🎵 The Sun is on my side and takes me for a ride, I smile up to the sky, I know I’ll be alright 🎶
I’m SagittariusWitchery, but you can call me Sagi (she/her). I’m a multi-cultural/mixed-race Sun Witch, in my late twenties, living in sunny LA.
Sagittarius stellium ☀️🌙
Tarot, spirit boards, & crystal balls 🔮
Eclectic Pagan Sun Worshipper
Outside of my craft, I work in the entertainment industry and am a proud union member. I play many instruments, love traveling, going to art galleries & theatre, playing video games, roller-skating, practicing yoga & meditation.
Here I post solar magic related content, spells I’ve written, accounts of my experiences, reposts I enjoy, & thoughts related to my craft. I do not post AI content (& if something I reblogged is AI, pls lmk bc that would be 100% unintentional). All of the dividers and graphics used is housed @sagi-archive.
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Thanks for hanging out with me :)
Cheers,
Sagi 🏹
P.S. ☀️ Please feel free to reach out at any time. Another reason I’m here is to engage with my community!! xoxo
Summer, typically associated with sunshine, rising temperatures, and plenty of outdoor fun and activities, is a season abundant with powerful plant allies for magical workings. With delicious fruits that can aid in love and luck work, vegetables that are rife with symbolism or the perfect tools in sympathetic magic, and an array of flowers for protecting, purifying, and more, this bountiful season is one that shouldn't be overlooked by practitioners of witchcraft, no matter what path they follow.
In this piece, you'll find a collection of some of summer's offerings for plant allies and suggestions on how they may be used.
Beetroots / Beets
These delicious root vegetables are traditionally associated with love magic but can also be used as powerful symbols during spells and rites.
For love:
A beet, seen to symbolize the heart, should be shared between one and their desired to ensure that their love will be strong and true.
Writing one's name and the name of their desired, using beet juice as ink can be a simple love charm. To take this work further, fold the paper up bearing the names and tuck it inside a small box or satchet. Fill the satchet with other allies for love work — rose hips and rose petals, lavender, four-leaf clovers, apple blossom, apple seeds, etc. You can wear the satchet, keep it on your person in your bag or pocket, or sleep with it by your bed or under your pillow, drawing your love closer to you.
Using beet juice as ink, draw a picture of your beloved. This will encourage love to grow or strengthen between you. If you do not have a particular person in mind, but an ideal, this spell can also be used to manifest crossing paths with such a person.
There is also a "superstition" where I'm from that says that if you're craving beets, it's a sign you're either falling in love with someone or that someone who loves you is thinking about you.
For symbolism:
Beetroot can be used to symbolize hearts, life, and blood. One can use it in spells and rituals that would require such symbolism, and it can be used to replace any of those ingredients. Beet juice is especially good for symbolizing blood.
Blackberries
As a fruit often used in baking for holidays and festivals, blackberries are a common berry with a lot to offer. As aids in protection magic, money spells, and valued offerings, blackberries are an essential summer ally.
For healing:
Blackberry leaves can be carried as a charm to protect against illness (particularly illness related to the throat or stomach) and to help one recover from illness quickly. (Blackberry tea works just as well and is quite delicious.)
For protection:
Growing blackberries on your property is said to bring protection.
One can hang blackberry vines on their porch or on their door/window frames to bring protection (and luck with money) to the home.
For money:
Keeping blackberry leaves in one's wallet, purse, piggy bank, or coin jar is believed to multiply the amount of money coming in.
A simple money spell using blackberry leaves calls for writing a monetary total on a leaf (or leaves) and placing the leaf in your wallet where you keep paper money. That amount will come your way. Some say this will happen gradually but can be sped up by refreshing the magic often or by using more than one leaf.
Baking a blackberry pie and gifting it to someone (or partaking in it yourself when you find yourself in these situations) who is looking for work, seeking a promotion, or just starting a new job or financial venture is believed to bless them with monetary success.
Use blackberry juice as ink to draw symbols for money spells or write money spells. This can boost the money-making magic.
Fennel (Foeniculum Vulgare)
Fennel has long been used as an aid in protection works and to boost one's courage and strength.
by Franz Köhler, 1887
For protection:
Fennel, when hung at windows and doors, can ward against evil spirits, believed to prevent them from entering the home.
Some customs call for hanging fennel on your property to keep the law at bay.
