The Cauldron Kitties Familiar Fund is in full swing!!
Some of our mamas finally felt safe bringing their kittens around! Kitten count now at 17, with 24 adult cats, all looking for loving homes! We are located in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.
Also if you’d like to sponsor one our babies for spay/neuter/medical assistance, you can send it to:
cashapp: $witchliv
venmo: @Liv-Castors
PayPal: @witchylivi
If you have questions about material donations (such as cat food/litter/toys/blankets), please feel free to message me.
For renters, fellow spoonies, pet owners, and anyone who simply doesn’t vibe with smoke cleansing.
Not every sacred space needs smoke. Some of us have sensitivities, animals, shared housing, asthma, low energy, or just prefer other methods. Cleansing is about shifting stagnant energy and creating intention.
1. Sound Cleansing
Use bells, chimes, singing bowls, clapping, humming, or music. Sound helps break up stagnant energy and wake up a space. Even opening a playlist with intention counts. I found sometimes walking around and clapping really can clear a room, its deeply helpful.
2. Salt Cleansing
Place bowls of salt in corners, sprinkle a pinch across thresholds, or use black salt protectively near doors (if safe for pets/kids). Dispose of used in the garbage or depending on your practice, please do not salt the earth as it kills where it is placed.
3. Water & Floor Washes
Add herbal infusions, moon water, florida water alternatives, or simple lemon water to a mop bucket or spray bottle. Wipe down surfaces while focusing on what you’re clearing out. Another way is you can create a spray that you can spray around your space, make sure it is pet or child safe. Also water in a bowl with some salt and simply flick it around your space.
4. Air & Light
Open windows. Let fresh air move through the room. Sunlight can feel energizing and clarifying, while moonlight can feel soothing and reflective. Sometimes the old-school answer is literally some good old fresh air and ventilation. I got myself a air purifier and blessed it, honesty works too!
5. Physical Cleaning
Sweep, dust, wash dishes, declutter. Mundane cleaning and energetic cleansing are cousins. A cleaned sink has ended many of my curses I'm sure.
Gentle Reminder:
You do not need rare tools or expensive bundles to cleanse your space. Your intention, attention, and action matter most.
I do have a question!
What’s your favorite smoke-free cleansing method right now? Please let us know < 3
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.
Because Google is totally useless and won't help you with ANYTHING
iNaturalist: Take photos of living things you see, post them, and the community will identify them for you. Data from iNaturalist is used in scientific research.
Wildflower.org Plant Database: Enter search criteria and find some plants. Very useful if you're looking for plants with specific qualities or know what you have in mind.
Native Plant Finder: This website is still in beta and is a work in progress, but it will show you plants for your area ranked by the number of butterflies that use them for their caterpillars.
WildflowerSearch: AMAZING resource for identification and for learning about new plants. Shows you where plants are native/not native, TONS of search filters.
Native Plant Trust: A New England organization, but probably useful to anyone.
Northern Forest Atlas: Great images and identification resources for trees; has good pictures of bark, seeds, buds, leaves.
FloraFinder: Another plant database site that's being slowly built up by a passionate nerd.
MonarchWatch milkweed by USA ecoregion: Tells you what milkweed species you should plant for monarch butterflies.
Native Beeology: Not plants, but a closely related subject.
I will add more and post an updated list as I find more.
Cosigning all four of these and adding the following (check your local library):
Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic - Owen Davies
Witchcraft, Magic and Culture 1736–1951 - Owen Davies
America Bewitched - Owen Davies
Witches and Neighbors - Robin Briggs
Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft - Michael D. Bailey
For those who prefer their learning in audio form, I also have a couple of masterlists of podcast episodes that deal with witchcraft, witch trials, the history of witchcraft-related beliefs, and resources for fact-checking and debunking misconceptions and misinformation commonly found in witchcraft spaces.
This is a casual reminder to all of the witches, pagans, occultists, polytheists, and woo-woo folks, don’t be afraid to try things! Sometimes you won’t know the outcomes of things until you’ve tried them. You can research and read and prep as much as want, but you still might not know if you can do something until you try to do it. No one else can tell you. You can’t guarantee success.
This post is a continuation of my Notes on Narrative Charms post, where I broke down some of the common parts of traditional narrative charms (particularly in European folk magic, which is my own magical background) and the roles they can play in the performance of magic. This post will focus on ideas and suggestions for narrative subjects which can be incorporated into contemporary narrative charms or used to modify existing charms.
