GROUNDING— To ground is an exercise that is used to clear and release excess energy, as well as to renew the energies within oneself and clear out the old. Traditionally done by envisioning roots stretching out from oneself into the ground, like a tree, and connecting through them to the earth. However, it can be done with simple visualization, and does not need to include nature, as long as the cycling of energy is completed.

grounding can be a long focused ritual, it can be a simple few movements. there are a variety of ways to ground besides these guided methods listed, it can be done in almost any way that cycles new energy in and old energy out. 

🌱  grounding, a quick how-to  🌱  fire grounding  🌱  coffee grounding  🌱  storm grounding   🌱  star grounding   🌱   moon grounding   🌱  sea grounding  🌱

a spell that mixes mundane methods with magic to help break bad habits

🚫 gather: black thread, bay leaf, and a different, healthy habit you want to replace it with. 

🚫 identify what brings the habit on: boredom, convenience, etc. 

🚫 bind it with the black thread. 

🚫 burn the bay leaf and sprinkle the ashes over the new habit

🚫 keep the objects near one another, to remind you to opt for the good habit over the bad one

one of the largest misconceptions in witchcraft is that you constantly have to be doing huge elaborate rituals and spells that take lots of preparation

💤 emoji spells. they might feel ridiculous, but posting them somewhere safe or texting them to yourself or a friend can be a nice little boost

💤 don’t have the energy to create a sigil? sigilscribe.me creates them when you type in your intent

💤 music. perhaps you don’t have the energy or time to dedicate to writing your own chants for a spell. music can both add energy to a spell for you, and have the words you wish to use.

💤 your daily rituals have power to cleanse. from brushing your teeth to washing your hair, even clipping toenails. little moments of self care can be magical if you do them with intent

💤 scented soaps can be used in place of herbal baths if you have neither the time nor energy to do a full on bath. 

💤 stir drinks in clockwise to increase a quality, and counterclockwise to decrease something. 

💤 choose drinks or food with correspondences, and each bite has intention. 

💤 sleep with your tarot deck, shuffle the cards. doing so will help bond you with the cards, even if you don’t have the energy to do a full reading. 

💤 hold onto your favorite crystal, whether its wearing it or keeping it in your pocket. a little energy work can go a long way to keeping you magic in shape

💤 if you enchant your makeup on a good energy day, you can use those enchanted objects every day after. 

💤 if you need a curse but don’t have the energy to perform anything elaborate, the evil eye works in a pinch.

💤 cleansing an area can be a heavy task, setting up the herbs to burn or spritzing salt water can be more effort to prepare than it should be. ringing bells to cleanse and area works just as well. 

no witch succeeds with their spells 100% of the time. here’s a short list of reasons why it could have happened and some solutions

possible reasons why:

distraction - a spell you’re not invested in isn’t going to have much power behind it. if you’re concentrated more on you. if you cast a motivation spell while planning out your vacation, it’s going to subtract from that motivation. 

rosemary replaces everything - supposedly. it supplies general power, but if you add nothing into the spell that has any real meaning to you, then what is that power supposed to do? where does that energy go with no direction?

associations - the correspondences everyone else lists for herbs and stones and planets can be very useful, but sometimes you have a personal conflicting association. perhaps lavender is gross to you, and not peaceful at all. then that dream sachet isn’t going to give you peaceful dreams. 

didn’t help the spell - magic does not exist in a vaccum. spells can only do so much, but if you don’t make the effort, it much less likely to work. job spells dont work if you don’t fill out applications, love spells don’t work if you don’t go out and talk to people, and so on. 

too many cooks - if you cast 10 love spells, and yet no one is attracted to you, it’s entirely possible they all did work but they all conflicted with each other, and ended up canceling each other out. 

shot for the stars- sometimes you try to achieve something, and you set your expectations too high. either it’s impossible, you’re trying from the wrong angle, or you didn’t get as much as you wanted.

cancellation - sometimes a spell may appear not to work when it does, but the results are invisible because it canceled something else out. say you cast a money spell and get no extra cash after several weeks, it could be just helping you maintain your current income and blocking extraneous expenses.

impatience - unless you programmed a working time limit into it, the spell could be working and you just don’t see the results yet. these things can take time.

out of your depth - if you don’t feel like you’re ready to do a spell, your lack of confidence or discomfort can either disable the spell or not give it enough power to work

what to do:

• take a break, ground, cleanse, and give it time. refocus your intentions
  
• contemplate each ingredient and step in the spell, and modify
  
• use the ingredients that you know best work for you, old standards hold up.
  
• think about what you could do to help the spell work. what mundane methods haven’t you tried?
  
• take a step back and look at it realistically. is there another angle you can approach this from, can you break it down into smaller steps?
  
• return to the spells you are comfortable doing, and work from there.
  

there are a lot of different names for a witch’s personal book, which can define what type of book it is. a witch might have multiple books, or just one. however, you don’t need to have one singular book for each topic, it’s perfectly acceptable to keep everything in one book.

📚  GRIMOIRE / AGYR - a book of spells and other knowledge

📚  BOOK OF SHADOWS - a wiccan term for a witch’s book

📚  BOOK OF MOONS -  spells and knowledge relating to moon magic

📚  BOOK OF TIDES - a book of sea witchcraft and related knowledge

📚  BESTIARY - lists and accounts of the creatures/spirits you encounter

📚  DREAM JOURNAL - records of your dips into the astral plane

……..and many more types, whatever you like!

things you might want to include in your witch’s book:

• rituals / offerings ideas
  
• moon cycle notes
  
• sabbats / rituals
• chants / prayers / quotes
• astrology notes
  
• spiritual correspondences 
• herb and crystal associations
• recipes / spells / notes on spell results
• divination board illustration
  
• tarot readings / notes / spreads

though not every witch uses plants or herbs in their craft, it is a common question for beginner witches, “where do i get herbs for spells/potions?” 

the short and simple answer is, wherever is most important in your craft. 

• do you feel it is important the herbs you acquire commune with nature? 
  
• or is it important that these herbs are close in energy to you from time spent growing them?
  
• or are all herbs are good as each other, and you prefer where they are most accessible?
  

all of these are equally valid choices in one’s craft. 

however, the answer is not as simple as this. 

we are dealing with plants, which have the potential to cause harm. merely being a witch does not give one a degree in botany or make one a master in herbalism. the way you procure your herbs/plants does not so much depend on your skill as a witch, but your knowledge of plants. though there may be a spiritual reason for where you would like to get your herbs from, you may want to work your way up to that first, and do the appropriate amount of research and training before you dive into unknown and dangerous territory. 

🌿 Finding Herbs at the Grocery Store

as this is the safest and easiest way to acquire herbs. for the most part, you are unlikely to be hurt by your average spice cabinet of kitchen herbs, spare for certain medical conditions, like allergy or pregnancy. the herbs bought from stores are already prepared to be consumed in recommended amounts,  and though you may not find anything particularly exciting at the store, you’ll never run out of rosemary and thyme. 

🌿 Using Homegrown Herbs

this is the middle ground. you have control over the herbs you plant, and it’s up to you to research them before buying/using seeds, which includes on how to handle the plant as well as its edibility. 

however, there is still the possibility of mistake. outdoor gardens are susceptible to whatever seeds get carried in by wind and animals, as well as whatever pesticides and general pollution that is in your area. how edible the plants you grow varies from area to area, and requires individual research. 

🌿 Finding Edible Wilds 

this is the most dangerous way to get your herbs, as there is the most room for error. there are many plants that can be easily mistaken for their poisonous counterpart, and others that though they are edible, are harmful to touch/harvest. using edible wilds is something only people high experienced with plants should consider themselves able to do, and even then they still put themselves at some amount of risk. 

tl;dr: unless you’re a professional don’t go looking for random shit in the woods for your spells, there’s poisonous shit out there

this is not to say the odd dandelion found in a field can’t be used for your craft, but if you find a white carrot, and can’t remember which poisonous plant it could be, “was it belladonna, nightshade, or hemlock, i wonder?” or if it’s even safe to touch it, you want to take a pass on picking it, for your own safety. 

sometimes you come across a spell and it’s not exactly what you want. sometimes you can’t find the spell you need and there’s only spells that are only sorta what you need. 

