natural-magics:

1. Plant a silver coin somewhere near your doorway so that money “grows” and prosperity is attracted into your home.
2. Find or make a bookmark that represents a god or goddess of abundance and keep this in your checkbook.
3. Carve dollar signs into a green or gold candle and anoint it with patchouli oil (associated with financial security). Light this, saying: “As this candle decreases, may my money increase.” Let the candle burn completely out.
4. Keep the cork from a bottle of champagne or wine that you enjoyed on a celebratory occasion. Split the cork at the top and put a silver coin therein, saying: “Money to me, money to me, today I claim prosperity.” Keep this in a special place of honor in your home.
5. Mix hand cream with a few drops of an aromatic oil that represents prosperity (lavender, patchouli, ginger, etc). Rub this over your hands before balancing your checkbook or entering into any financial transactions, saying: “Keep my pockets filled, by my word and my will.”

Found in: How To Be A Wicked Witch: Good Spells, Charms, Potions and Notions for Bad Days by Patricia Telesco

“Britain’s Wicca Man” — earlier this year I posted the trailer to this documentary, and I’m very excited to see it finished.

This video is a little problematic as it tends to generalize all witches as “earth revering, ‘white’ witches, moon worshipping”, etc, not just Wiccans.

However, it is a very good beginner’s look at modern Wicca, and clears up many of the misconceptions of Wicca being an ancient tradition.

Rituals like this, which bear reverence for nature, feel like the continuation of a very ancient tradition. But in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Because Wicca doesn’t have its origins in the mists of time, but in 1930’s Dorset.

Originally over an hour long, it’s been cut down to under half an hour. Not nearly enough time for decades of history. It skims over a lot, but has wonderful extracts from Gardner’s own biography, as well as interviews from a lot of prominent people in the Pagan community. You should check it out!

thelivingwiccan:

So this is a fairly old altar that I stumbled across pictures from. These photos were taken approximately just after Beltane, before the harvest festivals started… Which is a long time, especially in terms of how often I rearrange my altars.

So what you’re looking are two general set-ups, just the basic altars that I change around every once and a while.  Let’s start with the main one under the window with the leafy altar cloth, just the things under the table. We’ve got the pentagram hanging candle holder, chalices, antlers (almost always present to represent the Great Consort) and plenty of red candles. We also have little personal items, such as the angel that a dear friend gave to me.

As for the large area around it: this is a space that has been cultivated by me for years now. This is at my main home, the one I spend the most time at, and therefore is much larger than some of my other locations. The writing above the window is my own, though the words are not. Many of you may recognise it from Romeo and Juliet, Act II Scene ii. A complicated branch is suspended above the altar, and a Sabbat satchet that a very dear friend made for me hangs from it, as well. The furs are the head of a coyote and the tail of a racoon, symbolizing the beginning and end of all things. In the center hangs a protection strand of dried beans. On the sides are a mask that my mother gave to me, and an evil eye which my brother gave to me. You can see on either side my shelves of general witchery: necklaces, candles, a wonderful decorative box that was gifted to me by another dear friend, mortar and pestles, etc.

I think this is the first photoset where you have been able to see my entire altar space; which is surprising I could even take a photo, as it is quite large. However, it has changed since this photo was taken.

The second last photo in this photoset is of my seperate altar. (I have three in my room at the moment: One for general ritual, one to honour a specific Deity, theme, or goal that I’m focusing on at the moment, and a third for Honouring the Glorious Dead: I find that this one comes almost accidentally — many people mistakenly think that they should gift me dead animals. As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I often feel as though they should be honoured properly.)

So the second last photo was my Goddess altar. On it you’ll recognise the two statues I often use, my dragon candle holder (yes, it is hollow, has scale-shaped holes, and has candle holders inside), rabbit fur with roses placed on top, my second mortar and pestle, with a flourite crystal and more roses.

