Bag of Tricks
In this chapter we’ll go over a bunch of useful tips and tricks for creating magic, including instructions for how to do the preliminary and integral spell steps mentioned in this book—consecrations and evocations. Simple spell structures that can be applied to any situation are also here, as well as some of the spells mentioned in the body of the text. There’s also a list of basic magical supplies that are useful to keep around.
Stocking Your Magical Shelf
It’s worth discussing the ins and outs of buying magical supplies. After considering details of certain purchases, you’ll find a shopping list of basics to keep in the house so you are prepared to do just about any spell. Obviously, this list can be expanded. Of course, shopping for supplies lends energy to a spell, and it’s by no means necessary to have everything on hand before you begin spellwork. But there are times when a spell might be urgent, or when you’re performing a spell after stores are closed, or when you change direction in your spell planning at the last minute. It’s certainly convenient to have a basic stock at home.
Candles
Candles require a little discussion because there are so many different kinds and they have different uses.
• Tapers (often sold as “dinner tapers”) are a magical basic, because they are sturdy enough to be lightly carved, they are accessible to be dressed (see the section later in this chapter for how to dress a candle), and they come in every imaginable color. They burn for about eight hours, which is convenient for any spell where “keeping watch overnight” is a motif.
• Votives are the short, squat candles. They also come in a huge range of colors, although many are scented, which can run counter to the needs of a spell. They can be carved, but their short stature limits the surface area. Because of their larger base (compared to a taper), they sit sturdily, even without a candle holder, so they’re good for any spell where you’re burning a candle on top of a magical object such as a jar. They burn for about four hours.
• Seven-day candles are the ones that come in the pillar-type glass holders. Keep in mind that there are two kinds—the wax can be poured directly into the jar, or the candle can be formed and then inserted into the jar. If you want to dress, carve, or in any way manipulate the candle, then the poured kind is useless. In either case, the jar makes these candles really handy for outdoor rituals because the flame is kept out of the wind. They’re also ideal for any spell that lasts for a period of days. They’re safe on virtually any level surface, provided you protect against anything that might knock a candle over—animals, toddlers, earthquakes, etc. Color availability is okay—you can get a basic assortment of primary colors, and they’re almost never scented (which I appreciate!). As the name indicates, they burn for about a week, but it depends on how they’re made. I’ve had them last for only four days, and they can burn as long as eight or nine days.
• Many other candle types are nice for extra light, for marking an area (such as a circle or even a labyrinth) with light, or for creating atmosphere, but are less useful as focal objects in spells. Tealights, for example, are small, are not often removable from their little tin cups, and burn down quickly. They’re nice for surrounding an area with candlelight, but are not my choice for focal objects. Pillar candles come in thousands of shapes, sizes, and varieties. They might have glitter or crystals and are often scented. They may burn for weeks. I find a pillar is nice for long-term dedication. My Brigid candle (dedicated to the goddess Brigid and burned periodically in her honor) is a large pillar.
• White candles can be used for virtually any spell or ritual purpose. Other colors have more specific purposes, but if you have a limited budget and are going to buy only a few candles, buy white. When I’m out and about and spot candles of a color that I don’t have or that might be hard to find, I buy them for my supply chest. You never know when a sky-blue candle will be called for, after all!
• Since you’re burning candles and incense, always have a small fire extinguisher nearby.
Incense and Herbs
Almost every mention of incense in this book assumes you’re burning loose incense on a charcoal. The advantages of this are myriad, the most important of which is that you can easily make your own custom blends. I also like that you can increase and decrease the level of smoke at various points. So you can burn incense at the start of your ritual, allow it to dwindle, and then throw a pinch on the censer when it’s time to consecrate something using incense smoke. By contrast, sticks and cones burn steadily until they burn out entirely.
I use stick incense when I want to “set it and forget it”—for example, when I’m meditating. I also keep stick incense around as a backup in case of charcoal failure. There was an incident several years ago when I bought a package of defective charcoals, and every time I lit one, it exploded. This wasn’t quite as dramatic as it sounds, but it was certainly inconvenient. More commonly, charcoal can get damp and refuse to light. I store my charcoals, which come wrapped in foil, in a zipper bag in the freezer to keep it dry.
I like smudge as well, but it’s limited: There are only a few things you can smudge with—usually sage, cedar, or sweet grass. The very nature of smudge—wrapping the herbs in a bundle—means you can’t use ingredients that don’t lend themselves to that shape, such as resins or flower petals. The bundles also don’t stay lit, so you light one for the moment of use and then put it down, where it’ll go out quickly, making it inconvenient any time you want steady smoke.