Fennel grown on one's property is said to deter evil spirits and other harmful forces and energies.
One can grind the seeds of fennel into powder, which can then be used as a protective ward at thresholds, windows, and around the borders of one's property.
Carry fennel seeds with you to protect yourself from spirits who would do you harm.
If a harmful or evil spirit presents itself to you, cast a fistful of fennel seeds in its direction. This is believed to banish the spirit from the area.
Fennel, along with St. John's wort, has been used as a protective measure associated with the Summer Solstice. On the eve of the Summer Solstice, fashion a bundle of fennel and St. John's wort. Hang the bundle over your front door. Doing so is said to ward off evil or harmful spirits who may be roaming during this time.
It is ideal to have fennel or fennel seeds at hand (preferably on one's person) when working any magic that might expose one to malevolent forces, as fennel is thought to strengthen one against the influence of evil forces.
For courage:
When in need of a boost of courage, carry fennel seeds with you in a small bag.
Wearing fennel in one's shoes is also said to instill one with courage.
Figs (Ficus Carica)
[WARNING: Contact with the milky sap of Ficus carica followed by exposure to ultraviolet light can cause phytophotodermatitis, a potentially serious skin inflammation. The essential oil of fig leaves contains the highest concentration of psoralen of any organic compound isolated from fig leaves, known to cause fig leaf-induced phytophotodermatitis. Psoralen and bergapten are found chiefly in the milky sap of the leaves and shoots of F. carica but not the fruits or in the essential oil of the fig fruits. It is recommended to work with the fruits themselves and to take care working with the leaves or shoots of fig plants. 'Although the plant is not poisonous per se, F. carica is listed in the FDA Database of Poisonous Plants.']
Perhaps best known for their inclusion in love and fertility work, figs can also be used as divinatory aids, and as allies bringing luck, protection, and happiness.
by G.D. Ehret, 1771
For fertility & love:
Fresh figs should be eaten by those struggling with or wishing to improve their virility.
A token of a phallus carved from fig wood can be carried by those wishing to conceive to improve their chances.
Figs can be presented as offerings to any goddess associated with pregnancy.
Sharing a fresh fig between lovers is said to boost their sex life.
Sharing fresh or dried figs with someone you're romantically interested in can draw them closer to you.
It's said that gifting your desired with a fig will make them realize their attraction to you.
For protection & luck:
Growing a fig tree on one's property is believed to attract luck to the home and its inhabitants.
It's also said that growing a fig tree near one's home assures protection.
Keeping a branch from a fig tree on or at your door is believed to grant the home protection.
For strength:
Eating fresh figs is thought to increase one's physical strength.
For divination:
Fig leaves can be useful tools for divination and there are a few different customs calling for their use. Remember, though, to always take care when working with fig leaves (see the above note on fig leaf-induced phytophotodermatitis). If working with fig leaves is desired, consider using gloves.
If you're seeking answers when making a decision between multiple choices, write the choices down, each on their own fig leaf. Place the leaves in a bowl or jar. Speak you question aloud or to yourself, close your eyes, and draw one leaf from the mix. The answer you draw is the path you should follow or the best option for you.
If there is a matter for which there is either an affirmative or negative answer (i.e. 'Should I (insert action here)? 'Is (insert person here) true to me?' etc.), write your question on a freshly plucked fig leaf. Observe the fig leaf often over the next few hours or the rest of the day. If the leaf withers, dries up, or curls in on itself fairly quickly, the answer is negative. If the leaf stays fresh for a long while, the answer is affirmative.
Association with enlightenment, revelation, & sacred knowledge:
Figs bear association with enlightenment through Buddhism and Judaism — in Buddhism, Siddartha Gautama attained enlightenment after meditating at length at the roots of a bodhi tree (sacred fig/Ficus religiosa native to the Indian subcontinent); within Judaism, the fig tree is thought to be one option as to what the Tree of Knowledge could have been.
Foxgloves (Digitalis)
[WARNING: POISONOUS. Foxglove/Digitalis should not be consumed or absorbed through the skin. As per poison control, all parts of the foxglove plant are extremely poisonous. Blythe Copeland writes, 'The toxin appears in the leaves, flowers, and all other parts of the foxglove plant, and isn't mitigated by steeping or cooking.' Foxglove must be handled with care and kept away from animals and children. One should wear gloves if ever handling foxglove/digitalis. Species within the digitalis genus contain varying levels of 'several deadly physiological and chemically related cardiac and steroidal glycosides.' For more information check here and here. I do not recommend working with foxglove due to the risks of doing so but have included foxglove in this piece for strictly informative and educational purposes.]
