a collection of red

[recreationalwitchcraft]

Love Spell Masterpost

A collection of our favorite love (and love auxiliary) spells for Valentine’s Day and all year long. Remember to ask for consent before casting! 

Love (Attracting):

Shower Disks for Attracting Love 

Love Spell for a 3rd Party 

Jar for Attracting Romance

“Funnel of Love” Spell 

Love Drawing Bath Soak 

Bring Love My Way Spell

Simple Love Spell 

Simple Spell Jar for Love

The Love Stone

Love (Strengthening):

Love Spell Cocktail

Kitchen Witchcraft Pies for a Lover

Strength of Love Spell 

Spell to Strengthen Love 

To Make a Relationship Stronger

Lust and Sex:

Tea for Lust and Romance 

Spell for Passion

‘Shot to the Lust’ Mix

Sex Spell Candle 

Mermaid’s Kiss Enchantment

Sex Drive Sachet

Rose Romance Spray 

Spell to Improve Sex Life

Glamour:

Goddess Glamour Bath 

Goddess Glamour Shower Disks

Glamour Solid Perfume

Notice Me Glamour Spell

Lingerie Glamour Spray 

Glamour Facial Scrub 

[ocarinawitch]

I … I think I had a bit too much fun making this in gimp.

Anyway, The Princess Bride. If you’ve never read or seen it, all you need to know is that true love is the best thing in the world, next to cough drops, but also that life is pain, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Fortunately, this spread prepares you for both! Use it to test the strength of your current relationship, or as a forecast for possible things to come. Or whatever. I’m not your boss.

1) Once upon a time – the beginning of your relationship. This might represent one of you, both, all, or it could be referring to the circumstances that brought you together.

2) The Foundation – what your relationship is built upon, what gives the relationship strength.

3) The First Trial – Relationships have their ups and downs. This is a down, and you might want to prepare for it.

4) The Mask – An aspect of your Love(s) that you may not be aware of.

5) The Prince – A person, persons, or perhaps just an unfortunate set of circumstances, that pose a threat to your relationship.

6) The Second Trial – Another issue you might want to prepare for. The issue will likely be connected to the Prince card.

7) The Friends – Unlike the Prince, this card represents the forces that help keep your relationship together.

8) Happily Ever After – Where will this relationship end up?

I tested this spread on the main characters – Westley and Buttercup, and got a hilariously accurate result, so hopefully the spread will do good by the rest of y’all, too.

[sleepydryad-blog]

🎃 Samhain 🎃

On Samhain, also known as Halloween, the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. This allows for easier communication with spirits and improved divination. Samhain also celebrates the last harvest of the year and the beginning of the “darker half” of the calendar. Some people call it the witch’s new year.

Activities:

Eat an apple or drink apple cider.

Light incense or a candle.

Honor your ancestors and deceased love ones.

Take a bath.

Decorate your altar.

Carve a pumpkin.

Divination.

Spells for protection, honoring the dead, abundance, and clairvoyance.

Go trick-or-treating.

Make a besom.

Take a walk outside.

Collect fallen leaves and acorns.

Stones:

All black stones (obsidian, onyx, jet, etc.), clear quartz, amber, turquoise, smoky quartz, amethyst, beryl, fluorite, moonstone, lapis lazuli, bloodstone, peridot, and tiger’s eye.

Colors:

Orange, yellow, black, purple, silver, gold, and white. 

Symbols:

Fire, besoms, pumpkins, gourds, jack-o-lanterns, nuts (especially acorns), and apples.

Herbs: 

Mugwort, mandrake, cinnamon, sage, black pepper, hazel, rosemary, allspice, and catnip. 

Flowers: 

African violet, cactus, carnation, and dandelion.

Incense: 

Dragon’s blood, sandalwood, cinnamon, heliotrope, mint, nutmeg, myrrh, and patchouli. 

[will-o-the-witch]

Worshipping With Executive Dysfunction

Ironically, I’m writing this to avoid doing my Work Job. Let’s get into it.

Set an alarm so you remember. Pick a specific time you’re going to worship, because “later” never comes and “sometime this evening” rarely does either. Instead, set an alarm so that you already have that time set aside in your mind, and so that you don’t mentally blow past it when that time arrives.

Keep everything in one place. Keep the offerings near where you would offer them, as well as anything you might need to do it, like matches or lighters. Make it so there’s as little travel time as possible between you and what you want to do. 

