#richtors posts

[sylvaetria]

You may have answered this already but do you have tips on how to do witchcraft w limited resources? I have no way to get things like vanilla, or certain spices/herbs and the area I live in doesn't have many of the more common flowers w magical significance (roses for example). I'm also not allowed to light candles or get candles of different colors (But I do light white candles secretly). And ideas?

Honestly I haven’t used vanilla once in my practice. Ingredients that people say are “necessary” may be for them, but that shouldn’t reflect on you or your practices. If you can’t get it, or even have no reason to use it, don’t bother tbh.

When it comes to things like herbs, it is very easy to find replacements for them regarding correspondences. With vanilla, depending on the properties it has, it could be substituted with something else that also has those associations. It might be slightly different energy-wise, but I wouldn’t think too much so, especially if you don’t think so.

At that point it becomes important to work with what you have. Find out what your area does have, maybe even naturally, then find out what you can do with those things, and go from there.

If you are able, spices and herbs are also available for purchase online. Dollar stores even carry a selection of herbs and spices now (at least, the ones in my area do). Bulk Barns also has a great selection, and super cheap too (I just got good sized bags rock salt, pink Himalayan salt, rubbed sage, and I think mint there for less than $4).

However, you also don’t need herbs if you don’t want them. That is just one area of spellwork, and if you have difficulties accessing herbs, go for something you are able to do / have access to.

As for candles, white is pretty much all purpose. LED candles are also an option. There are even websites that allow for the burning of digital candles that can be used too, and there are also some cell phone apps that offer the same thing - tech magic for the win!

Otherwise, I’d suggest using [energy work] or [sigils], which are both low supply and also really discreet. 

Here are some posts that may contain more ideas of things you may be able to do, if you so desire:

Budget Magic:

[Accumulating Witch Stuff on a Budget]

[Being a Witch on a Budget]

[Budget Witch Tips]

[Cheap Pagan’s Guide (For Those Who Aren’t Crafty and Still Want to Spend Money)]

Dollar Store Magic: [Part 01]; [Part 02]

Inexpensive Witch Items: [Part 01] (cw: gif); [Part 02] (cw: gif)

[Limited Witchcraft Masterpost]

[A Low Budget List of Altar Supplies]

[Magic on a Budget]

[A Poor Witch’s Guide]

[Practices for a Beginner Witch on a Budget]

[Thrifting for Witchy Supplies]

[Tips and Tricks for the Frugal (or Broke) Wiccan]

[Unconventional & Affordable Ingredients for Spells]

[Witchy Supplies for Nomadic, Poor, Homeless, Parochial, and Anti-Consumerist Witches]

[Witchy Tips and Tricks]

Discreet Magic:

[Acquiring Discreet Supplies] (an ask)

[Altar Ideas for Secret Witches]

[Apps for Witches Masterpost Pt 1]

Big Broom Closet Post: [Part 1]; [Part 2] *

[Broom Closet Solutions] *

[Broom Closet Witchery] *

[Covert Witchcraft 101]

[Discreet Witch Craft]

[Enchantments for the Subtle Witch]

[How to Hide Your Witchy Ways]

[Jar Alternatives]

[Little Things For Witches Who Keep Quiet About Their Craft]

[Master List of Low-Key Spells]

[Master Post for Secret Witches]

[100 Tips for the Secret Witch]

[A Secret Witches Guide to Concealing Your Craft]

[Subtle Magical Practice]

[Thriving in the Broom Closet] *

[Tips and Tricks for Secret Witches]

[Tips for a Beginner Witch Who Needs to be Discreet]

[Tips for Discreet College Witches]

[Tips for Discreet Witchcraft]

[Tips for Life in the Broom Closet] *

[Tips for Witches Keeping Their Practice Secret]

[Witchy iOS Apps]

[Witchy Uses for Your Phone for the Frugal or Secret Witch]

* not my choice of title

[sylvaetria]

Do you have a specific method for making sigils?

I do, yes. I’ve talked about it before - the old post can be found on @thesigilwitch [here] - but that is over two years old now, so I suppose I can update it, lol.

First, I come up with a statement of intent - a sentence that will dictate what my sigil does. All of my sigils are based off a sentence - I do not draw symbols without an intent or desire in mind, and if I do I don’t consider them sigils.

For an example intent, let’s go with “wellness and positive energy permeates my life.” This was a recent sigil I did, so I can give you examples of my steps.

I write that statement at the top of a piece of paper. I use all uppercase letters, because I think it adds more power, but that is a personal choice.

From there, I break down the statement, make it more abstract, by removing any duplicate letters. I only want one of each letter occurring in the sentence. Some people say to remove the vowels as well, but I like to keep them - it adds more variety to the shapes I can use when making my sigils. Thus, my intent of “wellness and positive energy permeates my life” ends up looking like “welnsadpoitvrgymf.” Try pronouncing that, lol.

