New Year, New Magical Me: Advancing Your Craft in the New Year

As practitioners of magic, we know that learning never truly stops. With each new year we move through, the magical realm beckons us to explore uncharted territories and deepen our connection to the mystical arts. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner looking to expand your horizons or a novice ready to advance, the exploration of advanced practices can offer profound experiences and new insights that deepen our understanding of magic and strengthen our relationship with the spiritual/magical energies in our lives.

Holidays & Traditions, Rites & Rituals, Study & PracticeThomasinJanuary 5, 2024advanced witchcraft

Intent & Intentions in the New Year: A Beginner's Guide to Setting Intentions for a Fresh Start

Once again, we stand on the threshold of a shiny new year. For many people, this is the time to take stock of the lives we’ve built for ourselves and assess the areas that need change, to make plans to become a new-and-improved version of ourselves by the next New Year. In the context of holiday traditions, we refer to this as making resolutions; but, when working with energies and magical forces, we might refer to it as setting intentions.

Winter Protection Magic: Herbs, Amulets, and Easy Spells to Protect Yourself and Your Home

While the winter days are darker, slower, quieter, colder, we also find they are a time to gather with friends and family, to enjoy the warmth of company and the cheer of the winter season. It’s a season known both for being a season of joy and togetherness, as well as being a season of isolation and spiritual vulnerability. As opposing as these reputations are, one thing they share in common is the increased need for protective magic.

Protective magic for the winter season doesn’t have to be complicated. Indeed, you’ll often find it’s much the opposite. There are many simple methods of magical protection that we can put to work this winter season, and some of them are things we already do without even knowing. In this piece, we’ll explore winter herbs and ingredients one can use in their winter protection magic, as well as a few easy ways to protect yourself and your space during this winter season. Let’s get started.

the Winter Ones: Folkloric Figures of Winter, Yule, and Christmas

Yule has many customs and traditions, and those practices differ from region to region. One of my favorite aspects of Yule is the amount of figures associated with the festival – folk figures unique to the regions from which they hail. For many people, if you ask them about figures they associate with the Yule season, you’ll hear Father Christmas, Krampus, and maybe even a nod or two to Hans Trapp, but there are so many more Yule figures out there! In this post, we’ll meet a variety of these folk figures, and we’ll learn a bit about their Yule tales. It’s my hope that readers of this blog may find a new way of incorporating beliefs or customs of their ancestors or of their homelands (for our readers who are members of diasporic populations), and that, in doing so, their winter holidays may be even just a bit brighter for it. Now, shall we dive in? Who to meet first…

the Dumb Supper: A Divination Rite

While the Dumb Supper has come to be more commonly known today as a ritual used to honor the dead and our ancestors, its origins are said to lie in a divination rite used to foretell one’s future spouse, and in some rural regions of the United States (particularly within the Appalachian, Southern, and Ozark regions), the use of the term Dumb Supper is still mostly used when speaking of the divinatory practice. Believed to have been brought Stateside by immigrants from the British Isles, the Dumb Supper was practiced in the United States at liminal points in the year, with the hope of revealing the identity of one’s future spouse or beloved.

At the Witch's Table: Recipes for a Samhain Feast

Samhain is a Celtic Pagan festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Thanks to its place on the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, it has also been incorporated into the practices and observations of many other practitioners of magic and Paganism. In its modern observation, Samhain is a time of celebration, reflection, and remembrance. As the veil between the worlds thins, it presents a perfect opportunity to gather with one’s friends, communities, and loved ones to share a feast that honors the bounty of the earth and the spirits of the departed.

Hollers, Haints, & Hocus Pocus: Halloween Customs of Southern Appalachia

Halloween takes many forms throughout the United States – a night for parties and pranks; a night for trick-or-treating with family and spinning spooky yarns with friends; and, in some areas, a time for divination, superstition, and dealing with haints. The south has a rich well of folk magic and tradition with plenty of Halloween customs to take part in, and the regions of Southern Appalachia are no different.

Soul Cakes: Recipes & Customs

The origins of Soul Cakes are hotly debated. Some sources say they hail from pre-Christian practices as offerings to the souls of the dead, while other sources cite medieval Christian customs as the true roots. Whatever their origin, the baking of Soul Cakes as an offering or gift to the those of the Otherworld – be they the souls of those passed on, spirits, sìth, or the like – is still practiced in some regions of Europe today and is making a comeback among practitioners of folk magics of Britain and Ireland, those who have ancestral ties to those regions, and among practitioners of folk Christianity, particularly European folk Christian customs, or those who have roots in Christian ways.

These spiced ‘cakes’ or cookies are prepared as gifts for soulers at Allhallowtide (the days of All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day) and as part of the Halloween, Samhain, and Yuletide celebrations and observances of many. In this post, we’ll explore variations of Soul Cakes, sharing recipes and exploring their different purposes. Let’s dig in!

Into the Unknown: Celebrating Friday the 13th as a Witch

Friday the 13th is a date that has a long history of association with superstitions and fears, but for witches and practitioners of magic, it can be a day filled with enchantment, mystery, and opportunity. Rather than hiding from black cats or broken mirrors, practitioners of magic can embrace the unique energies of this day to enhance their spiritual practices. Let’s talk about a few ways in which you can celebrate Friday the 13th as a magical practitioner and tap into its energy.

