Running away is not an advisable strategy for dealing with your problems, but I can’t sell my that it’s been effective for me so far…
(This isn't reactionary I promise, it's been on my mind for a couple of days 😅)
Idk really how helpful this will be, but if you're a beginner who is confused by a lot of apparently contradicting information, here are some thoughts/ideas that are too basic to have been this hard earned, but I'm not called Fool for no reason.
[All of the following are just my beliefs and aren't universal or applicable to everyone]
You can find apparent contradictions in almost any magical action. For example:
Light a candle to charge a crystal with energy
Light a candle to burn away an energy and dwindle it down to nothing
When you light the candle, is it going to fill the crystal with energy?
Or, is it going to burn away energy until nothing is left?
When you perform a magical action, "setting intent" can be a vital first step that should not be skipped.
If you are aware that the fire could either charge or burn away, then it is very literally up to you what it does. As the agent of control and/or chaos, it is the witch who determines which facets of power come out to play.
Setting intent can be done inside of your head. Or, speak, sign, or write intent.
Rules about how you totally have to write intent can, for the most part, be ignored (e.g., "your intent must be present progressive tense or the Universe will never let you manifest your goals." Nah, the Universe doesn't even speak human language tbh.)
Setting intent is not the only step to working magic, and sometimes literally doesn't matter. ("It's my intent to honor the spirit of this lake with an offering! *Dumps cigarette butts and beer cans into the water* "The lake is honored because that was my intent 😌")
Having a limited set of beliefs about what a certain power can do is like automatically setting intent. ("It's only possible that candles burn away energy, so when I light it, of course it will have a banishing effect.")
Setting intent in this manner only works to the extent that the power you are working with could already do the thing. If you've got a freezer with an ice dispenser on the door you can intend to store food inside it to chill, or, you can intend to get water out of the door, but it doesn't matter how much you intend to fry a chicken. The fridge does not do that action.
Tradition in and of itself can advise how to resolve contradictions of magical meaning. This includes religious, magical, and cultural traditions.
What's important to remember is that just because one group does it one way, it doesn't mean that their way is universally correct.
A lot of people enter into the world of witchcraft with the concept that there is one universally correct set of methods and rules by which to perform magic. These methods are secret, but written down somewhere, and the key to learning magic is to just find the truest set of rules to magic. Magical truth is mutually exclusive, and contradictory information must either replace current truth, or be rejected as falsehood.
And fortunately for everyone, none of that is true!
This is why someone in one school of magic can make a certain claim ("letting spell vessels touch the earth immediately robs them of their power and the magic becomes inert,") and someone else can make a totally contradictory claim ("bury spell vessels for three days to supercharge them with the power of Nature,") and both people can be equally right.
Which set of rules might be true for you?
Well, whichever tradition you're a part of.
This is why it's really important to understand where your beliefs come from, and also to engage in self-examination about what you believe about the cosmos, our planet, and your role within it.
Entering into a tradition has a curious effect - you tend to be bound to those rules and assumptions, whether you like it or not.
Reflect on whether or not your current traditions and beliefs can resolve conflicting information.
Ask yourself what beliefs must be inherent before an assumption about magical 'rules' can be true.
(P.S. you can learn multiple contradictory systems of magic and flip between them depending on needs)
One witch may be able to charge excellently by burning candles and using intent to direct the burning energy.
A second witch may discover that they really can't charge jack shit with a candle. The energy seems to slip between their fingertips. When they direct it at something, it seems to have a consuming effect - not an invigorating one.
Setting magical intent is like choosing which path to walk down. But, the paths are unique for each of us. For the first witch, the path of "Charging Through Candleflame" is wide and open, a beautiful paved boulevard they can stroll down.
For the second witch, the path of "Charging Through Candleflame" is like hiking up a steep hill littered with boulders, and also the hill is on fire.
Many magical contradictions can be explained by practitioners simply having different personal experiences, and incorrectly assuming that their experiences must be universal.
One excellent way to learn not only about magic as a whole, but also how magic works for you, is to earnestly experiment with contradictory meanings and discover which ones A) make sense to you, but more importantly, B) actually work for you.
Whether or not you can use a candle to charge, banish, or both; and whether or not that's more or less effective for you than using water, or the sun, or pop culture icons, is something that you'll only be able to discover for yourself through experimentation.
If setting intent is choosing what path to walk down, then on the course of walking down that path, there is a chance you trip and fall flat (see: "I'm honoring the lake by dumping trash in it!").
Tripping and falling flat doesn't mean that path of magic is impossible for you, or shouldn't be further explored.
It can really just mean that you need some hiking boots and a trail guide.
Or, in other words: setting intent can be insufficient to actually access and manifest certain types/aspects of power.
I have personal beliefs about sorcerous power that dictate that various powers can be more or less difficult to access depending on a variety of factors. And, a witch must learn techniques to access the power. The more remote or hidden that power is, the more capable or attuned a witch must be to access that power.
That is to say, someone intensely aligned with underworld powers may be able to easily access the facets of death and decay that exist within many natural forces. But, someone without that alignment might instead need capable techniques gained through learning and practice in order to access those same powers.
And someone with neither of those things, who only tries to set intent and starts on a difficult path filled with roadblocks, may falsely assume that something "just doesn't work for me," when in reality, it's just more difficult to access.
This is why one witch can say, "roosters are a powerful source of connection to the underworld," another witch can say, "roosters only connect to the underworld if you use their feathers in a certain ritual," and a third witch can say, "roosters don't connect to the underworld," and all three are speaking from valid personal experience.
Experimenting with different techniques means learning a wide variety of ways to perform magic, including different paradigms, rituals, techniques, and methodologies.
Many systems of witchcraft contain concepts of when power is more or less available (the easiest example is the types of power more freely available due to the phases of the moon). Learning these systems can assist in discovering the accessibility of various powers.
Research is your friend.
There are many reasons why witches have different lived experiences with magic (the topic of which would be enough to fill a book or two). As a witch-practitioner, your role in the creation of magic can't be ignored.
It's through your own culture and traditions, your own intent, and your own sorcerous techniques and education, through which you will be able to determine what aspects of magic are true to you - and which do not apply.
This post is full of my personal UPGs and stuff. These are just my beliefs and what works for me. YMMV.
Have you ever done a big tarot reading and got really drained? Or focused really intensely on a spirit guide meditation that left you feeling lightheaded and hungry? When we connect to the spirit world it is tiring and energy-intensive. There is no reason to believe that connection on their end is any easier.
A lot of rhetoric gets tossed around that spirits and guides are so powerful and life-changing, etc. And this might be true, but I think it gets construed in a way where we assume that because they're so powerful, it must be very easy for them to appear to us - so any failure of communication is squarely on our shoulders.
This is unfair to both them and us.
Your offerings aren't just token gestures. You are actually providing energy to your spirits - dense, earthy energies they need in order to be able to come through to our world. Fresh water is refreshing and polite, but not really energizing. Food offerings are especially helpful.
This is the point of spirit houses and spirit vessels. You create a sacred object or space aligned to a spirit's energies, and invite them to come inside of it and use it as they please. As a magic-worker, your words of dedication and consecration make a literal foothold for that spirit to more easily come to our world. This also provides a place for the spirit to rest and relax as they speak to you.
Liminal times and spaces make it easier for us to reach the spirit world, and therefore easier for them to reach us. Taking actions such as laying a compass, casting a circle, or reaching trance states can actually be extremely helpful. It's not about "spirits are dangerous so cast a circle first," and it's not about "you have to meditate and clear your mind" (trance can be achieved ecstatically, after all). It's about creating or entering into in-between spaces where our worlds more easily meet.
If you primarily use tools to communicate with spirits, cleanse and charge them more regularly. The spirits can direct the energy within your tools instead of having to use their own.
If you're already using spirit vessels or houses, try gently cleaning them and re-consecrating them. Provide as much energy as you can to the spirit at that time, so that they can more strongly imprint upon the vessel.
Spirits are people too. They shouldn't be treated like invisible humans with cool new skins, but that doesn't mean they don't have autonomy and personhood.
Spirits exist independently of us and they don't disappear and go into the void when we stop paying attention to them. They are living their own lives. Even if you believe the spirits do revolve around you, at some point they have to leave to go find information you're asking about, or review the strands of fate to make sure you're headed in the right direction, or whatever.
You don't expect your human friends to be on call 24/7 and it's rude and inconsiderate to just assume all spirits are going to want to communicate with you every single time you want to communicate with them.
No, the point of this is not "you're clingy and the spirits need space."
The point is that if you're just picking up the spirit phone at any random time, of course some of your communication will "fail" because they're not free to answer!
You might be blaming yourself for having unreliable psychic abilities when the reality is that you're just sending a FaceTime request at a bad time.
It is my experience that this is true even of gods. Sometimes I walk by the shrine of my primary god and it's just empty - he's not there right now. It's not because he hates me or because my psychism failed. He's probably off chasing nymphs or something, he'll be back later.
Try setting a schedule with the spirits if possible, such as determining what time(s) of day they're free to talk, what days of the week or moon phases they're usually free or busy, and so on.
You have times when you're more or less attuned to communication, too. The most random stuff can make psychic senses go haywire. For some, a strong cup of coffee will turn off their second sight like flipping a switch. If you try to get more of a schedule going, it will be a lot easier for you to control the variables contributing to your successes or failures. It's not fair for you to assume your psychic senses are static and you should just be able to turn them on at any time you want.
There are many kinds of spirits. Some we primarily interact with as friends and companions. For them, the reason for them to talk to you is that you're cool, interesting, and they want to spend time with you (all your friends think that about you! I promise!).
Other spirits can hold a much more spiritual or tutelary role in our life. When they speak, they have something important to say - and they're not necessarily going to let that be drowned out by everyday chatter.
Have you ever done a tarot reading you didn't like or understand, and then re-drew the spread to ask again? And the second time made even less sense?
Talking to spiritual teachers can be like that. They tell you something important, and they're not necessarily going to rephrase it. The problem with spiritual teachers and guides is that you still have to be the student and the explorer.
I have often communicated with the gods and spirits of other people. In these situations, I do my best to give them a really good reason to want to talk to me. "Hello, gods and spirits of [client]. I am helping [client] with [their question/problem]. I will be empty, and you can speak through me. I'll do my very best to clearly share everything you want them to know."
No matter what, though, spirits might just not want to talk. And that's ok.
Ask yourself the kinds of relationships you have with the spirits and beings you're attempting communication with. Having a very close and fulfilling relationship with a spirit doesn't mean it's appropriate to treat them like a casual friend (just as I can have a very fulfilling relationship with a professional mentor, but it's still inappropriate for me to call them at 3am after some wine).
Keep an eye on the intention of your communications. Are you unable to "find" your guide when it's about an important spiritual question, but they show up just to chat? Or vice-versa? Ask why a spirit might choose to not respond to some types of communication.
I find that spiritual guides can get irritable and non-responsive if you continually request communication without applying their advice.
In the case of spirits who are primarily friends/companions, try thinking of a fun activity for the two of you to do together, or something interesting to show them. Spirits enjoy novelty, too. Maybe you could read a new book together :)
There is a difference between requesting communication and just vibing with a spirit's vibes.
When you want to communicate with the spirits, do you actually think, say, or sign, "hi, it's me, I want to talk to you today about [topic]"? Or do you just kinda show up like, "I'm here, so... yeah."
I like vibing with the vibes. I like sitting quietly with people and spirits and just existing with them. But I wouldn't sit quietly in the vibes and then say, "okay, so you're just not going to talk to me??"
