Ancestor Work: An Introduction for Beginners

Ancestral work is a term and concept that I’ve been questioned about a fair few times within the last year. As someone who has always been overwhelmingly approached about divinatory practices, strengthening one’s psychic abilities, and developing one’s magical craft in general, it was impossible not to notice the uptick in public interest in ancestral work and practices. I have to say, I’m quite excited at the prospect of so many stepping into this field because ancestral work is important when it comes to individual spiritual growth and exploring, understanding, and building one’s own unique world of magical craft.

Journaling for Witches: Prompts for Magical Journaling

Journaling can be a powerful addition to your magical study and practice. In its many forms, journaling allows practitioners of magic to enhance their relationship with magic, spirit, and themselves; organize their thoughts and more thoroughly process new information; set goals and intentions; reflect on learning and experiences; and chronicle magical and personal growth.

Journaling for Witches: Techniques to Enhance Your Magical Practice

Journaling and other forms of personal writing are used throughout communities of all kinds. Keeping a journal can be done in many ways, and take many forms (including handwritten notes/notebooks, blogs, audio recordings, and videos). Regardless of the specific form or method of journaling, keeping a personal record of one’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences can have many benefits.

Free Printable: Censing Grimoire Page

ensing is used in many ways in the magical community; one of the most common uses being to cleanse spaces and things. Our censing grimoire pages printable is a straightforward, simplified guide to censing, which includes a brief list of herbs and incenses for cleansing with smoke, a simple censing rites, and a space for notes.

Free Printable: A Course in Craft-Building (Part Two)

This month, we are releasing Part Two: The Practitioner. With this worksheet, we ask practitioners to reflect on their magical origin story, some of their goals as a magician, and their beliefs about purpose, relationship and direction. The printable is available as a four page PDF download which can be used as a worksheet or as a guide for reflection, discussion, journaling or blogging.

Books of Magic: Books of Shadows, Grimoires, and Magical Tomes

One of the first things that newcomers to the study and practice of magic are told that they need is often a Book of Shadows. New witches and other practitioners are told from the start that a Book of Shadows is one of the most important tools in their magical arsenal--but they often are not told how these books can help them, how they can utilize them, or what the alternatives are to the Book of Shadows.

Magical Goal-Setting: Advancing your Personal Practice

For many practitioners of magic, advancement in one’s craft is something that is self-guided, self-managed, and self-assessed. There are, of course, magical traditions and formal practices that involve initiations and hierarchy. But the majority of magical practitioners are solitary practitioners, learning through research or more informal mentorships. And, for those practitioners, there are few official milestones to help measure one’s progress through their magical journey.

Free Printable: A Course in Craft-Building (Part One)

This month, we are releasing Part One: Getting Started. With this worksheet, we ask practitioners to reflect on what they know about themselves, how they define witchcraft and magic, and what their goals are for working through this course. The printable is available as a six page PDF download which can be used as a worksheet or as a guide for reflection, discussion, journaling or blogging.

A Course in Craft-Building

As we enter the new year, we often take stock of what we have in our lives and make plans for the changes we want to make in the future. We might plan out our financial goals, start mapping out our plans for small business ventures, set new goals for our health, or look for ways to improve our relationships. We think about where we, where we want to be, and how to make it from Point A to Point B. One area of our lives that may get overlooked, however, is our magical practice.

Cleansing, Blessing & Honoring: Rituals for your Hearth & Home

For practitioners of magic, the home can be an important aspect of both our mundane lives and our magical practices. Ideally, the home is a place in which one feels safe, receptive, and free to be completely themselves (both in regards to personality and practice). As an animist and a cottage witch myself, my home is the shelter that protects me and houses the spirits of property. But it’s also a spirit in and of itself. It is an altar, a tool, and a mentor all at once—and, as such, I’ve dedicated a significant space within my practice to honoring, protecting, and connecting with my home.