Think through the ritual setup beforehand. Sometimes the offering part is easy but getting to that point is overwhelming, especially if your tradition involves ritual purification or invocation rituals. Boil it down to the bare essentials and capture the essence in a way that doesn’t have so many steps, if you can. (Ex: Is that personal purification rite just an ancient way of washing away germs, and if so can we just mindfully wash our hands and fulfull the rite’s function?)

Start with something little. Getting started can be the hardest part. If you don’t have the energy for an entire offering ritual, break it into pieces. Just do the setup and approach the rest later if you need. Or just put on a playlist to get into the mood for now. Or take a couple deep breaths to refocus your brain. Ease into it as slowly as you need. 

Think ahead with your offerings. Will you have the spoons to clean up after? If you’re like me and run the risk of not removing an offering for days (or weeks…) then think ahead to what can stay there a long time, just in case. Nobody likes cleaning up the altar and finding mold in the offering dish. Incense, water, and dried plants tend to work well, as do nonphysical things like music and poetry.

“While I’m at it…” If you catch yourself in a spot with good momentum, try to get a rite done while you have the energy instead of putting it off. It can be something simple, but use the energy and the drive while you’re on top of it since we can’t always guarantee it will be there in even an hour. 

Keep things similar so that you don’t have to rethink every step, every time. A rock solid routine with what a ritual looks like helps it become a lot more automatic, and therefore a lot easier to actually do. Routine becomes habit.

Remember that something is better than nothing. Anything that helps you touch base with your Divine and keep them close is a good thing, and most people don’t give an offering every single day. Don’t waste time beating yourself up for not performing at the level you wish you could. Instead, celebrate the love it takes to do something at all for them through your Executive Dysfunction; you’re already pushing yourself and striving to do your best for them, and that’s incredible. Hang onto that. 

[lalunawonders-deactivated202108]

This was useful to me.

[spiritscraft-deactivated2025031]

Hekate, world soul, goddess of the crossroads and liminal places, smokeless fire, patron of witches. Painting by @spiritscraft -Sara Star.

[upthewitchypunx]

PBW Witch Shop & Zine Distro

The PBW Witch Shop is a curated selection of witchcraft and magic related zines, books, pin-back buttons, tarot cards and more.

We focus on traditional and folkloric witchcraft, animism, chaos magic, secular witchcraft, magical herbs and plants, queer witchcraft, tarot & Divination, witchcraft & magic in politics, history, culture, and social & racial justice,  and aspects of non-Wiccan forms of witchcraft, magic, and paganism.

Pre-Covid the Portland Button Works primarily made custom pinback button. Selling zines and books was secondary and more of a hobby for me to share things I’d like to read. Right now our business is pivoting to focus on books and zines that people can read in the comfort and safety of their own homes. Some items are from well known witchcraft and occult publisher and some are titles from small publishers with interesting items I don’t see in other shops but I’m excited to elevate.

Not everyone has income to buy books right now, we totally understand that, but I would love it if you were able to reblog this post or share Portland Button Works and PBW Witch Shop with your friends.

If you have been looking for a book about something specific, or if you think something would be a good fit for our catalog, get in touch. We can order almost any book in print, even if it isn’t witchcraft or magic related.

With that being said, here are some categories of items we carry:

Some good books to get you started studying witchcraft:

Grovedaughter Witchery by Bree NicGarran

Making Magic by Briana Saussy

Magical Power for Beginners- How to Raise & Send Energy for Spells That Work by Deborah Lipp

Weave The Liminal by Laura Tempest Zakroff

Some creative books to help build your witch craft practice:

Spellcrafting- Strengthen the Power of your Craft by Creating and Casting Your Own Unique Spells by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

D.I.Y. Magic -a Strange & Whimsical Guide to Creativity by Anthony Alvarado

Psychic Witch- a Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick, & Manifestation by Mat Auryn

Urban Magick by Diana Rajchel

Standing and Not Falling - a Sorcerous Primer in Thirteen Moons by Lee Morgan

Tarot Books

Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow

Tarot for Troubled Times by Shaheen Miro & Theresa Reed

Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea

Tarot Decks

Next World Tarot (regular and pocket sized)

Science Tarot

Rider-Waite-Coleman Smith Regular sized and Mini sized

Crow Tarot

Modern Witch Tarot

Cat Tarot

Check out the tarot and divination books in our catalog and also check out tarot and divination decks in our catalog here.

Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine

Advanced Magick for Beginners by Alan Chapman

Chaos Protocols by Gordon White

Hands on Chaos Magic by Andrieh Vitimus 

Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter Carroll

Other books in the Chaos Magic section

Anthologies: Becoming Dangerous: Witchy Femmes, Queer Conjurers, and Magical Rebels, Bringing Race to the Table: Exploring Racism in the Pagan Community, Shades of Ritual: Minority Voices in Practice

Magical Resistance: Witchcraft Activism by David Salisbury, Magic for the Resistance by Michael Hughes, Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons

Witches and Feminist Perspectives: Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici, Witches, Midwives and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English , Witches Sluts Feminists by Kristen J. Sollee

Pagan Anti-Capitalism: Pagan Anarchism True to the Earth: Pagain Political Thology by Kadmus, All That is Sacred is Profaned: A Pagan Guide to Marxism by Ryhd Wildermuth, A Pagan Anti-Capitalist Primer

Queer Witchcraft: Witchcraft and the Gay Counter Culture, Sapphomanteion a Lesbian Oracle, Queering the Tarot

Check out the Witchcraft Culture and History and Witchcraft Politics and Resistance sections of our website.

Green Witchcraft: The Green Witch by Arin Murray-Hiscock, Green Witchcraft by Paige Vanderbeck

Plants and Herbs: Under the Witching Tree by Corinne Boyer, Under the Bramble Arch by Corinne Boyer

The Poison Path: Veneficuim: Magic, Witchcraft and the Poison Path by Daniel Schulke, Pharmo/Gnonsis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path by Dale Pendell , Plants of the Devil by Corinne Boyer

Witchy Crafts: Pestlework: a Book of Magical Powders and Oils by Bree NicGarran, Sew Witchy by Rachel Henderson, Sigil Witchery by Lara Tempest Zakroff

Other books in our Plants, Herbs, and Magical Crafts section

Books on Atheopaganism

Godless Paganism (anthology)

Atheopaganism by Mark Green

Other Pagan Perspectives

Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality by Lasara Firefix Allen

The Wakeful World: Anismism, Mind, and the Self in Nature by Emma Restall Orr

Circling the Star by Anthony Rella

All That Is Sacred is Profaned: A Pagan Guide to Marxism by Rhyd Wildermuth

All Other Pagan books

Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways by Gemma Gary

A Deed Without A Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft by Lee Morgan

Crooked Path: An Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft by Keldon

Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards

Besom Stand and Sword A Guide to Traditional Witchcraft the Six-Fold Path the Hidden Landscape by Christopher Orapello & Tara Love Maguire

Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft in the American South by Aaron Oberon

Folk Witchcraft by

The Flame in the Cauldron by Orion Foxwood

Craft of the Untamed by Roger Horne

Check out the rest of the books in our Traditional & Folkloric Witchcraft Section

What are zines? Small independently made magazine and pamphlets filled with stories and unique ideas that you won’t find from major publishers!

Some topics you will find in zines we carry are Secular Witchcraft, the fantastic Fiddler’s Green Pamphlets and lots of zine on the places where Politics, Paganism, and Witchcraft intersect.

Check out all of our witchy zines here.

Other Stuff

witchy buttons

 magnets and hand mirrors

We carry more than just witchy books.

Here are some of the other titles we carry:

You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance by Chani Nicholas

When Language Runs Dry: An Anthology for People with Chronic Pain and their Allies

What is Gender Nihilism?

Be Gay Do Crime by The Mary Nardini Gang

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher

You Black Friend by Ben Passmore

Learning Good Consent an Anthology edited by Cindy Crabb

How To Talk To Your Cat about Gun Safety and Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism and Other Dangers that Threaten Their Nine Lives

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Honoring your Ancestors by Mallorie Vaudoise

Do-it-Your Self Guide to Fighting the Big Motherfucking Sad by Adam Gnade

Yes, I’m Flagging: Queer Flagging 101 by Archie Bongiovanni

Full online catalog of books, zines, buttons and more can be found at PortlandButtonWorks.com and the PBW Witch Shop can be found here.

All items are shipped from Portland, Oregon in plain packaging or United States Postal Service Flat Rate envelopes or boxes with the return address as Portland Button Works. We ship daily and most order come with small fun gifts of buttons or magnets.

Thank you so much for supporting your local witch!

[witchynyx]

For those in the US asking “where can I buy good witchy books?” - this looks like an answer!

For those of us elsewhere in the world, I would recommend every book I’ve read off this list, and have heard great things about a bunch of the others, so I’m totally treating this as reading list inspiration! I wonder how many of them my libraries have…

[hiswitchcraft]

My Resource Recommendations

Be sure to check out the newest version of this post right here in case I update it. 

