Alright, I officially can't tell if some of these "everyday witchcraft" posts are a joke anymore. I don't really subscribe to the "intent = magic" school of thought, which might be the issue. Intent is important for directing magic, but not the source of it, in my opinion, so chewing bubblegum with intent isn't really witchcraft in my book.
On the other hand, visiting the crows and vibing with my houseplants totally counts, so what the hell do I know?
I'm completely fascinated by this as a thought exercise. Where I am at is - how far from the original source material (let's say mint for the example above of gum) can one get before it stops being what it is and you can't enspell it or put your intention into it? I certainly believe that I can make mint tea and put my intention into brewing it and then drink it as a low-key "spell". But then, I was touching the mint leaves, pouring the hot water, stirring it, and doing all of these things which are giving it some of my energy beyond the sometimes nebulous concept of "intention". I do personally believe that this works even better if it is mint that I have grown, harvested, and dried myself.
I have never considered chewing gum with intention. And I'm inclined to think no, that's not "magic" but I'm a bit of a purist - I like to use as close to the original source materials as possible. (As stated above, I prefer to use materials that I have grown or at least harvested myself - so I have a huge bias here) BUT - and it's a big but here - isn't a huge part of magic and raising energy raising often repetition. And couldn't one, if one focused hard enough, use the act of chewing as a means of raising energy through repetitive motion. What if one was to repeat a mantra in one's head as they chewed, for example?
And so I am now thinking - mint is highly purifying. So I feel like if a person was in the right headspace, and repeated the right words as they chewed, it could be used as a purification rite in which you drew something out of yourself and then spit it out into the trash along with the gum?
I've never tried this so this is highly speculative but I suspect that it could work. And could be done in any situation which does have some merits for sure. Of course, this raises some questions for me. Is there actually mint in that gum? I personally do not believe that synthetic mint would have the purifying properties that mint has but somebody who believes that magic comes more strictly from your own mind (see also the placebo and nocebo effects, for example) might even argue that thinking it would work would be enough. (I mean no offense to the OP here, this just really piqued my interest)
Ah, but that's the thing.
Chewing gum with intent isn't the same thing as chewing gum as a focal point for raising magical power.
It is the idea that "intent = magic" which is in question, I believe.
However, now you must please give this a try and tell us how it goes :D
I myself am not a believer of the "intent = magic"
By no means am I criticizing, I just simply think there should be an interference to make my will flourish, a power & ability above mine that creates the change I seek. And that really does depend on each individual's beliefs and philosophy that describes how magic works, each one has their own explanation & theory of how & why magic works and what it is.
So picking something of significance to use in your spells will vary according to what holds value to you and why, is it religious or cultural or just your own philosophy.
I wanted to discuss this in a separate post just to deliver more information but I hope this will do for the time being for anyone who needs to see this.
