witch boy

Winter is coming quickly. A lot of people see this time of year as bleak, depressing, or just boring. Here are some tips to stay attuned to nature during these months.

❄️ Go outside. Even if it’s cold, the trees are bare, and the only colors are muted and dull. We often think that summer is the only time to enjoy the outdoors—the only time to hike, meditate outside, etc. In winter, there are no lush green trees or balmy days filled with sunshine and the smell of flowers. While summer is intoxicating, winter is a time to contemplate and reflect. Go outside. Feel the cold. Feel the mud and the dead grass and the chilly wind. Listen to how quiet it is. Understand that the dark half of the year is a time of silence, stillness, and death. It’s natural to have an aversion to these things, but take some time to sit down and just listen. Breathe. Feel the reality of silence and death around you. It’s a sobering experience, but also a very insightful one. If you have any fear of death or quiet, now is the time to go sit with those things as they appear in nature and just meditate with them.

❄️ Eat cozy foods. It’s cold outside—warm up with hearty soups, stews, homemade bread, and root veggies. Warm spices and hot drinks will keep you feeling grounded. This is a wonderful time of year to practice kitchen witchcraft—focus on coziness, family, protection, and rest.

❄️ Study magic! The Dark Half of the year is devoted to self-reflection, rest, and contemplation. Snuggle up indoors with a fluffy blanket and devote some time to studying magic and witchcraft with a hot cup of magically-brewed tea.

❄️ Think spirits are sleeping along with all the greenery? Think again! The Dark Half of the year, in many cultures and spiritual traditions, is considered extremely spiritually active. Deities like Odin, Berchta, Hekate, and spirits such as elves and ghosts are very active this time of year. You can choose to honor them if you want, or practice various spirit-working techniques. If you’re into necromancy or divination, this is a wonderful time of year for those things.

❄️ Be kind to local wildlife by installing things like bird feeders outside your home. We modern humans may have an easy time of it in winter, but animals struggle to survive during these months. Any bit of kindness will be much appreciated.

❄️ Nurture your fire energy. During winter, it’s easy to internalize the cold and take on its characteristics—sluggishness, sleepiness, a foggy-headed feeling. Some crystals that are great for winter include golden rutilated quartz (aka Venus hair), citrine, carnelian, obsidian, and garnet. All of these crystals contain a strong fire element as well as offer grounding qualities, mental clarity, and protection.

❄️ Go out and forage for magical ingredients! Melted snow is extremely purifying and can be incorporated into spells for purification and cleansing. Icicles can serve as temporary wands, especially in spells that require a strong water element. The ash from bonfires (or hearth fires) can be used to make black salt. Fallen branches can be crafted into wands. There may be nothing growing this time of year, but you can get creative and still find magical ingredients in unexpected places. Just be respectful and don’t collect from places where it’s illegal!

Low on spoons and need to cleanse? Pop open a couple windows when it rains!

just a sweet herbal witch at work🌿♡🌸

*+:｡.｡ 🐸☂️🌲  ｡.｡:+*

May your August be filled with love and growth.

♡ write a list of things to leave behind, burn it to banish them.

♡ burn a white candle all the way through, and whisper a wish as it died out.

♡ cleanse with lemon water and rosemary on all windows and doors.

- Wants to live in an apartment surrounded in urban witch things

- Wants to live in a cottage in the middle of the forest surrounded by plants and magic and the earth

- Wants to live in a boat in a dock somewhere sunny, where my only concern is what i collected from the  shore and bought at the farmers market

- Wants to live in a massive beautiful temple to my gods

- 🧂✨🕊⛈🌿💫💧

i actually got the inspo to put his post together from @let-it-bee! tysm for the suggestion :) so! below i’ll list a few different methods for cleansing your crystals, for both crystals that can and cannot be submerged in water!

- stormy bath

put your crystals out during a storm! the energy of storm rain is amazing for cleansing just about anything, alternatively you can just put them out during a good rain which will work really well too! (for a waterless option place them on the windowsill instead of outside during the rain)

- salt bowl

i’ve seen this used a lot for tarot decks too; fill up a bowl with some (i recommend coarse) salt, and slap your babes in there! i like to do this on a new moon especially, if you’ve got a softer stone or anything like that (maybe desert rose, selenite) i recommend just getting a smaller, empty bowl and putting your crystal inside that bowl inside the salt bowl, hope that makes sense :)

- smoke cleansing

this can be done with plenty different types of incense, just anything you associate with cleansing, personally i like dragon’s blood, sage, good earth, eucalyptus, and black pepper incense for cleansing!

- smoke cleansing pt.2

this time with bark! yes, bark!! i don’t really hear many witches talk ab this but you can dry bark out and it’ll burn pretty well for you, it’s got great cleansing and it’s got an extra earthy punch to it as you can imagine, barks like oak and birch are great as they’re pretty common and cleanse really well!

- smoke cleansing pt.3

herb bundles! herbs like rosemary, thyme, raspberry leaves, lavender, eucalyptus, juniper, and plenty more can all be used in herbal bundles for cleansing!! even flower petals! keep in mind that when you’re smoke cleansing you gotta have good airflow, safety first witches, crack a window or something!

- bury it!

this method is especially useful for earth stones ofc, for more delicate stones just put them in a small jar and bury that (the only time it’s ok to bury glass is when you’re takin it right back out) i recommend burying on a full moon or you could even bury it on a new moon and leave it there for a full cycle :)

- candlelight

this method is pretty straightforward; white candles are great for this, black candles also work well for ushering out negative/stale energies, but ofc any colour you associate with cleansing can be used here!

- nap time!

i’ve found more than a couple times that if i’ve got my crystals next to me in bed and i take a nice solid nap, most of them will feel much better once i wake up and handle them a bit, though i do notice this doesn’t do much for fire stones, but that might be a personal thing i’m not sure; anyway i highly recommend this for spoonie witches! or just anyone looking for a pretty easy way to try cleansing with super minimal effort

- bodies of water

i super recommend rivers or the ocean for this one, if you’re at the beach make sure you’re like basically only using quartz in the actual water and for very short periods of time then rinse with fresh water shortly after, not sure what else can withstand saltwater but i’d research beforehand just in case! rivers have really powerful cleansing energy and of course the fresh water is more forgiving to other water tolerable stones <3

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