Cleaning Your House
The first step to cleansing your home is going to be to physically clean the house, as well as you can. Some people can keep a spotless house. Some people barely have the spoons to make it through their day. Do what you can. Sometimes, just doing one task can make you feel accomplished. It doesn’t have to be perfect but take care of those dirty dishes and laundry. Clean your bathroom and your cat’s litter box, etc. Break up the stagnant energy and make your space healthier. Even if this is as far as you get, it is a good start.
I like to crank up the music. It gets me moving and thinking less of the act of cleaning. The vibrations of the music can also be a step in the cleansing your home. Clap, stamp, sing, dance, get the energy flowing around your space, so that it can carry out stagnant energies, and bring in the positive vibes.
Open windows and doors. You know what is and isn’t possible – perhaps you have pets or small children, maybe your allergies make the outside an enemy. The point is to get the air flowing through your space. This will freshen the air, make it less stuffy, and get the energy flowing through your space.
When I was younger, I was a very sensitive empath. It is actually what led me to find Wicca and Witchcraft. I was in my early to mid 20’s and it was the mid-90s. I am a totally intellectual air sign, who came from an abusive home, so I had trouble dealing with my own emotions. I got very overwhelmed by the people around me and those who would seek me out for help.
I used to always go to Ash Wednesday services when I was younger. Leland still lightly teases me about this, that most people are Christmas or Easter Catholics, but I never missed Ash Wednesday. The priest would bless me and draw a black ‘X’ (a cross) across my third eye (forehead) in ashes. It took me a very long time to realize what I was symbolically doing was closing my third eye. I did this over and over, through my teens and twenties. While I did briefly embrace my psychic abilities, in the early years of my practice, I have spent a lot of time pushing them away. Eventually, my abilities did become muted, and now, in my late 40s I am struggling to get back to my ease of practice from when I was younger.
This is a tldr; post explaining how I came to be where I am in my practice and how my beliefs may or may not align with traditional Wiccan based practices and beliefs.
I am a solitary practitioner. I did spend some time with a coven and several working groups throughout the years, but my practice has largely been solitary for the last two and a half decades. This has left me very open to exploring whatever struck my fancy, and to figure out what worked for me and what didn’t.
Exploring Dianic Witchcraft
One of the things that I explored, especially in the early 2000s, was Dianic Wicca/Witchcraft and a Goddess focused spirituality. There were parts of Dianic Wicca that really resonated with me and worked for me. However, there were also things that were, to me, as biased as traditional Wicca’s assignment of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ to energies and its’ insistence on balance.
I am a woman – biologically, psychologically, and energetically. I, also, like many other witches, want my practice and my spirituality to exist on my terms. So, I had to figure out what those terms were and what I do or do not believe.
I don’t consider myself an expert on what is or what isn’t Wicca or what you should or shouldn’t do in your own practice. I do however consider myself to be Wiccan, though of a solitary, eclectic slant, and have since 1997. I am constantly examining my beliefs and practices, and really believe that is one of the core tenants of Wiccan beliefs and witchcraft in general – to discover what you believe and why you believe it. So, this is my current understanding of what it means to be Wiccan.
At its heart, Wicca is a religion and it is loosely defined by Principles of Wiccan Belief as set down by a group called the American Council of Witches in 1973/1974. While there are many people who claim traditions or lineages that go back however long, officially Gerald Gardner is considered to be the father/founder of the current religion of Wicca. Following the 1951 repeal of Britain’s archaic witchcraft laws, Gardner published Witchcraft Today (1954), founded his first coven of followers, and, with the assistance of high priestess Doreen Valiente (1922–99), developed what became known as Gardnerian Wicca. During the 1960’s and 70’s, following the civil unrest and social revolutions that were happening in the US, Wicca started to develop a following in the US.
It’s my birthday, so today I’m posting some birthday correspondences – gems, flowers, colors. You can also check out our information about the astrological signs. These can be used as taglocks or correspondences in spells, or to tap into seasonal energies. The cool thing about the flower correspondences, for example, is that they all bloom in their corresponding months. Isn’t that cool?
So, lots of incense falls under the category of “herbs” in magical workings, just that the method of use is burning, specifically. I see the difference as one of purpose as well. In my opinion, incense, whether resins, herbs, woods, are used to set the overall intention and ‘mood’ of the ritual or spell. “Herbs” are more the functional part of the ritual or spell. You may have a different distinction, or none at all.
Here are some of the incenses that I currently have in stock, and their purposes:
Benzoin – Purification, Prosperity
Chocolate – Love, Romance, Grounding, Prosperity
Cinnamon – Spirituality, Success, Healing, Protection, Power, Psychic Powers, Love, Lust
These symbols can be very useful in creating spells, bindrunes and sigils. You can also use them in your journalling or other spell creation. You can even use them to study (print out the astrological signs – make sure you can recognize them, and then list some of the facts that you remember [dates, color, ruler, etc]).
This post is a work in progress, and probably always will be. It serves as an index of symbols and ideas that you can use in your magic and your book of shadows that serve as a sort of short hand that has been developed from astrology and alchemy and modern Wicca, You can use it as a starting point for your own book of shadows, and I will add to it, as I think of new sections.
Ok, so the image accompanying this post is a ‘voodoo doll,’ but it amused me, and it is technically a poppet.
While I was aware of them, my first real introduction to working with poppets was in a 2000 dracona.net class POPPETS, POTIONS, AND AMULETS taught by Yvonne. I am a crafty girl, and this kind of sympathetic magic seemed right up my alley. I really enjoyed working with them and have used different types and different representations over the years. This was just the first and was a very memorable tool.
Here is my journal post about the working that I shared with the class/group:
Sympathetic magic can also be referred to as representational magic. It is basically, using one thing in place of another, or as a representation of the target of your magic. Poppets are a sympathetic representation of a person. Candles are a representation of the element of fire. It is like a shorthand of our magical intent, using representations of the energies and targets of our spells.
There are many symbols which can be made or used to symbolize your target or intent in magic. These could be as simple as sketching a rune on a candle, or creating a bindrune, or using an image of a shield in a protection working. You might create a money bowl to draw money, using currency bills and coins, herbs that represent abundance and prosperity, a drawing oil with gold flakes in it. These are all symbols of the magic that you want to manifest.
First a disclaimer: Nothing is required in Witchcraft. You don’t need big extensive piles of supplies or tools, you just need (to be) a witch. That being said, physical representations of your intent can help aid you in your magic. That doesn’t mean that you should go out and spend $$$ on witchcraft tools and supplies. It means you look around and find those symbols, those associations, that mean something to you and help you to accomplish your goals. You use only what you find you need to make your magic work.
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