Other things like manners go an incredibly long way. Spirits have a concept of boundaries and politeness - some more than others.
Active listening and critical thinking helps a lot too (and it's a great way to strengthen relationships with other humans!). Make sure you're treating spirits like a conversation partner, and not a novelty toy that spits out mystic answers to your questions.
One of the best ways to bond through communication is to create the space for the other person to share their thoughts. It's more than reasonable to show up to a spirit with a question.
But if you redirect the conversation always to be what you want to talk about, think your senses are going haywire just because a spirit is showing you something that isn't what you asked about, or only want to talk about yourself or your problems - it's not reasonable to expect that 100% of spirits want to be a part of 100% of those conversations.
Try approaching every spirit communication with clear intent. Just wanting to chat and hang out is more than okay, but be upfront with your interests and needs.
Try asking the spirits if they're free to talk and if they're interested in talking about what you want to discuss.
Make time and space for the spirits to bring up their own topics.
Employ manners at all times, even if you think your communication effort failed. Please, thank you, hello, and goodbye are powerful words.
Be open to the idea that the spirit might not want to talk about your question or your problem, and that they might have something to share with you that doesn't appear to directly benefit you.
Knowing how to do magic is not at all the same thing as knowing how to solve a problem.
Here is a map to one trail through this irritating, often murky, forest. The steps are generally presented in the order I'd recommend taking them, but naturally the details of execution are up to you.
This guide assumes that as someone who knows how to do magic, you may be called upon to assist others from time to time, so there is a distinction made between you as the practitioner, and the victim of a haunting.
There is a difference between Energy Work and visualization. If someone has told you that all you need to do to protect yourself from spirits is to imagine that they cannot hurt you, they are wrong.
Yes, where your attention goes, energy flows - but as it turns out, real spirits are probably more powerful than the wispy energy patterns sprinkled about by you imagining stuff really hard.
I have met many a practitioner who was convinced they were up against an incredibly powerful spirit, because years of visualization did nothing. The first time they cast an actual spell with real power (that takes like 45 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of execution), the spirit was gone.
Fancy that.
Spirit hauntings often affect more than one person. Household members, social groups, entire Discord servers - it happens.
Attend to your own personal protections first. If this is your first rodeo, a few suggestions:
We may assume there is a timeline pressure; by the time you're called in to help, things may have become rough. There is no need to avoid taking care of the problem for months while you carefully craft a system of protections.
Obtain or recharge a single personal amulet of protection, especially one crafted against malefic spirits (as opposed to a general protection). Charge it and wear it for the duration of this process.
Obtain or recharge a single household ward for your own home, if you are not the one being haunted. If your home is already under spiritual attack, now may not be the right time to place wards. Read on for details.
Obtain or recharge a single ward for your sleeping space, a heavy-handed one that strongly protects your sleep, and strongly limits spirit movement into your room.
For the duration of solving this problem, engage in spiritual cleansing techniques more often. Also ensure you are getting enough calories and rest - depending on how resistant the problem is, your ongoing energy may be required for some time, and burnout helps no one.
If you are assisting another person, get down (in writing) as many details as you can about when the haunting began, who it affects, the symptoms, any locations where the spirit is present, etc.
Consider that sometimes the spirit haunting is caused by a spirit which cannot be banished, like local nature spirits who are going to dwell there regardless of your actions. Whether you need to approach the situation as a warrior or a diplomat should be ideally figured out before you begin taking actions.
If there is a potential that this is happening, open up or partially dismantle a ward (this can often done by opening a household door or window with Intent) so the spirit can leave.
Not, "leave me/my friend alone." Not, "go away."
"Please leave this household permanently, and do not come back."
Combining this with a good-faith offering can help a lot. Place the offering outside, ideally beyond the property line, but we all do what we gotta do.
"Please leave this household permanently. I have placed an offering of [stuff] outside for you, because we are not enemies. This offering is yours if you accept these conditions: that you leave this property and do not come back. Please accept this offering, and leave."
