☾ witch of the wilds ☽

A little witchy calendar to look forward to next year, since this one was a little bit.. cursed.

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Forgot to upload this here, a full moon calendar for 2020 for the northern hemisphere, I’m making the one for the southern hemisphere too <3

Full moons are perfect for charging your crystals or utensyls, to make moon water and to focus on your special intentions.

Photo Credit: Tealeaves

If you’re out of the loop or not as obsessed with Pantone’s carefully color-blocked Instagram page as I am, you might not know that each year the Pantone Color Institute announces a single color that represents the Pantone for the year.

2020 is heralded in by the dusky and relaxing Classic Blue. Pantone is looking toward fashion, entertainment, and design for uses for this color, but it is also useful in witchcraft. This is especially true for those of us that rely on color correspondences in our spell work and rituals.

“Instilling calm, confidence, and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.”

In witchcraft, the color blue is associated, of course, with water and therefore with cleansing and movement. Blue is also a color for relaxation, for truth, for focus, forgiveness, fortune, and patience. Classic Blue continues this tradition by representing confidence, growth, and communication as well.

Everyday Witchcraft with Classic Blue

🌙 Look at the night sky that inspired the creation of this color.

🌙 Add something blue to your altar for the year (imbued with your intentions for 2020).

🌙 Light a blue candle to relax and refocus.

🌙 Incorporate this dreamy blue into your wardrobe with accessories, clothes, shoes, and whatever else makes you happy and feel very you.

🌙 Create a page in your grimoire to write down 20 “classic” things that inspire you or play a role in your craft and why they’re important to you.

Recipes and Rituals with Classic Blue

🌙 Incorporate blue ingredients into your recipes. Pair things that bring both the qualities of the color as well as the correspondences you wants from various foods into your recipes for your desired magical outcome. (Blueberries are, of course, a fantastic choice for this.)

🌙 Start your day off or prepare for spellwork by drinking a cup of blue tea such as butterfly pea flower tea which has similar uses to green tea.

🌙 Do a cleansing ritual by lighting a blue candle carved with a symbol that represents what you want to cleanse or writing down items you want to release on a slip of paper and using the candle to light the paper to burn in a heat-safe bowl. While the candle burns, meditate over the flames, releasing the things you want to cleanse and focusing on what you want to put energy into instead.

🌙 Collect blue items or stones such as lapis lazuli and use string or wire to create a wall hanging or mobile to hang over an area where you want to encourage clean, patient energy or focus.

🌙 Use a blue piece of fabric to create a new altar cloth that you can decorate with symbols, sigils, embroidery, and whatever else you creative witch heart desires.

Photo Credit: Pantone

aries: your doubt  — because you’ve been hurt before, in 2019 you’ve been doubting yourself and others which has only been making things worse. you are meant to be confident, open and trusting. you deserve so much and once you let go of all the doubt and distrust you have within you then you’ll truly thrive

taurus: your anger  — you have to admit there’s a lot of anger and resentment inside of you and that’s something you need to let go of. what happened is in the past and with uranus, the planet of change being in your sign, positive change is bound to happen for you

gemini: your idea of perfection  — you are so accepting of everyone else but you have this idea of perfection and who you’re supposed to be and of course you can’t live up to that. striving to be better is something to be proud of and that’s what you should continue to do in 2020 but remember: nobody is perfect and that’s perfectly okay

cancer: trying to please everyone  — another year, another opportunity to make everyone happy? no! the person who you should be worried about making happy is you. you care so deeply about others but it’s time to focus on yourself and stop worrying whether or not you’re pleasing everyone else

leo: procrastination  — you and i both know that you’re a determined person with a lot of goals, so why are you putting off everything for later? the time to get what you want out of life is right now, just believe in yourself and give it your best, i know you can do it

virgo: your insecurities  — despite being such a kind and loving person there’s one major flaw to you: you can’t stop criticizing yourself and picking your flaws apart. that’s not doing you any good and i know it’s easier said than done but this is definitely something you need to leave behind and with small steps and support from loved ones i hope you get there, because you truly deserve the best

libra: blaming yourself  — you have to stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong. because of everything that happened to you in the past few years you’ve learned to just accept the bad and blame it on yourself - that’s not a good way to live, you have to demand better and know that most things simply aren’t your fault

scorpio: taking everything to heart  — there’s nothing wrong with being emotional, that’s a virtue not a flaw, but sometimes you take it too far. not everyone has a personal grudge against you and some criticism really is just constructive. you need to stop taking everything to heart and realize that not everyone is against you

