Witches, Magic, and the Moon
WITCHES
The moon and witches have been tied together throughout history. Witches follow the moon for timing of all sorts. Many witches will only cast spells with, not against, their interpretations of a lunar phase. Witches who make herbal remedies will frequently harvest and process their medicine to coincide with lunar cycles. The phrase “drawing down the moon” refers to an ancient practice of a priestess or witch standing with arms up, underneath the moon, to draw that energy inside of their bodies. The participant then becomes the moon, or channels its energy, lit up by its magical charge.1
A witch is many things. A witch is untamed; wild; full of rage; ready to cry in public; generous with her gifts; able to communicate with nature and spirit; able to heal bodies with acupuncture needles. A witch locks herself in a room with a pen and comes out twelve hours later with an indescribable masterpiece. A witch with a stained lap of elderberries receives a download and creates a fortifying elixir. A witch fucks however she wants, whomever she wants, whenever she wants. One may find her foraging in the forest; caressing crystals in caves; climbing trees for a better view of the egrets; holding her breath for long periods of time under the waves that crash against a gradient-soaked horizon. Witches are in classrooms teaching children algebra; in grocery stores carefully stacking produce just so; taking temperatures in busy clinics; on movie sets wearing oversized rhinestone-encrusted sunglasses; in abortion clinics holding clammy hands; dawdling in parking lots swiping left on their phones; seducing the crowd from strip-club stages; shuffling tarot decks across from people with burning questions. There’s a witch wherever you are.
Witches name themselves. Green witches, kitchen witches, glamour witches, hedge witches, color witches, Fae witches, art witches, sex witches, moon witches, doula witches, word witches, astro witches, queer witches, fashion witches, herbalist witches: these are just some of the ways that I’ve heard witches describe themselves. Witches are brujas, are wizards, are priestesses, are seers, are root workers, are sorcerers. Witches are Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Wiccan, and questioning. Witchcraft is a sprawling and vast belief system in which there is room for all different ideologies. Witches don’t need to insist on being right, or belittle forms of witchcraft different from their own. There is no wrong way, and no one way, to witch.
Witches are terrifying to the patriarchy. Magical people invent and embody their own definitions of power. This is why the patriarchy fears them. This fear has led and continues to lead to control, punishment, and violence. To this day, witches are still persecuted. Witch hunts were and still are used for control over marginalized folks’ bodies, knowledge, labor, and land. Indigenous people, Black people, Brown people, people of color, women, and gender-nonconforming people have been the predominant targets of violent campaigns and are who have suffered most under colonization.2 The war against witches is and has been an attack on nonconforming and noncompliant folks.
We alone can reclaim the power of our magic. As witches, we must disentangle ourselves from the stigmas that have created shame around our superpowers. Being empathetic, sensitive, kind, caring, fierce, psychic, or intuitive is wonderful. Feeling things deeply, having relationships with animals, plants, the elements, guides, fairies, spirit, the spirit realm, or certain ancestors is a blessing. If you possess particular gifts, it is for a reason. If you are a channel, a medium—however that looks—there is nothing wrong with you. You are just as you were intended to be.
As we reclaim our identities, we must also take care to scrutinize our magical practices. Question if we are stealing or appropriating, and stop if we are. Question what sort of language and framing we are using in our communities and how these might need updates (for example, using “white” to describe good and using “black” to describe bad). Using spiritual bypassing as an excuse not to examine our own practice or behaviors for any racism, classism, ableism, transphobia, misogyny, and other systemic oppressions that unfairly burden so many in our collective. If you are a writer or teacher, are you properly citing and referencing the origins of your ideas and concepts? Do you give credit where credit is due?
Be conscious of the role of commodification in your practice. Capitalism has a way of confusing the accessories of the thing with the thing itself. In this case, the thing is magic. Magic is priceless and it cannot be bought and sold, only shared and experienced.
MAGIC
Magic is sorcery. Power. The ability to change the course of events using supernatural forces. The ability to change one’s consciousness at will. Magic is the art of living well. Magic is a feeling and an action. A noun and a verb. Delightful, intense, intriguing, enchanting. A sparkly quality, something out of the ordinary. A state of alignment and groundedness. The art of energetic mastery.