The suggestions and associated symbolism here are based on my own background in diasporic European folk magic. I have not included symbols from outside my own folklore and practice, simply because I do not consider myself well-versed enough in other folklore and magical backgrounds to do so. These ideas are intended only as suggestions and should not be taken as a supreme authority. In instances where these suggestions contradict symbols or symbolism from your own established practice or folkloric background, I strongly recommend using your own practice’s symbols and symbolism over these.
Notes: 1. Although this post is centered on the narrative subject, the same figures and symbols can be used as secondary subjects, or companions to the primary subject in a charm. These can be the narrative subject or any figure they cross paths with or interact with. 2. You will notice that many of the figures addressed here have overlapping symbolism and associations. That is because the narrative charm has strong historical ties to healing and protective magic. I have used my own background where appropriate to expand on some historical associations in order to expand the application of these charms into other magical disciplines. 3. Some of the associations for each figure may appear to be contradictory unto themselves. For example, a figure may be listed as being both associated with nightmares and with protection from nightmares. It is important to understand the lore associated with these figures to understand how the associations come into play.
Traditional, Biblical & Mythic Figures
Note: These figures are classified here as “traditional” because they appear often in pre- and early modern European narrative charms. The suggestions I have listed for possible causes or magics that they may represent in charms, however, have been expanded to include both traditional and more contemporary approaches to these figures. If your goal is to make your own narrative charms (or adapted narrative charms) as traditional as possible, I recommend doing your own research into the more traditional symbolism of these figures within the specific region or era of charm magic that interests you.
The Devil - 1. Folkloric, often depicted as a witch-patron: baneful magic, divination, glamor magic, hidden knowledge, initiation, liminal spaces, magical aid, oaths and pacts (making and breaking), power, protection magic, transitions, witchcraft (general), witch flight, witch sight; 2. Biblical, typically depicted as malevolent: banishing unwanted spirits, clarity, divine protection (from devils, evil and mischief), insight, overcoming obstacles, protection from baneful magic, protection from nightmares, protection from witchcraft, returning unwanted magic to its source, warding, protection from evil; 3. Local, associated with local landscape: communion, pacts and oaths, protection, spirit work, stewardship, land magic; 4. General, lesser folkloric devils and devil-motifs in folklore: baneful magic, glamor, knowledge, manipulation, sorcery, trickery (overcoming or performing).
The Devil's Many Faces: In witchcraft, mention of the Devil can refer to one of several figures, including the Biblical Devil, archetypal folkloric devil-figures, patron spirits and entities associated with specific paths of Traditional Witchcraft, and sundry “lesser” spirits associated with local land features, crossroads, liminal spaces, hidden knowledge, and magical craft. In the context of a narrative charm, the Devil may appear as either a primary subject (a figure which represents the practitioner’s role in the charm’s magic) or as a secondary subject (a figure which lends aid to the primary subject). How he appears and what his role within the charm may be will differ greatly depending on the practitioner’s personal background, beliefs, and relationship with Devil-related myth and folklore. In traditional folk charms, the Devil appears in similar ways as he might in the folklore that inspires and informs such magic; he is often depicted as being tricked, deceived, or easily out-witted in narrative charms intended to ward off harm and baneful magic. Generally, when the Devil appears in this way, the depiction is either that of the Biblical Devil or of a Devil figure associated with the direct causation of evil (ex: a demon, imp, or malicious trickster). This may be in opposition to how the Devil is viewed by many modern witches, particularly in the case of formal Traditional Witches and folkloric witches. In contrast, when the Devil appears as a secondary subject in a verbal or narrative charm, he is most often depicted in some kind of helping role, providing tools, hidden knowledge or other aid to further the subject’s cause.
The Maid - absence of harm or evil, blessing, dispelling harm, earnest desire, healing, innocence, love, new beginnings, purity (of heart/mind/body/intention/etc), safety.
The Three Maids / The Three Spinners / The Three Aunts - destiny, direction, divination, fate, guidance, protection against misdirection, protection against misuse, protection from evil persons, protection of fate, spiritual assistance, spiritual guidance, uncovering hidden knowledge, uncovering the truth, wisdom.
The Farmer - agriculture, the everyman, farming, growth, healing of animals, healing of the land, land fertility, land stewardship, layman's magic, livestock, practical concerns, protection of animals, the practitioner, protection of the land.