sagittarius: settling for less than you deserve — you’re such a strong and amazing person, so why are you settling for less than you deserve? because of everything you went through you now just go along with anything you get out of life. that’s no good, you and i both know you deserve way better and 2020 is your chance to fight for it. it’s time to leave the settling for less behind

capricorn: worrying too much  — i get that you have a lot on your mind and so many things seem so important, but let me tell you, half of them aren’t worth worrying about. instead of focusing on yourself and your needs you’re wasting your time worrying on minuscule things, this is something you need to stop doing

aquarius: your need to be superior  — because of your insecurities you have this constant need to be better than others. you need to stop worrying about this and just enjoy the moment, you deserve so much more than constantly trying to compare your worth to others

According to Dictionary.com, an altar is “an elevated place or structure at which religious rites are performed or on which sacrifices are offered to gods, ancestors, etc.“ As a witch, an altar isn’t absolutely necessary, but having one is incredibly useful. An altar can be a place to store the tools you use in your craft, or a space set aside for working on spells or even just meditating. If you work with a deity, your altar can serve as a space dedicated to that being and communicating or working with them. This post is meant to serve as a short and detailed guide to setting up your altar.

Decorating Your Altar:

The easiest way to decide how you’ll decorate your altar is by finding what symbolizes your deity. What colors is your deity associated with? Are certain plants or natural elements used to represent them? Let’s say you’re an Aphrodite devotee. You might use pink or red candles for their association with love and passion. Seashells are often used in paintings of Aphrodite, so collect some from the beach and scatter them on your altar if you wish. Rose petals are also a good choice. In my case, finding decorations was easy. Crosses, crucifixes, rosaries, and devotional candles are the main elements on my altar. The important thing about the decorations you choose is that they correspond to your deity. And these don’t have to be traditional correspondences because the strongest ones can be the ones you’ve come up with yourself. For example, say you have a really special candle that reminds you of your deity and you want to put it on your altar. Does it have to be a specific color or scent that corresponds with them? No. If it has some special connection to your deity, that’s a good enough reason to have it on your altar! That’s a personal correspondence, which is just as valid or important as any traditional correspondence you might find.

Using Your Altar:

Altars are most commonly used as a space to leave offerings for your deities. As a witch, you might also choose to use this space for any work or communication with them, or just as a space for performing your craft. I use mine for both. Before my altar was my altar, it was a desk sitting in the corner of my room collecting dust. Now I decorate it for sabbats, and use the drawers to hold my herbs, jars, candles, grimoire, crystals, and my other witchy stuff. I usually perform spells there. When I want to do something honoring my deity, I leave my phone and other distractions aside and sit at my altar. Whether it be having a cup of tea with Him or just lighting a candle and remembering His presence, it’s useful to have a space dedicated to your deity and your craft, and only that.

Alternatives:

Of course, I haven’t forgotten all of you witches that don’t work with deities! Decorating your altar is basically the same process I’ve explained above. Make it a space for your tools and your craft! Arrange them based on how you use them, or just in a way you think looks cool! Decorate based on the seasons and upcoming sabbaths you might want to celebrate! I made my altar right before Samhain, and decorating with what you have or what you can find is so much fun. Set out candles and crystals that correspond with the upcoming sabbath! For example, I have lots of tangerine quartz and carnelian. I arranged those and Halloween themed candles on my altar for all of October, and threw in fallen leaves and the apple for a touch of the season.

And below is a picture of my altar decorated for Yule. I arranged crystals and candles with corresponding colors, pine cones for a seasonal touch, and the tea was my offering that day.

If you’re a secret witch or just don’t have the space to dedicate, there are also alternatives to this. I’ve known witches to use Pinterest boards as digital altars by collecting pictures that remind them of their deity or their connection with their deity. Mystak ( @ikilledamanimeanwhat ) even used the Neko Atsume app to make an altar for Apollo! If you’re particularly close to nature, you could even make an altar outdoors. An outdoors altar would definitely be affected by the weather or any critters nearby, but it’s possible. When it comes to altars, the sky is the limit. Whether it be a drawer in your room or an entire room, an altar in a box you carry with you, or a space under a tree outside, you can make an altar out of almost anything! This is all of the advice I have for you. Thanks for reading and happy altar decorating!

References:

Thank you to @skyestarseed and @ikilledamanimeanwhat for your feedback and input on this post! The mini altar/travel altar post linked in the last paragraph is courtesy of Cass ( @thestudiouswitch )!