❇️ To enchant an object with the intent of the spell

involve the object in the spell. for example, 

• if it is a jar spell you can charge the object in or around the jar
  
• if it is a candle spell, you can pass the object though the smoke
  
• gather and direct 

❇️ For a very specific spell becoming generalized

dissect the spell, and figure out what is making the spell focused on a singular event, area, or person, and remove that element. if removing that element makes the spell difficult to complete, you can 

• burn the ingredients and spread pinches of the ashes for influence
  
• combine in a traditional candle spell
  
• combine in a traditional jar spell

❇️ For making a general spell focus on a specific person

find an element of the person you wish the spell to affect, a representative object, and combine with the rest of the ingredients. this can look like:

• burning ingredients together to ash
  
• binding with thread
  
• combining inside a jar
  
• use in a candle spell
• etc
  

❇️ linked guide on replacing/substituting ingredients ❇️

Now, stop and take a moment. There are lots of spells out there but finding one that matches your super specific situation is tricky.

Whether it’s enchanting your dice to get good rolls, or protecting a cat while she’s outside, there may or may not already be a spell for that. 

Or, just consider the intent you need. 

Suddenly there’s more spells than you could read through for it. Any general protection spell could work for your cat, any luck spell could could work on your dice. They boost what they need to, and they don’t need to be tailored to dice or cats, they can be for any charm or anything.

So ask yourself, what is the ultimate result you’re going for, what is the intent?

🌟 what is a glamour?

Often used for beauty spells, glamours are a type of spell used for creating an illusion over a person or object. They can be used for a number of purposes, such as to make someone more attractive, appear more confident, to make an object harder to find, or a person be more or less likely to be noticed.

HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN GLAMOUR SPELLS 🌟

🌟 common spell components for glamours:

CRYSTALS    —  rose quartz /  plain quartz /  amethyst /  selenite,

WATERS  — full moon water, sun water, dew, melted snow, ocean water

TOOLS  — candles (pink, white, blue) / brushes / mirrors / ribbons

ENCHANTED OBJECTS — jewelry / makeup / toiletries / clothes

MISC  — flowers / fruits / sugar / sea salt

🌟 suggestions for various types of glamours:

BEAUTY - avocado, catnip, dew, ginger, ginseng, heather, maidenhair, orange

COURAGE - basil, fluorite, mullein, sunstone, sweetpea, thyme, tiger eye

FOCUS - amber, aquamarine, celery, celestite, ocean water, onyx

TRUTH - bluebell, iron pyrite, moss agate, opal, selenite

STRENGTH - bay leaf, ebony, mulberry, pennyroyal, saffron, thistle, tourmaline

WISDOM - almond, amethyst, bay leaf, coral, iris sage, sunflower

not all witches have the same budget or spell ingredients readily available to them, so when one witch writes a spell with ingredients they consider easy to procure, it may not be the same for the next witch that wants to try that spell. 

🌿 homemade replacements:

sometimes you can make a substitute for the ingredients, the way land locked witches can make sea water from sea salt and tap water. it’s not entirely the same but it’ll do well enough. however, not everything can be almost-manufactured.

🌿 common “replaces anything” alternatives:

• rosemary - replaces any herb
  
• rose - replaces any flower
  
• quartz - replaces any crystal
  
• white or black candle - replaces any candle. 
  

however, these are just stand in- the hold the spot, boost the spell, but only in generic, neutral energy. these ingredients can even water down the intent of the spell because they don’t support the correspondences of the spell. without components that have the intent of the spell, what do you have to direct that energy?

🌿 so how to replace a spell component?

the core of any spell is the intent, the results it wants to achieve. however, that intent is the sum of the intents of the ingredients in the spell. you need to break down the spell into its ingredients and understand what is needed and why, and even if anything is expendable. 

example:  a spell to speak clearly may have one herb for communication and another for clarity, and one for luck. 

the one for luck may be less necessary than the other ingredients, just there for a little boost to the spell. 

however, using only the component for communication, the spell might only bring opportunities to communicate, and they may go badly or well, there’s nothing in the spell to balance that. so the other component is needed, the one for clarity. 

however the herb for clarity on its own may end up only providing insight and understanding on your part, and not communicating well with others.

figure out the correspondences of the herbs and their part in the spell, and look up herb/stone/etc correspondences for that intent, and replace with what you find that is available to you. 

🌿 however, there are other times you may need to replace something in a spell, like personal association. 

say you hate lavender, yet it’s in every calming or sleep spell. if lavender makes you gag when you need a sleep spell, it’s plain not going to help the spell for you, even if you have plenty of lavender on hand. 

again you research what lavender or whatever herb generally stands for, and find an equivalent, like chamomile tea. if you like chamomile and have it on hand, it can be your new go-to replacement. 

BONUS RESOURCE for herb/stone correspondences/associations:  🌿  pinecone.pub  🌿