Note: please let me know in dms or in the comments if I missed something, or got something wrong! My point of making posts like these is to inform, but sometimes my research and information can be incorrect itself! Please let me know! <3 Part 2 is coming out soon.
The eight sabbats/the wheel of the year are holidays around the year, generally celebrated by pagans, witches, or wiccans. The sabbats/holidays divide the year into eight equal parts that mark the beginning and mid-points of each season. *The pictures included are not mine*
Solstice: The time (happens 2x a year) in which the sun reaches it's maximum/minimum destination. Marked by the longest and shortest days. June 21st and December 22nd.
Equinox: The time (happens 2x a year) in which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are at equal length.
Yuletide - December 21st-January 1st
Yuletide (yool - tide) or Yule takes place on the winter solstice, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. This is a time of joy as it is the starting point for light to enter the world again. Yule is a great time for home magick, personal magick, family quality time, and celebration. Short days of work and long nights of dreaming. Set intentions, make new plans, appreciate your work of the seasons before this.
Common traditions with Yuletide is to light candles on December 20th (Mid-Winter's Eve) to herald the return of the Sun. Another, the Yule log. Which is burned (often in a fire place) to represent the light that can be found in darkness. A piece of the log is traditionally saved to start the new year's fire.
Witchcraft: Topic Ideas for Your Book of Shadows/Grimoire
Please remember that these are just a small number of ideas! This isn't an end-all-be-all. Your magical journals should be personal to you and you alone. Additionally, your book of shadows/grimoire should always grow and change as you do. If you no longer resonate with something or find new information, add, take away, or archive pages! There is absolutely no shame in doing so. Most importantly, have fun!
These are listed in alphabetical order for your convenience.
Affirmations
Alchemy*
Altars
Ancestors*
Angels*
Animals (and their connection to you)
Anointing/Consecrating/Charging
Art magic
Astral projection*
Auras*
Banishing
Baneful magic*
Bath rituals
Besoms
Binding*
Birth chart (your own)
Blessings
Books (texts you can use for reference)
Candle magic
Celestial bodies (planets, the sun, etc.)
Chaos magic*
Charms, amulets, and talismans
Charm bags
Circle casting
Cleansing
Closed practices
Color magic
Constellations
Common herbs (used in the craft)
Correspondences
Crystals
Crystal grids
Daily thoughts
Days of the week (correspondences)
Deities*
Demonolatry*
Devotional practice*
Discernment
Divination (methods)
Dragons*
Dreams
Dream interpretation
Dream work
Elements (the four/five)
Elixirs
Energy work
Esbats (if Wiccan)
Essential oils
Fae*
Familiars*
Foraging calendar (for herbs)
Garden magic
Glamour magic
Green magic (herbs, plants, trees, etc.)
Grounding
Healing magic
Hearth magic
Herbalism
Herbology
Hex/curse breaking
Historical spells
Historical witches
History of witchcraft
Incense
Intention
Intention setting
Intuition
Journal entries
Kitchen magic
Knot magic
Local plants
Local myths, cryptids, or legends
Low cost magic
Low energy magic
Lunar cycle (the)
Lunar phases
Magical philosophy
Magical practices around the world
Magical technique
Magical terminology
Magical theory
Maps (of areas with interesting energy)
Meditation
Moons of the year
Mythology
Natural remedies
Obscure tools or tools you have invented
Past life exploration*
Pentacle (the)
Personal correspondence charts
Petition magic
Planetary hours
Plant identification
Poisons
Prayers
Protection magic
Recipes
Religion
Rituals
Sabbats (the)
Sachets
Sacred texts
Salts
Sea/ocean magic
Seasons (the four)
Seven psychic senses (the)
Shadow work*
Sigils
Spells (types, how to cast, ethics, etc.)
Spirits*
Spirituality
Spirit work*
Storm magic
Superstitions
Sustainable/eco-friendly lifestyle tips
Symbols
Symbol/image magic
Tarot spreads
Teas
Tech magic
Times of day (correspondences)
Tools (of the craft)
Traditional magic
Types of moons (dark moon, super moon, etc.)