Digitalis Purpurea by Franz Köhler
Foxglove is a versatile but dangerous plant ally. It is known by many other names, such as fox bells, the great herb, and fairy weed, to mention but a few. The plant has also been called witch's bells and dead man's bells due to the dangerous effects of ingesting the plant or absorbing its toxins through the skin.
While I do not recommend working with foxglove due to the potential dangers of doing so, I will include, for informative and educational purposes, how foxglove in one's garden can meet magical ends. That being said, foxglove should not be planted anywhere children, dogs, cats, or other animals might come in contact with it, and should not be planted near any vegetable, fruit, or herb garden.
For protection:
Foxglove has been used as a protective charm or ward against spirits, demons, and malevolent forces.
Planting foxgloves on your property can deter forces that would bring you harm.
Planting foxgloves beneath your bedroom window can protect against nightmares.
Fairies:
It also has an association with fairies, and some believe that fairy folk reside near where foxglove grows.
Hollyhocks (Alcea)
[WARNING: Caution should be taken if planting hollyhocks in an area accessible to dogs. While minimal exposure to the flowers and leaves of the hollyhock plant (including minimal ingestion) is generally considered not a high risk to your dog's safety, exposure to the roots and seeds of hollyhocks can prove dangerous for dogs. The roots and seeds of hollyhocks contain higher concentrations of compounds which can be toxic to dogs. Always monitor your dog when they are in an area containing hollyhocks.]
For money:
Hollyhocks are known for their association with material and monetary matters. They can be used in any spell or work to attract, keep, or increase money or wealth.
To grow hollyhock on one's property is said to ensure that financial security and abundance will come to the household.
One can keep an arrangement of fresh hollyhock flowers in their workspace to help ensure the work is monetarily fruitful.
One can carry hollyhock petals in one's wallet as a charm to attract money.
Fairies:
Hollyhocks are also said to bear an association with fairies or the little people and are believed to attract them.
Attracting animal allies:
In gardens, they attract hummingbirds and butterflies, so if that is something your magical craft would benefit from, hollyhocks are a great option to consider for your garden.
Iris (Iris)
[WARNING: Irises are toxic to dogs, cats, and some other animals. Keep away from pets and do not grow in an area where animals can access the plants without supervision.]
Irises by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889
For purification, cleansing, and removal of harmful energy:
Irises can be used in purification and cleansing spells but also serve as purifying charms themselves.
It's said that placing fresh irises in an area will purify that space of any negativity or evil, as will growing irises on one's property.
For wisdom:
Irises are also associated with wisdom and can be used to symbolize wisdom in spells, offerings, or rites.
Keeping a vase of irises in a room where one studies is also believed to aid in retaining the information.
For protection from enemies:
There is also some association between irises and keeping away enemies. This likely comes from the Chinese practice of planting irises in one's garden as a snake deterrent, though it could also have to do with the flower's purifying and cleansing abilities.
Lavender (Lavandula)
[WARNING: Ingesting certain amounts of lavender can be toxic for cats and dogs. It's advisable to keep lavender and lavender products out of reach of your pets. Call your vet if you believe your pet may have ingested a larger quantity of lavender or you are uncertain of the quantity they ingested. Also call your vet if your pet shows signs of respiratory distress after exposure to lavender, as some dogs and cats can have lavender allergies.]
Perhaps best known in magic for its use in love spells, lavender is a rather versatile and powerful plant ally to keep around.
For purification, cleansing, and sanctification:
Lavender can be used for purification, cleansing, and sanctifying purposes.
Lavender washes, lavender waters, and lavender incense can be sprinkled (for the washes and waters) or burned (for the incense) to sanctify a space such as a temple, altar, magical workspace, etc.
Burning lavender incense in an area is believed to cleanse the space of negative energy.
One can anoint magical or religious tools with lavender washes or lavender water, or they can "wash" such tools with smoke from lavender incense (do this by moving the item through the smoke as it rises, turning the item over and seeing that it's thoroughly passed through the smoke).
