#beginnerwitchcraft

Bay Leaf | This is a terrific herb for magical efforts involving athletics, competition, and victory. It also removes negative energy, protects health, and boosts any work involving love, divination, and wishes.

Chamomile | Known to many as the gamblers herb, luck in games of chance is only one of chamomile magical facets. Its great for prophetic dreaming and sound sleep, protection, and hex-breaking. Try it, too, for matters of the heart. A little goes a long way when it comes to love and romance. There are 2 types of chamomile, German and Roman. Roman chamomile should not be ingested by pregnant women.

Cinnamon | Because it vibrates on such a highly spiritual level, this herb is nearly indispensable. It works well for any efforts involving prosperity, love, lust, success, physical energy, and divinatory purposes.

Cloves | This herb works beautifully when it comes to relieving depression, grief, and anxiety. Its also an effective medicine magical herb for issues involving lust, love, luck, and money.

Ginger | Try this herb to increase psychic ability, health, personal power, and general success.

Lavender | Used primarily for protection, lavender also works wonders in efforts that deal with easy childbirth, mental and physical healing, peaceful sleep, love, and longevity.

Mugwort | Since smoking this herb or drinking its infusion induces an altered state of consciousness conducive to psychic awareness, mugwort is commonly known as the "witches herb." The infusion is also used as a magical wash for scrying mirrors, crystal balls, and pendulums. Mugwort should not be ingested by pregnant women.

Nutmeg | This herb works well in magical efforts where love, money, luck, and health are at issue. Nutmeg is not safe when used internally at more than 5 grams at a time.

Sage | Used as a main ingredient in Native American smudge sticks, sage removed negative energy and its residue from areas, buildings, and people, when burned. It also works well for efforts involving good health and fortune, wisdom, long life, and wishes.

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witch school : 

Pretty self-explanatory. It’s a website that offers education into the craft for beginners. It is free, however, you can become a supporting member of the website and school by paying (you don’t have to.) Again, remember to take from this what you want - don’t pick up any practices that make you uncomfortable, you don’t have to believe in anything that makes you uncomfortable, on the other hand, if you find things that do make you comfortable and interest you, then go ahead and pick up the course. I did forget to mention earlier, that you can do a three-day trial where you get to check out all the courses that supporting students get. They do have some courses on Wicca and some of the stuff that is on there is catered towards people who are Witches and Wiccans as well but don’t let that stop you. 

Exemplore :

This to me has been one of the most helpful websites. It has a ton of stuff, it has an entire section dedicated to Wicca and Witchcraft. One article that I’ve found to be most helpful is: 

Spells, exercises and lessons for beginner witches.

regardless of what it sounds like this article does not jump straight into giving you spells but is actually informative. I don’t want to spoil it so go read it yourself! 

That’s the only article that I have opened and can remember but there’s a lot of other nuggets of gold out there, but I do feel like that above article explains and goes over a lot. 

Mumbles-Academy :

The Witchcraft 101 course is beyond helpful and it's 100% free! Go check it out it’s really a fountain of knowledge for beginners like us! 

Hey everyone, it’s Turlough. Welcome to episode 2 of Witchy 101! Today I’m going to talk about the necessities for a starter witch. Many of these items you likely have in your own home, especially if you’ve collected stones and crystals.

Candles

The most commonly used items in witchcraft are candles. Different colors of candles will be lit for different things- for example, you would use a green candle for luck, opposed to a pink candle. But don’t worry! You don’t have to go out and buy a candle for every color of the rainbow. White candles can be substituted for any color during practice, though I do recommend you have around three (some rituals/spells need more than one candle).

Crystals

Crystals are another essential in witchcraft. Different types of crystals hold different energy and are used for many different things. Most witches (including myself) use crystals in the majority of spells. You’re likely to find them in more complex spells, as well. Now; please don’t go out and buy 30 different types of crystals! They can be pretty expensive. Instead, get yourself the basics; clear quartz, amethyst, green aventurine, tiger eye, and rose quartz. You can find these on amazon. However, if you can’t purchase multiple crystals, buy a few clear quartz stones. Clear quartz can be used in place of most any crystal.

Herbs

If you want to be a kitchen witch, you’ll want many herbs. However, many spells need herbs, as well as prosperity or abundance jars. Herbs are super important! Again, different herbs are used for different reasons, and some have medicinal qualities. The basic herbs I recommend are sage, rosemary, lavendar, yarrow, bay leaves, and mugwart. Most grocery stores have fresh and packaged herbs. You can also grow your own! A necessary herb is rosemary, as it’s very versatile and can be used in place of any herb in a spell.

