#hearthcraft

Morning Blessings

For the Home

Light a candle and recite the following while visualizing the candlelight radiating throughout the home:

"This home is blessed and highly favored."

For the Practitioner

Wrap both hands around the first beverage prepared* that day (e.g., coffee, tea or even water), and bring it up to your lips. Recite the following verse over the drink, letting your breath wash over it:

"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is he who trusts in Him." (Psalm 34:8)

* If making your own coffee or tea, you can deepen this working by focusing on drawing out the qualities / correspondences of each ingredient added. For example, with my morning coffee:

Coffee — grounding, balance, energy, protection

Sweetener — attraction (of blessings and the qualities of the other ingredients), sweetening the events of the day

Collagen protein powder — strength, beauty, rejuvenation

Water — clarity, intuition

Cream(er) — prosperity, abundance

Before Prayer

Light an incense while reciting the following verse:

"And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy." (Exodus 30:35)

Then, fan some of the smoke over your head and say:

"May the smoke lift my prayers to the loftiest heavens."

When out and about

Sunbathing

Just take a moment to breathe deep and soak up the sunlight, letting it energize you and cleanse any negativity.

Conducting Energy

I do this most often while in the car to help move the flow of traffic or to avoid red lights, but it can really be applied to just about anything related to speed* and motion (e.g., I also do this when my WiFi starts slowing down for no reason lol). I also find it's a bit easier to do while accompanied by appropriate music in order to maintain the mood and tempo.

Take a breath, or whatever you need to center yourself and get in touch with the energies around you

Use your dominant hand to conduct a time signature (e.g., down-left-right-up for a 4/4 meter, down-right-up for 3/4, or when in doubt just move your hand in a kind of horizontal infinity symbol)

Focusing on your desired effect, maintain the tempo while feeling the world around you starting to fall in line / sync with your rhythm (you don't need to go full trance mode or anything—¡especially if you're driving!—but you should try tuning out everything but the music and what you're attempting to change)

When you really get into it / get the hang of it, for me it feels like everything starts slipping into place and going with the flow.

* Can also be used to slow things down—just do the above but with a slower tempo.

Wind Whistling

For when it's too hot, when you're trying to blow away bad weather, or you just want to feel something, try whistling up a wind. This can be done by making a sharp whistle or, if you have trouble whistling, by releasing a steady, intentional exhale.

I started out whistling up winds by whistling, but now that I've been doing it for so long, I find that I can do it just by taking deep breaths. With each inhale and exhale, it feels as if the world around me is expanding and contracting with each breath.

When doing this, I tend to feel or almost "anticipate" (the best way I can describe the feeling) the wind coming by the time I release the last of my breath; but, if it helps, you can also visualize the energy in your breath stirring the air.

* If you have a particular affinity for the element of air, you can also use the wind you called to energize and cleanse yourself—akin to the sunbathing mentioned above.

Emergency Weather Stop

For when you're out and about and the skies are dark and looming, you can smell the rain coming at any moment (or maybe it's started spitting already), and you just need a minute to finish what you're doing before you can make your way inside:

Gather as much energy as you can and direct it to your hands

Raise your hands up and use that energy to draw an X / equilateral cross above your head to temporarily seal the firmament (bringing your hands down in opposing diagonals so that your arms end up crossed)

When finished / safely indoors, release the spell with a swipe of your thumb to erase the mark (like swiping horizontally on your phone)

Miscellaneous

Lighting the Way

I can't readily communicate with Spirit, but in the evenings I like to sit at my altar and speak aloud to my ancestors anyway. I use this incantation to call out to them, using a candle as a physical beacon, and let them know I'd like to chat.

Light a candle, then recite the following:

“The Way is open, the flame is lit. Follow the path, come and sit. Cross the waters, I call to you ancestors—of blood and of spirit, too.”

Knock on the altar three times (if applicable)

Impervious

For when you need to handle something hot very briefly. I'm talking 5 seconds or less briefly. I came up with this after burning my fingers a couple of times when grabbing pizza from the baking tray without letting it cool first, lol. Do not use this if you need to grab onto and hold something extremely hot.

Recite the following narrative charm:

"Two angels came walking— One from the North bringing frost, One from the South carrying fire. Banish fire, bring in frost!"

Then blow on your fingertips, visualizing them becoming covered in ice, and say, "Impervious."

For Arthritis

Recite the following verse three times while applying an ointment or cream to the affected area:

"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones." (Proverbs 16:24)

Relevant sources:

Morning blessing for the practitioner comes from Hoodoo Bible Magic by Charles Porterfield and Miss Michaele

"Impervious" is based on a charm used to treat burns in Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards