The Moon Is Full That Means The Weirdos Are Out. - Halloweentown

Job manifestation spelljar

by Olivia Au

OVER HER

Five years ago....

Without even thinking the phone was out of his hands and smashing against the wall.  Axel hated the effect his ex-wife still had on him, almost 10 years after their divorce. He had tried to be there even after everything she put him through, all the pain, all the grief. It didn't matter because he knew she was grieving more than he was, her pain was far worse than his. The person she was in love with had actually died, while it only felt like the woman he was in love with was dead. He guessed in a way she was dead. 

The words the day she had left still rang in his head over and over, he knew the reason he couldn't really ever let himself love anyone was because of Gianna. She was still the one in his heart, his gypsy rose for his whole life. Yet she never loved him the way he loved her, he knew that but he couldn't let her go no matter how hard he had tried. This is why she still got under her skin so badly, oh how he hated and loved her at the same damn time.  

Surely he had to know by now, 10 years after their divorce, after all the abuse at her hands that the woman hated him. Gia had played with his love for her at first, once his murder trial proved he was innocent. She used his good heart to get what she could out of him. Of course, he took care of her, he still did to this day. He let her manipulate him to get what she wanted, he paid for her hospital bills. He even paid for the lavish funeral for her lover that was murdered the night she was shot. 

He headed down to his workshop, taking their old wedding bands with him. He got his smelter ready to melt down the precious metals. He knew that as long as he held on to these he would hold onto Gia and what he thought they had. He worked to pull the diamonds from the metal of the rings. Placing them into a safe place he dropped all three rings into the smelter, watching as they began to dissolve into a puddle of white liquid. He had loved her for a very long time, but it was time to let it all go... time to let her go. 

Walk-A-Mile Hex

Call me old-fashioned, but I am a strong believer that curses inherently have the power to help as much as they have to harm. While witches have used them maliciously countless times, I prefer to learn towards curses that not only seek justice, but change ways. This is of the latter variety – meant not to damn (for the sole purpose of damnation), but to enlighten through disciplinary action. To force someone to see through the eyes of another, for the oppressor to feel his/her own oppression – to walk a mile in another person’s shoes. Hence the title: Walk-A-Mile.

Here I will present three variations to the hex, hopefully befitting a number of different circumstances, budgets and personal tastes.

Walk-A-Mile #1

This one is (objectively) the simplest of the three as far as supplies go, but is heavily reliant on the witch’s ability to acquiesce the foot-tracks of their victim and the power of time. I’ll be the first to note how difficult that can be at times – and one of the reasons I have created numerous variations to fulfill the same basic objective.

Things You Will Need:

Glass Bowl/Jar/Cup

(9) Nails – as per usual, iron being the best, but this one can be accomplished with any make

Dirt of the Foot-Track

Instructions:

Again, this one is quite simple – merely fill the glass vessel with the dirt. Optionally: add to this dirt Hoot Foot Powder, Goofer Dust or drizzle with your favorite crossing oil.

When the dirt has been added and lightly packed down, take the first of the nine nails (again, can be primed with an oil of your choosing) and drive it directly into the center of the dirt – naming your victim and whose misfortune you wish to inflict upon them.

This is where the process can get a little timely. Take one of the remaining 8 nails, driving one in every day for 9 days (the original nail being Day 1) – each time repeating the name of your victim and the misfortune. Ex. (Victim), take upon yourself the misery you have inflicted. When all the nails have been added, allow them to remain in the dirt for another 9 day period.

After the 18 day period, begin the last 9 days by removing one of the 9 nails each day – speaking something to the extent of: From your sorrows, you will grow. Each day, repeating the process until all 9 of the nails have been removed.

On the last day, return the foot-track from whence it came, sprinkle it on the land of the victim, or scatter on the pavement of a road. Ritually wash the nails so they might be reused or drive them into the earth of their property, where every day they might cross them as a reminder.

Walk-A-Mile #2

The process is relatively the same, but can be accomplished in a shorter period of time with a few added “ingredients.” This one also has the benefit of not requiring the foot-tracks of your victim, but a personal affect is still required.

Things You Will Need:

(1) Old Shoe – not your own, unless you seek to make them walk-a-mile in your shoes. I recommend a Goodwill or second-hand shop wherein you might find a cheap, old pair of shoes – just make sure to ritually cleanse them unless you want to risk dragging a stranger into the mix.

(9) Nails – iron or otherwise

A Hammer

The Shoe Laces or a length of string

A Personal Affect (or at least their name)

Instructions:

Begin by affixing the affect to the shoe in some way. For a name you need only write it on the shoe, some things work better stuffed inside, others are better held onto and affixed later. This is a decision that must be left to the witch cursing – it’s all a matter of taste.

