Various Cicada-shaped Knickknacks

Localizing Your Practice

So much witchcraft emphasizes how important it is to honor and work with the Earth, but then teaches us spells with ingredients we basically have to import using locations we don’t have access to. It’s rare to find an existing grimoire or guide book that actually works with where we live. We can still use them, but it doesn’t enhance our connection to our local land, which to many can feel important. Here are some tips for localizing your practice and working with the land you actually live on.

See what nature exists around you. Explore your own backyard with a critical eye. What plants can you actually go and pick yourself? What are those plants associated with? Do you have access to a creek or river? What does your local land actually have on it? If magic correspondences for your local plants haven’t been written about, you may have to do your own research. Example: I grow several plants on my back porch which I can potentially use for magic.There are magnolia trees and rhodedendrons on the grounds of my apartment complex. My parent’s neighbors have chickens in the backyard, so I have access to some feathers when they shed. 

Check out local folklore, legends, etc. This is one of my favorite parts, but can also be the hardest. What are the stories of your area, both on a local and cultural scale. Example: A West Virginian may incorporate legends of the Mothman. Everyone says that one building on my old college campus is haunted (and they’re right.) People talk about that liminal-space feeling when you drive down that one road at night.

Find the magic spots. Sometimes the urban legends will tip you off to these (usually in a bad way) but other times you can find them on your own. A place where the energy is just right for some reason. A place you can go to be closer to nature, or a place you could host a ritual if needed. Sometimes it’s just a place where you can feel your mind open a little bit. Example: The shady corner of a public park. The tunnel downtown. That weirdly-perfect circle of trees in the woods behind Wal-Mart.

Meet your land wights. Spirits of the local land. This could be the fair folk, but also house spirits, the spirits of the trees near you, the nature spirits of wherever you are. They’re there. Be good to them and they’ll be good to you! Note: Some spirits and wights will not be interested in working with you, and that’s okay. I generally think it’s good to at least leave a polite offering to just be on general decent terms even if you never work with them more directly beyond that. 

Check in with your Seasons. Harvest holidays generally don’t have actual lifestyle importance to most people reading this. The seasonal shifts other people write about may be from a very different climate than yours! Figure out a calendar that works for you. It doesn’t have to be detailed, but something that ties you to the seasons as you actually experience them. I also love working in any fun annual festivals nearby, if any.

if you blow out candle you BLOW AWAY the MAGIC and ur spell goes pllphfphphphhhhhhbbb into the wind and WON'T WORK

Me: I need a library card, but I just moved so I don’t have an ID with my address or any mail with it.

Librarian: -slides me a blank library postcard- Write your address on this like it would be mailed to you.

Me: Sure?

Librarian: -takes it back- Great! Now we have mail with your address on it!

Me: …does it really work that way?

Librarian: the rules don’t say it DOESN’T work that way. Here’s your new library card!

A Lesson for Young Witches

If you cannot find representations for a given element, remember…

You are supported by a rigid skeleton made of minerals. You are earth.

Your body is over 70% fluid. You are water.

Your lungs take in and expel breath. You are air.

Your blood is warm and your brain runs on electrical impulses. You are fire.

Your essence, however you describe it, resides within you. You are spirit.

You are composed of gifts from every element, and every element is given marvelous life in you.

Never feel that you are insufficiently magical for lack of icons or accoutrements or accessories.

You are ALWAYS magic. You are ALWAYS enough.

Korean Folk Magic (Herbs): Sogeum

Sogeum 소금 is salt! It is used in various household god rituals, including feeding Yongwang 용왕 and rites to prevent fires. 

It is also used to purify spaces, chase out negative entities and repel bad luck. 

There actually isn’t a lot that’s different with how korean folk magic uses salt. Because of its color (white) it is connected to purity. Because of salt’s effects on food (keeping it longer before spoiling) it is connected to dispelling misfortune.

We usually sprinkle it in all corners of the home to purify and cleanse before a rite. 

소금 can also be used for offerings, primarily to certain Gashin 가신 (household gods) like Samshin 삼신, the Goddess of Childbirth. 

Keep a small bottle or packet of salt on you at all times. If you suddenly get a bad feeling, sprinkle the salt in its direction. 

Triangle and sigil cloths prepared and concentrated for use is scrying.

Oh mirror of the otherworld to what depth do you call.

Far beyond the threshold yet not that far at all.

Oh mirror of the otherworld to what visions do you see.

Stars that shine like diamonds in the blackness of the sea.

Goldfish breeds and other aquarium fishes, their care and propagation, 1908