For peace and harmony:
Lavender is also a well-known bringer of peace and harmony.
Hanging lavender bundles or potting lavender in a room can bring peace to that space.
Burning lavender incense or dressing the windows and doors of the room with lavender washes or lavender water can also bring peace to an area.
Lavender can bring about restful sleep and ward away nightmares. Keep lavender in one's room, by one's bed, or even in one's pillowcase to do so.
Lavender flowers and lavender oils can also be added to baths to bring about peaceful rest.
Using soaps containing lavender oils or lavender flowers can also aid in bringing peace, aid in bringing mental clarity, and aid in bringing restful sleep.
For wisdom and mental clarity:
Lavender can be a great ally for those who seek mental clarity, aid in awakening their mind's eye, and aid in obtaining wisdom or revelation.
Burning lavender incense while meditating can help induce clarity of the mind.
Using lavender oils, lavender balms, or lavender incense promotes mental clarity and focus while also reducing stress, thus proving a welcome and essential tool for meditation, trance work, and other such practices.
For love:
To bring harmony to a relationship, gift the other half of the relationship with lavender flowers.
Press a lavender flower and keep it with a picture of that person, as a charm for peace and harmony with them.
To draw someone's love your way, write their on a piece of paper. Then, take a fresh lavender flower and rub it on the paper over and around the name, pressing it into the page so the scent of the flower really gets on the paper. Fold the paper up and keep it in a small box or cloth bag (preferably of the color red or pink). Refresh with fresh lavender flowers as needed.
Dressing one's clothing in lavender scent or lavender oil can attract love.
Lavender oil and fresh or dried lavender are common additions in spells to attract love.
Pinning a lavender flower to the inside of one's clothes before going to see the person you desire can encourage any romantic feelings they may have for you.
For protection:
Lavender also has protective uses.
One can wear or carry lavender to ward off or deflect the evil eye.
Using lavender oil or lavender scents can protect against the evil eye.
Where lavender grows, it's said that harmful energy has difficulty passing by the area.
Burning dried or fresh lavender flowers in bonfires or fireplaces is believed to grant protection to the area from evil or malevolent spirits and forces.
Including lavender in bouquets or flower crowns for weddings can provide protection from evil eye, from ill wishes, and from dangerous spirits attracted to the merry occasion.
For psychic enhancement:
Lavender is also known to enhance certain psychic abilities, particularly the ability to see or communicate with the dead, with spirits of all ilk, and with various planes of existence.
Some recommend rubbing the hands with a lavender balm before doing any work that requires communicating with or seeing spirits.
Anointing the area with lavender oils or washes or burning lavender incense can have the same effect.
Peony (Paeonia)
Peonies are renowned for their association with protection work, capable of granting protection of body, spirit, and mind from a variety of forces and foes. But there are other uses for peonies, such as uses in luck spells, money spells, and spells for happiness.
For protection:
Growing peonies on one's property, particularly near the doors of one's home or near the gates leading into the yard, is said to offer added protection to the home and those within, protection from evil and malicious spirits and protection from magical workings sent to one's home to do one harm.
Wearing a peony flower (either as a fresh flower, in a flower crown, or even as a perfume) or carrying one on your person can offer the wearer/carrier spiritual protection from malevolent forces or harmful magic sent their way. It is also believed to offer physical protection of the body, as well as protection from mental assault via spiritual or magical forces, as well as mental assault from human forces.
Collecting peony seeds in a satchet or cloth bag and then hanging that bag at the window of a nursery or child's bedroom is believed to protect the child from spirits or forces that would steal it away or bring it harm.
Peony seeds can also be carried or worn to bring protection.
Stringing peony seeds on a red or white thread, then to be worn as a bracelet or necklace, is said to serve as a protective amulet.
Keeping peonies near one's bedside or planting them beneath one's bedroom window can protect from nightmares, particularly those that are sent by spirits or magic.
Peony flowers and seeds are believed to protect from demonic forces as well, serving as a ward against them.
The roots of peony can be carved and fashioned into beads, which have been said to have been used in jewelry for protection amulets and in rosaries and prayer beads, boosting spiritual protection and protection from demons.
Wearing a necklace or bracelet of beads made from the peony root is thought to grant protection from illness, injury, and insanity.
Peonies are also believed to have the power to protect one and one's property from harsh weather and storms.