First off here’s my list of witchy book recommendations. 

Now onto the rest of it!

Websites

Finding information online that’s reliable is very, very tricky but here are a few places you may start.

[Witchpedia] Lots of definitions and correspondences.

[The-eye.eu] Hundreds of PDFs relating to the occult, witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, spells, and so on. I’ve gotten really good at navigating this thing so if you need help finding a topic or specific book let me know. 

[Sacred-texts.com] Tons of old books on the occult and witchcraft.

[Grimoire.org] Grimoires!!!

[Cafeastrology.com and [astro-charts.com] For astrology, no surprise there! 

Youtube Channels Here’s a few witchy youtube channels I loved to watch when I was starting out.

[The Witch Of Wonderlust]

[Harmony Nice]

[Scarlet Ravenswood]

[Magickians]

Blogs 

@orriculum

@spellchased

@underworldariel

@moonlightacademy

@urbanspellcraft

@witchofapollo

@teaspellsandsecrets

@theladymorganlefay​

@themori-witch

@moonbeam-archives

@will-o-the-witch

@heatherwitch

@witches-ofcolor 

Keep in mind some of these blogs are inactive!  Finally, feel free to search my blog for things like “books” or “PDFs” to find people’s lists of PDFs that provide free books on witchcraft. You can also search this blog for any other topic you would like to know about to find info or maybe get a question answered. 

Happy reading! 💖

[ofwordsandblood]

To Bring A Partner

Create a list of the 5 most important traits you seek in a partner. Let these come naturally.

Blend together Myrrh and benzoin resins, with a touch of dragon’s blood. Blend this all well together and set aside. Ignite a charcoal briquette in a copper bowl, and set the list directly behind in a standing position where it can be easily seen.

Light a candle in the name of the unknown lover, and cast pinches of the resin blend on the charcoal with these words:

By the burning of this gum,

To me now I bid you come.

Repeat this at length, whispering your words into the rising smoke. Let your will be carried by the curling incense up and out the window, into the winds to return with that which you seek.

[sylvaetria]

Mini Protection Vial

For @apollog-y.

This is an all-around protection spell, but it can be modified with intent to specific situations. It can be applied to yourself, another person, or an entire household.

Needed:

a tiny vial with a cork

sea salt

black pepper / peppercorns

onion powder

basil

crumbled bay leaves

cinnamon

rosemary

two tealights (optional)

a taglock (optional)

Prep for spellwork in any way you wish or normally do.

If you would like, cleanse the vial, but it isn’t necessary.

If you are using the candles, light them now. 

Layer equal amounts of each ingredient in the vial, in the following order: sea salt, black pepper / peppercorns, cinnamon, onion powder, crumbled bay leaves, basil, rosemary.

As you add each ingredient, focus on your intent, and what you wish the herb to do for you. Do your best to feel the energy of each herb. Feel free to channel your own energy into the herbs to amplify them, continuing to focus on your desire to be safe.

If you wish to be protected from a certain scenario / person / etc., keep that in mind as you are channeling.

Out loud, or in your head, request the assistance of the herb’s energy to keep you protected. 

If you are doing the spell for a house, specify that you would like the entire area protected. If you are doing this spell for a friend, specify them by name and request the energies be directed toward them.

If you wish to use a taglock (either for yourself or for a friend), place it in the vial at the end, after all the other ingredients have been layered.

Close the vial.

If you used the candles, wait until enough wax has melted and pooled, and dip the cork / top of the vial into the wax, to seal it. You can find a tutorial for this by @witchy-woman [here].

Carry it on your person when you wish to feel its energies upon you.

If the spell is for a household, keep it in a central room if you can; otherwise, anywhere the vial will be kept safely is fine. If you are performing this spell for a friend, give the vial to them if you can.

[thegreywitch]

Basic Warding Jar

p u r p o s e - To dispel, eradicate, and keep away negative and harmful energy.

s u p p l i e s

various herbs and oils* (I used mugwort, mint, sage, parsley, eucalyptus, green tea, geranium oil, and sweet marjoram oil)

jar with lid

dragons blood incense

permanent marker

*This is a very personal spell meant to protect you, your home, things that are important to you, so use herbs and oils that you personally associate with protection/cleansing!

Mix the herbs and oils in the jar.

Create a sigil that represents protection/safety/cleansing. Make sure it is simple enough that you can fit it on the lid of your jar. (Psst… here is a great tutorial on sigil crafting.)

Draw your sigil on the inside of your lid with a permanent marker so it doesn’t rub off.

