Bone Divination (Osteomancy) Is An Ancient Practice Of Fortune Telling Used Throughout Many Cultures.

🔮28 Day Witchy Challenge🔮

Hi lovelies! I hope you are all having a beautiful day! I have decided to make a 28 Day Witchy Challenge Post. This can be started at the beginning of the month or at any time. It’s whatever you prefer.

This is geared towards all witches, new and old. This challenge is focused on taking care of you and your witchy self. I am starting off September with challenge one. I’d love to see or know if y'all do it!!

🔮 DAY 1 - Take time out of your day to think about, write about, or draw what your witchy self looks like. What they are into. Their favorite witchy activity. Any details you can possibly think of.

🔮DAY 2 - Take the day to meditate. It can be about anything or nothing at all. Let your mind wonder and do it’s thing. Journal about it and let things come to you.

🔮DAY 3 - BUY SOMETHING WITCHY! This challenge is all about self-care for you and your witchy self, so it can be as simple as spending a dollar at the dollar store or buying something elaborate online. If there is no way you can buy something, try to find something. For example, go to the woods/Park and try to find a mushroom for an offering.

🔮DAY 4 - Piggy backing off of day 3, MAKE SOMETHING JUST FOR YOU AND YOUR CRAFT. Like all of these days, it can be something big or small. You can make a set of runes or maybe make yourself a picture for your alter. Just make it for YOU!

🔮DAY 5 - Watch or listen to something witchy. Charmed, Practical Magic, listen to some witchy music, anything!

🔮 DAY 6 - Spend some time in nature! Whether it is sitting on your lawn or taking a hike, or even a walk through the park, just take time to appreciate nature and Mother Earth and all she had given us.

🔮DAY 7 - Let an entire candle burn. I know this may sounds silly to some of you, but I am the type of person that struggles with this (unless doing a specific spell). So, just sit with your candle and watch it burn. Feel free to multitask while doing this. Just try to focus on it now and again. It can be a birthday candle or a very large candle, whatever works for you.

🔮DAY 8 - Make a special cup of tea. If you’re not a tea drinker, try a different kind or hot coco or coffee. When making, focus in your intent. When drinking, focus on all the different flavors you taste and sensations you feel.

🔮DAY 9 - Journal about the elements and what they mean to you.

🔮DAY 10 - Make a list of new worst things you can try. It can be anything like talking more walks or a new spell!

🔮 DAY 11 - Journal about your deities/higher power. What they mean to you. If you don’t have any, then try to journal about the energies around you. What you feel and the power.

🔮 DAY 12 - Piggy backing off of day 12, write down/find a new way you can honor your deities or energies that you journaled about. And if it’s possible, do it! It can be anything from a leaf you found to an elaborate meal. It can be simply praying.

🔮DAY 13 - BATH OR SHOWER MAGIC! This is pretty self-explanatory, but try to just take some time and take a magical bath or shower. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, or it can! Try to just focus your intent and maybe try a shower or bath meditation. There are a ton of different things here on Tumblr, so get creative!

🔮DAY 14 - Spell Jar!! There are a TON of spell jars on Tumblr and all over the internet. You can use those or make your own! They are very easy and great if you’re low on spoons!

🔮DAY 15 - Cook! If you aren’t able to cook due to physical reasons, or even lack of time, then try to eat something special. Regardless, cook or at least eat something that inspires you or harnesses your intent.

🔮DAY 16 - PRAYER! This is pretty self-explanatory, but try to honor and show your intent. Ask even, for guidance, hope, strength, whatever!

🔮DAY 17 - Sky watching! You can watch the Moon and stars or just the clouds go by.

🔮DAY 18 - Journal about what magick means to you. Go into as much detail as possible.

🔮DAY 19 - SIGILS! Make your own sigil! Focus your intent and be creative! If there is no way you can come up with your own, then feel free to use one from the internet.

🔮DAY 20 - Alter time!!! Try to redecorate your alter! If you are in the broom closet, then maybe draw one!

🔮DAY 21 - Journal about ways you can, from now on, nurture yourself. Whether it’s teas, baths, putting on makeup, whatever! Make lists or just woke about the things you want to do!

🔮DAY 22 - Worry Stone! You can find one or make one or but one, it’s totally up to you! Which brings us toooooooooooo……

🔮DAY 23 - Cleanse and charge your items!! There are umpteen different ways you can cleanse and charge your items, just pick one! Please make sure that however you cleanse and charge your items, it is safe for them.

🔮DAY 24 - PLANTS! Take care of your plants, harvest a plant, buy a plant, even take some time to talk with your plants!

