What You'll Need:

The opps (forces beyond my understanding) are holding me by the scruff of my neck like a kitten (not letting me divine on what lies ahead) while I scratch and bite (continue to ask my cards what lies ahead)

The cemetery as a place of power in my practice

Magic is often centered around location, especially places of power. Finding them, or making them. We do it when we follow the directions in old grimoires to go to crypts or wild places. As well as when we construct circles and sacred spaces in our homes or ritual spaces. We are setting aside a hallowed area for our work, a place to build force. A place of power. Some people find this place out in the forest, on the beach, in a church, their own personal temple, or other various locations. I found my place in a cemetery.

A few years into college I began getting more into ceremonial style magic, and the construction of a ritual space became a prominent part of that. I tried out various styles of circle casting, from calling the corners to demonic conjurations for the directions. As I was learning to cast a circle I often found myself without enough space to operate in my dorm. At home in my bedroom I could do a make-shift set up, but here at school and after when I had roommates space was VERY tight. So I began working almost entirely outside. I'd go to wooded places, beaches, parks at night and various other spots near my school to practice. 

After college I moved in with an old partner and happened to have an unmonitored cemetery near by. So this became my go to spot for practicing my witchcraft and any ritual work I had planned. Unknowingly I had created a habit of casting my circle in the same spot in the same way over weeks for various magical needs that arose. This connection with the land built up to the point where I felt a call and response in my environment. The spirits of the cemetery started to take notice of me and the work I was doing in their space, and eventually took active interest. It was at this moment that the way I saw the cemetery changed, it had become a place of power for me. I felt safe there at night now and didn't even pay attention when that switch in my brain happened. 

My draw to this cemetery was purely circumstantial, and it being a good available working place for my craft. My practice has blossomed here, as most of my spirit court has come out of my work done on those grounds. As I reflect, you'd think based on my craft now that I had some kinda obsession with the dead, but that was never really the initial drive. I'd say that affinity has grown from this relationship with this location. Which I think in turn lends itself back to the cemetery becoming a focal point of me consistently.

I've done some much circle casting and ritual work in that space that I no longer feel it's necessary there when I'm working at night. The space is liminal and separate enough without the pomp and circumstance of ritual that I can just begin the work that needs doing and get on my way. Keeping me from having to be out longer than I have too, avoiding any unwanted eyes. 

Many things lend themself to doing magic in a cemetery. There's it's obvious connection with the underworld and the dead being a place we bury our deceased, but I also see my local cemetery as a place of living since many animals and plants call it home. It's large enough that I've seen coyotes, eagles, fireflys, and other little critters there, as well as variety of plant life. There are also the mourners and the workers in this graveyard who are characters of this space too. So I use this cemetery as an access point/nexus, through which i can connect with the land and it's spirits. I use the graveyard as as a point of communion, with the spirit of my city and other realms. 

Another facet that gives power to my work is the emotional energy that pools in graveyards. Grief is a powerful experience that brings forth many emotions, and this cemetery holds children, veterans, and founding members of my town. So the psychic weight in this place can be heavy, loaded, and complicated. Which is something a skilled practitioner can draw on. I've also found that spirits from this graveyard love to feed on grand displays of emotion, joyous or sorrowful. So often I'll capitalize on that and use this was an emotional outlet that nourishes my spirits. Plus no one thinks twice of someone having a good cry in a cemetery.

Through my time in this space I've built in a intimate connection with it as an access point for Spirit. Making it more than just a place of power for simply being a cemetery, it is truly a holy place set aside from others in my practice.

Chalkboards In Witchcraft

So, a couple of years ago around Halloween, my local crafts store was selling cute small wall-hangings that functioned as chalkboards. My first idea was to doodle silly things, but right after that I thought “wouldn’t this make a perfect and practical way of writing and hanging sigils on my wall? I could change the sigils whenever I wanted. And it was totally reusable and movable. Now, it’s become a staple of protection magic in my craft. You can enchant chalk and use different colors of it for different sigils. I’m going to show you a standard one I used to use (not showing you my current protection sigil on the chalkboard for privacy reasons).

It’s so practical! Lmk if you try this!

Best of luck witches! (Also, a pack of these boards only cost me a few dollars).

hello!! if you don’t mind me asking, how do you undo a spell?

If you were the caster and you have spell remnants (the thread that was knotted, the wax of the candle that was burned, etc.):

Bring the spell remnant back into Magical Space (whatever space, mindset, or rituals you require in order for your mundane actions to become magical).

Perform Undoing actions on the spell remnants. Cut or untie a knot, melt or pulverize wax, mix ashes with magically nullifying substances such as salt and iron, etc.