There are numerous types of magic practiced on the planet. The magic I present in this book is nondenominational. That means there is no specific god, goddess, goddexx, or other deity you have to believe in. You can weave your own customs, practices, and philosophies in with the suggestions provided. You only need to believe in energy, nature, motion, change, beauty, connectivity, relationships, the basic principles of cause and effect. You have to believe in yourself.
A magical practice will be as varied and unique as the practitioner. Some witches are very particular about timing and correspondences. Others are very disciplined in their ceremonial and spell structures. There are witches whose work is heavily influenced by their ancestral lineage; and since not everyone has that access, there are some witches who are creating their own lineage, derived from their learnings in this lifetime. Some work with deities; others do not. There are those who solely cast spells for their own benefit; others cast spells only to serve others and the collective. Some do a mixture of both. Many witches are solitary practitioners. Others engage with magic in community, with a coven, in a temple, or in another organization.
Engaging in a daily, consistent spiritual practice alongside your magical one will build your discipline. The more disciplined you are—mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally—the more effective your spells will be. Discipline is used to bring core sensitivities, talents, and desires out of the ether of dreams and into the material. Your discipline is derived from returning to the source of your values, loves, interests, intuition, and dreams.
A consistent complementary morning and/or evening practice brings you back to yourself and creates space in which you can process and reflect. You might try a minuscule but mighty routine: Take five minutes to center yourself in the present moment. Pull a tarot card and journal about it. Add a grounding meditation or some focused breathing. Adapt your practice as needed: some days you may have no more than a few minutes to spare; other days you may wish to spend an hour or more with yourself. Improvisation is a key part of any magical practice. Most likely many days your spiritual practice merges with your life, because a spiritual practice is a life practice. You use the tools and habits you’ve cultivated to stay aligned, focused, and centered through rough patches.
Seasoned witches know that magic is about mastery of mind and mastery of energy. Both are necessary. Both require consistent development. Practice having mind and energetic mastery while moving. Then practice having both while moving and no longer reacting to external situations based on limiting beliefs and unhealed wounds. Then notice the correlation between your mind, emotions, and internal reactions while also cultivating an interior baseline of self-awareness and compassion. This is some wizard-level magic, yet it requires not one crystal, not one candle. This practice does require commitment, willingness, patience, and discipline.
This is what I call being in alignment. What your mind is thinking is directly connected to the words you use. Your words are connected to your actions. Your actions reflect the ideals you hold around your self-actualization. This sounds simple but is quite difficult. When we are in alignment consciously and consistently, we are living spiritually. This is also magic.
A magical practice must be a place where one feels seen and supported. If a magical practice doesn’t resonate with you, then do not do it. You can always augment and revise spells or philosophies that you come across, including the ones in this book. An inherent part of magic—and life—is making it all up! A spiritual practice is creating something intimate and specific to you, your beliefs, your needs, and your perspective.
Within the safe container of your practice, you can try to make new kinds of art, figure out your own interpretations of tarot cards, spend time learning how to make your own magical tools, get to know your body in loving and sensual ways, and work on refining your energetic mastery. You are allowed to change your mind, your goals, and your desires. As you experiment and evolve, you’ll keep some practices and leave others.
A magical practice must be an exchange. Many spells require ingredients, such as crystals, plants, herbs, and candles. Personally, I enjoy a practice where a little goes a long way. I have a sweetgrass braid that a friend gave me that has been used for the last five years. I burn a little at a time. I have cast spells with nothing more than a tea light, a bowl of water, a paper and pen, and some dirt. Spells don’t need any ingredients at all to be effective. Invoking the elements is powerful. Calling in the energy of deities, angels, guides, and other celestial helpers requires nothing but focus. Go outside into the forest. Make the river part of your spell. Infuse the stars into your whispered desires.