🔮DAY 25 - SCAVENGER HUNT! No, not literally. But, go find something that nature has given you. A mushroom, a leaf, anything! Place it on your alter and honor it! By honoring it, you honor Mother Nature and all that she has created. Including you!

🔮DAY 26 - Do a glamour!! This can be anything from enchanting your chapstick to make you feel loved or carrying a self-love charm bag. Get creative with it! Try to make your intent focus on love from yourself or self-confidence!

🔮DAY 27 -MAKE YOUR OWN SPELL! Literally, just have fun with this. Use your alter, use your journal entries and the internet and books! Get creative! Focus your intent and be specific! It can be low spoons or high spoons. Whatever works for you!

🔮DAY 28 - MEDITATE! Meditate about the past 28 days and all the work you’ve done! Think and focus on your craft and all the self-care you have worked for!

I hope y'all enjoy this! Please let me know if you do it! I’d love to hear y'all’s thoughts! Feel free to edit this however you want! Make it work for you! I hope all you lovelies are have a beautiful day/night! 💚

Love and light

Cait ✌

Before and after-spell checklist

I remember being a baby rat that would ddrive her head into spells on the first sign of the house being empty. Hint: the aftermath of spellcasting knocked me out of balance for a couple of days. Don’t do as I do, do as I say, kids. I am a chaotic creature, but you don’t have to be one as well!

Before spellcasting:

Ground yo ass

Cleanse the space

Gather things for your circle

Prepare everything you need

Check in with your energy levels - if you feel a bit tired, chances are that the spellwork will leave you drained

After spellcasting:

Close your circle

Put everything away

Cleanse your space AND yourself

Ground if you want to

Practice self-care (drink water, eat food, contact a friend, take a nap and relax)

Things above will help you not waste unnecessary energy. Grounding might even give you a tiny boost! However, these things work for me and my craft. If yours is different (which I firmly believe it is), that’s great! You shouldn’t feel like you need to emply everything I’ve said into it!

This was a short post, but alas, it is a done post. Happy casting, yall. I love you

-Mama SwoonSwoon

Working with Plants

1. Start your own Herbal. There are some great books out there, but recording your own experiences/uses/collected lore for herbs is invaluable. Draw, press or take photos of the plants you include. 

2. Learn about plants by seeing them with your own eyes. Visit botanical gardens, nurseries, garden centres and parks to see the plants in situ and (hopefully) correctly labelled. The human brain has an amazing memory for plants, it is a survival skill to be able to identify them. When you walk through a park or garden, notice the plants and identify those you know to re-establish this memory.

3. Grow things. Be as ambitious as your space, money and time allow. Collect plants that are hard to find, appeal to you and suit your climate. Go beyond culinary herbs. Be aware of where you plant things in the garden, both directionally and symbolically. Plants you have grown are constantly receiving offerings of your time, energy and resources and are therefore more likely to be willing to assist you.

4. Plants will die. Even the most experienced gardener will lose plants. Accept it. Don’t just buy a few seedlings and then decide you lack a green thumb because they all died. Some herbs are annuals, that means they only live for a season, some plants are deciduous, some will simply not be suited to your climate or area and fail to thrive. Be patient and persistent and become a student of gardening as well has herbcraft.

5. Work in depth with a particular herb or tree to discover its secrets. Read everything you can about it, research folklore and planetary correspondences, consume it raw, dried, as a tea and a tincture. Prepare a spagyric essence from it. Burn it as incense. Infuse oil with it. Grow it, talk to it, dream about it. Watch how it changes through the seasons, collect its seeds, smell its flowers. Do this until you know it inside out, and then begin again with another. 

6. Substituting herbs is tricky business. No, you can not replace all flowers with lavender or all herbs with rosemary. That is lazy nonsense. Put some actual effort into getting the herbs you need for a spell, and if you genuinely can’t acquire them find something botanically related, energetically similar or at very least ruled by the same planet.

7. Treat herbs and trees as spirits, with respect and humility. Ask before your take, leave offerings, communicate, bond with them and you will be rewarded with gifts and wisdom and powerful ingredients for your spells.

8. Poisonous herbs and strong entheogens are for advanced practitioners. Don’t just start growing or using them because you want to be taken seriously. Some of these plants are tricksters, they can be very seductive. They are quite capable of controlling you. Be wary.

9. When harvesting for magical use, think not only what the plant is but where it is growing. A tree on a university campus will have different properties to the same kind found in a graveyard. A herb growing at the crossroads is different to one found by a stream. 

10. Expand your learning and awareness beyond trees and herbs. Learn the lore of mosses, lichens, fungi and seaweeds. Parasitic and carnivorous plants. Get to know the plants that grow locally, even if they are far removed from those found in your books.