What is “Layman’s Magic”? A large part of the known body of European folk magic is what is known as service magic (Stanmore). This is magic that is given or performed by a professional cunningperson for a fee. Such service magic can be further divided into magic performed by a skilled practitioner and magic that can be performed by an “uninitiated” layperson (Johnson). When narrative charms are given to a layperson to perform for themselves—either as a spoken charm or as written magic—it is important to remember that the narrative subject should then represent the layperson that is performing the spell, rather than being a symbol of the practitioner who has written the spell. For this, it can be helpful to understand and incorporate representations of ‘the everyman’. The Farmer is just one archetypal example of such symbols. The Farmer may not represent everyone, but he often appears as a symbol of the layman in magical charms. Other such figures may include travelers, housewives, etc. When writing our own charms, the simplest way to incorporate the everyman into layman’s magic is to describe the person the magic is for. A young woman, an old man, or a weary person is enough as long as the rest of the charm meets your needs for specificity.
The Mother/Father/Parent - child care, children's health, family matters, guidance, home matters, magic done on behalf of a child, nurturing, parenthood, petitions on behalf of a child, protection against disease, protection against evil, protection against nightmares, protection of children, the everyman (parents).
The Child / The Baby - beginnings, blessings, healing, innocence, magic performed on behalf of a child, purity, vulnerability.
Christ - binding of demonic spirits, binding of evil, binding of unwanted spirits, blessing, healing, protection against baneful magic, protection from evil, protection from witchcraft.
The Virgin Mary / The Mother of God - blessing, blessing of children, blessing of women, blindness, blood, care for the dying, care for the sick, eyesight, fertility, gynecological issues, healing, motherhood, nuns, petitions for mothers, pregnancy, protection, protection of children, protection of women, religious stewardship, speech, speech difficulties.
Saint Peter - care for the afflicted, doorways, healing, healing of bones, healing of feet, healing of teeth, luck for fishermen, opportunities, possibilities, protection for sailors, protection for sea travel, removal of obstacles, thresholds, transitions.
Saint Michael - banishing, breaking curses, breaking hexes, defensive magic, protection, protection against baneful magic, protection against demonic influence, protection against evil, protection against unwanted spirits, protection against witchcraft, warding.
Saint Cyprian - aid in magic, aid in sorcery, protection against baneful magic, protection against witchcraft, protection magic, removal of baneful magic, removal of curses.
Saint Expedite - speeding processes along, time sensitive petitions, urgent money magic.
Saint Anthony - finding hidden wealth, finding lost items, luck, luck in gambling, luck in games, luck in hunting.
Saint George - banishing, binding, overcoming, protection from evil, protection of cattle, protection of livestock.
Saint Benedict - banishing, banishment of demons, banishment of spirits, exorcism.
Saint Francis - blessing of animals, healing of animals, protection of animals.
Other Saints: Although some Saints appear more often than others in extant historical examples of folk charms, any saint can be called on for aid in contemporary folk magic. Which saint is called on is determined by their traditional patronages as well as the legendary tales associated with them. They can be written into charms which hearken to the legends that the saints appear in or in charms which more closely depict the issue the spell is intended to target.
Othinn - aid in magic, aid in sorcery, aid in spirit work, aid of the dying, ancestor magic, death, divination, ecstatic magic, guidance, healing of horses, healing with herbs, hidden knowledge, protection, protection against witchcraft, protection of horses, removal of obstacles, spirits of the dead, spirit travel, spirit world, transitions, travel, war, wisdom, wortcunning.
Thor - andrological issues, erectile issues, fertility of the body, fertility of the land, land stewardship, protection, protection against elfshot, protection against giants, protection against illness, protection against natural disaster, protection against pain, protection against trolls, protection of cattle, protection of farms, protection of livestock, protection of the body, protection of the bones, protection of the home.
Frigg - blessing for marriages, blessings for children, blessings for looms, blessings for sewing tools, blessings for spinning wheels, communication, destiny, fertility, fibercrafts, foresight, grief, healing for children, healing for mothers, hidden knowledge, motherhood, protection of the home, spinning, troublesome marriages, wisdom.
Freyja - aid in magic, clarity, healing, healing from grief, healing in fatigue, healing in fertility issues, healing in sexual issues, judgment, prophecy, protection, strength, treasure, wealth.
Tyr - blessing of locks and doors, blessing of protective amulets, bravery, bravery in battle, clarity, conflict, fairness in court, justice, protection, protection against corrupt law enforcement, protection against law enforcement, protection for first responders, protection for soldiers, war, warding.
Baldur - blessing, care for the dying, care for the sick, healing, personal wards, protection, strength, vitality.
Frau Holle - blessing, blessing of looms, blessing of spinning wheels, blessings done with the first snow, blessings of flax, cleansing, destiny, empowering evergreen for magical workings, fate, house blessing, house cleansing, protection, protection from winter weather, protection of children, protection of the dead, protection of the hearth, protection of the home, spinning, stewardship of the home, stewardship of the land, warding, weaving.
