At the very least, you should know what your purpose is, where your entry point is, and how to find your way back.

Begin in a dark, quiet room. Cleanse the room by burning incense, diffusing or spraying essential oils, or using a ritual broom to sweep out old energy.

Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down and begin meditating. You may want to play meditation music, practice breathing techniques, or use some other method to help you reach a meditative state.

Once you reach a meditative state (you should know what this feels like if you have experience with meditation), see yourself standing at your entry point. This is your entrance to the astral realm.

Set out on your pathworking.

When you are ready to leave the astral realm, you will need to find your way back to your entry point. Once you reach your entry point, it should be fairly easy to return to your body.

Once you’re fully present in your physical body, use your favorite method to ground yourself.

Write down everything you experienced during your pathworking in a journal.

Astral Travel

If pathworking is dipping your toes into the spirit world, astral travel is diving in the deep end. Also called spirit flight and hedge riding, astral travel includes actually sending your soul/consciousness out of your body and into the spirit world. As you might guess, this is more complicated and requires more effort than pathworking. For this reason, astral travel is not beginner-friendly. If you are completely new to meditation, witchcraft, and spirit work, it’s best to learn to pathwork before you attempt astral travel.

A word of warning: you may want to avoid astral travel at times when you’re in a very vulnerable or volatile emotional state. Some days you just aren’t up for it, and that’s okay. On those days, a pathworking or another form of spirit work may be a better option.

Triggering Spirit Flight

In astral travel, a trigger of some kind is used to help disconnect the soul from the physical body. Common triggers include drumming, special music, shaking a rattle, chanting, and dancing.

You can find shamanic drumming tracks on YouTube that can help you achieve astral travel. If you find that repetitive motion helps you trance out, you may look into getting a small drum or rattle to play.

Animal Guides

In many cultures, those who travel into the spirit world do so with the guidance and protection of an animal spirit. From the Norse fylgja, to the shamanic power animal, to the witch’s familiar, history is full of examples of these types of guides.

Before you begin astral travel, do a pathworking to meet your animal guide. It’s important to note that you aren’t choosing an animal guide — only meeting one that has always been with you. Your guide may be an animal that you like or identify with, or it may not. When I first began experimenting with astral travel, my guide was a coyote — an animal I had never identified with before, but who I learned was deeply connected to my inner self.

It’s important to always have your animal guide with you when going on astral journeys, as they are an important source of protection and power. They may also literally guide you to the things you need to see and the spirits you need to meet.

Flying Ointments

Historical accounts describe witches using “flying ointment” to help them achieve spirit flight. These traditional flying ointments contained toxic and/or hallucinogenic plants like belladonna, datura, henbane, mandrake, and opium poppies. For obvious reasons, most modern witches do not use these herbs.

Please do not try to create your own flying ointment with poisonous plants. If you’re a true traditionalist and feel like you just have to try a historically accurate flying ointment, Bane Folk Apothecary sells several. Bane Folk is run by Sarah Anne Lawless, a kickass witch who knows her stuff and produces safe, medicinal products inspired by traditional flying ointment formulas. I am usually very pro-DIY, especially when it comes to witchcraft, but this is one case where it really is best to defer to a professional.

To create a modern, non-toxic flying ointment: heat eight ounces (or one cup) of poppy seed oil over low heat on the stove. Once the oil is warm, add 2 ounces (or ¼ cup) of beeswax into the oil. (Use carnauba wax for a vegan alternative.) Take the mixture off the heat, and allow it to cool off a bit. Once it has cooled (but before it’s begun to solidify), add nine drops each of mugwort essential oil, star anise essential oil, and peppermint essential oil. Pour the mixture into a mason jar and seal tightly. To extend your ointment’s shelf life, add a few drops of Vitamin E oil and store in the refrigerator. If you don’t have access to essential oils or prefer a more traditional method, you can buy dry herbs and infuse them into your oil instead — to do this, crush up 2.5 ounces (or 1/3 cup) each of dried mugwort, star anise, and peppermint and add them to a mason jar; add enough oil to the jar to cover the herbs completely, with about an inch of oil above them; seal the jar and place it in a sunny window for 2-3 weeks to infuse; and finally, strain the herbs out of the oil with a mesh sieve or a cheesecloth. You can then add your Vitamin E oil and beeswax to create an ointment.

This modern recipe does not contain hallucinogens, but it does contain plants that are commonly used in magic to increase psychic abilities and aid in astral travel. You can say an incantation over this ointment while making it to add some extra magical potency. Applying the flying ointment can also become a sort of ritual that prepares you for spirit flight by helping you slip into a more spiritual head space.

Performing Astral Travel/Spirit Flight

Before you begin, know why you are journeying to the spirit world. You should always have a clear goal for your astral journeys.

Begin in a dark, quiet room. Cleanse the room by burning incense (mugwort incense aids in astral travel), diffusing or spraying essential oils, or using a ritual broom to sweep out old energy.

Use your favorite method to ground yourself.

If you are choosing to use a flying ointment, rub it on your skin now.

