Worshipping Hesita, Cernunnous, and Apollo currently. I still have a lot to learn, but I am having so much fun!I also took the picture in my header and I'm pretty proud of it ^-^ Follows from @the-trinket-fairy they/fae
My name is Twig, and my pronouns are they/them and fae/faer! I have been practicing magic for about 3 years now, though I do not consider myself a witch--wizard or mage is much more up my alley.
I specifically really enjoy divination, and have constructed a charm casting set from scratch that I love with my whole heart and soul. Maybe someday I will go into a deep dive about it here and talk about how to make one's own set. I also do tarot/oracle readings, and hope to make my own oracle deck someday!
I also do a lot of deity work, which is mostly what I post on here. I work with Hestia, Cernunnos, and Apollo most closely, though I sometimes will call on someone else should the need arise. Deity work is so special to me, and I love being able to work with them! I hope to start posting some more about my practice, but so far ehhhhh.
Asks and DMs are always welcome! I love to chat about my practice and make new friends!
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
How do you feel about using multiple spells for a single goal? Doing wealth spells one after another until you're out of difficulties, for example, versus doing the one and letting it be?
I've got a chapter in a book I'm probably never going to publish about this. It's long. tl;dr: hell yeah cast a lot of spells for one thing, that's a great idea. Upg alert, etc.
Compound Magic: Many Hands Make Light Work
Compound magic is the phrase I’m using to discuss two similar ideas.
The idea is that if working one act of magic can affect our physical world to any degree, then working multiple acts of magic on the same subject can affect it to a greater degree.
This works at both the macro and micro levels.
By “macro,” I mean casting entire spells to influence various situations.
If you’re casting a home prosperity spell, casting multiple prosperity spells tends to be more beneficial than casting only one. Following our Witch-as-Monarch metaphor, you can cast spells that are like geologists seeking resources, like road-builders to strengthen trade routes, or like festival celebrations to revitalize your citizens.
More literally, if there is a situation that is resistant to change or in need of serious transformation, you can build a spellcasting altar dedicated to that single issue.
Spellcasting altars are useful in the practical sense that if you’ve got a whole altar for it, you might not forget that it’s something you wanted to work on.
They’re also very useful in the magical sense that as you dedicate a new “counsel room” to this topic and begin filling it with advisors, knights, heroes, spies, managers, and agents, and then continuously empower your Allies to work on your behalf through dedicated spellwork, all of these powers begin to compound and support each other.
In other words: the action of casting multiple spells can have additive or supportive effect which helps all the spells work better.
Not only this, but spells can begin to file away the rust on a situation and get the gears working - but run out of energy before the mechanism is truly brought to life.
If a single spell didn’t appear to manifest as desired, that doesn’t mean it didn’t do anything. It could mean that the situation was improved behind the scenes, laying a better foundation for success for your next spell.
Therefore, compound magic also means cleverly assigning spells to loosen up a situation and prepare it for change, to banish potential roadblocks, to protect the desired outcome, to empower the desired aspects of the situation, to bind the unwanted aspects, and so forth. In this manner, casting compound magic doesn’t necessarily mean to cast prosperity-generating spells over and over – it can also mean to cast banishings, protections, cleansings, and so forth, in the pursuit of prosperity.
This may all sound like a lot of work, but recall that we’re talking about very resistant situations, or situations in need of a lot of transformation before they suit your tastes. However, I hope you’ll agree with me that this concept in general actually really helps take a load off, because:
If your strategy is to work multiple acts of magic, then no single act of magic you work ever has to be perfect, or even exceptional.
Spellcasting anxiety is very real, and in my opinion boils down to the worry not only that unless everything is perfect then everything is ruined, but furthermore, that if any single spell doesn’t work it means the practitioner is a fraud.
