Ingredients: Substitutions and Why They Work
Hello Beautiful Souls,
Picture this: You find the perfect spell. It's exactly what you need. You're ready to cast it tonight. And then you read the ingredients list.
"Graveyard dirt collected at midnight under a waning moon, blessed thistle harvested by your own hand, dragon's blood resin, and a lock of hair from your true love."
You have none of these things. You're not even sure where to buy dragon's blood, you don't have a true love, and you're definitely not going to a graveyard at midnight because you're not trying to get arrested or murdered.
So you close the tab, feel discouraged, and don't do the spell.
Here's what nobody told you: ingredients are suggestions, not requirements. And once you understand WHY ingredients work, you can substitute almost anything.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Correspondences
Every witchcraft book, website, and TikTok will give you lists of correspondences: rosemary for protection, rose for love, cinnamon for money, etc.
Here's the secret they don't tell you: these correspondences are not universal laws of physics.
They're cultural associations that have been repeated so many times they've accumulated power through collective belief. They work because lots of witches have used them and believed they work, which creates an energetic pattern.
But they're not the ONLY things that work.
Different cultures have completely different correspondences. In Western herbalism, basil is for love and prosperity. In some Asian traditions, basil is associated with death and mourning. They're both "right" within their cultural context.
Your personal associations are just as valid as traditional ones—sometimes MORE valid, because they're YOURS.
Why Ingredients Work (The Actual Mechanics)
Ingredients serve several functions in magic:
1. Focus and intention The physical act of gathering, preparing, and using ingredients focuses your mind. You're spending time and energy on the spell, which invests you in the outcome.
2. Symbolic representation Ingredients symbolize your intention. Honey represents sweetness, so it makes sense in a love spell. But maple syrup is also sweet. So is sugar. So is a candy bar. The sweetness is what matters, not the specific source.
3. Energetic properties Some ingredients do have inherent energetic qualities—crystals vibrate at specific frequencies, herbs contain chemical compounds that affect mood and energy, colors influence psychology. These are real, but they're also flexible.
4. Connection to tradition/egregore Using traditional ingredients connects you to the accumulated power of everyone who's used them before. There's real power in that. But it's not the ONLY source of power.
5. Sensory engagement Smell, taste, texture, visual beauty—these engage your senses and make the magic feel more real to your brain. Any ingredient that does this is valuable.
The Substitution Framework
Here's how to substitute intelligently:
Match the QUALITY, not the exact item
If a spell calls for rose for love, ask: what quality does rose bring?
Beautiful
Pleasant scent
Associated with romance
Soft petals
Traditional love symbol
Color (usually red or pink)
Substitutions that match these qualities:
Any flower you find beautiful
Any pleasant scent you associate with love
Chocolate (romance association)
Pink or red fabric
A love poem or song lyric
Anything from a romantic memory
See? You're not looking for "another plant that means love in traditional herbalism." You're looking for "something that FEELS loving to you."
Match the ENERGY
For protection spells: Traditional: black salt, obsidian, iron, thorny plants
What's the energy? Sharp, defensive, boundary-setting, strong, repelling.
Substitutions:
Anything sharp: pins, nails, thorns from ANY plant, broken glass (carefully)
Anything black: pepper, coffee grounds, charcoal, black fabric
Strong boundaries: a photo of someone who protects you, a written statement of your boundaries
Your own protective anger (emotion is an ingredient)
For prosperity spells: Traditional: cinnamon, pyrite, green candles, coins
What's the energy? Abundant, growing, golden, valuable, flowing.
Substitutions:
Any abundant plant: clover, dandelions (they grow everywhere = abundance)
Anything gold-colored: yellow flowers, brass items, gold glitter
Actual money (even a penny carries money energy)
Images of abundance: full fruit bowls, overflowing cups
The feeling of having enough
For banishing spells: Traditional: vinegar, lemon, salt, waning moon water
What's the energy? Sour, cleansing, dissolving, pushing away, purifying.