"You must leave this household, and all the people in it. This is not your home. Authority has been given to me to revoke any invitation which brought you here. Leave now of your own volition. If you do not leave, force and aggression will be used against you to force you to leave."
Maybe you didn't even ask it to leave, because you arrived well after that was already attempted. If things have already escalated:
If you cannot reasonably do so, teach them how to shield through energy work. Remember that there are many inherently protective amulets found in nature which do not require much (or any) magic to be worked over them before they are effective; employ these to your advantage.
This step may be especially useful if banishments have already been attempted, and failed.
Gather a wide variety of magical symbols, amulets, talismans, and objects charged with various energies.
Find the spirit or connect to its energy (ideally behind a mirror, or through a protected scrying device, or using some other technique so it can't see you).
Hold up each symbol, object, etc., up to the spirit in turn. See how the spirit is affected. Take notes (ideally, have an assistant who can take notes as you describe what you're seeing).
Suppose the spirit seems totally unaffected by watery energies or solar symbols, but seems very affected by fiery energies and iron - now you have helpful answers.
Combine your discoveries with information about any previous banishments that may have been attempted to aid you in choosing your next course of action.
It drives me fucking CRAZY when people refuse to banish or get rid of obviously harmful spirits because they want to know its backstory, its personality traits, its gemsona, its full natal chart, and its favorite comfort foods first.
"We can't banish it until we know why it's doing this!"
The fuck you can't.
If your attitude is literally that it's okay for beings to hurt you as long as they have a good reason for it... Or you're not going to set boundaries unless you know why someone has crossed you...
I don't know what to tell you.
And hey, by the way, if it's an obviously bad spirit that you've already acknowledged is harming you, IT'S GOING TO LIE TO YOU AND MANIPULATE YOU.
There's a hell of a lot of people out there who have fully acknowledged the absolute hell a spirit has caused them, but they want to talk to it because idk, why wouldn't you want to talk to your own personal torturer, and thirty minutes later they're accepting the spirit as their new guardian and building it an altar.
So.
Divination is useful to help determine the outcome of your banishing actions and to give you insight into how to perform your operations effectively. This is a really good idea if you don't have a million years to randomly try stuff until something sticks.
It is not to become penpals with a harmful spirit who has already shown you its intent towards you.
Telling a spirit something, or sending messages, is extremely different from two-way communication. Don't open yourself up to a force that is causing active harm.
Your banishment will be greatly increased in efficacy if you surround it with supportive actions. The ability to employ any of these techniques of course varies depending on situation. Employ as many of them as possible.
Include as many people as affected by the haunting as you can.
A floor wash or steam pot will be very helpful. Smoking out an entire house is difficult to get away with these days, but a fine option. If you can't get to the whole house, especially try to work on the areas where the spirit is known to be present.
Protective symbols hung about, including saint candles, also tends to assist in shaking the spirit "loose" from its moorings.
Loud and cheerful music, fresh air, and a generally upbeat mood helps the proceedings a great deal.
If it is determined that the spirit is attached to a single person, focus applying smoke, blessed waters, and talismans to their person.
When you banish a spirit, where does it go? Just outside the property line? All the way across town? To the ends of the earth? How long until it finds its way back?
A cobalt-blue bottle filled with sand is a handy spirit trap. The spirit will eventually be freed again, before this world is over - and likely, quite a bit before that. Research why and how spirit traps work, and what techniques may be used to occupy the spirit for a great length of time before it can escape.
As this post is for those who already know how to do magic, I leave the details up to you. Reflect on what you've learned about the spirit up until that time, and utilize powers which seem best suited to cross it.
Relying upon your personal power alone is not advised. Draw from sources greater than yourself. Asking divinity and benevolent spirits to arrive and support the working while you undertake it is a fine idea.
Once the spirit is gone, or trapped, dispose of various implements and clean up as you normally do.
Any technique will do.
This includes helping others understand how to maintain protections in their own home.
