Hey, I'm Red, 23, I've been a pagan since I was like 11 and a witch since I was 13, and I've been devoted to Inanna for about 6yrs. I'm also punk, and a huge DIY person.
"Charm" is used to mean a million different things in this community, as is a number of different words. I'm using Charm to mean a spell that you can wear, an object that has a certain energy.
First, a Charm can be anything.
You don't have to make your charm from scratch. I have a big chunky ring of Medusa's head that I got off etsy for like $25 that serves as an everyday protection charm. You can also use whatever you have and make charms to go on your bag, your shoes, keys, car mirror, window, whatever. Hell, spell your water bottle for extra hydration. I'll go through a couple different options of charm making.
Option 1
Pre-made object
Think my Medusa ring. It can be heirloom jewelry, a ring, necklace, anklet, bracelet, whatever.
Cleanse - know the material your object is made from, some usual methods of cleansing may damage it. Submerge the object in salt, water, pass through incense smoke, play music around or wipe it off or whatever.
Set your intention - what do you want the charm to do? Protection, good luck, safety, confidence.
Hold the object in your hand and imagine your energy surrounding the object.
Optional: surround the object with crystals that have the same property as what you're charging the object with. (Obsidian/black tourmaline for protection, etc)
Optional: sit object in view of the sun or full moon to charge and "lock in" the energy you imbued in it. If using crystals, have the crystals charge with it.
Upkeep
Your charm will need cleansed and recharged fairly often, I do it once a month, ish.
If I feel like the charm has been doing some heavy-lifting (I've had a string of good luck, I was in a dangerous situation and got through safely, whatever) then I cleanse it and repeat the whole process to redo it. If it's just "routine maintenance" I do kinda the bare minimum. Toss it around in some salt for like 10seconds, put it on the windowsill to charge overnight.
Option 2
Fully hand-made
Keychain edition
Materials:
Key ring
Thin wire
Beads, dangly charms, buttons, etc
Instructions:
Cleanse the materials
Focus your mind and set the mood (turn on a playlist with the vibes you want the charm for)
Wrap the wire around the key ring a couple times to secure it
Start putting shit on it. There are a million tutorials on how to do a certain design or whatever, so follow one of those or just wing it.
As you assemble, focus on the intention. Imagine the energy of that intention flowing from your hands and into the individual objects (the beads or charms or whatever), fusing them together into a singular charm
Make sure you knot it good, add a little hot glue or smth if you want to make it secure.
Optional: sit it in the sun or full moon to lock in the intention with crystals or whatever
Tada you're done
That same basic idea can be applied to almost anything.
Fully hand-made
Car mirror hanging edition
Materials:
Length of yarn/string, twice the size of the hanging you want
Beads, dangling charms, buttons, whatever
Instructions:
Cleanse materials
Set your intention
Start putting the beads and shit on the string
Focus on the intention, imagine the energy flowing into the individual objects and fusing them together
Tie the two ends of the string together
Optional: sit in the sun/full moon to charge
Hang on your car's rear view mirror
Tada
Again, there are a million in-depth tutorials on how to make these look a specific way, look up tutorials on whatever you want to make and follow them, and the basic idea of the energy flowing from you and into the crafted object and you're good to go.
I've mainly been doing well with fruit and veggie waste and I'm open to anything else. But here's what I do know.
Storing fruits in airtight jars keeps them fresh longer to prolong the process it takes to spoil
If and when your fruits are starting to soften (before they start developing mold) blend them into a smoothie. The sugar content is higher at this stage and once mold starts forming it not only becomes unsafe to ingest but start to turn tart and sour.
Put fruit cuttings into a pot and fill with enough water to cover all the scraps. Put the pot to boil then turn it off. Keep the pot on the heat until it slightly cools then strain. You can add sugar, lemon juice, and or ginger and you now have a great tasting fruit juice.
Let me know if you have any other tips. I'm still learning and with all the seeds I've saved I've even started germinating some seeds and have some seedlings to plant soon.
BONUS: Some planting tips I also learned that isn't well known
Mango seeds have a seed within the seed that looks like a large bean. That's the seed you can germinate/plant
Mint, rosemary and thyme can live on just water and don't need soil. You may need water soluable plant food to help it sometimes though. This also applies to pathos plants and lentils.
The pH balance of water can affect how plants absorb nutrients. You want a balance or at least a pH between 5.5 and 7
Trees can grow in pots but will just need a little more care. I found this one extremely helpful as someone who hasn't found their forever home yet
Finally went to forest and took pics of my Cailleach doll!
She is made from old paintbrush, wire and pipe cleaners with head of air-drying clay and body of wool yarn and recycled scraps of fabric. Her hair is the same yarn with some beads. I also gave her some jewerly and accesories from broken jewerly and some trinkets.
She was so fun to make and to photograph! It was great weather and just right amount of cold. ❄️
If you're a crafty witch, and you like protection magic, this might work well for you.
Recently my beloved fake lavender plant broke; the pot shattered because my clumsy self decided to drop it! Instead of throwing it away, I decided to turn it into a protection for my altar space.
I'm a rock collector, so I happened to have a lot of rough quartz stones lying around. I took them and carefully hot glued them to the styrofoam to create the look of some sort of flower pot
Anyway I think it looks pretty, and once it's done you can charge it with intent of course. You can even choose whatever type of crystals you like! (Granted please research, I don't know that all crystals would take well to being hot glued)