A magical practice opens a doorway into the realm of endless possibilities—a place we had almost forgotten but that still pulses inside our veins. Magic offers us a lifeline back to the most essential parts of ourselves: back to our hibernating hopes, back to earnest longings we had wrapped in recycled newsprint and thrown into the corner of our psychic closet. Magic provides a way back to the desires the external world rarely grants us permission to feel, let alone congratulates us for voicing.
When we enact magic, we wander down the pathways of our imagination. Once, we had imaginary friends we would play with for hours. Once, a twig became a wand, imbued with electric volts of dragon fire. For many of us, that vital, fertile imaginative part of us got bulldozed over by needing to survive, by heartbreak, by obligations, by trauma. Magic is a place where we can resurrect our innovative dreamscapes and reencounter the sheer wonder that accompanies an awakened life.
In a magical practice, the only failure is not trying.
MAGICAL PRACTICE AND THE MOON
As I teach it, lunar magic is magic that is specifically co-created with an entire lunar cycle. The energies of the different phases of the moon are worked with consciously and intentionally. In spell work, in ritual, and in the external world through actions and behavioral change. While the majority of practitioners use lunar timing, they don’t always work with and make magic throughout the entire lunar cycle. They may cast one spell and leave it at that. The lunar magic I use and teach involves working with all of the moon’s phases over at least one cycle around one goal or desire. Even if I am not casting a spell a week, I am taking actions around my goal every day. I might cast just two spells at opposite times of the lunation. In between, I am observing and working with my energy, taking steps to shift my behavior, naming my blocks and transforming my relationship to them, and much more. This all works in conjunction with the energies of each phase, as well as my own energies.
Lunar magic is the most effective tool I have found for actual, long-lasting manifestation results and effectual magic. It is holistic; it asks us to take a 360-degree approach to our goals. Every lunar phase asks us to engage and approach our desire in a different way. The external and internal are addressed. Our mindset shifts; we reprogram our subconscious; our actions are energetically and magically amplified. Even if we take one different action, let go of one limiting belief, or change one behavior for each lunar phase, results will be seen. Through an entire cycle of the moon, we are committing to our goal—and our self—over and over again. This ends up creating fundamental transformation within us, which leads to profound, enduring change.
Some practitioners treat the moon as a deity. They think of and treat the moon like a divine, supernatural god or goddess. Your worship of the moon could include prayer, honoring actions, making offerings, and time spent in gratitude for her. You can also ask the moon, like any goddexx, god, or goddess, what it wants or what it would like. Then, do it, as a symbol of your devotion.
Others work with her energy elementally. The moon becomes an ingredient in your magic. As discussed elsewhere, the moon traditionally corresponds with the feminine—psychic and intuitive gifts, the home, et cetera. Some practitioners use lunar energy as an additional boost to their spell. They might cast their spell outside on a Monday, day of the moon, or when it is in its home and astrologically favored signs of Cancer and Taurus, in order to harness potent lunar energy.
When making moon magic, one might wish to solely focus on traditional magical correspondences of the moon for their altar. Those are items from the sea: coral, crab shells, sand, seashells, seawater, and pearls. There are the animals of the sea: whales, dolphins, narwhals, sea lions, otters, mermaids, pelicans, eels, seahorses, selkies, penguins, or your favorite aquatic creature. Some crystals that correspond to the moon are selenite, silver, clear quartz, lapis lazuli, celestite, and moonstone (with the various types of moonstone corresponding to particular lunar phases: black moonstone for the dark moon, pink moonstone for the new moon, and white moonstone for the full moon).
Some plants that correspond to the moon are seaweed, mugwort, motherwort, passionflower, poppy, moonwort, and blue vervain. Any plant life that grows in water, such as lotus and water lilies, correspond. Flowers that bloom at night correspond, as do white and silvery plants: queen of the night, datura, moonflower, jasmine, evening primrose, lavender, and sage. Fruits and vegetables that tend to be juicy, like melons, aloe, and cucumber, also correspond.
The colors that correspond to the moon are silver, white, all shades of blue, gray, and black.