It's said that peonies were used to offer protection to 'shepherds, their flocks, and harvests from injury...'
by Yun Shouping, 17th century
For luck & happiness:
Giving a bouquet of peonies as a gift is meant to be token of luck and a charm to bring luck that person's way. This is especially true for those who are seeking or starting a new job, entering a new chapter in life, graduating, and so on.
Peonies growing on one's property are believed to attract good luck and happiness to those who reside there.
For money:
For those seeking financial stability, keeping fresh peonies in a vase or pot near where you're working is said to help boost one's monetary gains.
Carrying peony petals in one's wallet or wearing them in one's shoe is believed to attract money your way.
Potatoes
[WARNING: Take care to not allow pets to consume raw potatoes, as raw potatoes contain compounds that can be toxic to dogs and cats.]
The potato is an often overlooked and surprisingly versatile magical and symbological ally, with uses in sympathetic magic and wishing works, as well as aiding in maintaining the fertility of the land and soil.
In sympathetic magic:
One can fashion a doll or head from a potato, made to resemble the object of one's sympathetic spell. Actions performed on the potato are then believed to bring about damage to the person they are fashioned after. Two common methods of using a "potato poppet" in some Southern folk traditions including piercing the potato and then leaving it to sit and whither, where it will shrivel and deteriorate, believed to drain the target of their strength and wellness as it does; and casting the potato into flames or roasting it in a fireplace or on hot coals (it should be roasted to point of blackening and shriveling).
For fertility of land:
The potato is associated with fertility of land in Incan mythology, as the goddess Axomamma (goddess of potatoes) is tasked with caring for the health and richness of soil, and with ensuring good yields of tuber plants.
Raw potatoes (and some say potato peels) can be buried beneath certain plants (such as rose bushes and some berry bushes) when planting them. This is believed to ensure the plant takes well in that area, as the potato nourishes the plant and the soil around it. (I have five rosebushes of various types in my garden and every single one was planted with potatoes. One of the rosebushes was planted by my grandmother almost 60 years ago and it's still going strong.)
For healing:
There are some folk beliefs surrounding potatoes as healing charms.
Carrying a potato in one's pocket will get rid of a toothache.
Carrying a potato in one's pocket is believed to ward off some illnesses and ailments, such as gout and rheumatism. Where I'm from, this goes a little further in that if the potato hardens, the charm has worked; if the potato rots, it's done no good. One variation of this charm (from an area in the north of my home state) calls for sticking the potato with tacks or pins and then carrying it in one's pocket.
Carrying a potato in one's pocket can prevent taking chills and catching colds.
Peeling potatoes and then tucking the peels in one's pocket is believed to ward off warts.
Keep a potato in your travelling bag to ward off motion sickness.
Raspberries (Rubus Idaeus, Rubus Strigosis)
Raspberries are well-known for their uses in healing, protection, and love works, but can also attract good luck.
For healing:
It's said that juice of the raspberry fruit, when mixed with honey, can bring down fever.
Those who suffer stomach ailments should drink water with raspberries in it.
Tea made from the raspberry leaf can be used as mouth wash, as a face wash to soothe irritated skin, and as a remedy for stomach problems, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal issues.
To gift one with raspberry syrup is said to ensure their good health while the syrup lasts.
For protection:
Hanging raspberry brambles from one's fence posts is believed to prevent any harm from crossing the boundary they mark.
One can also hang raspberry brambles from porches, doors, and windows to bring protection to the home.
Raspberry brambles are thought to be especially potent against spirits, deterring them from entering an area.
For love:
Raspberries are believed to induce feelings of love between people when shared (raw or prepared).
To gift someone with fresh raspberries is thought to encourage them to gift you their love in return.
For luck:
Raspberry leaves can be used as luck charms to attract good luck one's way. They can be kept in a satchet or container, or even in one's purse, pockets, or wallet.
Strawberries (Fragaria vesca)
Strawberries can be put to work in glamor magic, luck spells, and wishing works.
For luck:
Carry strawberry leaves on one's person to attract good luck.
Keeping the strawberry leaves in one's purse or wallet when going to gamble or when trying to drum up some cash can turn that luck specifically toward monetary luck.
Planting strawberries on one's property is believed to draw luck their way.
In glamor magic:
After biting into a strawberry, apply the juice of the plant to the lips and cheeks for a temporary boost to one's attractiveness.