11. Check your sources when it comes to lore. If a book tells you lavender is good for love spells, question it. Try to discover where the information came from, look up the older herbals, read books of plant folklore, investigate planetary and elemental correspondences based on the nature and virtues of the plant, not just what Cunningham says. 

12. Develop relationships not only with individual trees and herbs, but with particular species. Plants can be spirit guides in the way that animals can. There is an oak tree, and then there is Oak. They can teach, guide and protect. Having a handful of plant allies you know intimately and fashioning your tools from their wood, planting them around your house and visiting them in the wild will make your connection to those spirits all the stronger.

Uncrossing Masterpost

Uncrossing is when a person removes a curse, hex, jinx, or other spell that was casted against them which brings them negative energy, bad luck, or catastrophic events. Remember to take care of yourself after performing an uncrossing spell by cleansing and protecting yourself and your home.

Hoodoo Floor Wash by @divinemoon “Backfire” Curse-Repelling Enchantment by @mothmaam Uncrossing Powder by @thecandlebearer Cursing 101: How to Break a Curse by @the-traveling-witch Mild & Spicy Cursebreaker Powders by @lazywitchling Curse Removing Wash by @lunaesteria Spider Oil by @witchinthenight Break A Spell Cast Against You by @belladonnaswitchblog Blackthorn Reversing Spell by @thiscrookedcrown Lemon Test (to determine if you are cursed) by @i-am-the-nature-witch A Spell to Counter Another’s Magick by @christowitch An orange, lemon, and lime spell to break a hex or curse by @the-darkest-of-lights Hex and Curse Breaking by @thiscrookedcrown Counter-curses by @breelandwalker Protection from Curses by @cindernook Simple curse-breaking spell by @agnosticanimist The Healing Pool: A Cursebreaker by @hedge-witch-wannabe Curse Removals by @urbanspellcraft Return to Sender by @spiritscraft Counter-curses and Curse Removals by @thesigilwitch Anti-Curse Powder by @urbanwitchery Major Arcana Spells - Lady Justice - Return to Sender by @the-weatherwitch Lemon Uncrossing by @belladonnaswitchblog To Break a Spell You’ve Cast by @natural-magics remove magick done unto another by @the-ram-witch Black salt & white candle curse removals by @visardistofelphame Sigil nullifier (sigil tw) by @allura Engraved Hourglass Nebula Curse Return Spell by @themanicnami Removing Hexes and Curses by @urbanwitchery Charm Bags - to Reverse Bad Luck by @lodgewitch Disenchanting Bath by @kitchenwitchn Break the Curse (sigil tw) by @sigils-r-us A simple “Reverse The Curse” spell by @mothyseawitchery Reversal spells by @sylvaetria To Nullify a Spell by @orriculum Protection and curse removal spells by @belladonnaswitchblog Wards and removals (abuse tw) by @urbanspellcraft Something to Consider before you Curse: Reversals by @wildernesswitchery Hex Breaker Potion by @thewitchystuff Reversal, removal, & breaker by @spellboundwitchcraft Lemon Uncrossing Spell by @witchypun Breaking a curse by @cunningcelt Witchy tip - bay leaves by @whoanellee Huckleberry by @aspelladay Uncrossing powder by @rad-magick

Mini incantations for a better day*

*SOME OF THESE I WROTE AND SOME I FOUND VIA THE INTERNET I DO NOT OWN ALL OF THESE

**if you happen to see your incantation and want credit, let me know I’ll add it to the post

☕️ Put a punch of cinnamon in your morning coffee or tea. Stir it clockwise and say “Cinnamon you magical spice, bless my day and make it nice.”

🌹 While spraying rose water on your face in a clockwise motion say “water of roses, lend me your grace, bless me with a beautiful face.”

💄 While applying lipgloss/lipstick or chapstick say “I am beautiful, I am kind, I am the apple of everyone’s eye.”

✨ While tapping powder or glitter onto your face say “ever more beautiful shall I be, to all others who may see, by the power of three times three” repeat 3x total.

⏱If running late, tap a watch or your phone and say “my way is swift, my path is clear, I’ve got to get my ass in gear.”

🐰 On the first day of a new month, as your feet touch the floor getting out of bed say “white rabbit” for lots of good luck.

🍷 Stir a glass of wine with your finger clockwise and say “My words and heart are completely pure, may the love of my life walk through that door” before an important first date.

💰 Before work, while applying a necklace or bracelet, say “money comes and doesn’t stop, money makes me rise to the top.”