Now, for the fun part. Turn the shoe upside down on a sturdy work surface (outside and on concrete probably being the best idea). Using the hammer, drive the first nail into the center of the sole. Depending on the type of shoe, it may be easier to drive nearer the toe than the heel, as heels are often tougher and thicker.

This has the added beauty of angrily hitting things, which is a useful energy for curses. Similar to the first variation, make sure to note who you are afflicting and the parameters of your desires. With the first nail through, add the others in a cross-like fashion. One above, one below, one to the left, and one to the right. Drive the remaining 4 nails in at the diagonal – making a box design with one nail in the center, or 3 vertical lines of 3 (which ever you see it as).

Flip the shoe back over and (if your shoe has laces) pull them as tight as you can, working and tightening them as you work down the laces. If you shoe doesn’t have laces, simple bind the entire shoe with twine or string, leaving a good length for the “ears” (you’ll see why in the next point).

To complete the working, take the shoe and string it up: 1) in a cemetery, 2) in a tree in the victim’s yard (this one has the added benefit of freaking the victim out) or 3) hanging it anywhere where they might see it.

The cross is complete.

Walk-A-Mile #3

This one is somewhat a combination of the first two, and also requires a personal affect, name, or foot-track (as always, being most preferable). This one requires only a rudimentary knowledge of sewing (just a straight/running stitch) and a collection of sewing pens; ending in something like a charm.

What You Will Need:

Fabric (no more than an 8inx8in square should be necessary; design, color, etc. are unimportant)

Needle and Thread (Black would be best, but really it doesn’t matter)

Personal Affect

Sewing Pins

(Optional: Stuffing if your personal affect is not substantial enough to fill the charm, graveyard dirt (paid for) is a perfect stuffing)

Instructions:

Sketch out a rough foot shape on your folded-over square of fabric – roughly 3 by 4.5 inches. Depending on what you intend to stuff it with (for instance dirt would require a tighter stitch), stitch from the curve of where the heel begins around the front and to the other side (leaving the heel unstitched) – allot a .5in to .75in seam allowance and trim the excess. Flip inside out.

Add into the pocket the personal affect and stuffing, pinch the heel and stitch it closed – giving you a sealed, foot-shaped charm. (At this point, you could add a tie or string so that the charm may be hung or carried)

With sewing pins at the ready, drive them one-by-one into the foot – speaking just as the other variations require, who you wish to inflict and the parameters. You can add as many or as few pins as you want, but for best results use multiples of 9 (9,18,27…), with each one, repeating the aforementioned phrase. 

When all the pins have been pushed it, keep in a visible place (on a key-chain or hanging from a car mirror being two good options), so that anytime you see it and think about it, the hex grows. When the victim has grown or you feel it has run its course, remove the pins, cleanse them and burn the rest.

Photo Source

Blessed Solstice ❄

LETTER TO LOO

Raven sat with her journal open, she had been writing in it off and on for the past hour. It was her day off from the Brew as she sat back sipping her coffee. Looking over at the framed photograph of her on her wedding day. Memories flooded back to her from that day a almost ten years had past since then. It had been a simple day, they had been two young kids that had fallen in love so easily and impulsively gotten married on a whim. As quickly as it came together everything seemed to fall apart as well. Being young stupid kids, they walked away from each other instead of fighting like they should have. Reaching out to picked up the photograph running her fingers over the smiling couple. She traced the lines of Logan's face, his smile, his hair. Placing the photograph back on the table she picked up her pen again and began to write.

My Loo,

This letter is about a year or more over due, as I sit in my home that is not shared with you. I have to wonder where we lost our way. Most of the fault lay at my doorstep as I am the one that left first, but I had hoped you would come for me. Like one of those scenes from a romance novels or movie. Or maybe you did and my grandfather sent you away. Deep in my heart I hope that is the case, yet I hope it is not.

I want you to know I never meant to stay away for this long. The day I packed my things up to leave was the day my grandfather passed away. I had more things to wrap up, in New Orleans. None of these things matter anymore. What matters is that I never stopped loving you, even when I left. Maybe that doesn't even matter anymore. I just want to be a part of your life whatever that may mean, friends, lovers or even to be your wife again someday.

Why am I writing you this letter now after all this time? Honestly? It's because I need you to know all these things. They need to be out in the open. You should know that your pictures are still in frames in my home and on my phone. That the sound of your voice still sends shivers down my spine. You should know that the door is open. That you are my lobster.