While performing Undoing actions, also give clear linguistic Instructions on what you expect to happen. These instructions may be spoken, thought, signed, written, read, or be imposed upon your Magical Space in any way you prefer.

Tie your instructions to your physical actions, such as:

This spell is undone as this cord is cut, the magic binds no longer

This spell is melted and reduced as I melt and reduce this wax; the magic dwindles into nothing

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; my spell is consumed by this iron rust - the magic no longer functions

I highly recommend using clear and direct sentences to the effect of "I am undoing this spell and I don't want the magic to work any more" (for those who only use present-tense intents: "this spell is undone, the magic has stopped working."

Dispose of the remnants in a permanent way.

If you were the caster and you do not have spell remnants:

Consecrate a new object (new thread to be knotted, new candle, new piece of paper) to represent the old spell. Ideally, this object will be chosen or modified to resemble the vibes of the old spell as closely as possible.

Any consecration ritual will do. The goal is to give a new physical body to your old spell; you are making an "poppet" of the spell.

Once the new physical object has become synonymous with the old spell, perform the Undoing and Instruction method that was described above.

(New candles should probably be snapped in half or burned upside down; burning them normally is more likely to empower the old spell).

If you were not the caster:

The "poppet" method above will tend to work if you know what you're doing with things. However, one of these might be more reliable:

Method One: Bless a thread with binding, limiting energies (Saturn is ideal) and trap the unwanted spell by tying it in a knot. Then burn the thread, ideally while Instructing what is supposed to happen.

Method Two: Carve the end of a taper candle so that the wick is visible on the bottom. Treat this bottom as your new "active" end, and draw correspondences from the new active end, downwards.

Coat the candle with a pepper-infused oil, score the surface lengthwise with iron nails, or otherwise mark the candle with destructive and banishing correspondences.

While doing this, Instruct the candle that its job is to banish, burn away, and destroy the unwanted spell. Light the candle. (A temporary holder may be obtained for the awkward shape by filling a deep dish with sand, soil, or salt).

Notes and Bits (Beyond 101):

It is generally wise to construct all spells with "kill codes" in case you need to undo them. This is essentially a special sort of intent that you build into the spell which undoes the spell on your command.

To avoid intrusive thought anxiety, it is almost always best to have this "code" require a specific set of physical actions, such as writing "Spell Cast on [date], be undone and begone" seven times over on a piece of paper.

Undoing a spell does not teleport you back in time to before it was ever cast. Imagine a valley with a river. A spell is cast that dams up the river. The entire ecosystem of the valley changes because the river was stopped.

Later on we can dismantle the dam and let the water flow again. But the valley will not "magically" go back to what it used to be. The spell may be undone but there will also still be significant changes already affected on this valley.

Record keeping is one of your best allies in knowing how to undo your own spells. The more you know about your spell (or anyone else's), the easier it is for you to undo or counter.

Once a spell is undone, you may still have more work to do. Suppose someone hexes me. Even if I undo the hex, my house may still be filled with nasty energy and I can still have anxiety. I will have to do a good self-cleansing and home-clearing before the effects are fully erased. Undoing a spell is not the same thing as cleaning up after it.

In sticky situations, you may also want to cast additional spells to protect against the effects of the unwanted spell.

Using Witches Cords to Store Energy

Let us assume that you have excess energy lying around from a ritual and you need a space to keep it. Or you're doing a lunar invocation ans you just want to keep some of that lunar energy around for a bit. This is where the Witches cord comes into play.

We know the presence of Witches Ladders, used as the stepping rungs up into the spiritual worlds or into Haides, or even for our manifestation to climb down from its abstract form into the mundane, so why not use it to store energy in the knots.

The thread itself should be consecrated, though the number of threads would vary. A simple one can be made of one single thread, suitable for temporary storage as the thread will fray over time. A more long-term knot can be made from three cords plaited together, even so far as using waxed thread or paracord. To that degree, the act is then channeling the energy that surrounds the magician into the cord.

This cord can then be worn during ritual to tap into it, or it can be unknotted whenever a small burst of energy is required.

Occultists, witches and spiritualists really need to stop peddling the lie that spirituality, witchcraft, paganism, etc. isn’t a psychological phenomenon as well as a mystical one. Your psychology will in fact, fundamentally inform your experiences with spirituality.

And we also need to stop pretending that spirituality and witchcraft are somehow contrary to mental illness. Or that having a mental illness means you can’t do witchcraft.