Smudging has specific ritual purposes, mostly having to do with purification, and spells of other types can call for incenses of other types. Smudging is also specific to certain Native American cultures, so people who are concerned with cultural appropriation might not be comfortable with it.
I smudge when the need arises, but my go-to incense is a loose blend on a charcoal.
When using a charcoal in a censer, place the charcoal on a bed of sand, earth, or clean kitty litter in the censer. After the first time you do this, you’ll have ash blended with your original bed thereafter. Use a censer that has a handle that dissipates heat—you want to be able to lift it without burning your hands. (Many spells don’t call for carrying the incense, but some do.)
In my home I always have a sage bundle, a package of stick incense, and some loose frankincense. Frankincense burns easily because it’s a resin. For the same reason, it’s a good addition to many incense blends and helps bind them together. It’s useful in a wide variety of spells because it purifies, consecrates, raises the vibrational level, and brings luck. As with sage, purification isn’t a part of every spell, but it can blend with other, more targeted herbs. For a love spell, for example, you might pass a focal object through the smoke of a frankincense and rose blend—frankincense for consecration and rose for love.
If you keep only one fresh herb, it should be rosemary. First of all, it’s a great culinary herb and is fantastic in a wide variety of recipes. Keep fresh rosemary for your kitchen, and as it gets old, allow it to dry for incense. Both fresh and dried rosemary, both leaves and stems, are useful in magic. The scent of rosemary is evocative and has both magical and physical aromatherapy functions. There’s now some scientific evidence that inhaling rosemary improves the memory—something Witches have been saying for hundreds of years.
Rosemary is something of a universal substitute. It can be substituted for frankincense in many spells, but it has even more uses. Rosemary is good for purification, concentration, mental powers generally, luck, love, and lust.
Fabrics and Cords
Fabric is handy for a number of spell purposes. A simple mojo bag has many uses and is made from a square of fabric. Altar cloths in colors appropriate to the working can layer symbolism onto a spell. You can combine a writing spell with a textile spell by writing on fabric—either using embroidery or other stitchery, or with fabric paint or magic markers. Objects can “wear” colors for magical purposes—the only limit is your imagination.
Magical objects—perhaps something created or consecrated within the course of working a spell—can be wrapped in fabric as a final step before carrying, burying, hiding, etc. Black fabric is said to be ideal for this purpose, as it is a kind of barrier to vibrational energy. Some people keep their athame and/or wand wrapped in black—often black silk—to preserve the energy, and so as not to absorb symbolic energy from any other color.
White fabric is the opposite: it can absorb any energy and is excellent for absorbing the energy of other colors added to it, such as with thread, paint, or magic marker.
I find it handy to keep a simple black silk (or silky nylon) scarf around in case something needs to be wrapped up. For some reason, this is the kind of thing that seems to come up at the last minute. Maybe in the course of brainstorming a spell right before executing it, we decide to add an object to be carried or whatever, and I have all the other spell ingredients but didn’t prepare for that one. So keeping the black silk around works for me.
I also find a coarse white cotton to be a handy possession. Not only can it be dyed or painted when any other color is needed, but it can also be used as a cheesecloth, for draining herbal mixtures and pressing herbal oils.
A spell might call for thread, string, or yarn. If you’re actually sewing, you need thread, and if you’re actually embroidering, then embroidery silk is ideal. Otherwise, anything from a fine thread to a coarse twine to clothesline might work for some purposes. In most cases, you’ll want to pick up the thread for the individual spell as part of getting that spell together—keeping a supply of threads, yarns, and strings in your home is probably not practical unless you’re really into textile arts, textile magic, or both.
If you’re going to keep a little something around, a ball of red yarn is practical. Red is the color of life and life’s blood, of lust and passion. It can be added to many magical workings to add life energy to the work, and when a tie or connection is symbolized by some kind of string, red yarn makes that connection visually alive and vital.
Oils
The most frequent magical use of an oil is to infuse it with an herb or other substance. The infused oil can then be used for anointing a person or object, dressing a candle, or otherwise creating sympathy.
In other words, impart a quality to the oil, and then whatever you put the oil onto partakes of that quality. The quality can be derived from consecration or charging, or from herbs or other substances. The quality can be anything: love, sacredness, success, peace, victory … The list is as endless as your magic requires.
For this reason, you want to use an oil that doesn’t have a strong scent of its own and can easily take on the qualities of the infusion.
Typically, extra-virgin olive oil is perfect for such uses. It’s handy, too, because you probably also use it in the kitchen.
Any vegetable oil will go bad eventually, so if you’re keeping oil just for magic, use one with a long shelf life, like jojoba.
