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Localizing Your Practice

So much witchcraft emphasizes how important it is to honor and work with the Earth, but then teaches us spells with ingredients we basically have to import using locations we don’t have access to. It’s rare to find an existing grimoire or guide book that actually works with where we live. We can still use them, but it doesn’t enhance our connection to our local land, which to many can feel important. Here are some tips for localizing your practice and working with the land you actually live on.

See what nature exists around you. Explore your own backyard with a critical eye. What plants can you actually go and pick yourself? What are those plants associated with? Do you have access to a creek or river? What does your local land actually have on it? If magic correspondences for your local plants haven’t been written about, you may have to do your own research. Example: I grow several plants on my back porch which I can potentially use for magic.There are magnolia trees and rhodedendrons on the grounds of my apartment complex. My parent’s neighbors have chickens in the backyard, so I have access to some feathers when they shed.

Check out local folklore, legends, etc. This is one of my favorite parts, but can also be the hardest. What are the stories of your area, both on a local and cultural scale. Example: A West Virginian may incorporate legends of the Mothman. Everyone says that one building on my old college campus is haunted (and they’re right.) People talk about that liminal-space feeling when you drive down that one road at night.

Find the magic spots. Sometimes the urban legends will tip you off to these (usually in a bad way) but other times you can find them on your own. A place where the energy is just right for some reason. A place you can go to be closer to nature, or a place you could host a ritual if needed. Sometimes it’s just a place where you can feel your mind open a little bit. Example: The shady corner of a public park. The tunnel downtown. That weirdly-perfect circle of trees in the woods behind Wal-Mart.

Meet your land wights. Spirits of the local land. This could be the fair folk, but also house spirits, the spirits of the trees near you, the nature spirits of wherever you are. They’re there. Be good to them and they’ll be good to you! Note: Some spirits and wights will not be interested in working with you, and that’s okay. I generally think it’s good to at least leave a polite offering to just be on general decent terms even if you never work with them more directly beyond that.

Check in with your Seasons. Harvest holidays generally don’t have actual lifestyle importance to most people reading this. The seasonal shifts other people write about may be from a very different climate than yours! Figure out a calendar that works for you. It doesn’t have to be detailed, but something that ties you to the seasons as you actually experience them. I also love working in any fun annual festivals nearby, if any.

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The Ultimate Guide to Potion Bases

We all spend so much time thinking about the correspondences of the actual ingredients that go into our potions that we often forget to think about what the potion base represents! (At least I do.) It would be nice to have a list of all the various liquids that can be used in place of water. Naturally, I can’t think of everything but I think this is a pretty good starting point! What else can be used? Eventually, at some point down the road, I will compile all these thoughts into a book on potion making and want to include this! Keep in mind that these are my own correspondences. Let me know if you disagree or if you’d change anything up! Let’s see how big we can make this list. Also, I should probably note that not all of these liquids can be ingested. (Obviously.)

The List

Vinegar: Used for cleansing and purification potions. Lemon Juice: Used in hexing, cursing, or revenge potions. Cranberry Juice: Used in love potions. Apple Juice: Used in healing, knowledge, and youth potions. Ammonia: Used in banishing, cursing, purification, and protection Red Wine: Love potions and potions dealing with death and the afterlife. White Wine: Used in platonic love potions as well as success brews. Rum: Used in potions involving spirit work. Whisky: Another good base for potion work. Vodka: A good base for work involving rapid banishing. Laundry detergent: Good for cleansing potions. Oils: Used to speed up a process. Molasses: Used in potions intended to slow a situation down. Rubbing Alcohol: Another good base for cleansing and purification. Hydrogen Peroxide: Used in healing potions. Milk: Used in potions to promote sleep and peace. Sour Milk: Used to cause nightmares or in potions designed to torment. Orange Juice: For potions of solar importance, healing, success. Soda Water: Used in potions designed to encourage laughter and giddiness. Ginger Ale: Used in health or healing potions. Olive Juice: Used in peace potions. Honey: Used in potions to sweeten up another’s disposition. Syrup: Used in abundance and prosperity potions. Beer: Used in potions intended to induce slumber. Clam Juice: Used in aphrodisiacs. Cough Syrup: Used in healing potions and to make someone ‘cough it up.’ Soy Sauce: Used in protection potions. (Thanks Lexa Rosean for this one!) Pineapple Juice: Used in abundance potions and fidelity potions. Coconut Milk: Used in spiritual and magical cleansing potions. Ice: Solid first, then melted for transformation potions. Coffee: Really, a potion in and of itself in my book. Vanilla Extract: In small amounts, used in passion potions. Witch Hazel: Used in communication and cleansing potions.

What else can you all think of?