The very last photo is something I do a lot with my altars, especially my God altars. I found three of these claw-like carvings with horned men carved into them (one can only assume that they were supposed to be the Devil). I use them sort of as a calendar, to mark when the Great One is in His youth, manhood, or wise age. By the looks of this photo, I can assume that we were somewhere between Beltane and Lughnasadh.

Well, that was an awful lot of writing. I hope you all enjoy some more insight into my Craft, my practices, whathaveyou. Blessed Be.

All photos are property of TheLivingWiccan: Do not remove source.

thelivingwiccan:

How to make a Travel Altar:

This is my mini travel altar. Clockwise from the very top I have: my box; my tiny purple altar cloth; a shell; a feather; some salt; God and Goddess representation statues; incense; pentacle; candles; lighter; more incense.

Here’s how I did it.

Getting started:

I began first by deciding how big I needed my travel altar to be. For me, I wanted something very small that I could carry with one hand and could put inside a larger bag for when I go far away from my home. I chose a decorative 4x3 inch box. I already had one lying around at home to store foreign currency, but you can easily find these types of boxes at dollar stores for a buck or two.

Next, I thought of what I needed in it. I work primarily with candles, incenses, and I enjoy having representations of things present on my altar cloth. And speaking of which - I also needed an altar cloth.

The surface:

For the cloth, I chose a small piece of fabric I had lying around my house in my favorite colour. Check scrap bins at fabric stores for small enough pieces for extremely cheap, that also come in wonderful patterns.

Then, for the elements:

• I chose a shell to represent water. The benefits to using a shell is that they’re very handy for burning powdered and solid incenses. It can be used as a chalice, in a pinch!

• I chose a feather to represent air. I could also use it to waft incense.

• A tiny jar of salt was used to represent earth. It can also be used to cleanse sacred space. The jar was one of those little jam jars you can get on planes or in hotels - I often use them to store my herbs. Yet another very simple item you can easily find, even at dollar stores.

• For fire, I was content with just using candles and incense as I usually do.

Deity:

My God and Goddess representation statues were found at a tiny Chinese corner store for a dollar each. They’re carved out of carnelion, and they are no bigger than half the length of my thumb. They’re perfect for mediation when there’s one in each of my hands.

Incense:

For incense, I broke up various large joss sticks that I already had at home and put them in a tiny matchbox. I also got a small bag for my sage so I could cleanse my sacred space, and another mini dollar store jar for some jasmine.

Candles:

For a travel altar, birthday candles work extremely well. They’re very inexpensive, and come in a variety of colours. At first, I used matches to light them, but the tiny matchboxes always ran out so quickly, so I switched to a lighter instead.

Other Tools:

My small pentacle I made using a brass craft ring and some purple thread - I left a loop on the top in case I want to hang it from a tree or bush.

I’ve also seen some people use letter openers for athames. I deliberated it, by mine wouldn’t fit.

I really hope this helps you in starting your own! Mine has proved invaluable over the course of my practising.

Blessed Be

)O(

Magic done when the moon and sun are both visible in the sky can have potent effects for certain desired outcomes. Look it up! 

thewildhuntblog:

Virituous Pagans in Limbo, from Dante’s Inferno.
Gustave Doré, 1890.

“I’ve got a question. You know Eric, right?” asked Tim.

He and three more of my friends, Dylan and Lydia and Calvin, had just sat down to lunch. They were at a buffet off Highway 63 in Kirksville, Missouri, the…

Another fantastic, thought-provoking piece from The Wild Hunt, as usual. Give it a read!

All is trying to tell me something with birds. Having just stumbled across the skeleton of one at the foot of my property steps, it’s now apparently up to me in order to clean it and give it proper thanks and ritual on the altar.

thelivingwiccan:

When in a circle, I always had problems with disruption within the circle, and people talking about ritual after it has been finished (which I can’t stand).

So I wrote an incantation to recite while casting a circle that helps to fix that. As always I walk the circle three times to seal it.

“Milk and shadow, bane and brew

Court our hallows, two by two.

Enter thus, encircled here,

Do so free of hate and fear.

For in this circle, none shall pause

With doubt and so disrupt our cause,

Or otherwise make ill at ease

Those who try to others please.