Charge the sigil in your favorite way, then hold it in the smoke of the incense. Alternatively, if you have cone incense, you can burn it on top of the lid the sigil is drawn on.

Dump the ashes in the jar, and seal the lid.

All done! Now put the jar in a safe place, and charge periodically by shaking it.

e x t r a   t i p s

You can do the same thing in a smaller jar (like a baby food jar) and carry it with you, just make sure you seal it well!

It wouldn’t hurt to recharge the sigil every so often and adding more dragons blood ashes to the jar.

[batwitch]

Focus - How to develop your Craft

One of the problems that a lot of people have coming to witchcraft, and something I struggle with still to this day, is a lack of focus. I don’t mean visualisation and meditation, I’m talking about the fact that witchcraft is not a single skill but a huge collection of different practices; divination by lot, scrying, natural magic, spirit work, trance, sigils, hedgecrossing, wortcunning, energy work, ritual, astrology, ceremonial magic etc. etc.  It can be daunting to realise just how much there is to learn, and to take on too much, too soon. If you set out to memorise the tarot, delve into trance and try to plant a half-acre herb garden in week one, you’re going to burn out fast. You’re also not going to achieve the results you want in any of these areas.

In any other craft, apprentices must practice the same repetitive steps before they move on to a new skill, sometimes for years before they master it. Just because magic makes some things easier, doesn’t mean learning witch crafts can be achieved instantly. There is no rush, you have years to learn these skills and it will take you years. Don’t set deadlines, just put in the hours.

Pick one practice you are naturally drawn towards. It might be one form of divination, working with tree spirits, traditional astrology, creating sigils etc, it doesn’t matter. Choose the skill that you desire to learn most passionately, the one you couldn’t imagine living without.

Seek training in that skill. It doesn’t have to be from another Witch. I’ve taken courses in Astrology, Tarot and Alchemy from practitioners for whom that is their sole specialisation. Look to other disciplines of the Occult. They have much to teach you. 

If you are limited to book knowledge, read widely, be discerning and do the work. Reading 20 books on a subject doesn’t make you an expert if you’ve never tried the skills described therein.

Practice. Do the work, do it again, record your results, don’t give up when you fail. Work for yourself, work for others (for free at this point) try different methods, experiment, learn by doing.

Gain competency; the ability to do something successfully with some measure of efficiency. Read tarot without looking at the book, know which herb to use without having to look it up, identify Jupiter and Venus without using a star chart. You’ll know when you’re there because it will feel natural and automatic. 

Take on another skill. Once you’ve gained the confidence of achieving competency in one area, you can probably take on a couple of new skills, although it helps if they’re not too similar (learning two forms of divination is like learning two languages at the same time - confusing.)

Rinse and repeat until you have a working knowledge and competency of several skills that together form your regular practice. Pat yourself on the back, most people never get this far.

Be humble. Competency is not mastering a skill. Don’t suddenly assume the mantle of an adept because you can do a few things passably well. Keep learning and developing those skills. Don’t even think about teaching them until you’ve been practicing for years and years.

Challenge yourself. There may be certain practices you’ve avoided out of fear, laziness or disinterest. Try something that pushes you harder, drags you out of your comfort zone. That is how you get beyond the beginner stuff.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed - too many books to read, too many divination tools, too many spells planned, too many jars of ingredients lining the shelves, bring it back to the basics. Focus on what you want to achieve and practice the skills that will get you there. Don’t be afraid to take a break from everything else to allow you to work on just one thing.

Breathe. You’ll get there, don’t worry too much. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not a witch because you don’t do X. Your practice is yours to define, take pride in the effort you’ve put into it.

[xx-thespiderqueen-xx]

50 Meditation Tips

- By Jess Carlson.

I get it. Meditation isn’t always easy. You don’t always have time for it. And maybe you just suck at it. I get it, really I do. Even though now meditation is something I can do easy peasy {mostly} I used to struggle like you wouldn’t believe with just getting my head to shut up long enough to get a few quiet breaths in. Spoiler Alert! You’ll never get your head to shut up. Not truly.

Here’s the thing though – we need meditation. Your excuses and past experiences don’t matter. It’s time to hack it, try something different, and just practice! The number of benefits to meditation are massive. You’ve heard them all by now I’m sure:

Stress reduction

Lower blood pressure

Better focus

Better ability to handle high-pressure situations

Immune system boost

Reduction in negative emotions

Better relationships

Developed intuition

Better nervous system function

Better chances of avoiding heart disease

And that’s just scratching the surface {check out this list of 100 meditation benefits}.