Of course, the moon corresponds to all water. The rivers, ponds, brooks, waterfalls, hot springs, ice sheets, lakes, rain, sleet, and all forms of H2O on this planet. This also includes recordings of water sounds: whale song, crashing ocean waves, and gurgling mountain streams. All the fluid we hold: tears, blood, and other body fluids, as well as our lymphatic and reproductive systems, correspond to the moon as well.
Each specific lunar phase will have its own specific energy for you. This is an opportunity for you to explore your own correspondences as they correlate with your energies or intentions. Part of a magical practice is creating your own correspondences: You might have a perfume that reminds you of the waxing moon, all earthy tones and frankincense. You could make a playlist that gives you dark moon vibes—the sounds of feminine rage and faraway futures. In each specific moon phase chapter, I’ve added suggested correspondences. Try working with those, or use them for inspiration to create your personal symbolic bank.
You may wish to call on the moon as a helper or spiritual guide for times in your life where you would like to enhance a particular quality that she traditionally corresponds to. Emotional mastery, emotional health and well-being, spirituality, going with the flow, vitality, psychic ability, intuition, giving and receiving love, the divine feminine and the divine femme, travel, parenting work, inner-child work, magic of all kinds, wholeness, and embodiment practices are some themes the moon corresponds to. The moon could be one of your sovereign deities for your entire life, or you could dedicate a period of time to work with her specifically.
SPELL WORK
A spell is an intentional act utilized to effect change.
The act itself is a creative ritual that may include elements, symbols, and communion with source, spirit, ancestors, or specific deities. When one casts a spell, one declares one’s desire and consciously harnesses different energies in order to provide support and boost momentum around one’s focus.
A spell is intention + energy + action. Within the spell working, your own energy is also fundamentally transformed. A spell is an initiation into another way of being, another way of behaving, another way of believing.
During a spell, you are programming yourself to be in energetic alignment with that which you desire. You are reprogramming your mindset: the beliefs and words you use around yourself and your goals. You are using emotionalized thought to create a powerful field of motivation and attraction. Emotionalized thought is mixing positive and strong emotions into your thoughts and energy so that they gain strength. When we consciously and intentionally connect the heart to the nervous system to the subconscious, our personal paradigm shifts. A spell needs some kind of transformative aspect, energetic movement, or mindset shift. This is vital, as it reorganizes your baseline imprint.
An important aspect of spell work is the change that occurs by the process of casting the spell itself. Spell work is transformation work. When you decide to cast a spell, you are committing to change and you must transform yourself accordingly. In deciding to cast a spell, you are accepting that unpredictable change will come as a result. The decision to cast the spell is also a commitment to step into the unknown.
Part of the art of spell casting is paying attention to your own internal messages and willingness to grow. A spell will boost or enhance actions you are already taking in the material realm. A spell can also activate a focused desire. The spell acts as the beginning, a rose blooming from the inside out. At times, you let your intuition guide you; you might feel called to cast a spell that comes from a place deep within, without completely understanding why.
Record what you do in a journal. Some witches call this a grimoire, or a book of shadows: a place where one notes all of the details of their magical workings. Write down the day and time, any ingredients, your poems or chants, and any other pertinent info. Include any insights or messages that came through during or after the spell. Leave a couple of pages blank, so you can write down what happened weeks or months after your spell.
Spells and Intention
Before we cast a spell, however, we must possess an unwavering belief that what we want will come to pass. An intention is transferred into solid knowing and clear action. This is why we undergo honest reflection around our desire before we commit to a spell.
Before casting a spell, spend time reflecting and getting clear on your intention. What do you want, and why? Our spell is a symbol for a deeper desire, a true core healing. Honestly interrogating our motives before doing spell work brings us into a deeper engagement with our desires. If our first impulse is to cast a spell for more money, we need to ask ourselves why. Is it because we equate money with freedom? Perhaps it is because we long for safety and security. Maybe we have conflated how much money we make with how valuable we are as a person. Questioning our motives adds clarity to our intentions. Before you cast your spell, figure out what your motives are. Get clear on what your beliefs around your desires are, and how you need to shift them into greater alignment with this desire. This will aid you in the subconscious programming and reprogramming that is integral to spell work.