If you instead adopt the mindset that it’s quite alright to need to work three or four acts of magic to influence a sticky situation, each spell feels less like you’re an actor making your debut performance in front of a judgmental audience, and much more like you’re going to try and treat the problem with a vinegar spray first, but if that doesn’t lift the bonds that’s quite alright because you’ve got a baking soda scrub to try next.
This isn’t to say that I think every single situation is going to require multiple spells to make the magic “work.” Far from it. But I don’t find there to be any utility at all in assuming every situation should be fixable by only one spell, and if that spell fails then there’s something wrong.
Overall, I find that the witch who often engages in acts of magic to keep the home safe and prosperous will find that this compound effect begins to work organically, and that over time all acts of magic eventually lead to an enchanted life, to greater or lesser degrees.
On the “micro” side of this concept we can examine the enchantment of a single object or formula.
Instead of considering that we can use multiple spells to influence a situation, we can see that we can work many smaller acts of magic over time to produce a single powerful spell.
Think about woodburning a very hard, difficult piece of wood. During the first session you may only get an outline of the design before you’re exhausted and in need of a break. The wood is still imprinted upon, but it’s far from the completed project you envisioned.
During the next woodburning session, and the next, the design is slowly filled in until it meets your standards of satisfaction.
This is conceptually very similar to re-casting the same enchantment over and over on a single object until desired results are obtained.
This is extremely useful for the pragmatic witch who may not have the ability to plan out spells on specific times and days, or who must act now without every ideal ingredient on hand.
And not only that, but it’s also useful for the witch who would just like to have some fun with magic and doesn’t want to twiddle their thumbs waiting for the most ideal possible moment to act.
If a witch would like to work up a pot of Noontide Shield Oil (pg. 34), but the working felt less than lustrous, the formula can simply be re-enchanted again next Sunday to deepen and solidify the enchantment. Or, suppose the original oil had to be worked in less than ideal conditions, or perhaps even with entire ingredients missing: the missing ingredients can be added later on, the spell re-cast over the same vessel in more ideal conditions, and so forth.
The same goes for any spell vessel, formula, charmed ingredient, or enchanted object.
These things can be fully re-enchanted by performing the original spell over again, switching focus from adding ingredients to empowering and instructing ingredients already added.
But they can also be encouraged in more minor ways, especially through regular feeding (pg. 9).
I think it’s important to note here that we’re basically talking about cooking. A chicken soup where you have to omit the chicken, and then shred up rotisserie leftovers and just add it to the broth when having leftovers, is not going to produce identical results as if you had been able to cook the chicken in the soup.
Either way, you’ve still got chicken soup - it's just that an enchantment made in the most ideal conditions is not going to be identical to an enchantment made in non-ideal conditions and later fortified.
So I don’t believe that it’s correct to say that ideal conditions don’t matter. I think they do matter, and that practitioners will notice an appreciable improvement if they are able to work with ideal circumstances.
But I also believe it’s correct to say that if you continuously re-cast enchantments towards the same objects and formulas over and over again, while supplementing missing or lacking factors, over time that enchantment deepens and becomes more permanent and more powerful.
Just like macro compound magic, I think that this helps reduce the difficulty in working powerful enchantments. You don’t have to work yourself up to exhaustion casting a single powerful enchantment that wipes out your ability to work magic for three days. You can meter your energy and pour out small amounts of your power, when needed or as desired, and slowly build up powerful magics around you.
Then, when an important “macro” situation arises, consider how it would feel to be able to reach for a variety spell vessels and formulas you’ve already been empowering for months, keeping them fresh and alive through periodic attention and feeding. Things begin to feel much less like a witch alone in a room, and much more like an empowered monarch surrounded by Allies.
So this author says that spellcasting shouldn’t be done for frivolous things, and that it isn’t an “art to practice on a whim,” and my friend, that is a HARD disagree from me.