Meditation is simply the practice of maintaining a sense of peace and mental calmness for a period of time. It is not about having no thoughts. To try and empty the mind completely is a waste of time and it defeats the true purpose of mediation. All you need to do is simply let those thoughts come and go. You can’t control the fact that they pop up but you can control hold you react or hang on to them.

So I have for you 50 tips, some super quick and simple, and a few a little more involved, to help you make it happen:

Listen to chants or kirtans. {Deva Premal and Krishna Das are my favs!}

Let the noise around you be like natural music rather than a distraction.

Don’t close your eyes.

Keep a soft gaze on a candle flame.

Count your breaths to keep your brain busy {count 1 on an inhale, 2 on an exhale, and so on up to 10 then start again}.

Stretch first so your body is loose, just like before any exercise you do.

Have a purpose for your meditation. {just being quite is a purpose!}

Make it a ritual.

Try different meditation techniques from different traditions + cultures.

Commit to start with 10 days of meditation without skipping a day.

Use guided meditations.

Meditate when everyone else in the house is asleep or out.

Meditate before you get out bed in the morning.

Meditate at the same time every day.

Use mala beads.

Sit quietly and just mentally list what you’re grateful for that day. {hey, that’s mediation!}

Stop meditating when it feels like it’s time, regardless of what the clock says.

You only need a few minutes a day {5-10 is perfect}, not hours.

If you have a scratch, scratch it! It’s more distracting to try to ignore it.

Start where you are with just 2-3 minutes a day – that’s better than no minutes a day!

Do activities that let your mind wander like looking out the windows at clouds floating.

Write down all your thoughts, frustrations, and to-do’s on a piece of paper so you can get it out of your head before sitting down to meditate.

Mediation has no true beginning or end so don’t worry about the destination and focus on the journey.

Adjust your posture when you start – if you can’t comfortably take a deep breath, shift.

The mind is always changing, so your meditation practice will always change – some days will be harder than others.

The mind is meant to think, so give yourself a few minutes every time to just let the mind do what it wants.

Practice with consistency is the only way it will get easier.

It’s ok to just sit there – just sitting there and being focused on that alone creates an intentioned focus.

Keep a journal handy to write down your Ah-Ha’s and your Ah Crap’s – then work to fix the Ah Crap moments.

Keep track of your excuses and then stop making them!

Do a mediation challenge with a friend – hold each other accountable.

Be realistic and honest with yourself about why you’re doing meditation – what are you looking for?

Don’t judge your meditation – no meditation is good or bad – you get what you need each time.

Turn off and drop out – shut down computers, phones, and anything that can distract you and pull you out of your meditation and back to the daily grind.

Don’t start off with your eyes closed – after getting settled and doing some breathing, let your eyes close naturally.

Make use of the “me time” that you already have – meditate in the shower, on our lunch break, or while you’re walking the dog.

Your mind will wonder and you will start to think – acknowledge when this happens and then turn your attention back to your breath, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Begin being more present and in the moment in your every daily life {you know, not trying to be a multitasking master} – this will help your meditation practice.

Make sure you’re sitting somewhere that you are completely safe.

You don’t need a special mediation room – you can meditate anywhere you’re comfortable.

Meditation is like running – you have to start small and build muscle to go long distances.

Meditation will never give you a permanent sense of bliss and well-being – instead it gives you a tool to help you create a space of peace and calm in your mind when you need it most.

Create a schedule for building and growing your meditation practice and then stick to it.

If you’re meditating in the morning, do it before your coffee.

Don’t do your meditation after eating, especially big meals – try to meditate on an empty stomach.

Let gravity do it’s thing and really feel the sensation of sitting in your body.

Stretch when you’re done to awaken your body, but don’t jump up and move around too quickly.

Don’t use a timer and don’t rush – just do things in the time that comes naturally.

Cover your eyes with something if you feel the light or outside world distracting.

If your emotions are high and get in the way, turn your attention to your body – where do you really feel these emotions gathering in your body? Acknowledge that, feel it, then let it go and focus back on your breath.

– B.D: I still need practice, but I usually meditate best with my eyes open and just staring blankly at the wall or something. Idk why but when my eyes are closed, my imagination peaks and I just start imagining images that distract me or I just fall asleep. Of course I blink, scratch an itch, move a bit to get comfortable, but I’m still meditating. You can meditate while moving. And for me, it’s just as simple as doing it while sitting still. Maybe even simpler because I’m not concentrating on sitting so still, and even if I do move a bit, I am still relaxed.