Other
• You’ll probably want symbols to represent the four elements. (See the lists of elemental correspondences in appendix A.)
• It’s a good idea to have a couple of clear quartz crystals around. I’m always finding these in gift shops for very little money. Clear quartz can be used to represent spirit if you work with five elements rather than four. Clear quartz can also absorb almost any magical energy, so it can be a token, memento, or talismanic object for a variety of spells.
• Consider getting a set of small dishes—like finger bowls. You can use them to hold various symbols on the altar (water, salt, incense, etc.). I’ve often needed an extra one for a spell and was glad that I really love little bowls and always seem to have a nice one around.
A Magical Shopping List
• Candles: white tapers and white votives to start, then add other colors as available and affordable
• Lighter, matches
• A small fire extinguisher
• Fresh rosemary
• Frankincense
• Charcoals and censor
• Incense sticks and burner
• Black silk scarf
• White cotton fabric
• Red yarn
• Olive and/or jojoba oil
• Sea salt
• Dishes
• Elemental symbols
• Clear quartz crystals
Consecrations
Knowing how to write a good consecration is a skill that will be used time and time again in your magical life. You’ll consecrate the elements, you’ll create sacred space, you’ll charge sympathetic objects, you’ll send power into talismans. You’ll use this skill all the time.
Here’s what a consecration should include:
1. What you’re doing
2. Specification of the thing being consecrated
3. How you’re doing it
4. What it accomplishes; what you want from it
5. Declaration of success
Ideally, the consecration should also sound good and be relatively simple.
Here’s a simple consecration of anointing oil:
By my True Will I do charge and consecrate this holy oil, that it may bless all those touched by it. So be it.
What just happened?
|
By my True Will |
#3 (How) |
|
I do charge and consecrate |
#1 (What) |
|
this holy oil, |
#2 (Specification) |
|
that it may bless all those touched by it. |
#4 (What it accomplishes) |
|
So be it. |
#5 (Declaration of success) |
You can change the tone or feeling of the words, making them more or less formal, making them rhyme, or whatever you like. The important part is these five simple elements that allow your intent to manifest effectively.
If you ask God, or a god or goddess, or another supernatural being, to aid in this consecration, then the request is the “how”—the implication is that it’s by the power of the being. If you simply say “I charge you” or the like, you’re implying it’s by your own will, by your own power, by the strength of your words, that the work is being accomplished. You must know what you’re implying, in either case, so that the intent is there.
Here is another example of a consecration:
Gracious Mother Goddess, bless this salt, bringing the power of earth to my ritual. Thank you.
This is even simpler than the first one, but it does the trick:
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Gracious Mother Goddess, |
#3 (How) |
|
bless this |
#1 (What) |
|
salt, |
#2 (Specification) |
|
bringing the power of earth to my ritual. |
#4 (What it accomplishes) |
|
Thank you. |
#5 (Declaration of success) |
Let’s look at how the résumé was charged in the previous chapter:
Résumé! Foot in the door! Shine brightly in the eyes of all who read you! Bring attraction! Bring interest! Let employers look upon you and be inspired! Let them read you and want to meet me and hire me!
|
Résumé! |
#3 (How) It doesn’t say “I” or evoke a deity here. Because you are commanding the résumé—using the imperative—the implication is that the power enters from your will and word. |
|
Résumé! Foot in the door! |
#2 (Specification) The word “résumé” is literal, while the phrase “foot in the door” is metaphorical; both say what is being charged. |
|
Shine brightly in the eyes of all who read you! Bring attraction! |
#1 (What) The imperative also is a way of saying what you’re doing. Instead of saying “I charge you to bring attraction,” you use a command that brings both the “I” and the “charge.” |
|
Shine brightly in the eyes of all who read you! Bring attraction! Bring interest! Let employers look upon you and be inspired! Let them read you and want to meet me and hire me! |
#4 (What it accomplishes) |
|
So be it! |
#5 (Declaration of success) This is said at the end of the group of consecrations—the résumé is charged first, then it’s consecrated by the power of the elements, then you say “so be it.” Since the multiple consecrations are all part of the same spell, you don’t want to cap off any one of the consecrations, finishing that piece of the energy flow, before completing the set. |
Language
It’s almost a shame that every consecration, evocation, and spell in this book sounds like it was written by me. Since I’m the author, there’s no avoiding it. But that doesn’t mean my style of writing is the “correct” style for magical language, which is why I try to change it around.
When you perform a consecration, consider the different mood and feeling of the following:
• Third person: I consecrate this salt of earth
• Second person: I consecrate you, O salt of earth
• Imperative: Be consecrated, salt of earth!