Grimoire/Book of Shadows

A grimoire, as I’ll be calling it, is a notebook/record where a witch or Wiccan keeps all of their magickal knowledge. It’s where spells are written down, various results are kept, etc. Note that your grimoire doesn’t have to be a fantasy-looking, handmade, leather-bound book. It can if you’d like it, but those can be fairly expensive. For starters, I’d recommend writing down the moon phases and their meanings, crystals/candles and their meanings, and uses for herbs. You can also record different spells or chants you’ve tried, and then log the results afterward. This is also where you can keep track of your sigils, if you’d like. Personally, I keep a pocket-sized notebook for my sigils.

Altars

An altar is where a witch or Wiccan practices their magic and/or their beliefs. It is a very personal space, and some witches and Wiccans believe it should not be shown to others, or even photographed. This is up to you. An altar is where you keep your supplies, complete rituals, do spells, etc. You can burn sage (in a smudge stick) to cleanse the area, or, you can use a white candle if that is more accessible to you. Altars hold a lot of energy, and are very magickal places. You don’t have to make your altar the typical “tumblr aesthetic”, but you can if you choose (I personally like to have it very pretty, as I spend a lot of time there). There are various videos on youtube, or pictures here on tumblr or pinterest where you can get your inspiration. Altars are pretty much necessary for a practicing witch. If you’re still in the broom closet, you can put your materials in a shoe box and use that. Or, you can use a shelf in your room and add a few books and other things to disguise it a bit more.

Salts

Epsom salts are often used in spells and prosperity jars. You can find epsom salt at the grocery store. Some stores even carry black epsom salt, which is sometimes also used. It’s less common than crystals or herbs, but good to have on hand.

Offerings

Even if you aren’t a practicing Wiccan, many witches put out offerings on their altars. The offering is given to the universe (or a deity, if you worship one), in respect for it/them and to ask for something (often luck, prosperity, etc). An offering can be something like live flowers, a crystal, etc, but the most common offering is water. Here is a simple offering for prosperity, if you’d like to make it:

• Take ground cinnamon and rub it around the inside of a (very) small bowl. This often works best if the bowl is ceramic and slightly gritty. Cinnamon is often used for prosperity. Then, fill the bowl with water and rest on your altar.

Note: you can also use pure water for an offering.

Satchets

Satchets are small, drawstring bags that are commonly used to store materials. You can use them to store your crystals if you’re still in the broom closet, or for dried bay leaves. They are typically nylon, though it’s not too hard to find velvet ones either. Tinted satchets can be used to store your jar of moonwater from the sun.

Moonwater

Moonwater is fairly self explanatory; water charged by moonlight. It is used for various things like anointing, an ingredient in spells, or helping grow herbs with a little bit of a boost. Try to make moonwater on one of the main moon phases, although the best time to make it is on the full moon. Here’s how to make moonwater:

• Jar (with a cover)

• Water

• Moonstone (optional)

1. Fill the jar with water. Set it on your windowsill where it will be hit by moonlight overnight (the more moonlight it gets, the better). Optional: add a cleansed moonstone to the water to help charge it.

2. Wake up before sunrise (typically before the sky starts to lighten too much), and move the moonwater into a dark area, like on a shelf, in a satchet, or in a box or drawer. If moonwater is hit with sunlight, it becomes tainted, in a way.

3. You can now use your moonwater. Just be careful it doesn’t hit direct sunlight!

Small bottles/jars

Small jars are commonly used to store potions/spells of the like. You can also use them for prosperity/abundance jars. They’re also great for storing herbs and keeping them fresh! Many craft stores have small, fantasy-looking jars with corks. You can also use small mason jars- whatever works!

Mortar and Pestle

A mortar and pestle are a stone, ceramic, or marble set of bowl and grinding tool. It’s used commonly in baking, so you can likely find a mortar and pestle somewhere like Target! If you can’t buy a mortar and pestle, you can use a bowl and spoon. However, the weight of the pestle is very helpful for grinding herbs, and I’d recommend investing in one.

And that’s all! Feel free to add more in the notes if you’d like. I hope you all enjoyed today’s episode of Witchy 101, and I hope it was helpful! Note: it’s come to my attention that in my last post, I referred to Bhuddism as a religion with deities. My sincere apologies!

Blessed Be,