I also breath in through my nose for the count of 4 seconds, then breath out of my mouth for the count of 4 seconds until I start getting into a meditative state. Then I just continue breathing in my nose and out my mouth. I keep my mouth opened just a little bit the whole time so I don’t have to keep opening and closing my mouth the entire time. I just concentrate on my breathing and nothing else. Sometimes I concentrate on my chakras or I do a tree meditation (I reblogged a version recently, but you can see the version I use here). 

I usually meditate laying down or sitting against the wall with a pillow behind my back. It’s more comfortable for me that way. But I always do it on my bed. The floor hurts my butt then I get distracted by the pain or numbness.

[heatherwitch]

Mabon Resource Masterpost

A collection of categorized links for your Mabon needs! What is Mabon? [X] Mabon is celebrated between September 21st to September 29th (March 21st to March 29th in the S. Hemisphere) and is also called: the Autumn Equinox or the Second Harvest Festival.

The Basics:

Ways to celebrate Mabon

What is Mabon?

Autumn Equinox/Mabon

Mabon: A small guide

The Autumnal Equinox: Finding balance as the cycle ends

Solitary Autumn Equinox

Low spoon Mabon ideas

Mabon ideas for celebration

Mabon colors, altar decorations, and more.

Mabon decoration ideas

Mabon ideas!

Mabon Crafts:

Floating acorn cap candle

Mabon burlap wreath

Mabon Recipes:

Mabon stew

Mabon veggie chili

Grandma’s pumpkin bread

Fresh apple autumn cake w/ honey cinnamon glaze

Cinnamon apples recipe

Mabon Reverse Candied Apple Recipe

Cinnamon chai mocha spell

Mabon magic hot apple cider / Mabon cider

Mabon Spells:

Mabon spell

Mabon charm sachet

New fall ritual

An autumn ritual

Autumn blessings

Mabon bath

Mabon Tarot Spreads:

Mabon spread (3 card)

Mabon spread (3 card)

Mabon leaf spread (5 card)

The Mabon blessing tarot spread (5 card)

Mabon/Fall Equinox tarot spread (5 card)

Balancing autumn tarot spread (6 card)

Mabon delicate balance spread (9 card)

Other:

Mabon altar tips

Mabon sigil

Mabon/Autumn Equinox playlist

Crystals for the Autumn Equinox

Mabon masterpost

[torque-witch]

Torque’s A-Z Resources Masterpost

Last updated 8/24/17

*Not every letter has resources yet! This is my working FAQ compilation. You can check the original by clicking here for the most recent version.

A | B | C | D | E | F| G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X

Y | Z

Affirmations/Quotes Anxiety

Banishing Bath/Shower Magic Beginner  Binding Books

Circle Casting Christian Witchcraft Correspondences Crystals Cultural Appropriation Curses

Death Witchcraft Deities Depression Divination Dragons

Energy Work

Fae Familiars

Glamours Green Witchcraft Grimoire/BOS Grounding

Happiness Health Herbs

Kitchen Witchcraft

Love Luck

Money/Prosperity Moon Magic

Plants Pop Culture Paganism Pop Culture Witchcraft Protection

Sabbats Sea Witchcraft Self-Love/Self-Care Shadow Work Sigils Sleep Space Witchcraft Spirit Work Spoonie Witchcraft Storm Witchcraft Superstitions Swamp Witchcraft

Tea

[thespiritwitch]

How to dress store bought candles.

For those of you that don’t make your own candles you can still do something a little special for the store bought ones.

I get my 7 day candles from the 99cent store. Before using them for any spell work you need to make sure that you clean and cleanse them. I like to make a solution of salt, water and lemon essential oil spray it on a cloth and clean the glass and the top of the candle. This part is extremely important. You don’t want some 99 cent store workers energy on the candle not forgetting all the 100′s of people that might have picked it up and put it back :-p 

The candles that I made today are to be used on my altar for Hekate. This candle is pretty basic. If I was doing a spell candle I would write names, actions or something like that on the glass.

Remember, while you are dressing your candle concentrate on your intention for the candle. Thinking about what you’re gonna cook for dinner while making it will tarnish the affect.

What you need

Candles

Oils (I’m using homemade Hekate oil)

Screw or stick (For the holes)

Herbs

Cotton swab

Step one

Clean your candles and tools

Step Two

Take the screw or stick and pierce holes into the top of the candle. I use a pretty big screw so that I can go all the way down to the bottom of the candle.

Step Three 

Use a dropper to put one drop of oil into the hole. Then use the cotton swab to spread the oil through-out by dipping it in the hole. 