I mean, in the same chapter she says that holding and releasing energy is something that gets better with practice, but like… how am I supposed to practice if I’m not supposed to do magic for silly things? You don’t practice driving by going straight to the freeway and giving rides to people on voting day, you start by driving in an empty parking lot and driving through that one business cul-de-sac at 7:00 am on a Sunday. Is my magical practice only supposed to come from gigantic magical workings to right the evils of the universe? Straight outta the gate like that??
Buddy, I cast a spell to summon peach cobbler, and I got peach cobbler. And then later on, I was able to use that same spell technique to help a friend find a lost dog. Idk about you, but “find lost dog” isn’t where I want to practice, it’s where I want to have already practiced.
Sufficiently advanced witchcraft is chores: longform (it's not actually about hearth/domestic magic)
This little post has gotten some notes and now there's an ask so I'll make it into more words:
Witchcraft isn't Chores vs. Fun. It's Chores vs. Events. And I posit to you that framing witchcraft as Chores is healthier, easier, better, and more pervasive than framing it as Events.
I've found that if you want Witchcraft to have a profound, transformative effect on your life, to get you out of the bad places and into the good places - then you must discard that mindset that any instance of working magic must be spectacular, mystical, or even motivated. Basically, you must stop treating witchcraft like it's supposed to be an Event.
When you plug into your currents, they release a stream of transformative power into your life. But this power is fleeting and only lingers like a perfume even after the actual burst of power has long evaporated in your life.
I mean this "plugging in" to be very practical, normal stuff: raising energy to cast a spell. Close communion with your spirits where the spirit world is drawn into an overlapping state with the material world. Any time you open up a doorway in your life to the magical Other and let power in.
Like turning on the garden hose, these actions pour a little power into your life. But when the rite is done (the spell is over, the communion is finished) then the garden hose is turned off again. That power soaks into where it was directed, seeping into the soils of your life.
And then it's gone!
Once that power has soaked into your life, it will continue to be helpful and effective. That garden bed is watered now! So of course the plants will flourish all week (or in my climate, until late afternoon, lol!).
But that power is now absent from you!! It's already used up, it's gone. It is no longer available.
By the time the plants begin looking dehydrated, the original power may have already been gone for a very long time. But this tricks us, right: if we wait for signs that the power is fading, that means we're always waiting for the plants to wither before we tend to them.
This creates the dastardly spiral:
My life is chaotic, I struggle to cast a spell to help -> I finally get around to it, the spell helps my life -> Now that the magic is done I don't need to prioritize it until I need it again -> The spell has faded, my life is back to its original chaotic state -> I need magic to help me -> My life is chaotic, I struggle to cast a spell to help
(Above, replace chaotic with stagnant, a slog, draining me, exhausting, harrowing, or anything you like)
If engaging with the Other is like turning on a garden hose of power, then you have to turn on the garden hose as often as you need power, and you need it before things show signs of going bad.
The problem with framing witchcraft as an Event is that it creates this mental load that's nothing but a barrier to entry. You have to put on you Sunday best, have the right attitude, have the right mental health, have enough energy (but not be manic), have complete control over your thoughts but also be perfectly in tune with your body and emotions, be able to sit still for the elaborate working (but not be fatigued), be able to do all of this with complete privacy, and pull all of this together on a random hour on a Tuesday with a spell you had to modify because you can't light candles or incense in your home.
And god FUCKING help you if you can't feel the energies, or don't get the visions or the signs, if the candle omen isn't right, if you don't feel magical, because that means of the two or three times you engaged in your practice this month a HALF or a THIRD of those engagements were failures, you're getting a D or an F in magic, failure magic. Who would ever want to engage in a practice like that??
Nobody!
Of course you can't pull that shit together to constantly cast spells to make your life better! That's EXHAUSTING!!
Do you know what I think takes less energy, is less frustrating, is less exhausting, is more helpful, easier, and more transformative?
It's to stop treating witchcraft like an Event and start treating it as Chores you just go about and put a bit of energy to on a daily or near-daily basis.