• Formality versus informality
• Brevity versus detail
• Archaic versus modern language (thee and thou versus you)
• Spoken versus sung words
• Rhyme versus prose language
Write a set of consecrations for the four elements. They can be as simple or as ornate as you like.
After completing your consecrations, try making changes to them as just described in the “Language” section. If you wrote in third person, create a version in second person. If you wrote a simple, brief consecration, try adding more description, etc. Say the consecrations out loud. If you trip over your tongue on a word or phrase, consider replacing it.
Do you like what you’ve written? Use your consecrations in ritual. Do they sound good? Do they feel powerful?
Evocations/Invocations
As discussed in chapter five, an evocation—calling upon a deity or supernatural being—has also got some basic necessary components. It’s similar in structure to a consecration.
Magic doesn’t require that you evoke or invoke any deity. However, if you do, I think you want to, and should, do so with reverence. It is perhaps pointless to evoke without honor and reverence, and it is probably unwise.
Remember, these are the components of an evocation:
1. An invitation or summons
2. Specificity in words and atmosphere
3. Descriptiveness
4. Praise
5. Need or reason
6. Greeting and/or thanks
The greeting and/or thanks is a declaration of success. Once you have invited Mother Goddess, “success” is that she has arrived, and you greet her and/or thank her for coming.
Although there is no “how” here—you don’t necessarily have any particular power to call God or a god—you can draw upon a relationship with the deity as a reason they should listen to you. For example, “I, who make offerings to you daily, do call you” is a powerful thing to say (if it’s true). The power here is devotion. Or you can draw upon a similarity or affinity, pointing out to Brigid, goddess of poets, that you are a poet, or to Bast, goddess of nurses, that you are a nurse. Finally, your “how” can be an inducement in the need or reason component. The reason is analogous to “what it accomplishes” in a consecration, but it can also motivate the deity. A healing god can be told, hey, this is your thing.
Here’s the Aphrodite evocation from the sample love spell in the previous chapter, and how it breaks down according to our components:
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Aphrodite, lady of love, |
#2 (Specificity) |
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I call to you. Be here, in this place of beauty and love. |
#1 (Invitation/summons) The invitation repeats in every “be here.” |
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Be here for me, as I open my heart to your blessings. Be here to bring two of your worshippers together. |
#1 (Invitation/summons) #2 (Specificity) This begins to create a specific atmosphere. #4 (Need/reason) This has a bit of the “how” described previously—an open heart attracts Aphrodite, the purpose of bringing two people together attracts her, and her worshippers attract her. |
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I invoke the gracious one, The beautiful one, The delightful one. |
#3 (Descriptiveness) #4 (Praise) |
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Look upon the work I do, blessed Aphrodite, And aid me. |
#5 (Need/reason) |
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I thank you. Blessed be. |
#6 (Greeting) |
How to Dress a Candle
Since dressing a candle has been mentioned several times, it’s worth providing some instructions.
Technically, “dressing” is applying oil to a candle. There are other things you can do to prepare a candle prior to using it in a spell. Often, a candle is engraved with a knife or pin. People do a lot of other really creative things with candles, like using glitter, embedding crystals, and so on. Some of these things work fine with oil, and some make a mess.
The simplest way to dress a candle is to take a pure oil (olive and jojoba were mentioned previously, but other oils can be used) and apply it to the candle from the center down and clockwise, then from the center up and clockwise, all while concentrating on your intention.
You can complicate this a little by infusing the oil with herbs or other substances sympathetic to your purpose.
You can also charge or consecrate the oil prior to applying it to the candle.
That’s all there is to it! Use this step before any candle spell to add additional power to the work.
All-Purpose Spells
I love being creative with my spells, changing them up and adding imaginative touches that connect me deeply to my target and goal. The variation is something that keeps my mind focused, since I’m easily bored. But it’s also useful to know basic spell steps that can be used for virtually any purpose.
Here is a simple candle spell to be performed solitary, and a simple group working. These spells can be doctored up with additional steps, sympathetic objects or qualities, or imitative behaviors, or they can be used pretty much as is (although you’ll need to plug in the things unique to your spell in any case). They can form the basis of highly individual spells. Go back to the job spell in the previous chapter and you’ll see that the core of the solitary candle spell is contained within it but a lot more was added.
Any spell can have an added step of prayer or evocation, but these steps are omitted in the following pages because this is a book about spells that can work with any kind of spirituality. You can pray to God, evoke your personal god or goddess or guardian angel, or proceed as outlined, without calling upon any higher power. You can add a step for prayer or evocation as described in chapter nine.