In wishing works:
When planting strawberries, one can make a wish for each bush they plant (to keep track if you've made many wishes, write down or mark which wish is tied to which plant). When strawberries come to yield, observe them. If the plant produced healthy, delicious looking strawberries or many strawberries, your wish will come true. If the bush did not have a good yield, the berries were stolen (by birds or some other animal), or the berries produced lack sweetness, your wish will not come true.
Sunflower (Helianthus Annus)
Considered by many a wishing flower, the sunflower is known for its use in wishing spells, as well as for bringing fertility and luck.
For wishing:
Always make a wish when you cut a sunflower. It's said the wish will come true or start to fulfill itself before the same time the following day.
Place a sunflower at one's bedside and make a wish on it before you fall asleep. If you dream of your wish coming true, so it will. If you don't, it will not.
For fertility:
Sunflower seeds are used in fertility works, particularly by fashioning the seeds to a string or thread as a necklace and wearing it. This is believed to bring good luck with fertility to those seeking to have children.
It's also believed that those wishing to have children should eat sunflower seeds, that doing so will aid in the endeavor.
For luck:
To have sunflowers growing in your garden or on your property is to ensure that good luck is drawn to the area.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING:
Some of these customs and beliefs were taught to me by my grandparents and folk I grew up around, but I've included works with similar spells amongst the sources below.
'Ashkenazi Herbalism: Rediscovering the Herbal Traditions of Eastern European Jews' - Cohen, Deatra; Siegel, Adam
'Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs' - Cunningham, Scott
'Herbal Magic' - Kane, Aurora
'Kentucky Superstitions' - Thomas, Daniel Lindsey; Thomas, Lucy Blayney
'Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen' - Köhler, Herman Adolph
'Magical Folkhealing: Herbs, Oils, and Recipes for Health, Healing, and Magic' - Conway, DJ
This is how the sky and sun looked around 8am EST today (7/16/26). The air is filled with smoke from the Ontario fires (I'm down around Philly). While there is only so much I can do in the mundane, it did lead me to creating this...
Elemental Ritual for Clean Air
[[Please feel free to use this spell whenever you feel as if you need to. It can easily be doctored to fit your specific needs.]]
Tools/Ingredients
1. Something to represent Water
• *I will be using a mister with a fan attachment with the intention of it representing falling water*
2. Something to represent Air
• *I will be using one of my wands*
3. Something to represent Earth
• *I will be using a piece of Zeusite*
4. Something to represent Fire
• *I will be using the carnelian and red glass pieces with the blessing of my dragons.*
5. Something to represent Connection with others
• *I will be writing a letter to the universe and folding it (origami style) to look like an envelope. The letter will be asking to unite the spells being cast by countless witches to aid the fires in Ontario (though you may choose a different fire affecting your area).*
6. *Optional: a way to physically mark a pentacle on the ground large enough for you to sit in. *I use visualization techniques.*
7. Piece of twine for a Witch's Ladder
Steps
Pre Spell: Gather your ingredients. If writing a letter, write it and fold it now. Mark the pentacle on the ground.
1. Sit in the center of the pentacle
2. Lay out your element representations around the edge; keeping your representation of connection with you.
3. Starting with Water, physically cause drops to fall to the ground. Focus on requesting the water elementals (firefighting capabilites/resources, rain, etc.) aiding the specific areas requested. Move on to Air, physically using your representation. Focus on requesting for the air to be cleansed from the smoke. Next, hold or use your representation to call on Earth to aid in cleaning the air. Finally, use your representation (and *common sense*) to call on Fire and focus on trying to aid in calming the fire which has been overconsuming. *Optional: If you are using a letter, unfold it and read it outloud. Refold into the envelope shape.
4. Meditate and visualize how you would like the energies you've just called on to layer and work on queling the flames and cleaning the air.
5. When you come out of your meditation, create a Witch's Ladder (wrap it around the letter if you wrote one) and bury it. If you can't bury it outside, bury it in a pot with soil to be disposed of during the full moon.
6. Close out your spell as you deem fit. Ground yourself. Cleanse your tools.
[Repeat as you feel you need.]
Since I want to perform this outside, I plan on performing this in a few hours when the heat has subsided a bit and the air, even with a mask, is easier to breathe. Until then, I will be working on getting everything together to make casting easier.