Mighty sorcerer though you are, it is possible that the spirit was not actually removed when you performed your banishment. Do not discard gut feelings or intuitions that the situation is not fully at rest.
You may need help, or new techniques, or simply ongoing effort applied to the situation before it is completely resolved. Every now and then, rare as it may be, the solution is really just to apply protection and go about your business.
Even if a spirit has been correctly removed, a person or place may have sustained actual spiritual damage. Instead of immediately dropping extra spiritual self-care when the spirit is gone, try maintaining it for a little while (especially if your normal level is zero). Staying clean and hygienic will help spiritual injuries heal on their own. Mundane actions, such as continuing to get enough food and rest (where possible), will also help.
If you are helping another, give them steps for things like cleansing baths how how to clean their own aura.
[[before you expand: LONG text post!!]]
I got diagnosed only a couple months ago, but I have been practicing witchcraft for a little bit now. So in retrospect, here is stuff that I realized I have been doing to cope the whole time, and some new things I'm tinkering with :) Please feel free to leave your own tips or thoughts!
Just do not promise to give daily offerings! JUST DON'T DO IT. If you struggle with upholding a regular routine, do not promise gods or spirits you will uphold a routine for them. You should only promise things you are confident you can deliver. ((If you identify as a beginner witch it's my personal belief that you should not be promising anyone anything.))
Delete from your mindset that all witches are supposed to uphold rigid routines.
Give yourself breathing room: if you want to give scheduled offerings, maybe do one on the full moon. Or, plan it to coincide with other activities that interest you, and that you're likely to show up for.
Unless you have a few hours a week to devote to your practice, you should probably not be dedicating yourself to doing daily anything.
Rigid routine is not the only way to get regular experience with magic, build relationships with gods or spirits, or improve in your craft! You simply do not have to promise yourself or anyone else that you will do X actions at Y times.
Maybe there are some really important things in your practice that you want to do on a regular basis. Maybe these are things like:
Quick personal shielding
Acknowledging and honoring spirits
General offering
Prayer for guidance
Instead of saying "I'll do shielding for 5 minutes every day after breakfast, then of course my offering ritual-", you can put a streamlined (short, easy) ritual together where you do all four of these things at once.
Deep breaths, acknowledge and honor the spirits, ask for assistance in raising a shield, offering excess raised energy to them, and praying for guidance in the upcoming task.
It should take maybe like, 2 minutes tops.
Then, slot this streamlined ritual in before most practice activities. Like:
Before other energy work
Before divination
Before spellwork
Or, use it as a sort of 'generic' access point of connection and perform this ritual:
When you shower, to calm down from the day
When you're on transit to prepare for the upcoming day
When you're feeling grateful and want to share the moment with the spirits
When you're feeling sad and need support
Instead of forcing important actions into routines that may be hard to follow, find a way to carry these actions around with you in an accessible ritual, like carrying snacks around in a bag. This way you can use other exciting activities, or other life events, as a reminder to practice your ritual of important things :)
Maybe you have alarm blindness, forget to do divination, forget to check in with spells - so asking for omens can be a huge help. They are spontaneous messages that catch your eye. Helpful!
Research cultural omens
Research omens in your magical tradition
Journal and brainstorm personal omens
Write out, for yourself, a short list of personal omens.
Solid black pigeons mean a spirit wants attention. Seeing your favorite tree species means a spell was successful. Three gray dots means a spell failed. The scent of cinnamon buns means fortune is headed your way.
Perform a ritual announcing your chosen omens to the Powers That Be. Invite those Powers, Yourself, Life, the Universe, and Everything to send you true, accurate, and helpful messages through these omens.
Working with omens in this way is a skill that evolves over time. Your personal omen system will evolve over time if you use it. Think of it as another form of divination!
(Tip: Combine symbols with colors for an advanced system that's easy to remember. Oak trees are prosperity, but black means slow movement, red means powerful, and white means failure. After a spell you see a plumbing truck with a red oak tree logo; powerful prosperity. Etc.)