A Solitary Candle Spell
1. Set up an altar with a candle, the four elements, and a sympathetic object representing your target. The candle should be of a color associated with your target or goal, and the incense should likewise have ingredients associated with your target or goal.
2. Ground and center.
3. Declare your intention.
4. While reciting the goal, dress the candle with an oil infusion also associated with your target or goal.
5. Light the candle and the incense.
6. Consecrate the sympathetic object by the four elements.
7. Gaze into the candle, visualizing the goal while sending power into the target/object, which is before you or in your hands.
8. Declare success.
9. Let the candle burn all the way out.
Here’s a trick I like to use with this spell: use a dinner taper as your candle. Do the spell just before bed, and leave the candle burning in a safe location in your bedroom. (Always have a fire extinguisher nearby just in case!) Dinner tapers burn for about eight hours. This means the candle will burn through the night. I find that a candle burning in my room all night will tend to hover around the edges of my consciousness, almost but not quite waking me, and infiltrating my dreams. It doesn’t make for the soundest night’s sleep, and I don’t do it often, but having a spell work its way through my dream state is powerful.
A Group Intonation Spell
1. Before you begin, think about your intention, and decide on one or two words that encapsulate it. For example, a love spell could simply be “love” or “true love” or “soulmate.”
2. Set up an altar with the four elements, plus a sympathetic object representing your target. The incense should have ingredients associated with your target or goal.
3. Ground, center, and merge.
4. Declare your intention.
5. Consecrate the sympathetic object by the four elements.
6. Have one person (the person most deeply connected to the target or goal) sit at the altar, holding or gazing at the sympathetic object.
7. The group members now join hands. The person at the altar can join hands with the group or remain apart in the center. You can all figure out what feels most comfortable and powerful.
8. Intone your one- or two-word intention. You don’t all have to tone together. You can allow your voices to blend, to harmonize, to weave around one another, to rise above and below one another. You can create rhythms with the word(s).
9. As the power builds, allow your hands to gradually rise so that, at peak, the group’s hands are all raised in the air.
10. Send the power to the target.
11. Declare success.
Here’s what chanting “love” might be like:
|
Person 1 |
Looooooooooooooove |
|
Person 2 |
Love! Love! Love! Love! |
|
Person 3 |
L O V E L O V E L O V E |
|
Person 4 |
LllllooooOOOvellllllooooOOOvvvve |
I’m sure you’re impressed with my musical notation! I imagine Person 1 doing a long, single tone, like an “om,” while Person 2 is saying the word forcefully, like a drumbeat. Person 3 is using a deep, bass, repeated tone, and Person 4 is singing the word up and down the scales. None of them are doing the same thing, but they’re all merged in intention and purpose, and their energies naturally play off one another. It’s likely that, by the end, they’re all together.
Some Spells Mentioned in This Book
Throughout these pages, I’ve mentioned a number of spells in passing. Now that you’ve completed a course of instruction in how to perform spells (by which I mean, now that you’ve read the previous chapters), you’re ready to execute any of them. Here are a few to get you started.
These spells should give you creative options. Reading “A Spell to Reunite Lovers” should teach you more than a spell to reunite lovers! By reviewing the following spells, you should gain an understanding of how to use candle movement (and other object movement) in a spell, how to use braiding as a textile magic technique, how to use a poppet in magic, and how to create and use a talisman for a long-term goal.
A Spell to Reunite Lovers
This spell is used to bring together two people who have had a falling out. The title of the spell uses the word “lovers,” but it can be a romantic couple (married or not), a friendship, or family members. Some people might consider this a spell that interferes with the free will of the individuals, but I think there are circumstances where it’s appropriate. If two people aren’t speaking, or one left abruptly without explanation, and neither is abusive, then this is an appropriate spell. Even if they reunite only long enough to have a heart-to-heart talk so they can end their relationship more peaceably, that’s a better outcome.
I once performed this spell for a couple who had lived together for years. When “Joe” moved out, he described himself as depressed and confused. “Paul” was heartbroken. It sounded to me like neither wanted to be apart, so the spell seemed appropriate. After I completed the spell, Joe came home, and the two were happy together for another five or six years. When they parted, they did so as friends, which they remain to this day.
This spell will use the names Paul and Joe as examples.
Perform this spell during a waxing moon. It will be performed daily for seven days. You can end on or before the full moon.
1. Get two candles, one in the color of each person’s astrological sign (see the list of astrological correspondences in appendix A). You can also engrave each person’s name into his or her candle.