The next step, for me at least, is to break down those letters further into their basic shapes. A W becomes \ / \ /, e would be | - - -, and so on. (Again, I always use uppercase letters when doing this.) This gives me more building blocks to create my sigils with, and more variety for their creation. I don’t like my sigils to look like a bunch of letters thrown together - I prefer it to be more abstract, and it is more visually appealing to me that way. When I break down the letters, I tend to only draw one of each shape, instead of all the individual lines and curves. So, doing that, “welnsadpoitvrgymf” becomes | \ / - ~ ) ◯ ( .

At this point, the top of my sigil sheet looks like this:

I often glance at that when I am actually sketching my sigils, to use it as a focus and help reinforce the intent in my mind.

Now that I have that done, I start sketching. Sometimes I use the pieces of the letters, sometimes I use the whole letters, sometimes I use neither and just wing it. There have even been cases where I combine some or all of those techniques for one sigil. It mostly comes down to what I “feel” the sigil needs. In certain cases, that means attempting new creation methods, which tend to be some I have found posted by others here on Tumblr. For the most part, however, I stick to my creation method, if it can even be called that lol.

However I decide to draw the sigil, I do a few sketches of different designs until I get one I like, which means it has to aesthetically appeal to me. Sometimes this happens in one sketch, sometimes it takes two or three (the average). I once filled two sides of a sheet of paper with like 16 sigils for the same intent, which took over an hour, and I still didn’t like any of them. I learned that it was important that the sigil looks good to you, because it connects it to you on a personal level - much the same way I believe it is important to like how a tarot deck looks. That may not be true for all, but it is true to me now.

The sketch page for the sigil “wellness and positive energy permeates my life” looked like this when I was done:

Generally, I don’t keep drawing after I find a design I like. I typically star the one I plan on keeping and using. I didn’t on this page; however, I went over the design a few times to solidify the lines exactly how I wanted them. The final design is the one on the top right, this one:

However, when I drew that particular design, I had the page flipped, so it technically should look like this:

As you can see, there are erase marks from where I tried lines out, but decided I didn’t like in the end. I don’t feel that has any impact on the sigil’s effectiveness.

The one right next to it was the first one I drew, and I almost went with that one as the final design, but I was concerned it looked too much like a very infamous racist symbol, so I passed on it. I was told it didn’t; however, since I had those negative connotations already in my mind and associated with that design, I felt it would be and for me to go with it in the end.

At that point, the sigil is ready to be used. However, I tend to make digital copies of my sigils, because I do post them online for other people’s use. This sigil was actually made for an intent suggested by a friend.

I either scan the page to upload my sigil, or I take a crappy picture with my cell phone and email it to myself. Either way, I get it on my computer and open it with Paint Tool SAI. From there, I redraw the sigil, which also adds another element of aesthetic to it, because I really enjoy how clean and sharp the sigils look when done with the line tool in SAI. 

When the sigil is made digital, I tweak some of the lines a bit further to keep them looking exactly as I want, how I intended the design to look in the first place, even though it may not have come across so well on the page. I also like to play around with line thickness.

Mostly the sigils are made transparent, with a white glow around the edges for visibility purposes; sometimes I create simple color backgrounds with the color corresponding to the sigil’s intent. It depends on what I feel like doing with it. 

When I post them online, they tend to get watermarks, if I can remember to do it. For a while they didn’t, because you can’t create text layers in SAI, but I have Photoshop back now, so I’ve begun utilizing the watermarks again.

The final version of this sigil ended up like this:

Now that I look at it again, the large curve needs fixing, lol. 

And that is how I make my sigils! I dunno if I needed to go so in-depth, but here it is. I hope you made it all the way to the end, and I hope it helps you, or provides inspiration for your own method, or whatever. I don’t really know why you asked me this tbh. But you know, enjoy!

[sylvaetria]

Hey Richtor, what do u know abt diet spells? R they dangerous?

Hey anon!

(Just a note, a lot of this seems to be personal opinion and my views on how spell mechanics work based on my own experiences. Others experiences may differ and that is okay. I am presenting an opinion based on my viewpoint and what I have learned, and I hope it proves helpful to some. For those that it doesn’t apply to, I am not challenging your way of doing things or saying what you are doing is wrong or dangerous - if it works for you, that is great. However, I want to present another side that is still possible, for those that may not be aware of the implications of such things.)

If you’re referring to spells that assist with weight loss, they can be dangerous, yes. To be fair, most spells come with some risk if not performed correctly or given the correct parameters. But with weight loss spells in particular, you need to be very specific in the method in which you lose the weight, how gradually it happens, and how much weight you desire to lose in the first place.

When a spell is made without specifics, such as “I will lose weight” with no other details, there is always chance of it manifesting in ways unexpected, which could also be harmful. If you don’t give it specific “settings” as to how it will work, it could work in whatever way, and that leaves openings for a lot of mishap.

For example, with weight loss spells, if you send out the intent of “I will lose weight” and that is all, no other information, you may find that you could lose weight in ways that are not beneficial to you. You didn’t specify how you would lose the weight, how much, etc., which leaves the door wide open for any possibility. And while I do not believe it is guaranteed for every spell to manifest in a way that would be harmful if they don’t have any parameters set to them, I  believe there is still risk, and it’s better to nip that in the bud.