In the beginning of your magical practice, it might make the most sense to experiment with spells that will have a tangible outcome. There isn’t a hierarchy to types of spells: a new place to live, another job, or a bigger salary are all worthwhile spells to cast. So is banishing shame, attracting healthy relationships, or embodying courage. You may wish to go the route on getting your material needs met, then focus on spells for healing or on clearing other blocks. Casting spells that serve as umbrellas for both, and that will affect your life in immeasurable ways, is a smart strategy. Spells for peace, grace, flow, protection, love, or bravery all enhance the overall experience of one’s life.
Below are ways to help clarify the motivations of your spell work. If you can answer these questions clearly and honestly, you will receive greater results.
Does your spell address the core root of your desires?
If you are working quick-fix spells, there is a slim chance that the foundations of what you need to make happen will be addressed. A good guide to follow is to focus on creating lasting structures, habits, and foundations that will serve you for years to come, not stopgap measures born out of desperation.
What resistance do you have to your desire? Does it make sense to cast a spell around clearing out those blocks first? Would your time be better spent doing focused subconscious reprogramming?
Sometimes, we have to begin with shadow work. Clearing and unblocking spells are always a great place to start, spell-wise. Knowing what makes the most sense, order-wise, is key.
Is your desire coming from a place of anxiety, desperation, reaction, or control?
If so, calm down first. Make your first priority your mental health. Be clear that your spell is not coming from murky motivations. Your spell work should not attempt to control others or enact revenge. Cast your spell from a place of clarity.
Do you think your spell will solve all your problems?
If you think your spell will result in a “happily ever after” scenario, those are the wrong intentions. Spells don’t fix everything forever. Spells do not absolve internal and external work.
How will you raise or transform energy?
Be clear on how you will change and raise energy within the spell. Be clear on how your energy will shift in various ways in your daily life.
Are you trying everything in your power to make your desires unfold?
A spell can’t do all the heavy lifting. Start by working toward your goal as much as possible. Belief is the foundation of a spell. Start a little outside of where you are already. A spell can kick off a time period of doing the work in the tangible realm. It can also boost the work you’ve already been doing. It can create more support within your efforts. But nothing will happen if you continue to sit at home, staring at the television for six hours a day instead of working on your dreams.
Are you truly ready to step into the outcome of the spell?
Be ready to be changed. Be ready to take responsibility for your greatness. Be truly ready to receive. Be ready to collaborate with the universe and what it will bring. That might mean ending certain habits or relationships that keep us comfortable or unhappy.
Will you be able to recognize that your spell is unfolding?
Outcomes can show up in subtle ways around us. These little shifts connote the activation of a spell. Sometimes we can be stuck in our everyday routines and not notice. Make a promise to yourself to notice how your spell is unfolding. This could show up as casting a spell for love, and then getting lots of invitations—where you might meet someone! Small signs could crop up in your periphery; be sure to turn your head. Commit to noticing the positives and synchronicities waving to you on the other side of a spell.
How will you know your spell was successful?
Be as clear as possible in your expectations while also being open to outcomes that you simply have no way of anticipating. The analogy I use is planting sunflower seeds. When you plant them, you expect to grow sunflowers, but you aren’t picky about how many, or what exact height or color they will be. Tune in to the sensations and energy of what you want. Release certain toxic expectations of how you want your desires to appear that might hinder you from receiving some unexpected beautiful outcomes.
How is your spell ultimately for the good of all?
Ultimately, your spell is for the betterment of the entire collective. Abundant-feeling people spread abundance. When we feel agency and self-trust, we inspire others to access their own. Even if you are enacting a binding or banishing spell, being clear about the positive outcomes is important.
A spell is a promise between yourself and the universe.
A spell is a declaration of the soul.
Ingredients of a Spell
Most spells include similar ingredients. There are representations of the elements: fire, earth, water, air. Candles, crystals, plants, tinctures, water, bells, chimes, incense, art, meditations, Reiki, visuals, breath work, chants, intentional movement, and paper and pen are some of the materials used. Certain spells require other unique and specific ingredients as well: an ancestor altar, for example, could include photos of your deceased relatives, items that belonged to them, symbols that remind you of them, or offerings of their favorite food. And then there are the ingredients of emotionalized energy, affirmations, and desire.