Rae

Raven paused as tapped her pen onto her journal. Would she even give him this letter? Was she ready to let him know how she was truly feeling? They had spoken a few times when he would come into the Brew for her coffees. Ripping the pages from the journal, she folded them carefully and tucked into her bra. She was supposed to meet him later for dinner, maybe she would give it to him then.

What's on your mind babygirl?

Every Year I Miss You A Little More

There was a text from his mother inviting him to come to have dinner with her Thanksgiving again this year. He sat back as he pondered the thought of spending another holiday with family. Thinking back on the last holiday he actually enjoyed was the last Thanksgiving that his twin was still alive. If he knew then that it would have been her last one he never would have gone partying with friends the night before. He would have spent the whole night sitting up talking to her about her twins, listening to her talk about whatever she wanted to. The hum of the fan droned on in the background as Draven laid on the bed in his room at his mother's house in Brooklyn, where the family was gathered for the holiday. He was loathed to be there for another one of them, but hopefully with the birth of the new babies thanks to his twin. Maybe Raven wouldn't be focused on her son and what he was doing with his life this year. Kaleigh was married with babies, which should have made her over the moon. Nothing really ever made Raven Wolfe over the moon, she seemed to be miserable all the time the past few years. He could smell food wafting up from the kitchen, his mother had been up since before dawn preparing a feast. Draven would never understand why she cooked so much food when there were so few of them. With the grace of a panther, he was off the bed and at the door of the bedroom. His favorite cat perched on his shoulder, Hera. Hades, his faithful familiar ever by his side as he made his way down the backstairs of the brownstone that lead directly into the kitchen. Letting Hades out the back door he set Hera down on the floor before resting his head on his mother's shoulder. "Something smells delicious Ma! When do we eat! I'm starving!" "Ha! You know we don't eat until three." Raven said as she kept kneading the dough for her rolls. She never even looked up at the tall thin young male standing over her. "I laid some snacks out on the table. I knew you'd be hungry when you finally made your appearance. What time did you come in last night anyway Draven?" The petite brunette asked as she finally looked up at her son as he walked over to the table where the snacks were that she mentioned. Shrugging his shoulders as he picked over the plate of fruit and veggies. "Really Ma? Where's the real food? The stuffing and the bird? Can't we ever eat sooner? I have sh*t I wanna do today." "DRAVEN! LANGUAGE!" His mother snapped as his twin walked into the kitchen carrying a basket filled with various sizes of candles. "You will not use that type of language here young man I don't care how old you are!" Raven almost shrieked at her son. "Ma! He only said sh*t, you are acting like he said F*** or something." Kaleigh said in her twin brother's defense, something about her defending him sent their mother into a tizzy. "Kaleigh! What have I told the two of you about using such vulgar language in my home? There are children in this house...." "Ma! They are infants jeez calm the f*** down." Draven said as he winked at his sister, shoving a grape in his mouth. "You're gonna have a heart attack." Taking a seat at the kitchen table he couldn't help but chuckle at the way he and his twin got under their mother's skin. They say that the pain of losing someone is supposed to get easier with time. Those people lie, every year seems to get harder for him to face the family on the holidays as he sinks into his own abyss. He still blames himself for not being there for her when she needed him the most. She was his other half, even though he knows there wasn't anything he could have done. He always feels like maybe, just maybe he could have done more. If he hadn't been wallowing in his own sh*t, maybe he would have seen that she needed him. Picking up his phone as he texts his mother back. "Nah Ma, I'm skipping the holidays this year. Love you."

Why Witchcraft Might Not Be Working For You

There’s so many different reasons a spell or ritual might not be working for you. So I thought I’d share some common reasons why some new witches might be struggling with witchcraft.

✨ You’re not connecting to the ingredients, tools or supplies needed for the spell

What works for me, might not work for you, and that’s okay. This doesn’t mean the spell you’re using is a dud or that you’re not doing it right. It just means that you haven’t formed those connections with the ingredients or tools yet, or your connection with them is different. 

A great example is blueberries lol. In witchcraft blueberries are most commonly associated with protection BUT for me I associate them with creativity and astral travel. There’s a personal reason for this and through out my many many years practicing and studying witchcraft I’ve come to build this relationship with blueberries.

✨ You’re energy is too low

I know the feeling of just really really wanting to get into the magick of it all. But witchcraft is energy draining. If you’re low on energy (edited) then you’re gonna be putting out low energy and that can affect the effectiveness of your spells.