The White Lady - protection, protection of livestock, protection of the family, protection of the farm, protection of the home.
Veles - aid in magical workings, blessing of fields, blessing of land, blessing of livestock, blessing of wheat, blessing of wildlife, livestock fertility, livestock health, protection against evil, protection for livestock, protection for practitioners, protection from baneful magic, protection from wildlife, protection of crops, protection of farm.
Perun - blessing of iron tools, conflict, healing, magic for rain, magic for the end of drought, protection, protection against baneful magic, protection against disease, protection against evil, protection against fire, protection against gunfire, protection against ill luck, protection against lightning, protection against misfire (guns), protection against spears and blades, protection of iron tools, protection of soldiers, war.
Mokosh - blessing of spinning wheels, blessing of looms, blessing of wells, divination, fate, fertility, fertility of the farm, fertility of the land, gynecological health, land stewardship, protection, protection during childbirth, protection of fate, protection of wells, protection of women, spinning, weaving.
Lada - blessing, blessing of the home, protection, protection from evil, protection from spirits, protection of children, protection of the home, protection of women, spring magic, warding.
Marzanna - banishing cold, banishing disease, banishing winter, death, night terrors, nightmares, warding off disease, warding off famine, winter.
Duality in Folk Charms: In many cases, the disciplines associated with certain figures and their use on folk charms may be entirely counterintuitive to their natures. Marzanna is a good example of this, as she is associated with magic (both narrative and otherwise) to banish winter, illness and nightmares despite being folklorically connected with the causation of such phenomena. In Marzanna’s case, this is because much of this magic is performed using depictions of defeating, overcoming, or even killing her. Understanding the lore and customs that inform these associations is key to understanding how to incorporate these figures into magic.
Personified Disease & Evil
Although diseases and evil are sometimes addressed directly in narrative charms and other folk magic, they also sometimes appear in a personified form, depicted as various spirits and folkloric figures. These figures typically appear as secondary, adversarial subjects, which are depicted as being overcome, outwitted, destroyed or killed. These are just a few examples. In many cases, such forces are personified and addressed simply as “Sister Fever” or “Spirit of Cold”, which can be a simple, useful way to address any ailment and command it out of the body.
Unwanted Visitor - fever, chills, general illness.
Spotted Man - traditionally smallpox, but can be expanded generally into rashes, chickenpox, shingles and other ailments with a dermatological expression.
Snake / Devouring Snake - venom, infection, any ailment that spreads through the body via the blood or tissue.
Night Demon / Night Goblin - nightmares, night terrors, sleep paralysis, insomnia.
Trolls - general evil, bad luck, baneful magic.
Animals as Narrative Figures
Dogs - protection, protection against dog attacks, protection against dog bites, protection against rabies, protection of cattle, protection of livestock.
Horses - fertility, protection, protection against glanders, protection of horses, speed, strength, travel.
Cats - aid in magic, aid in spirit travel, protection against evil, protection against ill luck, protection from witchcraft, protection from witches, spirit communication, spirit sight, spirit travel, spirit work, spirits of the dead, underworld.
Toads / Frogs - aid in baneful magic, causation of illness, fertility, grounding, healing, hidden wealth, mastery of horses, protection against illness, protection against plague, protection against poison, protection from baneful magic, transference of illness, transformation.
Rabbits / Hares - aid in witchcraft, cleverness, escape, fertility, outrunning law enforcement, protection from famine, protection from harm, protection from hunger, protection from ill luck, protection from witchcraft, shapeshifting, spirit sight, spirit travel, transformation, underworld, wisdom.
Snakes / Worms - banishing illness, banishing intestinal worms, illness, pestilence, protection against headaches, protection against lice, protection from plague.
Cows - banishing famine (Milk-White Cow), healing, healing from illness (Milk-White Cow), lactation, motherhood, protection against elfshot, protection from hunger.
Pigs - blessing of the crops, divine guidance, fertility of the land, fortune, healing skin ailments, hidden knowledge, luck, protection against starvation, protection from demons, protection from evil, protection from fae, transference of skin ailments.
Chickens - blessing of new homes, fertility, protection from baneful magic, protection from evil spirits, protection from the witch's gaze, protection from witchcraft, protection of livestock, protection of the home, spirit travel.
Ravens - death, divination, guidance, hidden knowledge, protection from death, protection from spirits, underworld, wisdom.
Magpies - aid in witchcraft, communion with the Devil, divination, foresight, protection from evil, protection from ill luck, protection from the Devil, protection from witchcraft.
Owls - divination, hidden knowledge, spirit communication , wisdom.