Protective Wards for Any Home

Most of us have a natural inclination to protect ourselves. It is instinct that has been ingrained in us since our beginnings as a species. Once we learn to perceive threats for what they are, we respond to them almost automatically. As children, we begin to push, yell, and ball up our fists to protect our personal space or belongings. As we grow, we begin to recognize new threats and learn to adjust our methods. We learn to wear our personalities (or parts of them) as armor to protect ourselves from potential ridicule. We carry whistles and pepper spray to make the early-morning walks to the bus stop a little safe. We view our bedroom doors as a sort of shield to safeguard our privacy and space. We work our entire lives to protect not just our physical bodies, but our happiness and energy as well.

Are You Cursed?: Detecting Curses & Their Origins

Here’s the good news: curses, while always a hot topic in the magical community, are really not as common as many people might think they are. There are, of course, practitioners who specialize in curses and hexes. And you may occasionally make someone angry enough that they mutter (or tweet) the threat of a curse in your direction. But the overwhelming majority of what we think might be the manifestation of curses in our lives can be chalked up to bad luck.

Free Printable: Painless Spell-Writing Worksheet

Our Painless Spell-Writing Worksheet is designed to work hand-in-hand with the four-factor method detailed in our guide to Painless Spell-Writing. This printable takes you step-by-step through the process of writing a spell. It breaks down the four-factor process on paper, and also allows the practitioner to plan more thoroughly by detailing the supplies and spell actions as well as the purpose of each.

A Guide to Painless Spell-Writing

Learning to write your own spells may seem challenging at first, but it is an important skill for most practitioners to have in their witchy repertoire. Being able to create one’s own spells gives a practitioner the power to tailor-make their workings to fit their beliefs, traditions, and preferences. It also allows one to write a spell that is specifically crafted for the situation and the supplies on hand.

Intro to Magic & Witchcraft: Advice for New Witches from Disapproving Households

For many people, interest in the practice of witchcraft and magic begins long before adulthood. In fact, most people that I have talked to and collaborated with report starting their “witchcraft journeys” somewhere between the preteen and late teen years. This means that it is very common for newcomers to the practice of magic to live at home with their families or guardians. Unfortunately, not every household is supportive of a young person’s budding interest in the occult. Parents, guardians, siblings, and other cohabitants in the home may express fear, disapproval, or disdain for witchcraft. They may disbelieve in the existence of magic, which can manifest in some truly disheartening comments and behaviors. Or, they may outright forbid any practice or study of magic in the house.

Intro to Magic & Witchcraft: Advice for New Witches

After twenty-plus years of experience in the practice of witchcraft, it’s safe to say that this post is not an exhaustive list of all the advice we could give to new and aspiring witches. (For that, check out the growing Witchcraft 101 section of our blog.) But it is some of what we think is the most important advice for newcomers to the study and practice of magic (and especially newcomers to the online magical community) to hear from the start.

Animal Spirits in Witchcraft & Magic

Practitioners of magic and witchcraft often forge special relationships with the animal realm, whether the animals they work with are physical beings, spiritual presences, or representations of. Our affinity for animals—in our homes and in nature—can be a big part of our magical and spiritual identities. But how can we utilize that to empower and improve our magical crafts?

How to Dry Your Own Herbs at Home

As we reassess our impact on the planet and society, more and more of us are looking into to home gardening and farm-to-home shopping as alternatives to sourcing food, spices and other goods from large businesses and far-away stories. Growing herbs at home is an excellent, budget-friendly, and small-space-feasible option for aspiring gardeners—and a natural extension for those of us who are already gardening. Many herbs can be grown in pots in the kitchen or on the windowsill and can thrive year-round indoors. This makes growing your own herbs a brilliant way to supplement your witchcraft supplies and to grow your own home apothecary.

Curios of Magic, Witchcraft 101ThomasinSeptember 3, 2021herbal magic, herbal magick, how to dry your own herbs, drying herbs at homeComment

Circle Casting & Witchcraft

Using a Circle in the practice of witchcraft is a topic of some debate. Some witches swear by using them in every ritual or magical working, while some don’t use them at all. Even if you choose not to incorporate the use of Circles into your magical practice, it is likely one of the first concepts a new practitioner will stumble across and one that you will probably see debated at least a time or two in your journey through the internet. So, what exactly is a Circle, what does it do, and how does one decide if it’s something they should incorporate into their rituals and workings?