2. Set up an altar with the candles about two feet apart from each other (Figure 7). About halfway between them but forward (there should be nothing exactly between the candles), place one or more symbols of love and harmony. I have a rose quartz crystal in the shape of a heart that is perfect for a spell like this. The incense should likewise be halfway between the candles but behind (see illustration). The incense should have ingredients associated with love and harmony. A candle snuffer can be off to the side.
3. Ground and center.
4. Declare your intention: Joe and Paul will be reunited.
5. Dress the candles with oil scented appropriately. Use rose or gardenia for love, lemon for friendship, or basil for harmony in general. As you dress Joe’s candle, say, This is Joe. As you dress Paul’s candle, say, This is Paul.
6. Light the incense and meditate on Joe and Paul. Visualize them clearly. Inhale the scent of the incense and feel harmony and love permeate your work.
7. Light each candle, again saying, This is _____.
8. Say, Joe and Paul, now apart, are moving closer together.
9. Move each candle about an inch closer to the other. Meditate and send power into the candles.
10. When you’re ready, say, Joe and Paul are closer, then snuff the candles.
11. Repeat this spell every night for seven nights.
12. On the seventh night, change step 8 so that you say, Joe and Paul are now together. In step 9, when you move the candles, they should touch.
13. On the seventh night, end with It is done! So be it! Let the candles burn all the way out.
A Fertility Braid
Create a braid to be worn by someone wishing to become pregnant. For this spell, you don’t need to be at an altar. You may wish to be at your usual working space for magic, or you may wish to be someplace where it’s a little easier to manipulate the braid. Personally, my solitary magical altar is on a dresser, and I stand when working spells. For this spell, which takes a pretty long time, I sit, with the ends of the yarn or cord anchored securely.
This spell should be done during a waxing or full moon. I didn’t put a time limit on this spell (such as “Jane will be pregnant within a month”) because this is a spell that can be shared. In other words, once the woman wearing the braid becomes pregnant, she can pass the braid on to another woman who is trying to get pregnant. Another option is to do a two-part spell, creating both a braid and a talisman. The woman trying to get pregnant wears the talisman on the braided cord. Once she has a baby, she can then pass the talisman to the next woman, for whom a new braid is made. In this case, the original braid can be buried after the baby is born.
This spell sends power in waves. The female metaphor works for pregnancy, and the power is built and sent, built and sent, throughout the braiding process.
1. Begin by burning geranium-scented incense and/or having daffodils or geraniums in a vase before you. You’ll need three long strands of yarn, embroidery silk, or cord: one red (for fertility), and one baby blue and the other baby pink (for babies). The ends of the cords can be knotted together and anchored to a spot—a combination of a binder clip and a heavy book can do the trick.
2. Ground and center.
3. Say, (Name) is fertile. (Name) will have a healthy baby.
4. This spell uses chanting and braiding to induce a trance state through repetition. Find or write a simple song or chant that relates to fertility or birth. I used a goddess chant that called to a fertility goddess.
5. Braid and chant as long as necessary.
6. Declare success.
7. Give the braid to the person trying to get pregnant. If you used flowers, leave them on the earth as an offering.
Stuffing a Poppet
Poppets are useful for a wide variety of spells focused on people or animals. They can be used for healing, fertility, success, or—for those unconcerned about ethics—revenge. They can be used for negative magic that is ethical, such as containing, calming, or defusing someone who means you harm. Because making a poppet is somewhat elaborate, they are typically used for purposes that are both important and have built over time. For example, you’re more likely to work on healing cancer or a chronic illness with a poppet than on healing the results of an accident. When an accident happens, you might jump into your spellwork quickly and not have time to make a poppet.
Step One: Make the Poppet
There are approximately 12,000 different ways to make a poppet. You can use the traditional technique for making a corn dolly, or you can go to a completely different tradition and make a voodoo doll. You can use commercial doll-making supplies or found materials, or buy a pre-made doll and modify it. (That’s five ways. I’m guessing there are 11,995 more …)
One time, for a spell for a “crazy cat lady,” we used a stuffed cat doll as the basis for a poppet, instead of one that resembled the patient. You can stitch a poppet together using photographs of the subject or the subject’s actual clothing. And speaking of cat dolls, you can certainly work magic on an animal with an animal-shaped doll, if the need arises.
The only rule for making a basic magical poppet is that you must be able to open it up for stuffing. A basic cloth- or felt-based doll-making pattern will do the trick. The doll can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish. Most typically, a doll is made to resemble the subject of the spell. This can be a rough approximation: gender, skin tone, hair color and length, etc. Of course, you can get much more detailed and really make a beautiful representation.
Give special attention to the parts of the body being targeted. Suppose you’re working on heart disease. You’d make sure that the heart was clearly indicated on the doll’s chest.