I’ll be completely honest with you guys and say that certain people with certain afflictions are more predisposed to different “mystical” experiences than others. I don’t think it’s a great coincidence that I am so great at visualization given that I was raised in a severely neglectful household. It doesn’t surprise me that many pagans are lonely people. This doesn’t mean to say that spirituality is “filling” a hole within anyone (although if it is, that’s great for you) but more so that, well, this path is unpopular for a reason. Alternative subcultures are alternative for a reason, and outcasts and rejects usually find a home there for a reason.

This also doesn’t mean to say that people who engage in witchcraft and spiritualism are inherently mentally ill. There is still a difference between hallucinations and spiritual encounters. And there was never any rule that said that both of these things cannot happen to a single person. For the safety of yourself and others we should be aware of the warning signs of dissociation and hallucination, but that doesn’t make anyone “wrong” for experiencing those things. And experiencing those things doesn’t mean you cannot explore spirituality or do witchcraft.

I hate it when “spiritualists” who are actually just anti-vax conservatives push the narrative that people with mental health issues cannot participate in spirituality. I also despise the notion that mental health issues are inherently a sign of an energetic imbalance. We’re all walking around with a special concoction of brain soup in our heads, it doesn’t surprise me that Ares devotees tend to have BPD, that many Aphrodite devotees struggle with self harm, that many people who work with angels have paranoia or generalized anxiety.

There was never any rule that said that you cannot use your deities or magic to help you cope with your mental health. I know some people will say “the Gods aren’t here to be your friend or hold your hand through life” but I’ve seen no evidence to suggest that’s true. I see no reason why a God like Ares couldn’t help his devotee with BPD come down after a bout of rage, I see no reason why Dionysus couldn’t help his devotee with their alcoholism or substance abuse, I see no reason why Aphrodite couldn’t help a devotee with relapse or negative self talk.

Witchcraft and paganism were historically used as a tool for survival, to bring people ease, to help people feel safe and secure, blessed and protected. That applied to all people, including those with mental health issues.

Who's your principal God/Goddess/Entity? The one you work with the most.

Oh boy, it's ✨ oversharing ✨ time

To be brutally honest, I'm too selfish to work with deities. I tried two separate times but it just wasn't for me. Nowadays the closest thing I have to that is the universe, the aether, the chaos, the simulation, whatever you wanna call it. The mathematical equations that dictate the shape and form energy will take and what it's going to do. But even that is more of a tool than an entity.

I started my journey on the craft because I felt like a leaf flowing down a river, just going along with the twists and turns of it, never in control of where I'm going or able to see what's coming up. I wanted control over my life, I wanted to make things happen for me, I wanted to be able to do something about situations in life that left me feeling helpless, alone, broken, mistreated. At times like that, when losing your faith is the only guarantee, no supernatural being could or would help me.

I don't want to beg and plead or even plain ask for life to be kinder to me.

I don't want a transactional relationship with an entity in which I exchange offerings for blessings and protection.

I don't want to rely on anyone.

That being said, I acknowledge the existence of deities, spirits, entities, everything. I have come across them, seen their handiwork and I do believe that working with them can be beneficial and honestly, from what other practitioners have to say, quite an amazing and fulfilling ordeal.

But it has to resonate with who you are.

The Witch’s Payment

Come to see the witch, have you?  Need a little magic?  Here’s what it will cost you.

Pay me in coin. Grant me wealth by sharing your fortune.  True, you won’t understand what wealth looks like to me, but your luck will certainly help me find it anyway.

Pay me in hearts. Bring me the heart of your pain, your hope, your rage.  Hearts beat, my love.  They sustain.  Place a heart inside something, and you can make it live.

Pay me in keys. Give me a pass-ward into your spirit.  Keys open doors, or shut them, and if you give yours to me, then I can use it to go places I desire to go.

Pay me in rose petals, in cloves, in cinnamon and marjoram and vanilla. And perhaps in something more mysterious.  The gifts of this world are a delight, and when one understands the true value of such things, a gift from them is always a powerful blessing.

Pay me in stars. Lend me the light in your life.  The stars guide you, and if you share them, they may guide me and protect me as well.

Pay me in shadows. Let me fold the sign of your passage into something which stays with me forever.  Give me your cloth, your paper, your sigils and names and the marks of your presence, and I shall grant our friendship life of its own.

Seeking payment from a witch, for that which she weaves?  Don’t shy away from the jar of spiders, from the pouch of rose petals, from the strange little dagger or the box of matches.  She knows what you need, and she’s come prepared to pay.

Nothing is free. Everything is costly. The future costs the present, so we pay in gifts.  Thus, we avoid debt, and live happily ever after.

Love it when a reading is full of major arcana, it's like tarot's version of an all caps Facebook post about the end times coming

a pocket of calm 🐙❤️

you ever speak to your best friend and it just absolutely centres you. oh yeah none of that shit matters. I love you