Employ foresight and:
Encode retirement/shutdown functions into your spells!! Do you want the spell to burn out completely and leave the vessel hollow so you don't have to deal with the vessel later on? Specify that! Do you want the spell to go to 'power saver mode' and hibernate so you can save the vessel and recharge it later? Specify!
ENCODE OMENS INTO SPELLS TO REMIND YOU TO TAKE ACTIONS! "This spell brings me financial benefit, and when it runs low, I will see my omen of slow growth - a solid black tree."
Assume that you are going to completely forget that you're able to take care of this problem, so encode the spells assuming you will never remember to deal with this again:
Spell for people that will remember they want to deal with Monica (they will also be working with wards, divination, and subtle cunning): "Stop Monica at the front desk from assaulting me with her dark energies, or else limit how much of her energy can reach me."
Spell for people that are going to completely forget this is an issue they can take care of and won't do another spell on it for maybe 18 months: "Stop Monica from assaulting me with her dark energies, or reveal to everyone in the office her dark nature, but if neither of these things is possible, change something in the office so that we never interact again."
Build a spellcasting altar, or a spell recharging altar, where you store up all your vessels. Recharge them all at once, as often as you remember to.
Poor plan: "And when this vessel runs down I will recharge it with the waxing moon as I stand under the orange tree-" More tenable plan: "And when this vessel runs down let it drink energy from my altar; let it take up any energy that suits it; let it feed on what is available to it, according to its needs."
Focus on learning how to tie spells to external energy sources so they will stay charged for way longer.
For easy deconstruction, set blanket conditions for every vessel that it be undone and the magic erased if you take a simple action. This is called a kill code. You bake it into spells and it makes deconstruction way easier.
Try developing a barbarous word of undoing and using it every time you want to undo a vessel or a spell; this word will gain power and can become very helpful in other ways.
Once again, plan spells with the foresight that it will be difficult/unlikely for you to re-engage for formal deconstruction procedures. So, anticipate your future needs during spellcasting: "And if I ever open this jar and take out the things inside it, let this spell be released and return to the earth, let it fade away without trouble and nourish anything around it as fallen logs nourish the forest floor." This way, you know that if you accidentally forget about a spell or just take it apart, the magic already has instructions to safely dissipate and you don't have to worry.
This folds in real nice with a personal omen system!!
Use a combination of colors, established symbols (planetary, alchemical), and personal symbols to develop a visual conlang that helps you keep track of what things are.
If applicable, decorate or modify spell vessels so you can tell at a glance what the spell is for (violet symbol of Venus next to a paw: a spell to improve relationships with the spirits that help you with psychism)
Build a system that makes intuitive sense to you, perhaps folding in with your color correspondence associations, magical headcannon, or any other mnemonic device:
All the spells in jars are protective
Everything that's tied into a witch's ladder is about prosperity
If it has a red X on it, that's a hex
If it has a 7-pointed star, it involves your dragon guide
If you store it in a bag that has blue on it (blue print, blue button, blue tie-string) then that object is related to cleansing
Your personal visual language will gain its own power over time if used regularly, in the way that egrigores or sigils can gain power if used consistently over time :) It can become a real magical tool, not just a mnemonic device!
When you conjure/talk to/pray to gods, spirits, or anything, address the fact that your communication/rituals/etc ARE going to be sporadic. Explain yourself and ask the spirits to extend understanding.
Some spirits/gods/etc are going to demand regular routine. AND IF THEY EXPECT THAT, then you guys need to get on the same page ASAP as to whether or not that's possible.
Spirits can be incredibly forgiving and understanding, but unless you tell them why you are sometimes around and sometimes not, they do not necessarily know what's going on.
Your spirit guide may have not read the DSM-5. Obelon the Fox-Man might not be up-to-date with the 2025 diagnosis criteria for ADHD, and Obelon might not recognize that you are struggling with a disorder that can mimic inattentiveness. Obelon might be asking why you appear to be so enthusiastic, and yet only call for him once every 5 weeks.