Whichever part of the body is being worked on, leave an opening for the magical stuffing (step two). If you’re working on the whole person, you can leave the entire poppet to be stuffed in ritual or choose to leave the head unstuffed (representing the mind), or the heart, or the center—however you best visualize affecting the person.
Step Two: Prepare the Stuffing
Most of the poppet can be filled with doll stuffing, cotton, rice, beans, etc., but the part you’re actively working magic on should be stuffed separately.
I like to think about my ingredients list carefully. Herbs and other plant ingredients are a natural choice, but they’re not the only choice. Crystals and other stones, words or phrases written on paper and folded, mementos, and other meaningful objects are all possibilities.
Let’s go back to the idea of a cardiac condition. What might we stuff the chest of our poppet with?
• Healing plants, including those specific to heart disease (foxglove, sorrel, and walnut)
• Heart-shaped beads
• The Star tarot card, for health—you could use one from a tiny tarot deck or fold one up very small, or ou could scan a card and shrink it digitally before printing
• Symbols of the four elements, to balance the work
• Solar symbols, for energy
• Something representing the subject—a symbol of their astrological sign, their profession, or their family, for example
Place the ingredients in a small cloth or plastic bag, and make sure the cloth or bag will fit in the space you’ve left in the poppet. Sewing it into the poppet will be part of the spell.
Step Three: The Spell
For the following sample spell, we’ll continue with healing a heart condition. This spell, though, can be used for a variety of intentions, with appropriate changes to the wording.
This spell can be done alone or in a group. The moon phase depends on the purpose. Cardiac healing would be best done during a waxing moon, while healing cancer would be best done during a waning moon. (The goal of a healing spell in the case of cancer is most commonly to shrink the tumor and to decrease or eliminate metastasis; these are waning-moon functions.) Love is often the work of a full moon, and protection against evil might be best done during a dark moon.
1. Set up an altar with salt, water, incense, a censer, and your preferred magical tool (wand or athame). The altar cloth and incense should be appropriate to healing. A red altar cloth is excellent for vitality and heart health. Many incense ingredients are appropriate, including rosemary, cinnamon, cedar, hemp, sandalwood, myrrh, mint, and thyme. The poppet should be on the altar, with an opening at the heart/chest. You also need a needle and thread. The ingredient bag is also on the altar.
2. Ground and center.
3. Say, (Name)’s open heart surgery will be successful. (Name) will recover well and be strong and healthy.
4. Consecrate the incense: Power of air, be here for this spell!
5. Light the charcoal on your censer and consecrate the charcoal: Power of fire, be here for this spell!
6. Add incense to the censer.
7. Consecrate the salt: Power of earth, be here for this spell!
8. Consecrate the water: Power of water, be here for this spell!
9. Mix some salt into the water.
10. Say, The powers of the elements aid me!
11. Place your athame/wand on the poppet and say, This poppet is (Name). (Name) is here to be healed.
12. Pass the poppet through the smoke, saying, (Name) is healed by fire and air.
13. Pass the ingredient bag through the smoke, repeating, [Name] is healed by fire and air.
14. Wet the poppet with saltwater, saying, (Name) is healed by water and earth.
15. Wet the ingredient bag with saltwater, repeating, (Name) is healed by water and earth.
16. Place your athame/wand on the ingredient bag and say, Healthy heart! Healthy heart! Fill (Name) with your power! Fill (Name) with your power!
17. Place the bag in the poppet. With needle and thread, close the poppet with the healing ingredients inside. With each stitch, repeat, Healthy heart!
18. When the poppet is sewn up, chant, (Name) is healed, over and over, sending power into the poppet.
19. Say, So mote it be. The spell is done.
Keep the poppet on your altar. When the subject is safely home from surgery, you can give the poppet to them as a gift.
A Charm for Maintaining Your Grades
This spell helps a person maintain a specific GPA in college. This is ideal, for example, if you have scholarship money that requires a minimum GPA. This spell isn’t for passing one particularly tough class or test, but to keep going at a steady pace throughout your college career.
If you got great grades in high school, then choose as your charm—as the thing you will imbue with magic—an object that represents that success, like a class ring or an honor society pin. Otherwise, a small object that represents school to you, or knowledge, or hard work, can be used. You can also choose a symbol of a god, saint, or angel. Saint Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of students. Metatron is the archangel who is protective of students. Appropriate deities include the Hindu goddess Sarasvati and the Egyptian god Thoth. A natural stone is another option—agate, aventurine, or pumice correspond to Mercury and to successful studies.