Give yourself time and practice low energy magick like smoke cleansing your space, charging your crystals under the full moon or rearranging your altar (or creating an altar).  

✨ You have been given a false idea of what witchcraft is and how it should feel or how it should work

Real witchcraft isn’t measurable nor is it able to be defined in one true way. Witchcraft is different for every single witch. Even witches in covens have given different descriptions of the feelings they’ve had while performing the same spell or ritual. That’s because we all experience magick a different way.

Don’t be too hard on yourself because you didn’t feel a hot light burning inside of you, like one witch may describe. And don’t feel bad if you don’t literally see colors radiating from your spell jar like another witch described. Personally I’ve never experienced either of those things but that doesn’t mean that what I was doing wasn’t working, it just worked differently and felt differently for me. I may not have had those exact same experiences but I had my own, and they were/are just as special. 

Next time you do a spell or ritual, write how it made you feel in your journal. Don’t just write the spell down but write all the things you felt, saw, smelled, heard and even tasted. This way you can get a better understand of how magick works and feels for you.

✨ Your space, body, mind or spirit needs to be cleansed

The biggest reason I’ve found for my spells just completely flopping is I didn’t bother cleansing before doing it. Negative energy is like white cat hair stuck to your favorite black leggings, it ain’t going nowhere until you clean it lol.

The great thing about cleansing is it can be done with just your hands! Yeah, bet a witch has never told you that before LOL. Sound is a great way to cleanse a space. Snapping, clapping and rubbing our hands together makes sounds. You can tab on a table, or use EFT (usually done as a meditative practice but could be utilized in cleansing the mind, body and spirit as well).

You can cleanse with incense, candles, oils, and water too.

✨ Your spells have too many ingredients

I find the more stuff you use for a spell the more unpredictable the outcome is, this is because each ingredient can have multiple properties. Even if you have personal correspondences with them they still usually have multiple uses. Like the blueberry example I gave, for me I associate blueberries more with astral travel and creativity but I also associate it with platonic relationships, happiness and protection. Even though I still associate it with protection it wouldn’t be necessary for me to use it in a protection spell if I’m already using something else that I more strongly associate with protection.

In witchcraft, often times, less really is more. I’ve created the 5 elements “rule” for myself and it’s worked out really well for me. I use 1 ingredient to represent each of the 5 different elements (earth, air, fire, water and spirit) in most of my spells and rituals. If it’s a spell jar, pouch, tea. elixr (or something like that) I like to try and keep my ingredients to a 3 - 5 limit. It prevents me from using up my stash so quickly and prevents my ingredients from completely canceling each other out.

✨ You’re scared

This is sooooooooo normal, don’t even think you’re weird or something because  you’ve got some fears or concerns about practicing witchcraft. It’s common for someone from a religious (especially an abrahamic one) background to hold onto the teachings of their religion and to be fearful of the unknown. Especially if it’s been drilled into your head that it’s evil and you’ll burn in an eternity of fire for burning a sage bundle lol.

If this is you, ease into witchcraft. Learn more about the different traditions and take your time studying. This isn’t a race. Witchcraft ain’t going nowhere lol. You’re not obligated to just dive in head first. It’s okay to take your time and really get comfortable.

✨ Lastly, you’re taking on too much at once

You ever see those witch blogs that seem to pop up out of nowhere and they’re just blasted into popularity, only for the witch to later denounce their practice in the craft claiming that it wasn’t really working for them or that it all turned out to be bs? This is usually because they watched 1 or 2 youtube videos about witchcraft and decided to buy a $300 witch starter kit, 10 books about witchcraft and 3 tarot decks all before even doing any research into witchcraft at all.

They took on too much, too fast. They’ve also taken on things they lack an understanding of and because of this lack of understanding (and a natural desire to want to be good at something instantly), when it doesn’t work for them they claim it’s bullshit and fake.

You need to be patient. Just like any skill or talent, it takes time to master and to see the results we want. So if you’re someone whose invested a lot of money upfront into your craft and now it just doesn’t seem to be working for you, take your time. You’re not going to learn everything about witchcraft overnight (chances are you’ll never learn everything about witchcraft lol). The amount of money you spend won’t make you a better witch or make you better at witchcraft. So don’t fall for those beginner witch starter kits that start at $100.

You don’t need to do everything at once.

I hope this is helpful. If you have anything to add to this list please do so. And remember, witchcraft is a craft. Crafts take time, patiences and skill. These are not things that you just develop overnight. Take your time, cleanse your space, grow relationships with your ingredients, tools and supplies, and allow yourself to experience your magick and don’t try to replicate someone else’s.