Types of witches/paths of witches
Wand making
Warding
Waters (how to make, correspondences)
Weather (correspondences)
Words of power
Wheel of the year
Witch bottles
Witch's alphabet
Witch's ladder
Witchy DIY
Your magical rules
Your magical morals/ethics/values
Your reactions (to correspondences, workings, etc.)
Zodiac signs
*I believe these are more inclined for an intermediate/advanced skill level. This is because a good grasp on more basic skills (sensing energy, protection, vetting, etc.) is required to perform these practices safely and effectively with a higher rate of success.
Did you know you don't have to use other peoples spells? You, yourself, can create your own individual spells for your own purposes regardless of your experience level. Below are some basic tips for making a spell worthy of writing down.
Naming:
The process of naming a spell is completely optional and always should be. It is my personal recommendation that a Spell Name should correlate with the intention of aforementioned spell. Implementing a simplified summary of the ceremony itself into the title can also be benefital.
Planning:
Constructing a spell will require planning. Taking aspects such as correspondences, instruments, location, and weather into account can amplify the spell’s effect as well. I recommend cleansing and charging your items before preforming it, and resting your self to be full prepared with optimum energy.
Timing:
In magic, time has its own correspondences ranging from segments of the day to Moon Phase, Weekly, Monthly, and Seasonal correspondences. If you are going to preform a spell, you can utilize timing for stronger magical effects.
Instruments:
Instruments can be very diverse in variety but can be chosen based off of the correspondence or use of a particular item. For example, If your intention was to attract abundance and fortune, filling a Chalice with liquid could suffice perfectly. You are always the best magickal “tool.”
Activities:
What are you going to be doing with your tools to cast this spell? Will you be using a chant, song, or incantation during this ceremony? For example, if you want to banish something. screaming while you are throwing, burning, or burying something is you adding your own energy and labor into this spell.
Clean and cleanse your space. Open doors and windows while you cleanse. As you get to every door, cleanse in a counterclockwise direction and state "I banish all negative energies and entities. Anything that does not serve my highest good (and the good of my family) leave now! (You can add an angry "get the fuck out" here if you wish ;) !)" In a clockwise direction state "I welcome positivity, light, love, healing, cleansing, happiness, abundance, prosperity, (good things etc.) and the protection of Diana (or whomever, you can choose elements, a deity, the universe...)." You can call the corners /elements to assist you as you cleanse the home. Make the sign of a pentagram after you state your intentions to lock the protections in.
Clean and cleanse your mirrors and do the same, but move your cleanser in a clockwise direction to banish and counter clockwise to welcome protection. You can draw pentacles with water and black salt or charcoal powder on all your mirrors and windows.
Make a simmer pot with vinegar and protective herbs/spices (bay leaf, mustard seeds, salt, lemon, black pepper, fennel, rosemary, clove...whatever you have on hand really). If it won't damage your floors, you can strain this mixture and wash your floors with it (dilute with water & add a bit more vinegar). You can make a separate floor wash with just vinegar & water + essential oils as well. You can wipe down your door frames and window sills with this too. Remember to salt the outside areas of your home after cleansing.
Cut a lemon and put slices surrounded in salt on a plate in every room, especially under beds (don't salt the lemons, just let them sit atop the salt!). If the lemons rot, the entity is still in the home. If the lemons dry without molding, your home is cleansed.
Take a nice long shower or ritual bath after you cleanse your home to avoid any residual energies sticking onto you. You can even smoke cleanse yourself if you feel it will help.
You can repeat this process as many times as necessary. Attrition warfare works if entities refuse to leave. They get weaker with every act of cleansing and banishing until they disappear completely. Of course, if you feel that this is not up to snuff for your particular situation, please find outside help!
Enchanting your shoes with Warding and Protection sigils inside of the shoe can protect your energies in a stealthy manner.
If you don’t have money to spend, picking up trash, music, poetry, and research are always very incredible offerings.
The action of consuming food with salt such as chips or pretzels can be used for easy and simple personal inner salt cleansing rituals.
