#witchcraft ref

I'm not dealing with dysphoria nearly as much now as I was before I started testosterone, but of course that only makes it more striking when it does hit me, so I decided to put together a spell jar to deal with it. This is pretty much the first spell of any kind I've made on my own, but I'm liking it so far.

To start off, gather:

a clear jar with a cork

basil (love)

bay leaves (healing, purification, strength)

cinnamon (healing)

rosemary (healing, love, purification)

sage (wisdom)

rose petals (healing, love)

sunflower petals (health, wisdom)

rain/snow water (clarity)

moon water (wisdom/intuition, femininity)

sun water (bravery/confidence, masculinity)

rose water (love)

sea salt (purification)

coffee grounds (renewed energy)

himalayan pink salt (love, purification)

rose quartz (love)

amethyst (wisdom, mental strength, intuition)

4 candles: 1 black, 1 white, 1 pink, and 1 blue (colours may be substituted or added as necessary for nonbinary individuals in whatever way best represents the colours of your flag, but make sure there is at least 1 black candle and 1 white candle)

Make your space comfortable. Cast a circle, invoke the elements, set up an altar, etc., whatever you do to start a ritual, do that. In my case, I swept the floor in front of my permanent altar, lit rose and jasmine incense, and put on a playlist I have specifically for dealing with dysphoria. Do what makes you comfortable.

Layer your ingredients. You can put them in whatever order you wish; however, I started with my rain water* to "wash away" the feeling of dysphoria, followed by the rest of the ingredients in this order:

sea salt

bay leaf

cinnamon

coffee grounds

rosemary

rose petals

himalayan pink salt

basil

sage

sunflower petals

sun water (I chose not to use moon water as there are other ingredients for wisdom and intuition and I felt I didn't need to include it for femininity as I am ftm)

rose water

Seal your jar with its cork. Lay your candles and crystals out around it like so:

(If you're transfem, I would suggest switching the pink and blue candles to represent your gender properly)

Light the candles in a counterclockwise pattern (to banish dysphoria), starting with the black one and ending with the one farthest to the right, which should represent your true gender.

Sit with the jar, candles, and crystals, allowing them to charge it, until the white candle is significantly melted. When this occurs, blow the white candle out and repeatedly dip the top of the jar into the melted wax until it looks something like this:

Then light the white candle again.

Lift the left-most candle off of its holder and place the jar on the holder. Turn the candle sideways and let its wax pour on the left side of the jar.

When you feel it has enough of its wax on it, replace the jar in the middle and the candle in its holder. Repeat this with the white candle on the back of the jar, followed by the right-most candle on the right of the jar. (If any candle has no holder, a bowl, cup, or extra candle holder will work).

Lift the black candle from its holder. Place the jar in the holder. Pour wax from the back candle on top of the jar. If wax wants to drop down the side, allow it to do so. When you feel there's enough wax, place the jar back in the middle and the candle back in its holder.

Allow the jar to charge there for as long as you please, up to when all the candles have burnt down if you please, though it is unnecessary if you don't want to keep it that long. If you blow the candles out yourself, start with the white one and move clockwise. If one of the candles is blown out by the wind, blow the rest of the candles out in a clockwise pattern. Bury any excess wax or ashes in the ground in your garden, a planter, a park, or out in nature when you have the ability to do so.

Keep the jar somewhere you will see it often, like on your desk or altar, or carry it on your person if you so please. When you feel particularly dysphoric, hold it, and focus on it for a while, reminding yourself why you made it. Remember that you should always trust your intuition, and if your intuition tells you your gender is different from your sex, then it is so.

If you wish, paint a sigil or rune, or the symbol most commonly used to represent your preferred gender on the front of the jar (opposite the white wax).

Notes:

I collected my coffee grounds by pouring myself a cup of brewed coffee and using a tea strainer to catch the grounds, then emptying them out onto a paper towel. I drank the coffee after I was finished with the spell.

If you prefer to limit your spell jars to dry ingredients, putting the water in a bowl or cauldron which you sit the spell jar in the middle of while layering and charging it will work just as well as actually putting the water inside.

Your ingredients can be dried or fresh, crushed or whole, store-bought or homemade/home-grown, whatever is most convenient for you. Personally, I used a mix of dried and fresh ingredients, crushed and whole ingredients, and store-bought and things I had made or grown myself. It's up to you; it won't change the effectiveness of the spell to do it differently.