*If you don’t have a dropper you can cover the tip of the cotton swab and coat the inside that way*

*When working with oils, Less is more. The first time I ever used oil on a candle I covered the top with tons of it and it set on fire lol. So be careful!!!*

Step Four

Place small amounts of your chosen herbs over the holes and then use the cotton swab to push them inside. You can add as much of the herbs as you wish, it’s just easier to push down if you do small amounts at a time. I have in the past put small chip crystals down the holes too.

*Some witches add a layer of herbs to the top of the candle. I don’t do that with these ones because I leave them burning for a while and I don’t want the herbs to catch fire while I’m in another room*

Step Five

Once you have finished your candle it’s time to activate it. Some people write a spell or a blessing to say as they light it. Others say their intent for the candle out loud. Find the right way for you.

For this candle I say a little prayer (that I wrote) to Hekate and let her know that these candles are dedicated to her.

Thank you for reading

Brighest Blessings

Rachael-Elizabeth

xx

[spiritscraft-deactivated2025031]

Have you read The Greater Key of Solomon, and if so what were your thoughts?

I have read it and in several different translations. Firstly, it is a very influential text historically for witches, cunning folk and magicians. Many used portions of it piecemeal rather than attempting the practice entire. An early example of its translation into English dates to 1572. Many hand copied manuscripts and parts of the key can be found in personal grimoires kept by folk magic practitioners like the Elizabethan grimoire the book of Oberon for example. Affordable printings in Latin were available to crafters and in the late 19th century Mathers released an English translation for the Golden Dawn crowd and it too was very influential. A good portion of Gerald Gardner’s novel about witchcraft history is based upon the Key of Solomon. Many witches and historians state that fraternal lodge and witchcraft traditions shared and that is why some ceremonial material along with folk magic can be found in traditions of witchcraft.

Many crafters and with craft traditions use the Solomonic symbols to mark their tools and planetary hours and other significant aspects of magic are included. I suggest looking at the Key online and seeing what you can make of it. I like it :) but a lot of it isn’t really possible to carry out, so it’s better for each person to determine what parts are most necessary to utilize just as crafters have for centuries.

[coyote-696]

Excellent answer. The overlap between Solomonic  grimoire tradition and folk magickal practices is often overlooked and and as a result grimoire tradition is dismissed as elitist and solely the purview of the ultra-rich. The reality is that they’ve been practiced in tandem for hundreds of years and this becomes much more apparent when you expand the scope beyond the Mathers edition of the Lesser Key. A number of grimoires in the Solomonic tradition include spells that most would recognize as witchcraft - Grimoire Verum is a particularly striking example of this but many extant manuscripts of The Key of Solomon include folk magick spells. These spells are noticeably missing from the Mathers edition as he, in typical old lodge magician style assumed them to be later editions to the Key and omitted them.  In addition to the information provided by spiritscraft, it’s usage can also be seen outside the scope of Western European folkcraft. Inexpensive copies of the Keys can be found in the back of old mail order hoodoo catalogs and use of the pentacles of Solomon are fairly widespread among some subsets of practitioners while usage of Grimoire Verum isn’t uncommon among Quimbada practitioners. 

[coyote-696]

goddess29

Can you all recommend a good edition of this that is available now?

So one of the issues is that rather than being an individual grimoire,  The Keys of Solomon are a family of manuscripts that have been complied into a number of different grimoires throughout history which compose at standalone magickal system. This makes it fairly difficult to recommend a definitive version however the Mathers edition of The Lesser Key of Solomon is undoubtedly the least accurate and most incomplete version - in particular because it only includes only one of the five books of the Lesser Key. For a thorough understanding of The Keys, a cross-grimoire approach needs to be taken and which book I’d recommend hinges on your particular area of interest.

If your interest lies solely in the Ars Goetia (as tends to be the case), I would recommend the Peterson edition of The Lesser Key of Solomon. This edition is very accurate, contains all five books, and is extremely workable for practical magicians. This is the edition I typically use when doing Solomonic evocation.

If you are interested in the historical context in addition to the magickal application of the Lesser Key, I would recommend the Skinner/Rankine edition of The Goetia of Dr. Rudd. This edition is somewhat unique in that it is a translation of a series of manuscripts owned and used by a 16th century working magician.

 If your interest is in the Keys of Solomon as a standalone system, Skinner and Rankine’s Veritable Key of Solomon is excellent however please not that it does NOT include the Lesser Key. This book contains the greatest number of folk magick spells.