Under the Thin Veil: Herbs & Spells for Personal and Spiritual Protection

As the leaves change and the air takes on a crisp chill, the magical energy of autumn permeates the air. This time of year is not only visually enchanting but also spiritually potent. During this period, the veil between the worlds is thin, making it an ideal time to focus on spiritual/magical protection and warding off negative energies.

A Remembrance Altar: Using Sacred Space to Honor Your Ancestors

As the month of October unfolds and the daylight hours grow shorter, many witches and other practitioners of magic begin to turn their thoughts to honoring their ancestors. One practice that allows us to express this desire to reconnect with our honored dead is the creation of an ancestral altar or shrine. Creating an altar dedicated to honoring one’s ancestors is a magnificent way to connect with your roots, remember loved ones who have passed, and tap into the themes of death and remembrance associated with the autumn season.

Autumnal Abundance: An Autumn Spell for Blessings

As we bid farewell to the scorching days of summer and welcome the golden hues of autumn, there's an undeniable magic in the air. Autumn, with its homespun warmth and promises of joy to come, invites us to harness the energy of the season's transformation. It is a season to express gratitude for the bountiful harvest and set intentions for the months ahead. In this blog post, we'll explore a simple yet powerful spell that allows you to connect with the essence of autumn, inviting abundance and warmth into your life.

Autumnal Magic: Incorporating Autumn Energy Into Magical Workings

Autumn arrives. The days grow shorter and the air cools. There is a tangible change in the energy around us. The electric buzz of summer gives way to the warm, earthy tones of autumn, and the natural world undergoes a transformation. For practitioners of magic, this transition is more than just a change in weather. It can also be a potent and magical time to embrace the seasonal changes and harness their energy in our practice.

The Silent Supper: A Rite to Honor the Spirits of the Dead

The Dumb Supper or Silent Supper. It bears two meanings in the southern Appalachian region of the United States – as a method used by unmarried women to divine one’s future spouse, and (as its more widely known) as a dinner held to honor and commune with those who now dwell in the realm of spirits. In this post, we’re going to focus on the latter interpretation of the term.

Samhain Divination: Divining the Unknown at Samhain

Samhain is one of the four major festivals within the Gaelic calendar, and easily the most widely known of the lot. The festival marks the end of harvest season, the transition into winter, and the beginning of the dark half of the year. Samhain is a time when the walls between our world and the Otherworld – the realm of spirits of all kinds – are down. During this time, it is easier for the Otherworld folk to walk among us, and easier for the living to see and commune with these spirits. For many, this time of year is when the connection to the spirit world feels stronger than otherwise. Because of this Samhain is considered an auspicious time to practice divination.

A Guide to Samhain: Exploring the Customs & Origins of Samhain

Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sah-win) is one of the four major Gaelic holidays, a festival that marks the passing of summer into winter, of the ‘light season’ into the ‘dark season’, and the end of the old year and beginning of the new. Now celebrated or acknowledged by many modern pagans, wiccans, druids, and magical practitioners throughout the world, Samhain’s origins lie in Ireland.

Pumpkin Magic: Magical Ways to Use Pumpkins

Pumpkin season isn’t just for Halloween, nor is this fantastic gourd only good for carving jack-o’- lanterns, decorating for Halloween, or baking in a pie. They’re in-season from late August or early September through December, so if you’re only putting them to use in October, you’re missing out on loads of good pumpkin time. Pumpkins have a plethora of uses, especially in witchcraft. Much of what you’ll find in magical and herbal resource books only really acknowledges the pumpkin in its association to Halloween and Samhain, which is – if I may speak frankly – an absolute shame. The pumpkin is so much more than this, and in this blog post we’re going to explore some of the pumpkin’s many uses.

Workings for the New Year: A New Year’s Cartomancy Spread

For many practitioners of magic, rituals for guidance, self-improvement, and clarity are something of a New Year’s tradition. Witches and other magical practitioners often use rituals, spells, and other traditions to clear away the negativity the old year and ring in the new. One example of such a tradition is the common practice of using divination to help map out and navigate their plans for the new year.

Divination, Holidays & TraditionsJohannaJanuary 21, 2022new years divination, new years tarot reading, new years cartomancyComment

Rituals for the New Year: Way-Making & Removing Obstacles from your Path

Most of the time, our New Year’s resolutions don’t pan out. Although we might meet the new year with a renewed sense of faith and optimism, it can be difficult to maintain that energy as the year gets going. Once we start feeling fatigued with our new resolutions and our motivation begins to wane, we tend to assume that the goals we set were simply not realistic to begin with. We almost never consider whether we made sure to clear the way for our resolutions to succeed before we started.

Celebrating Yule: A Midwinter Festival

There are many ways to celebrate Yule. Although the Yule celebrations of pre-Christian history lend themselves primarily to modern Heathen observations, the holiday itself has evolved into many different midwinter traditions. These rituals and traditions are observed by witches and Pagans of all traditions and backgrounds, and the many variations of Yule ritual reflect this.