Infuse as many qualities as you need into your energetic cauldron.
Spell structures tend to follow a basic formula. There is the preparation, filled with spell crafting: cleaning and preparing the space, and sometimes a ritual bath, shower, or meditation. One grounds and calls the elements in. The circle of protection is cast. Then within the circle, the spell work begins. This usually involves the lighting of candles and the stating of intentions. Inside the circle is where your energy work takes place—such as raising power, meditation, and whatever additional divination or other activities you will be doing. Energy is raised and transformed, and you feel the shift within. Then, you disperse the energy and ground. Give thanks and gratitude. The circle is then opened. Any spell cleanup happens. If yours is a multiday spell, leave your altar up. If you are leaving the vicinity, put out the candle. Depending on the type of spell, you dispose of your ingredients in your trash, or in a trashcan outside of your premises. Folks will save certain ingredients used as talismans or reminders.
Sacrifice and Surrender
There are always aspects of sacrifice within the crafting of a spell. Sacrifice is needed to transform energy. When you cast a spell for enhanced focus, you’ll have to sacrifice a number of things to get there. You might have to let go of the belief you can’t be focused. You might have to let go of the habits you hold that keep you unfocused. Part of these sacrifices must be clearly defined. Work on changing the energy in your body—so that when you think about all the benefits of elevating a focused mindset, your body tingles and associates focus with reward, or a new identity. If deity work interests you, call upon one that you feel comfortable invoking to help you. This could be Saturn, the planet of boundaries and discipline. If you invoke a specific energy, goddess, or deity, you will also have to honor them by doing what they ask, or giving them offerings.
Before the spell, you’ll have to clarify exactly what a successful result would look like. Are you starting with five minutes of meditation a day? Set yourself up for success. You may have to put your phone on “do not disturb,” or install an application that keeps you from surfing the Internet if these distractions impair your focus. After the spell, bring your intention into the real world with your actions. Be clear on what beliefs or behavior you will be sacrificing and transforming for the new.
Spells also require an aspect of surrender. You want to be specific, but not too specific. For example, when calling in love, I always advise clients to call in a lover that sees you exactly as you need to be seen, and will love you exactly how you need to be loved. This works more effectively than if you put all your focus on a particular person, or “type of person.” Surrender also comes into play while waiting. Let go of the grasp, the grip, the urge to control. Invoke patience, trust, and cheer. While we wait for results from our spell work, we carry on with our lives and move forward in the direction of our spell’s intention, as if we have received a letter that it is already on its way. We must meet our future with actions, belief, and aligned energy.
How to Know If Your Spell Is Successful
There are different ways to define a successful spell. One is that consciousness and energy have been raised and circulated, creating movement and attraction for you around your desire. Blocks have been cleared, resolve has been solidified. A belief has been firmly planted within. You feel different: mentally, somatically, or emotionally. You leave the spell different in some way.
Another way a spell can be successful is that, inside the container of the spell or in its aftermath, potent information may surface in your waking or dream worlds. Untapped memories may rise to consciousness. Imagery may enter your mind. Sensations may travel across your body. Spirits or ancestors may enter with guidance. You could feel elation intense emotion, or deep gratitude. Insights may arrive that help you move forward. More information may be revealed, such as why you had been stuck, or where you are resistant, or what to do next. Solutions could chime in: the right person to contact crosses your mind, the next step solidifies.
A general indication that a spell is working is that something changes in some fashion. This usually takes a couple of days, weeks, or months. If your spell is really ambitious, it could take longer: I’ve had certain spells take years to fully come to fruition.
If you truly do not feel like your spell worked, that is where a grimoire or journal comes in handy. Look back and see what ingredients and wording you used, and what happened during the spell. Think about what you can revise or tweak. Feel free to try to cast another spell. Change or clarify your words, ingredients, timing, or get closer down to the root of your desire. Be sure to have waited awhile. Give your spell time to unfold. Look for patterns: Do you keep wishing for the same thing, over and over, and it doesn’t happen? That could require therapy, or time spent invested in uncovering blocks, beliefs, or behaviors that stop certain wishes from coming true.