Substitutions:
Any sour thing: lemon juice, sour candy, pickle juice
Any cleaner: soap, bleach (symbolically), rubbing alcohol
Fire (burns away)
Scissors or knives (cutting cords)
Literally throwing something away
Use What You Have
The magic in your kitchen right now is more powerful than exotic ingredients you ordered online, because:
You already have a relationship with these items (you use them, they're part of your daily life)
They're immediately available (no waiting, no shipping, no expense)
You're not trying to force a connection with something unfamiliar
Your kitchen is a full magical cabinet:
Salt: purification, protection, preservation, grounding
Sugar: sweetness, attraction, kindness, gentle persuasion
Pepper: protection, hex-breaking, anger, boundaries
Cinnamon: money, success, speed, passion
Garlic: protection, banishing, strength
Bay leaves: wishes, success, prophetic dreams
Rosemary: protection, memory, mental clarity
Basil: money, love, protection
Coffee: energy, speed, awakening, grounding
Tea: peace, meditation, clarity, different types have different properties
Honey: sweetness, preservation, attraction, healing
Vinegar: cleansing, souring, banishing
Lemon: cleansing, clarity, sharpness
Olive oil: blessing, peace, prosperity
Rice: abundance, fertility, blessings
Eggs: fertility, protection, new beginnings
Milk: nurturing, soothing, goddess work
You probably have 80% of magical herbalism already in your pantry.
Consider the ORIGIN or STORY
Sometimes an ingredient's power comes from WHERE it came from.
Graveyard dirt is powerful because it connects to death, ancestors, and liminal spaces.
Substitutions:
Dirt from any meaningful place: a crossroads, your childhood home, a place where you felt powerful
Ashes (death symbolism)
Dried flowers (death/decay of plant life)
Bones (if you have ethical animal bones)
Actually visiting a cemetery and asking permission, taking a pinch of dirt respectfully
Hair from a specific person creates a magical link.
Substitutions:
A photo of them
Their signature or handwriting
Something they touched
Their name written on paper
A strong visualization of them (energy link)
Ingredients collected during specific conditions (full moon water, storm water, etc.)
Substitutions:
Create the condition symbolically: for storm water, add a drop of water to a bowl while playing storm sounds and visualizing a storm
Charge regular water with the intention of that condition
Use the next available natural occurrence instead of waiting months
When You Can't Find or Afford Something
Expensive crystals and stones:
Big secret: regular rocks work. I'm serious. A river rock you found yourself and charged with intention can be more powerful than a $50 crystal you bought online.
Substitutions for common crystal uses:
Clear quartz (amplification): glass, mirrors, water, ice
Black tourmaline (protection): any black stone, hematite, obsidian, a nail, black salt
Rose quartz (love): any pink stone, a shell, rose petals, pink fabric
Citrine (prosperity): any yellow/gold stone, pyrite, coins, gold glitter
Amethyst (spirituality): any purple stone, lavender, purple fabric
Or just use COLOR. A purple candle holds purple energy even without a physical amethyst present.
Rare herbs:
Most rare magical herbs have common substitutes:
Dragon's blood: any red resin, red food coloring in water, cinnamon for the magical properties
Damiana: rose petals or any herb you associate with sensuality
Mandrake: any root vegetable charged with intention, potato, ginger root
Belladonna (please don't actually use, it's deadly): any baneful intent can be symbolized safely with pepper, thorns, or just written words
Specific colored candles:
White candles can substitute for ANY color—they contain all colors. Just state your intention clearly.
Or use colored paper, fabric, markers to draw the candle color, or skip candles entirely and use other fire sources.
Tools you can't afford/find:
Athame: kitchen knife, letter opener, your finger
Chalice: any cup, a bowl, your cupped hands
Wand: stick from outside, wooden spoon, your finger again
Cauldron: any pot, a bowl, a coffee mug
Pentacle: draw one on paper, trace one in salt, visualize it
Personal Association: The Most Powerful Substitution
Here's the real secret: anything that means the right thing TO YOU is a valid ingredient.
If lavender is supposed to be calming but it reminds you of your anxiety-inducing grandmother's house, it's the WRONG ingredient for you. Use chamomile, or vanilla, or whatever actually makes YOU feel calm.