Let no one in who dare defy

The laws that we have casted by.

Those who journey in, they must

In perfect love and perfect trust.

Silence is the witch’s key

To let their deep desires be.

So silence of the circle keep

Outside its walls, for others seek

To cast their doubt upon us all.

And offer only aid, or fall

To laws wrote by the circle’s pow’r

Cast upon this witching hour.

The circle now cast thrice about

Shall keep all harmful power out.

The circle now cast three by three

Protect within: so mote it be!”

Happy casting, happy crafting.

**All words property of TheLivingWiccan — feel free to share WITH CREDIT. Do not remove source**

Here’s an old one!

brynja-storm:

You will need:
°storm or war water
° a representation of the target (picture, poppet or whatever)
° bleach, rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide
° an abrasive cleaning instrument
° a jar

Pour your storm or war water into a bowl. Add the representation of your target. Add your cleaning agent, whether it be bleach, peroxide or even just soap. Take up your preferred cleaning implement and scrub. The goal here is to destroy or damage the representation by cleansing. Recite an incantation if you wish, or you can recite the traits the target needs to be cleansed of, whilst stating that they are to do so out of your life. When you feel the job is done, seal the object in a jar and bury it.

Necessary.

Gave thanks yesterday, and picked the first iris of the summer. It seemed to be appreciated. 

I’m teaching a meditation workshop for the next few weeks, and the workshops are a little longer than I had originally thought.

I have my own music for it, but I need to supplement it a little more. Does anyone have any suggestions?

thelivingwiccan:

This spell works best on secret lovers! You’ll need:

• goldenrod
• boiling water
• three yellow ribbons

Grind the goldenrod plant up and add 1 part goldenrod with 1 part boiling water. Boil them together, saying:

Secret keep, and silence hold,
Caution caused by shoots of gold.
Encouragement of secrecy,
Their consequences part from me.

Soak three yellow ribbons in the infusion for about 10 minutes, then braid them together and give them to the subject of your spell.

**Spell property of TheLivingWiccan — do not remove source!**

thelivingwiccan:

To Stop a Spreading Influence:

You’ll need:

• dandelion (still in the ground!)
• black thread or twine
• box filled with salt (large enough to hold the dandelion)

Find a patch of ground with a large dandelion in it.

Pull it out by the root (it’s important that you get the whole root at once. Try again with a different dandelion if you can’t get it out in one pull. If at first you don’t succeed, at least you’re weeding the garden!)

As you pull out the dandelion, say

“I rip you out, uproot your bones;
uproot the influence you own.
A hole shall be there in your stead;
your power shall no longer spread.”

Take the black thread and bind the leaves and flowers to the root (this should end up being one big bundle). This is also a good time to bind anything to the root that symbolizes the person or thing you’re trying to bind.  As you bind, say:

“Your opinion now is nulled,
your thoughts are kept, your motives dulled.
Your persuasion is the key
but must be kept in secrecy.”

Put the bundle in a box filled with salt, saying:

“Convince no longer, root grow cold.
I bind you stronger, root grow cold.
Move no others, root grow cold.
Your opinions are too bold.”

Place the box in a cold, dark place. To reverse the spell, take the dandelion out and place it back in the earth (the salt will have killed the root, but the seeds should sprout another flower in a few weeks).

**Spell property of TheLivingWiccan — do not remove source**

In case you were curious: this spell works wonders. 

thelivingwiccan:

Intense Personal Purification: for those times when you desperately need to clear out negative thoughts and habits from yourself. (This spell does involve blood magic)

You’ll need:

• sage
• blood (your own)

To make oneself pure as anew
prick the body cleanly through
Blood for blessings, sage for smoke
burned, and cleansing be invoked

As the chant states, prick a finger and put a few drops on the leaves of sage. Burn it and speak the chant, repeating the last 2 lines a few times until you feel better.

**Spell property of TheLivingWiccan — do not remove source**

Yes. Yes, this is exactly what I needed. Now to just get some bones on there!