~A spell to aid a friend who is too stubborn to ask for help~
What you’ll need
an item of your friend’s, a picture of them, or having your friend present
Two candles, one for you, one for your friend lavender, patchouli, and vanilla incense (partnership, communication and strength)
a memento to remind them they aren’t alone (a picture of the two of you, a matching two piece necklace, a token of some kind.)
(For this one, I used one of those cheesy matching pieces necklaces and gave one half to my friend after we performed the spell)
* Ideally you should ask your friend if it is okay to send them this energy and do this spell for/ with/ on them, though if they’re stubborn enough to not ask for help, that point is moot in itself*
What to do
Prepare yourself and your friend (if they are present), Meditate, shower, ground and center.
Prepare your space, set all the items in place in the work space.
Light your candle, leaving your friend’s unlit for now, light the incense and say “In dark times for others, let my light shine”
Light your friend’s candle with your own and say “And from my flame may yours be lit.”
Set each candle on one side or the other of the memento and say “And let this token stay in your mind, that I am your friend for all of time.” If your friend is present with you, hold hands, both touch the memento and channel your energy, your strength, your wisdom, whatever attribute it is they need, into them. If they are not there with you, do the same but with the token you are going to give them.
Once you feel or you both feel that you have given enough energy or sent them what they need, it is done.
Clean up. Afterwards, celebrate your friendship. Get drinks, get dinner, cook, get coffee, dance, listen to music, just hang out, whatever you like to do that is a positive part of your friendship.
Happy Casting Witches! And best of luck with your friendships!
Sort of obvious, but I had to learn it (like everything else) the hard way. And as spooky season approaches and people may be revitalizing their practices after breaks, I want to say something that might end up saving a couple folks from a lot of frustration and heartbreak:
Just because it worked that way for you in the past, doesn't mean that's how it works for you now.
I mean this in a literal, making-stuff-happen with magic and sorcery way.
You guys have heard the adage that some spirit guides are with you for life, some for short periods, some for just one lesson, etc., right?
Well, the same can be said for sorcerous techniques.
I don't know if I just shed techniques like hermit crabs shed shells or what, but this happens to me a lot. Here's the kind of thing I mean:
You used to do readings with a specific little ritual involving a prayer and incense, but now that technique seems to produce incorrect readings. It feels flat and you can tell you're not connecting.
You used to be able to tie intent into knots and carry the thread around with you all day to conjure specific little occurrences, but now it barely seems to work and manifestation is spotty.
You used to be able to converse with spirits by going into a deep meditation, but now when you try you can hardly connect and it's like their messages are getting blotted out.
And I think sometimes when these things happen, people tend to process this with:
self-blame (I'm not a devoted enough witch, I brought this on myself!),
scapegoating spiritual allies (I used to pray to Hekate before divination but now my divination doesn't work, so Hekate must be mad at me), or
developing personal doubt (I used to think magic worked but now I can't replicate my own results).
When the reality is, if you're a magical snickity-snek and you've shed your skin, you might be slithering about in the soil trying to do the little old things that no longer fit the bigger, better you.
Sometimes this "shedding" is very obvious and we can feel and taste it. "Shedding" may come before, during, or after a period of intense personal transformation. It may come in a numinous moment when you hear a single phrase, or view a single image, that makes you become the Hanged Man and see reality in a whole new way.
But it can also happen without us really noticing it. I might put down my tarot cards for a couple months, pick them up again, and suddenly the ways I used to read don't work for me any more.
It's not because I'm a bad reader, or that the spirits have abandoned me, or that magic isn't real.
It's because what used to work for me doesn't any more, and now I just need to find new techniques.
So if you're trying to pick up what used to work and it just doesn't seem to be helping any more, consider that it's just like outgrowing an old set of clothes. Nothing is wrong with you, or the clothes. It just doesn't fit any more.
Since I think it'd be frustrating as hell to read a post like this without some actionable steps, below the cut are some ideas that might help you develop new techniques if your old ones seem to be failing you.
Start with your beliefs
Examine your own rituals and see if what you're doing still matches what you believe. Let's say you used to pray to Hekate and light incense before divination, but now you do that and your divination doesn't work.
Do you believe Hekate is allowing your divination to be possible? Do you believe she's the best goddess to seek aide from at this time?