Just explain!! Explain what you are comfortable explaining. Give them reassurances and ask them to not misinterpret your ability to be present.
If the way you talk to yourself about your path sounds like someone struggling with unhealthy dieting, maybe it's time to readjust.
"I just need to do my daily offerings, on schedule, for two weeks. Then I will have earned researching tarot spells."
Maybe it's not a good idea to intentionally include witchcraft in a cycle of reward and denial that will ultimately drain joy from the process until your passion is a withered husk.
Witchcraft isn't going to force your brain to change any more than Stardew Valley was going to force your brain to change. Or that time you got super into succulents. If your time spent studying wool quality in heritage European sheep breeds didn't cure your disorder, witchcraft won't either.
Witchcraft, I think, deserves to be something that is a part of your joy - not a part of a system of stressful attempts at making yourself into someone you're not because "real witches" all do such-and-such routine (I assure you, they do not) so you must force yourself to do it too.
(Incidentally, if you have a 'streamlined ritual for the important stuff' and it becomes a barrier that prevents you from practicing, then maybe that's not a good idea for you - or maybe it's not as simple and streamlined as you need it to be)
There is SO MUCH to learn in witchcraft. It's never-ending. The more you learn, the more doorways open for you with more things to learn behind them.
This is not college, you do not have to declare your major. You don't have to wait to decide on your 'magic specialization' before you start learning.
This is not college, you don't have to take semesters of boring general ed classes before you're allowed to start studying what interests you.
Unless you are getting into very serious initiations, learning stuff, advancing your skills, and building your path is not going to shut doors and prevent you from getting into something else.
If something excites your interests, GET INTO IT! Don't force yourself to ignore what you're passionate about because you think serious, responsible witchcraft is supposed to be rigid, boring, and tedious. (It isn't!)
Avoid declaring your major. As in, maybe the idea of energy glamours is super exciting, so on day 1 you create a lesson plan that will realistically take you 70 weeks to complete. Based on your history, is it reasonable that you will maintain this specific interest in glamours for over a year?
Avoid making lesson plans that intentionally slow you down and make shit boring for no good reason. If energy glamours interest you, are you (*scrolls up*) using energy glamours as a carrot to force yourself to engage in a tedious magical workout routine? Is the reason the lesson plan takes 70 weeks because you decided to spend weeks slowly moving through each phase so you have time to spam energy work exercises?
You know yourself better than I know you. Maybe wanting to slow down and engage in your focuses in a new way is the goal. Of course, listen to yourself first!
But if you have a temporary burst of energy and focus to learn a new skill, and learning that skill won't require you to make unhealthy personal or financial decisions, why not just lean into it and explore it moment by moment, wherever your interests take you?
I think you'd probably learn a lot more doing and undoing 20 glamours in a week, because you're freaking out about how fucking cool it is, than if you practice 1 basic glamor exercise once a day because that's what real disciplined witches do, and then 11 days later you forget it once and never do it again and now your interest has faded because glamouring is just another boring chore.
How often do you need to recharge your wards to keep them functioning normally?
Once you've explained your own needs and limits, how often do your spirits actually request offerings?
Are you 100% sure the spirits you're working with expect offerings in the first place?
Are those offerings expected to be physical, or do thoughts and prayers suffice?
How often should you perform a personal cleansing to keep yourself feeling magically refreshed?
Feeling anxious or guilty over whether or not you're supposed to be taking certain actions is NO FUN.
It is much less fun if you don't actually know how often you need to do these things. Then it's just all guessing, all the time, and nothing is ever good enough.
If at all possible, avoid putting yourself into a situation where you feel that you are supposed to be doing something responsible in your practice, but you're never sure exactly what it is.
Spend some practice time, learn some skills, and make notes, to discover whether or not you do have any minimum engagement requirements in the style of practice you want. And most importantly, having clear 'deadlines' so you don't have to keep guessing at what you're forgetting about this time.