How to Write Your Own Spells

There are lots of ways to create spells, from planning everything to the minutest detail ahead of time to absolutely flying by the seat of your pants in the moment. If you'd like to write your own spells, either for use in your craft or as a creative exercise, here are some suggested steps that I use in my own practice:

1) Determine the intent or goal of your spell. Decide, first and foremost, what you want the spell to do. Refine your goal if necessary and try not to be too nebulous. Your intent tells the spell what it's meant to do. A more focused goal may increase the chances of success.

2) Determine how you want the spell to manifest. Decide how the spell should work and what the result should look like. This is a good time to build in a sign of success, especially for spells that may not work in an obvious or visible way.

3) Determine what or whom the spell will affect. If the spell is to have a target, be it a person or a place or an animal or an object, decide what that should be and how they or it will be represented in the casting.

4) Determine how long the spell is meant to work. If your spell is timebound or has a deadline, decide what that will be. If the spell is meant to work long-term, you may want to check in and refresh it from time to time. (Not every spell will be timebound. Many spells will simply expire when they have fulfilled their purpose or if they are blocked or circumstances are not favorable.)

5) Determine the timing of the spell, if applicable. Not everyone uses celestial or astrological timing for their spells, but if you do, look into the prevailing conditions and decide on an advantageous time for your casting. (Please note that magical timing can only enhance your spell and casting something on the "wrong" day will not necessarily cause it to fail.)

6) Determine what methods and materials you want to use to cast the spell. Decide how you're going to go about performing the casting, whether you're doing a ritual or making a charm or just using energy. If you're going to need a ritual space or physical components, plan that out and make sure it fits with what you want to do.

7) Determine the words, if any, which will empower the spell. If you want to include a prayer or a petition or a song or an incantation with your spell, decide what that should be. This is not strictly necessary and the words need not be spoken aloud. (Rhyming incantations are not required, but if you prefer them that way, you can certainly do so.)

8) Prepare the materials for casting the spell. Get all your necessaries together ahead of time. Make sure you have everything you need, that tools and components are in good and useable condition, prepare your workspace, and make sure everything is within easy reach so you don't have to stop and search for things in the middle of your casting. (And for goodness sake, if you're working with open flame, observe fire safety and tie your hair and sleeves back.)

9) Finalize details and perform the casting. When you're ready to begin, try to eliminate as many possibilities for distraction or interruption as possible. Go over your spell and components one more time, then proceed with casting the spell.

10) Record the particulars for future reference and to determine how well the spell worked. Make a record of the spell, including your goal, how it should manifest, the words and components used, the date of the casting, the casting method and procedure, and how the casting went. If there are any additional details or observations that seem important, include those as well. This will serve as a useful learning tool in the future and will allow you to check your work if the results make themselves known.

It's useful to write spells from time to time if the inspiration strikes you, in order to better understand how they fit together and how they work. Plus it's a fun and creative journaling exercise and recording the spells you cast a great way to measure your progress later on.

For additional tips on writing your own spells and helpful tricks for using timing and available materials to your advantage, check out my podcast, Hex Positive, Eps. 006-007, "Come In For A Spell, pt 1 & 2."

(And if you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

Happy Witching! 🔮✨

Witch Tip Wednesday 3.7.18

Salt Your Sigils, Walk With Chalk

There are few things we consistently have with us when we leave the house: keys, wallet/phone and clothes. Of those clothes you wear, they change daily, but your shoes may not.

There’s tons of folklore about shoes and steps and turns of phrase, so why not use them as a tool?

There’s the helm of awe on the heels, moons and star on the inside heel, and an all seeing eye.

Why not draw the sigils you need on the soles of your shoes? Use some chalk and hop to it! Protection, travel, speed, discretion, do some hex work by writing the name of someone on the soles and spend the day trampling them.

Alternatively, you can draw on brick, walls, the ground and possibly shoes (haven’t tried) with salt.

You can get salt rocks online for a few bucks and they’ll last a loooong time. Treat them like chalk, when scraped against rough surfaces they leave a white trail and it’s an easy and less mess way of carrying salt with you for Witching on the go.

Draw a circle wherever you feel the need to do a working, sigils, staves, symbols, gliphs, anything you would trace or draw can have extra oomph behind it by physically drawing it with something of the earth.

🦇Cheers, Barberwitch

Shoe photo source unknown

Orriculum’s Spell Masterpost

updated 10/4/2017 - a masterpost of several smaller masterposts, of nearly 300 different spells organized by type / intent / occasion, plus other resources

all links under the cut because holy fuck this post is still very long

Keep reading

A Deep Room Cleanse

The state of my room is extremely important to me. It’s a direct reflection of my mental health, so when it’s messy, my energy levels are low and I just feel yucky. There’s no way I’m getting any kind of work done, magical or mundane. When it feels good and clean to be in, it’s a lot easier to deal with my symptoms and be productive. You don’t have to do every step every time of course, but each step has helped me so I figured a list like this might help someone. 