What role does the incense play? Is it an offering to Hekate? Is it to feed the ancestors who supply you with interpretations? Is it just to set the correct tone and atmosphere?
Maybe you've grown in your relationship with divinity, and you now believe it's more proper to call on gods with formal prayers - but your divination ritual still uses a simple, improvised prayer.
Maybe your understanding of Hekate has changed and it feels more suitable to call on different powers.
Maybe you feel strangely about constantly "paying" gods to help you, when they say they don't need it - and lighting the incense makes you feel awkward.
Change what you're doing to match what you believe. That's always a solid first step.
Examine your own emotions and reactions
Try performing rituals (from the smallest ritual of stirring intent into coffee, to full-blown compass-casting affairs under the full moon) mindfully.
Be aware of what you're doing as you do it, but also try to examine your own reactionary thoughts and feelings.
Suppose my ritual of stirring my coffee seven times clockwise to manifest a desired emotion doesn't work any more. It used to work great, for years, so I do it quickly. But now it doesn't work, so I do it mindfully.
And while I'm stirring, I watch a few thoughts pop up to the surface: why am I doing this seven times? I'm stirring my coffee for too long and staring into it like an idiot, and it's embarrassing. What if someone thinks I'm weird?
If any individual step of a ritual makes you feel embarrassed, stressed, or avoidant, or if you feel relief from not having to do that any more - that technique is probably not serving you very well.
Seek out methods that make you feel excited, hopeful, empowered, or interested. Or, at the very least, ones that don't make you feel bad.
Be open to shifting your paradigm entirely
Going back to the stirring coffee thing, maybe I think stirring seven times is too much. So I try to stir my coffee three times. But that still feels clunky.
Then I get into left-handed vs right-handed stirring, because someone might have said that doing stuff with your right hand is for blessings.
Then I try out a new little inner mantra while I stir X times with Y hand.
But it's just not working. No matter what I try, it feels like walking barefoot on a gravel road.
So maybe I just need to do something entirely different.
Maybe numerology isn't my thing any more. Maybe now, I just need to embrace my inner divine creator.
Maybe I should think about the ultimately powerful creative energy within rich, black soil - and as I pour my coffee, I can imagine that I'm pouring pure creative energy into my divine cauldron. When I sprinkle in a little sugar, I'm seasoning that creative power to my personal tastes - and no matter how many times I stir it, when I drink that creative power, a new reality blossoms from within me.
No numbers. No memorized chants. No left hand/right hand stuff. Just me, imagining myself as a planet, drinking pure creative energy that will bloom out of my aura as wildflowers bloom in the spring.
Ask for help
I'm not called fool for no reason, and after a couple years of being unable to astral travel - after having successfully done so for years - I finally sat down and asked my spirits for help.
The answer was immediate and simple. So simple, in fact, that I was confident it wouldn't work at all.
Well, of course it worked. I spent years trying to figure out the problem on my own, trying time and time again to use an old technique that I was confident would work. It took a goddess like four seconds to tell me the new way it worked for me.
Even if you're not in communication with spiritual allies, you can still perform divination to help troubleshoot your own magical skills. Try asking a series of questions: what doesn't work for you any more, what you should try, and what you should avoid trying.
When divining, consider the different "levels" of application. A reading that means "don't use excessive force" might refer to high-level life stuff, like, you're working too hard on all your responsibilities right now, learn to relax and the magic will come. But, it might also be referring to something very specific, like, you're trying to raise huge amounts of energy in individual rituals, break them up into smaller spells where much less force is required for each one.
Use suitcase locks for number magic to travel with intention. 5 and 7 are traditionally associated with travel.
Charm luggage tags with intentions or travel blessings. You could create an herbal bath to charm it, or simply draw a sigil on the info card in the luggage tag.
Bring a stone from your home while traveling to ensure you'll always return safely.
Create a servator for travel aid. This can be a short term servator to guide you through your trip, protect you, & can help things "fall into place" for a lucky & enjoyable trip.
Baseball caps are popular in airports for a reason. Veil to protect your energy from others when traveling in large hubs.
Utilize salt packets for warding hotel rooms.
Give a simple yet meaningful offering for the spirits of the land you're traveling on.
Spend a day or activity in devotion to your deities/ancestors/spirit team.
Research local history to better understand the land you're visiting.
Bring along a piece of selenite to put under your pillow to help ease jet lag & potential bad dreams.