When we first make magic, and we cast a successful spell, it can be shocking. Sometimes we can’t believe it. It gets chalked up to a coincidence. Do not do this! Have gratitude for your magic. Recognize that you did that. Magic is absolutely real and it absolutely works. Be open to this fact! If the spell work and magic is around internal change, you could second-guess or doubt yourself around the subtle yet irrefutable shifts that are occurring within. Witch, if you are casting spells, for the love of the Goddess, expect them to work! It isn’t a fluke. You are responsible for the transformation happening in your life.
A successful spell is a cause for celebration! Enjoy it. Thank any and all of the elements that helped you. Make an offering. Practice gratitude. Do something meaningful that facilitates more support. Send more ripples of goodness out into the world.
Up-leveling Setbacks Are a Very Real Thing
So you’ve cast a spell and you’ve gotten what you’ve wanted. This is the time we integrate. We recognize results. Our desires are celebrated. We adjust to the beauty of blessed change. It’s also a time we may experience a phenomenon I call “up-leveling setbacks.” Sometimes when we get the thing we want, we may be surprised to find that our feelings in the wake of that success are strangely negative. You might feel guilt, shame, disbelief, or hollowness. It’s akin to manifestation postpartum depression. That’s an up-leveling setback.
Why does this happen? Humans have been taught to fear change. Our nervous systems sometimes interpret any change, even good change, as a threat. Our limbic system can interpret ungrounded territory as a crisis. And in times of crisis, the first thing that our mind, our nervous system, and our ego want to do is to go back to a familiar zone. This is where it feels safe. The known, even if it is painful, feels more secure to the ego than the unknown.
Identify a couple of your core negative self-talk patterns that are surfacing as a result of your success. Give them a name: imposter syndrome, undeserving, fear of failure, fear of success. How does this new identity or expansion you are now in directly challenge any of these? Try to shake off those old fears, leaving them like a snakeskin shed on the side of a long desert road.
Then there is the hedonist’s ladder we are all inclined to want to keep climbing. We want something, we get something, then we want something else. (Many pop songs have been written about this!) Relax into your good fortune. Rest. Practice integrating accepting, and believing for a while.
Small Spells and Living Magically
Small spells are everyday magic. This is magic you create in tiny moments. Stirring a little bit of honey in your tea to remind you of sweetness. Conjuring up the right words to incorporate in an email that turns it into a spell of appreciation. Moments spent in visualization, creation, meditation. Do something every day to bring you back to your core energy. Connect to your intuition, your breath. Notice the signs and symbols that enter your world.
Everyday magic can include cleaning, rearranging furniture, or hanging up symbolic art. It can include wearing certain colors, adorning yourself in certain scents. Everyday magic includes doing something generous and kind for someone else, for no reason. As much as you can, ask: How can I make this person’s day a bit brighter? How can I make my world a more accurate reflection of my dreams? Then do that. It is understanding we are all here as part of a woven web, together.
Spell work, magic, and living magically are all in service of your healing, your growth, and your evolution. The end goal of doing spiritual and self-improvement work is to eventually be able to help others. To help the planet, our earth, our water, our air, our sky. The creatures and the other living things that are just as alive as we are. To heal deep pain and damages our ancestors have unknowingly placed upon us, in the hopes that our wounding of others becomes minimal. To support and help the environment that has been damaged by greed and ignorance. To join together to overthrow injustice everywhere. To become—with our own behaviors, speech, and actions—examples and inspiration to those around us. This is our responsibility as witches, as dreamers, as artists, as healers, as creators. As conscious human beings on the only planet we belong to with the only lives we’ve been blessed with.
“Ultimately, magic is about living,” Robin Rose Bennett reminds us.3 Only you can define what living magically means to you. Align your actions with your values. Align your days with activities and sensations that remind you of possibility, serenity, connection, and what you value. Count your blessings and they will multiply. Magic is your birthright, and you are magic.