At first, this is no fun and games: this garden bed has gone totally rotten, it needs weeding and tilling, it needs soil amendments. Exhausting labor. And then it must rest until the correct season of planting. You can go out and do twenty minutes of work a day. But all that work and it may seem that there are very few rewards for months and months.
But you can't take one weekend and make an Event out of it, and then ignore it all winter until it's completely overgrown and ruined again. You can't progress that way. This is like saying you only do the kitchen dishes on solstices, or you only brush your teeth on full moons. That's not how you have a supply of clean dishes, or good dental hygiene, or a thriving life.
Truly transformative Witchcraft must be steeped into your daily life, and the only way to do this is to engage with it daily or almost daily. There is no room for waiting until you're in the "right headspace," and it's no good to wait until things have already started to go wrong again.
But how can you tell when it's time to work the next bit of magic unless you're checking in regularly? And how can you check in regularly if engaging in magic gives you the same feeling as having to go get ready for your partner's corporate Christmas party at the Marriott?
The question isn't if magic is either fun or a bore. It's whether magic is something you are comfortable approaching and addressing in your everyday life, in the 5 minutes you have before you take the kids to school, at the red lights during rush hour, as part of your shower routine. Or if it's something you need half a week to prepare yourself for, and another week to decompress from.
Can you tolerate tending to an altar for a couple of minutes a day, blurry-eyed, not feeling jack shit, not feeling magical or connected, knowing you will see long-term success, but limited short-term momentum? Or does magic scald you unless the immediate rewards are there to soothe you: the visions, the mystic trance, the instant omens, the short-term ripples in the pond?
I think one of these things is sustainable and the other is not. And so I think in order to stick with it long enough to progress beyond the early stages, then the following is perhaps tautologically true:
I apologize if this comes off as rude at all (I genuinely don't mean it that way; I'm just trying to organize my thoughts), but for me, the more I learn about magic from experienced practitioners like yourself, the less invested I am in pursuing it.
To put it in phrasing I've heard used elsewhere on Tumblr, if sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from chores, then I'm not sure that's a burden I'm willing to take on. I struggle enough trying to find the motivation to do my mundane chores; having an extra set of spiritual ones on top of that workload just doesn't sound... well, for lack of better phrasing, "worth it" to me.
Granted, I also think a big part of my feelings on this topic come from my current circumstances. Without getting too far into it, I've become kinda spiritually stagnant as of late, and whatever energies are around me right now don't particularly care for that. (I don't really look (or ask) for signs anymore, but the few I have seen all indicate a need for change/growth in my practice.)
But from my perspective, stepping away from witchcraft feels like finally finding solid ground again after years of trudging through a flooded swamp. Getting any more invested in a magical practice just feels... wrong.
Is it such a bad thing to want to "refuse the call," as it were, and choose to disengage with practicing magic altogether rather than pursue it?
Not rude at all.
The most important part first: no, it's not bad to refuse the call to magic. That's not bad at all. This old post may be of use to you. If witchcraft is something that you can sow into your life like an annual wildflower, and it's not currently/no longer serving you, then why stick with it? What would be the point of that?
(Of this, another post may be helpful for you: growth in witchcraft as shedding of snake-skin.)
"Sufficiently advanced witchcraft is chores" is a bite of a sound bite to be sure, and so I have made this longer post for you stepping it out.
Besides that long post, my other answer to your question is:
I don't think that investing in a magical path is supposed to increase your net difficulty/labor.
This was something that really got me early on. I'd hear practitioners saying how much work and struggle it all is. To which I'd say, sure - but then you have MAGICAL POWERS. You do all this so you can have magical powers which presumably you can use to make your life better.
So can't you then just use your magical powers to untangle, de-escalate, resolve, soothe, improve, and elevate your life in other ways, thus ultimately making your life much better than it was before you got into magic?
