14 May 23

“Clean up your own mess” – Practical Magic

Ok, I love the movie Practical Magic, and the sassy dialogue, but this statement, “Clean up your own mess.” is actually a very important part of working magic – on both a spiritual and mundane level. Whether you agree with me and like this movie or not, there are two very, very important lessons that you can take away from it. The first is take responsibility for the situations that you create, through action or inaction, and deal with the consequences of your actions (or lack thereof).

In the movie, the aunts [Bridget (Jet) and Frances (Frannie)], deliver this very important lesson of responsibility (“Clean up your own mess”) via Antonia (Sally’s daughter). They have left unexpectedly, after making sure that the youngest girls have some protection, to make sure that the lesson becomes clear. They don’t leave forever. In fact, they come back and are pivotal in the resolution. They act like experienced elders, like gods and goddesses, like mentors that say, “I’m done holding your hand. You did this. Now, fix it.”

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10 May 23

Me and My Shadow

My birthday is coming up in two weeks, so it is a good time for introspection. It is also, like any time of transition, a good chance to look at ‘where am I?’, ‘how did I get here?’, and ‘where do I want to go from here?’. An honest approach to these questions is a good basis for beginning shadow work.

I’m an introvert, so naturally, hanging out in your own head is not all there is to shadow work. Shadow work is about facing those pieces and sides of yourself that you may not want to look at, or even admit exist. It’s about bringing those things into the light, and acknowledging that they exist. It’s about facing your issues, your problems, your biases, and actually doing something about them. Yeah, that doesn’t really sound like fun. It’s not. However, it’s one of those things that you’ll be thankful for later – kind of like lancing and draining a really painful boil.

It is however, something that, hopefully, you will have someone to talk and work through with you. An experienced elder that you trust and/or a licensed therapist are great (and some would say necessary) companions on this journey, especially if you have trauma in your past, as many of us do. As someone who has faced repressed trauma and the psychological aftermath more than once, I entreat you to please have a support system in place before you begin shadow work. If you are a solitary practitioner with no spiritual or mundane support, shadow work is not a necessary component to your practice.

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7 May 23

In the Presence of the Goddess

I had a strange experience while at work tonight. I work in a hospital, in a fairly sterile environment. While I was listening to a Hecate’s Garden podcast, the host lit a candle and some incense, and suddenly I was surrounded by the smoke and scent of the incense. The scent lingered while she talked.

Hail, Hecate!

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7 May 23

Working with the Elements

A simple way to begin working with the elements, is to practice invoking and banishing them. You can do this one at a time, if you want to meditate on the qualities and feel of a specific element. Or, you can call all of the elements as a part of a circle casting. I use these simple invocations as a basis for the invocations that I use in ritual, because they are easy to learn, and easy to adapt for future workings and purposes.

My calls begin with Air in the North; if your traditions are different, you can easily move them around to suit your practices. You can also easily change the qualities of each element that you wish to call upon. These calls are meant to get you in the practice of calling and releasing the elements. You can next practice on adapting these basic calls to more complicated ones.

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30 Apr 23

Beltane History & Lore

May Day or Beltane, while it may be translated to other cultures or traditions is based on Celtic history and traditions. In Celtic tradition, the two greatest festivals of the solar year are Samhain and Beltane, celebrations of death and rebirth, respectively. Love is in the air at Beltane. In traditional (Celtic) Wiccan rituals, we celebrate the union between the Great Mother and her young Horned God. Their coupling brings fresh new life on Earth.

Fertility Sabbat

Some form of this Great Rite is enacted on this sabbat in many modern pagan circles. The Great Rite symbolizes the sacred marriage and/or sexual union, of the Lord and Lady. Often the rite is performed symbolically by a male and female who place a knife (a phallic symbol) into a chalice (a female or yonic symbol). In Old Europe, whole villages would celebrate May Day by slipping away into the woods for indiscriminate sexual encounters. Any children conceived during this occasion were known as “merry-begots” and were considered children of the gods. These “greenwood marriages” were acts of sympathetic magick believed to have a positive effect on their crops, animals, and themselves.

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28 Apr 23

Work the Magic, But Do the Work

I have been doing more magic lately and working more with the God and Goddess. So, since I have been renewing my magical practice, and working with a new Deity (Apollo), I often get nudges and demands to move forward in my practice, ie. waking up with a message/nagging thought to do a certain thing. Friday afternoon, when I woke up to get ready for work, I received some not great news in the mundane world. This news while very disappointing was also in conflict with a spell I had recently done.

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26 Apr 23

Witchcraft Supplies

We moved in to a new home (our first house) at the beginning of fall last year. As we start to really settle in, the growing pains have also set in. The house is still amazing, but now I can see the chips in the paint and the stuff that really needs to be fixed. I also want my witchcraft supplies (and everything else) out of storage and out of boxes and totally put away. I am done with just being functional and want my stuff! I also want it right here, right now, and completely organized and accessible.

So, it is no surprise, by now, I am totally a list person. I like keeping track of things, what I have, what I want, where it all is. I make lots and lots of lists to sort out my brain as much as my physical collections. I know that you totally don’t need everything on this list. You are all you really need to work magic. If you’ve also access to some water and salt, bonus! Everyone is different, and the Goddess/God/Universe doesn’t want you going broke over ‘must have’ tools.

That being said, there are definitely times where having an item on which to focus your intent and to assist your energy can be helpful in your spell work. I also have developed my habits over the last two and a half decades to what I like and what works for me. (Also, I’ll admit that I have a mix of bad habits in – “ooh, shiny” and “got to catch them all.” ADHD FTW! Don’t judge me.)

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23 Apr 23

Raising Energy to Power Your Spells

This is always a difficult one to explain, especially over the internet, but being able to use and manipulate energy is an absolute cornerstone of powering a spell. Energy has to come from somewhere. When you light a campfire, a spark is added to wood, the wood is consumed and in return you get light, heat, energy and ashes (the remains). Spell work is a lot like that. You need to be able to apply that spark, and also to direct the resultant energy toward your goal. To do that, you need to be able to manipulate energy. That is the basis of Witchcraft and working magic.

The fire analogy is also a good one, because it can also give a sort of feedback that you are beginning to succeed. A candle flame has its own energy, but if you feed energy into it, or draw back from it, then you can often see the flame respond to you. The flame may rise super high, or it may dance or lean as you play with it. Most people practice gathering the energy in their hands and pushing it outwards, but others prefer a more ‘mental’ push.

The question is ‘How do you learn to generate, feel and direct that energy?’

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19 Apr 23

13 Basic Stones

Let me tell you a secret. Do you know where I got most of my stones for spells, especially in the beginning? At truck stops and various places, they have these big bins of tumbled stones that you shove in little velvet bags and pay one price for the bag. Like the scientist that I am, I would peruse those bins with intent to find the perfect quartz, or perfect amethyst, or perfect agate, and then stuff my little bag as full as possible. I love doing touristy stuff, and I love to find the perfect stone.

I got my first magical name, ‘Amethysta’ because Barnes & Noble had this spinny rack of gemstones with little description cards, and I would close my eyes while my partner spun the rack around, and I would inevitably choose the amethyst because I was so drawn to it.

Stone magic can be awesome, kind of like those pet rocks for kids, except sometimes it feels like they really do respond back when you communicate with them. They can help you, comfort you, ground you. You just have to find the right stones to work with your magic.

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