If you have a lucky penny you've carried for years, that penny is more powerful in money magic than any amount of traditional prosperity herbs.
If a specific song makes you feel confident, playing that song is a better ingredient for confidence magic than any crystal or herb.
Make your own correspondences:
What colors make YOU feel powerful, loved, safe, abundant?
What scents trigger what memories and emotions for YOU?
What objects carry meaning in YOUR life?
These personal associations are often more powerful than traditional ones because they're directly wired into YOUR subconscious and energy.
When NOT to Substitute
Okay, there are a few cases where you should stick to the script:
1. Closed practice ingredients If you're not part of that culture, don't use (or substitute for) ingredients sacred to closed practices. This isn't about magic not working—it's about respect.
2. Traditional recipes passed down in specific lineages If you're learning a family tradition or formal magical system, using their exact recipes is part of honoring that transmission. Once you're experienced in that tradition, they'll often teach you about substitutions within that system.
3. When working with specific entities who request certain offerings If you're in relationship with a deity or spirit who specifically wants rose oil, don't substitute car air freshener. Either honor the request, negotiate, or work with a different entity.
4. When the physical properties matter If you're making a magical oil to physically anoint your skin, and the spell calls for sweet almond oil, substituting motor oil would be... bad. Sometimes the physical properties (safe for skin, flammable, edible, etc.) are the actual point.
Testing Your Substitutions
Not sure if your substitution will work? Try this:
Hold the substitute ingredient
Close your eyes and focus on your intention
Does the ingredient FEEL right energetically?
You'll know. You'll either feel a "click" of rightness, or a sense of "meh, this isn't it."
Trust that feeling. Your intuition knows what resonates with your magic.
The Poverty Magic Truth
Let's be real: a lot of magical ingredient lists are classist as hell.
"Use this $40 essential oil, this $80 crystal, this rare imported herb."
No.
The most powerful folk magic traditions around the world developed among poor people using what they had: dirt, rocks, kitchen scraps, found objects, weeds, trash, their own bodies.
You don't need money to be a powerful witch. You need intention, will, and creativity.
Some of the most powerful magic I've ever done used:
Dirt from my backyard
Salt from my kitchen
A rock from the park
Paper and pencil
A birthday candle
My own spit, blood, or sexual fluids (free and extremely powerful)
Money can't buy power. You already have power. Ingredients are just props to help you focus it.
A Substitution Cheat Sheet
If the spell calls for... you can use...
Any herb: another herb with similar energy, the color associated with that purpose, a written word of intent
Any crystal: a rock/stone of similar color, glass, ice, salt
Any color candle: white candle with intention stated, colored paper, fabric, visualization
Moon water: tap water charged under any moon phase (or charged in sunlight, or just blessed water)
Any animal part: faux version, image/drawing of that animal, the animal's symbolic quality represented another way
Any resin/incense: smoke from any source, essential oils, scented candles, visualization of scent
Any oil: any carrier oil (olive, vegetable, coconut) with intention, or skip oil entirely
Any planetary day/hour: the corresponding color, metal, or just stating "I work with [planet] energy now"
The Real Lesson
Ingredients are a language. Traditional correspondences are like learning vocabulary from a textbook.
But once you're fluent, you can speak in your own words.
The goal isn't to memorize every ingredient correspondence and always have everything on hand. The goal is to understand the PRINCIPLES—what qualities create what effects—and then creatively apply whatever you have available.
Magic isn't a recipe you follow exactly. It's a skill you develop and adapt.
The spell that calls for twelve specific ingredients? It was probably written by someone showing off or selling products.
The spell that says "use whatever represents your intention"? That was written by someone who actually does magic.
Your power isn't in your cabinet. It's in your intention, your will, and your creativity.
The ingredients are just there to help you focus and believe.
And literally anything can do that if you decide it does.
So stop worrying about having the "right" ingredients. Use what you have. Trust your intuition. Make substitutions. Break the rules.
You're a witch, not a recipe-follower.
Act like it.
Blessed Be.