Magic is not a zero sum game, for me. I'm not in this for veneration or worship or earth spirituality. I'm in it because I want the utility. I'm here because I want the joy of deep connection with my friends when I'm tranced out and giving readings that zap their socks off. I'm here because I want to see what's behind people's eyes. I want to see how the conversation can go and know the exact words to make it go that way. I want victory, I want success. I want catastrophe and grace, not measured and mixed by a higher power and bestowed upon me but meted by me and sent outwards, downwards, forwards.
I can have all of this. But I myself can only have it one way.
I can only have it if I treat my practice as something so mundane and common that it's likened unto chores, that I put altar tending on my chore chart next to cleaning the bathroom, Saturdays are laundry and warding and wealth. Laundry is an endless chore only if you want endless clean clothes; warding is an endless chore only if you want endless protection.
It's no choice for me any more. I half run on magic now. And so I have to turn the spigot on and water myself first, or else I can never get the mundane chores finished anyway. I am not unique in this, although this is not the path of every Witch.
So if you are saying: this doesn't seem right for me right now, or maybe never again, and stepping away brings relief - then there is no argument from me, I would encourage you to find your solid ground.
But if you are saying, I see all these practitioners who seem to like the chore label, and isn't that overwhelming? isn't it a drag - then, no: for me it is energizing, liberating, fulfilling, actualizing.
And if your life is a big swamp, and you choose to sort it out with magic (there are other ways), then at first it may feel very laborious with very little reward, like the first year of building a new garden. But the returns begin to come, as long as you tend the garden. That's the trade, if you're in it for the harvest.
I love the little floors I sweep,
the stove for tea, the hearth I keep.
I love the paintings on the walls,
the faded rugs and crooked halls.
The windows, even with their cracks,
the mantle dripped with candlewax.
I have blessed each brick and board,
each keyhole and each curtain cord.
My little corner filled with hope,
with cinnamon and fairy soap--
but without the cat that hunts the mouse
my little home would just be "house".
[grabs your shirt] listen. listen to me. the practical is holy. the everyday is sacred. the simple act of surviving is divine. do you get it? sanctity begins at home, in the hands that build and the lives we live and the deaths we die and the worms that eat our bodies. if making something by hand is not worthy of veneration then nothing is.
[grabs your shirt] listen. listen to me. the practical is holy. the everyday is sacred. the simple act of surviving is divine. do you get it? sanctity begins at home, in the hands that build and the lives we live and the deaths we die and the worms that eat our bodies. if making something by hand is not worthy of veneration then nothing is.
Reasons why you should be using invasive plants in your spell-work
Helps improve the overall health of your local ecosystems and native wildlife.
Allows you to build a better relationship with the spirits of your area.
There is no such thing as overharvesting, so if you worry you’re the type when foraging for ingredients to go heavy handed; go to your invasives.
Inherently these plants when used in spell work will be fast-working, highly adaptive, and dominating.
You likely already have an invasive in your area that has the intentions you want to use in your next spell.
Allows you to not rely on massive monoculture farms that over-farm and hurt the environment.
Gives you the excuse to go outside and get moving which has been proven to have positive impacts on mental health.
Invasives aren’t hard to find. You can find them at the park, school campuses, any patch of grass along the road, etc.
The baneful possibilities are endless, like you can get so creative.
Depending on what exactly is your invasive and where you’re foraging from it’s free food.
Some Important Reminders
Research what are your natives and your invasives and learn to identify them, especially if they are similar to natives or have dangerous look-a-likes.
Read up on your area’s by-laws to ensure you are foraging invasives in a legal and safe way.
When harvesting invasives harvest carefully and be aware of how this specific invasive spreads, so when harvesting you’re not possibly helping it spread.
Don’t compost invasives.
Some invasives are poisonous or toxic, so research and be careful when handling. Please don’t consume or use in any workings that would require burning them or skin contact.
If looking for edible invasives or invasives you plan on using in salves or bath rituals, don’t harvest from polluted areas and ensure it is not toxic.