You could end up losing weight by getting really sick for a time and not being able to eat because of it, and thus you drop five pounds. You lost weight, yes, but at the result of you getting really ill, and maybe you didn’t lose as much weight as you desired (or even more than, leaving you unhealthy). That is not a preferred outcome in my eyes. Since there was no indication of how you would lose the weight, the spell brought about whatever circumstances might get it done, even if it wasn’t necessarily in a beneficial way.

This is why some people see it as important that you also pair spells with mundane actions. Doing certain actions to encourage certain responses is a good indicator to the spell on how it may react too, in accordance with what you’re already doing in your life. If you are actively looking to lose weight by eating healthier or exercising more, the spell could be built around those lifestyle changes, and assist you in keeping up with them or boost the effectiveness of those methods for helping one lose weight in the first place.

It is not exclusively weight loss spells that could end up this way either - it is why I said most spells come with risk. As another example, say you wished to cast a spell to help you get more money, but you were not specific in the way you would gain said money. As a result, within the next couple of weeks you ended up in a minor car accident which resulted in insurance money or the other party being sued for reckless driving. You did get your money, yes, but the manner in which how you did was left wide open for any opportunity to present itself.

Again, I want to emphasize that not all spells left open to interpretation could lead to manifestations like this. I just wanted to say that it is a possibility for results to occur in a manner not preferred, if the preferred manner was not already specified during the spellwork. For me, it comes down to the “better safe than sorry,” because there is no guarantee a spell will work as desired, and unless we aim for a specific outcome, that it will perform accordingly to achieve said outcome at all. 

With intents regarding one’s health and safety, I believe it is especially important to cover all the bases, to ensure that no mishaps happen and you do not put yourself in danger for the sake of a spell. Magic is weird, and often doesn’t work how we think it should or will, and setting out your intentions as clear as possible helps with that. 

I think that it should be reflected on if the spell is necessary in the first place, and if so, how you want it to perform, what your goals are outside of the spell for the topic, how you wish it to be achieved, etc. Of course, I think that is also good advice for any spell; especially when it comes to things that could impact your health or safety, I think one should be extra careful and sure in their actions, to do all they can to guarantee as well as they can that they remain safe and things work as planned or desired.

That got a lot longer than expected, and very wordy, I’m glad I came off mobile for this, lol. I hope that helps you anon, and I hope you are safe, no matter what you do!

[thesigilwitch]

hello! I'm a baby witch, I've done some stuff with witchcraft here and there throughout my life but I've just really started it a few days ago. I've seen some people mention that often new witches will use up too much energy on spells and such and then be tired and worn out, could you tell me more about that? like how to regenerate your energy, or just more about how it works in general. Thank you!!

Hello! Sorry for the delay in reply, I wanted to wait till I had a physical keyboard before I answered this, lol. 

Yes, energy drain. It can be a thing that happens. It comes down to using too much of your own personal energy at once in spellwork, that causes you to feel drained or tired. There are other symptoms as well, but that feeling of exhaustion after you complete a large spell or heavy energy work can be a sign that you took too much of your own energy to power the spell. 

Note that it doesn’t always happen, and there are ways to limit it when it does. As you get used to your personal energy levels, and you do magic more and more, that stops becoming as much of a concern. I haven’t had to deal with it for a long time, for example - but I did 12 sigils in one day once a few years ago, and that was very draining on me. 

Every person has a different level of energy, so when that hit that point of energy drain varies between each magic user. A spoonie or chronically ill magic user, for instance, may hit that point a lot sooner since their energy may already be limited due to said illness. In those cases, in order to conserve energy for other tasks, it may be best to focus on low energy magic that is still effective, in order to try to avoid or limit that drain.

You don’t need to use your own energy primarily in your magic. As you cast spells, it does tend to get infused, but you can use an external energy source as your primary source, and that does help that a lot. Instead of relying solely on your own energy, draw it from another source and into your spell. If you want, you can take that energy into yourself first, so it becomes infused with your “essence” or however you wanna call it, and then you can put it into the spell from there. 

Some common sources of energy work include, but are not limited to, the sun and moon, the ocean, the earth itself, space and the stars… Almost all natural sources have some inherent energy in them. If you are an animist, where you believe everything - including inanimate objects - has its own energy and “essence” to it, then anything can be drawn from into your spells. 

As for regenerating energy, that naturally happens over time. If you notice you’re feeling really tired after an intense working, give yourself some time before the next one. Grounding and centering yourself before and after spells is soo helpful - it gets overlooked a lot, but it is very effective. Before spellwork, you can draw energy into yourself to use in the spell, to take less of your personal energy and it won’t leave you as tired. 

I do always recommend to people that if they do experience that drain, to finish up the magic as best you can, and rest; have a snack, drink some water, do something relaxing or that makes you smile - do what you need to do to make yourself comfortable and just chill. Give yourself time to recover. 

And I guess that would be my advice and opinion on that topic! Of course, your mileage may vary, and not everyone experiences this, or like how I do it. And this isn’t extensive - there were tons of other things I didn’t list, but that’s what I got for right now. If you have other questions, I will try my best to clarify; otherwise, I hope it helps! :)