Change the lighting. Use natural sources of light (like pulling back the curtains and letting the sun in) over artificial ones. If you have salt lamps to turn on, those are still very nice. If you need artificial light to keep it from being too dark, try to prioritize light bulbs you like the color of, and ones that don’t whistle quietly when they’re on.

Change the airflow. Open a window, if you can. Often our rooms feel yucky because the air is stale. Get some fresh air moving. If it’s too cold, it’s okay to only keep it open for a few minutes or put on a coat while you work because you’re stubborn like me.

Change the sound. Put on your favorite cleansing music. Let it soak into the room. I tend to go or ambient spa stuff, or playlists that sound built for a rainy day. (Note: the music that helps you cleanse the best may not be the same as what you like the most. The playlist should keep you focused/uplifted while you work and reflect the vibes you want your room to have.)

Change the smell. Take out the trash, maybe refresh the sheets on your bed. Light a scented candle, some incense, heat up some oil, something to make your room smell distinctly different from the mucky-feeling room from before. (If your method of choice is something short like a room spray, I actually like doing it at the very end.)

Actually clean and organize. Nothing junks up the energy of a room more quicker than actual junk. Organize everything as much as you can (this might mean finally gutting your closet, even if you can close the door and hide it.) Wipe down any surfaces that need it, get everything fresh and functional again. Do some laundry while you work. If you have clothes or trinkets that are just collecting dust, extra points for purging them! 

 Cleanse any sacred spaces by themselves. A lot of us have altars or shrines in our rooms. A sacred space can also be just an extra important area of your room, like a reading nook.  Make sure to give them extra attention! You don’t need to wipe the board energetically (and probably shouldn’t), but taking a little extra time to clean surfaces, straighten up, and make sure everything feels okay on them goes a long way.

Cleanse in your regular way. Bust out the herb bundles, the bells, the ribbons, the broom, whatever you usually do to cleanse a space! The room is SUPER primed for it now, most of the negative energy probably already feels removed if not broken down. A good once-over with your favorite cleansing method should finish it off nicely. 

Refresh any wards or protections. Self explanatory. If you maintain energy borders in your room, now is a good time to check in on them and zhoosh them if needed. Keep the space clean for longer! 

Practice self-care. Take a shower, a nap, eat some food, whatever you need. You’ve put in a lot of work and you deserve it. 

Explain the basic: shielding and banishing

Shielding and banishing are two of the most important things you have to learn before you start your journey as a witch. Both practices are essential for maintaining energetic boundaries and ensuring a safe environment for magical or spiritual work. used to protect oneself from negative energies, entities, or influences and to remove unwanted energies or entities from a space. Here's a breakdown of shielding and banishing in witchcraft:

Shielding: Shielding involves creating a protective barrier around oneself, which acts as a defense against negative energies or influences. It helps maintain personal boundaries and prevents unwanted energies from affecting one's well-being. Common methods of shielding include:

Visualization: Visualizing a shield of white light, a protective bubble, or an impenetrable barrier around your body. This visualization can be accompanied by the intention of repelling negativity while allowing positive energies to flow.

Energy Manipulation: Drawing upon personal energy or universal energy to create a protective shield. This can involve using hand movements, gestures, or energy manipulation techniques to form and maintain the shield.

Use of Objects or Symbols: Carrying protective talismans, amulets, or symbols such as pentagrams, runes, or protective sigils that represent personal protection. These items can aid in maintaining the shield's strength.

Banishing: Banishing refers to the act of removing negative energies, entities, or influences from a person, place, or space. It's a method used to cleanse and purify an area or oneself from unwanted energies. Common practices for banishing include:

Smudging or Cleansing: Burning herbs like sage, palo santo, or cedar to clear a space of negative energies. Using the smoke to cleanse and purify the environment.

Salt or Protective Circles: Sprinkling salt around a space or creating a protective circle by physically drawing or visualizing it to keep unwanted energies out or to contain them within the circle for removal.

Rituals and Spells: Performing rituals or casting spells specifically designed for banishing. This involves using candles, herbs, oils, and specific incantations to remove negative influences or energies.

Invocation of Higher Powers: Calling upon higher spiritual entities, deities, or guides associated with protection or cleansing to aid in banishing unwanted energies or entities.

As always, I will love to hear your thoughts! and if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them! If you liked it, leave a comment or reblog (that is always appreciated!). and have a wonderful day or night!