Hold a protective item in one of your hands. I like physical items for protection during spirit flight, because they can ground you and help you find your way back to your body. Examples of protective items include a sprig of rue, a piece of iron, or a protective crystal like black tourmaline. If you ever feel scared or uncomfortable during your journey, you can bring this object into the astral realm to protect you. It will also keep your body safe while your consciousness is occupied.

Start up your trigger, whether this is drumming, rattling, dancing, etc.

Allow yourself to drift into a trance state, and then to disconnect from your body.

Call your animal guide to you.

Set out on your journey in the spirit world.

When you are ready, feel yourself returning to your physical body. Allow yourself to come back slowly — don’t rush it.

Ground yourself. One good way to ground after astral travel is by eating a snack.

Write down your experiences in a journal.

Resources:

Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin

Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft in the American South by Aaron Oberon

Hedge Riding by Harmonia Saille

Kitchen witches believe that the kitchen is a sacred place where all of the magick happens. They focus on the use of edible ingredients and kitchen tools.  A cottage witch is a witch that brings magick into the house and are protectors of the hearth and home. They bring cheer and warmth to every room they enter. Their focuses are on the family, home, and daily needs. Both the cottage and Kitchen witch believe that by honoring the home it honors the Gods and Goddesses. They bring magick into everyday life and daily chores.

Ways a Kitchen and Cottage witch can bring magick into a home:

Create a kitchen altar

Stock your shelves with herbs and spices

Bring maximum feng-shui to your home

Keep the home physically and spiritually clean

Paint the house walls in colours that bring happiness, warmth, and coziness

When making a sandwich put mustard or mayo sigils on it

When making meals add herbs that correspond to your magickal needs

Decorate the home according to the sabbats

Brew some special teas

Make your own candles, salves, and tinctures.

Make offerings to Gods and Goddesses of hearth and home.  

Ask your deities to keep your house safe and healthy.

Create your own recipes and add your own touch of magick to them

Put intent into everything you cook and clean

Make an incantation or short song to sing while you stir.

Inscribe your wooden spoons with sigils  

Carve your wooden shelves with sigils - carve them at the bottom of the cupboard to remain discreet

Craft oils, incense, soaps, potions, and salves.

Make herbal remedies

Chant while cleaning or preparing a meal

Use numerology in their practices by the number of times they stir or the number of times they knead dough.

During the mead moon, brew mead with magickal intent.

Decorate the home with your own art or art done by your children, poems, knits, woodcraft’s, paintings, quilts, diy’s, or tapestries.

Enchant your crafts.

Use weather magick, candle magick, ribbon charms, and anything else used to add magick to your home.

Honour the ancestors.

Bless the home.

Start a garden and will it with organic and in season fruits and vegetables.

Charge herbal oils by moonlight or candlelight to heal, bless the home or to clean and protect the woodwork she polishes with it.

Scatter charm bags, witches ladders, chimes, and bells around the home.

Grow an indoor jungle

Learn herbal remedies to treat MINOR injuries

If you work with meat make sure to thank and honour the animal it came from.

Sing or play music to raise good vibrations

Bake and cut cookies in shapes to match your intentions

Provide someone in need with a free meal

Volunteer at a local soup kitchen to bring magick into it

What their altar may display:

Candles

Tools used for sacred use

Four elements

Statues of the honoured deities

A doll weaved of corn

A kitchen witch’s altar is often displayed in the corner of the kitchen and is not permanent

Food made by the witch left as an offering

Some beliefs followed:

Magick is not used to inflict pain on others or block anyone’s free will

Believe in living simple lives

Believe in using organic items, products that aren’t animal tested, recycling, and composting.

Creativity is a form of devotion

Keep peace in the household

May the home always contain good food, good talk, and good company

Welcome guests into the home with open arms

Cottage and Kitchen witch superstitions/wives tales:

Stir clockwise to bring good luck

Never stir with a knife as it is considered bad luck

Place a piece of amethyst near the stove top to make the food cooked there tastes better

If an apple bursts in the oven while baking it means good luck is on its way for the cook

Eggs that are cracked while they boil is a sign that visitors are on their way

Dropping silverware means that company is coming

Spilling water on the table cloth means that rain is on its way

Seeing a spider in the house is good luck, killing it is bad luck

Wild animal tracks in the snow encircling your house is a sign of good luck and protection

When your cupboard doors are left opens it means that people are gossiping about you

If a broom drops across the doorway it means that you will soon head off on a journey

If you spill salt throw it over your left shoulder to undo any bad luck

To keep evil spirits away chop an onion in half and place it on the window sill

Chosen tools:

Wooden spoons

Knife

Bowls

Cooking pot or cauldron

A ritual knife used to only cut spiritual ties

A Fire place

Broom

Mortar and pestle

Kettle

Jars and bottles

Sewing kit

Cook books

Spells are cast to bring:

Healing

Prosperity

Protection

Abundance

Happiness

Fertility

Harmony

Peace

Deities worked with:

Hestia

Frigga

Brighid

Demeter

May your house stay warm and full of magick!