One option with this talisman is that it could be buried. In this way, it would continue to work, protecting you from its location in the earth. However, this could be awkward for a residential college student. Most students are required to change dorms annually, so you wouldn’t want to bury it in or at your dorm. I’d say a symbolic location on campus would work as a burial site for the charm, but you could also choose to wear it, which is a more traditional use of a charm. If you do choose to wear it, something that is an actual charm—something that can be worn on a chain—would be convenient. Another option would be to keep it in your desk where you study. The choice is something you can meditate on. Choose what’s right for you.
The tricky thing here is not to imbue the charm with the energy of success—success is a common goal in magic, and it’s not hard to figure out how to evoke it—but to give the charm the qualities of preserving and maintaining steadily.
My first thought is to use a preservative. Since salt is an ancient food preservative, it is ideal for this purpose, especially since it’s a frequently used magical ingredient—one you probably already possess. Salt as a magical representative of the earth element is doubly good, because earth qualities are needed here—steadiness, stability, commitment, and longevity are all earth qualities.
We’ll consecrate the charm by the four elements as usual, but we’ll give the salt a dual purpose: it will work both for the preliminary elemental consecration and as a spell ingredient.
Give some thought to the incense mix as well. Success ingredients are readily available—ginger and cinnamon come to mind. What else do you need? Perseverance? Confidence? Quiet? Sobriety? Consider exactly what would help you maintain good grades. In addition, put yourself in the mix with something that corresponds to your astrological sign.
In both Pythagorean and Kabbalistic numerology, the numbers of importance are four and five. Four is Earth, stability, and industriousness, while five is Mercury, logic, and knowledge. Use fours and fives in the altar layout, the incense ingredients, and the words of your spoken charm. “Academic success is mine!” is a clean, clear four-word charm. You might want a different one, but this is the one we’ll use here.
1. Set up an altar with your charm as well as something representative of academic success—a report card or a paper you wrote that got a great grade, a letter of recommendation, your college admission letter, etc. I’ll say “paper” here. You’ll need salt, water, incense, and a censer. The altar cloth should be yellow (see the list of color correspondences in appendix A).
2. Ground and center.
3. While concentrating on your goal, say, Academic success is mine!
4. Consecrate the incense: Power of air, power of mind, bring thought and intelligence to my studies. Be here for this spell!
5. Light the charcoal on your censer and consecrate the charcoal: Power of fire, power of will, bring focus and drive to my studies. Be here for this spell!
6. Add incense to the censer.
7. Consecrate the salt: Power of earth, power of body, bring stability and commitment to my studies. Be here for this spell!
8. Consecrate the water: Power of water, power of feeling, bring intuition and insight to my studies. Be here for this spell!
9. Mix some salt into the water.
10. Say, Four elements, here in balance, bring power to this spell!
11. Take the paper and wet it with the saltwater, saying four times, By water and earth.
12. Pass the paper through the incense smoke, saying four times, By fire and air.
13. Now take your charm and wet it with the saltwater, saying four times, By water and earth.
14. Pass the charm through the incense smoke, saying four times, By fire and air.
15. Lay the paper on the altar. Take five pinches of salt, placing one near each corner of the paper and one in the center. With your hands, rub the salt into the paper, as if you were rubbing spices into a piece of meat, coating the paper with the salt, all while clearly focusing on your goal. As you do so, repeat, Academic success is mine!
16. Take more salt in the palm of your hand, and place the charm there. Rub your hands together, coating the charm in salt, repeating, Academic success is mine! over and over while you fill the charm with power.
17. Now rub the charm onto the paper, still repeating your phrase. The charm is picking up imitative power from the paper.
18. Fold the charm up into the paper. It’s okay if the salt falls off the paper as this happens. The salt has done its work.
19. Say, So mote it be.
20. Sleep with the charm, wrapped in the paper, under your pillow. In the morning, you can put the charm on a chain and wear it continuously throughout your college career, or you can bury it or hide it as discussed previously. The paper can be kept on your desk, so it is present whenever you write or study.
Finally …
You’ve reached the end of this book, but since it’s got “For Beginners” in the title, I hope you haven’t reached the end of your studies. As you continue, I’d like you to remember a few things:
• Magic should be fun.
• Learn by doing.
• Don’t be afraid to fail, and don’t be afraid to try again.
There’s a lifetime of learning ahead of you as a magical practitioner. In addition to practicing spellwork, you can dive more deeply into learning not just about magic but about additional occult arts that can work hand in hand with magic. This book has mentioned several, including numerology, tarot, astrology, and Kabbalah. There are also mainstream skills and knowledge that will empower you: anatomy, herbology, and mythology are just a few potential areas of study.
But most importantly, trust yourself, practice your arts, and enjoy the journey!