Using your phone, heartbeat, or music to charge tarot cards, crystals, and other tools can be done at almost any place and time.
You can use your morning cup of water, coffee, or tea to revitalize daily by enchanting the mug with the aforementioned intention.
Keeping Bay Laurel Leaves in your Wallet to attract an overflow of money, sealing them with tape keeps them from crumbling.
The action of chewing any form of mint or cinnamon gum during money spell can amplify or speed up the energies and results.
Blowing a dash of Cinnamon at your front door entrance at the first of each month can invite prosperity into your dwelling.
Having protection in your car and where you sleep is the most important thing you can do as a practitioner, experienced or not.
Utilizing your showers, baths, and brushing your teeth for simple and low energy cleansing spells can become powerful.
Warding above your doorways with horseshoes is not only a marvelous way to protect your home, but attracts good luck inside.
Placing magical items in front of a currently working fan can blow away negativity or charge it with gusts of wind energy.
Walking, jumping, singing, running, or even skipping with intent whilst holding a magical item can imbue it with magical energy.
You can use light itself to charge, purify, and cleanse, people, places, and things. Artificial or Natural light doesn’t make a difference, and the same notion can be applied with the dark.
Cleansing your space and self when a visitor has been draining, negative, or toxic can be very beneficial.
Person: I was doing spellwork using a candle I had dressed with oils and herbs, and the candle's flame spiked up so much! The candle melted so quickly after that, I think that means it worked!
Another Person: I lit my 7-day deity candle that was dressed with dried herbs and the flame went wild! I think that's a sign the deity like it!
Me: Your candles are literally coated with oils and herbs that are flammable and therefore will catch fire. They are dressed to the point where you can hardly see the candle anymore. What you have is a fucking fire hazard.
Just a quick compilation of the posts I've made about exercises to help improve your craft. These can be used as journaling prompts, inspiration for activities, or as methods for pulling yourself out of a slump and recharging your witchy inspiration.
Witchcraft Exercise - Quantifying Your Craft
Witchcraft Exercise - Dig Through The Ditches
Witchcraft Exercise - The Book of Lessons
Witchcraft Exercise - Home Brews
Prompt - Music to Witch By
Most of these are also available in the May 2021 bonus episode of Hex Positive (check your favorite podcatcher).
Book of shadows and grimoire and how to make your own
Altars and altar tools
Types of spells
Psychic protection, protections spells, home and house and protection
Shadow work
Banishing
Protective herbs
Grounding, centering and meditation.
Moon phases and how they can be incorporated into spells
magickal/witches tools
Candle colour correlations/ colour correlations in witchcraft
Herbology
Crystals
Types of divination- tarot, pendulum, runes ect
Astrology
Dream interpretation
Reasons why a spell or ritual may fail
How to fix a spell if it goes wrong or ask a fellow witch for advice
The elements and how to connect to them
Understanding substituting and how to rework rituals and spells
Affirmations
Pentagram, pentacle and the goat of mendes
The laws of magick
The law of attraction
dangerous / poisonous/ toxic herbs!
Crystal care
auras/ aura reading
Folklores,superstitions and wivestales
Different deities in different cultures
Chakras
Alchemy
Seals
Familiars
Sigils and talsimans
energies/ energy work
Solitary vs coven/group witchcraft
sabbats/ esbats- if you’re interested in that.
Faeries
Lucid dreaming/astral projection
Working with spirits, angels, deities and
Steps to take to make sure you are working with certain angels and deities or spirits.
Methods for opening the third eye and other chakras
Chaos magick
Personal spirit guides
How to find your spirit guides and guardian angels
The higher self
Taglocks and magick links
Lightworkers
Symptoms of being cursed/ hex
How to remove a curse or hex/return to sender
Empaths
Symbols
Types of water(moonwater ect)
Writing your own spells
Cord or knot magick
Ritual structures
How to cleanse your space and cleansing herbs
Do not try hex ,cursing or any type of baneful magic as a beginner witch! It can backfire and go wrong if you’re not prepared! But knowing the symptoms and how to send one back can be very useful
