Irregular practice

 

I think that when we think about our spiritual path, we always think of regular practice as the gold standard.  But more than just an ideal to strive for, we can beat ourselves up if we don't manage to keep our practice regular.  And yet, we live in a world that does not allow for our religion, and honestly life in general can be problematic for a regular practice.

 

What do we even mean about a regular practice?  For some people it means honoring the Sabbats (or whatever big, yearly celebrations you honor in your path), for others it might be working through the moon cycle, and for some it means daily practice.  But regardless of how frequent your observances are, when we miss one (for any reason), we can feel completely thrown off.

 

And I want to examine that thought a bit more.  Sometimes we end up not having time to make our spiritual observances because we have obligations (like job, family or something else outside of ourselves).  These kind of obligations can feel oppressive, often because we have zero choice about them.  Our job might have a set schedule, and we can't just take a day off because it's the full moon (and we don't have the privilege of our worship days being considered 'normal' days off).  Or we may simply have too much that we have to do in our 'time off' and by the time we get that all done, we don't have energy to devote to our spiritual practice.  

It's sad that we live in a day and age where we still have to make the choice between our mental health and our physical well-being (even though we KNOW that bad mental health impacts our physical health as well...but we also don't want to be starving and homeless).  It's frustrating to know that we don't get the same opportunities other people do, when it comes to religion and the observation of our faith.  But we also have to recognize the facts, and the facts are that sometimes we don't have the same options as other people, and we have to make do with the best we can manage.

We also have to deal with personal judgements on our spirituality.   A lot of people will accept "Sorry, I have church," as a perfectly valid reason to not do something else, but if we say "Sorry, I have ritual," we are being anti-social or rude.  And so we may end up having to choose between our faith and our friends/family.  Sometimes we can get away with making white lies, with giving some other reason why we are unavailable....but that can make us feel shame about something that is important to us, something that we shouldn't have to hide or make excuses for.  Or we may have to make the decision to cut people out of our life because they can't accept that this is something that is deeply important to us, and we shouldn't have to feel bad about making time for it!

As frustrating as external reasons are for interrupting your practice, personal ones can be more damaging to our psyche.  We are all human, and sometimes that means we forget things.  As someone who really struggles with both executive dysfunction and time blindness, keeping up with things is a huge struggle for me.  And the mental fatigue and stress that come along with that struggle are not great for either self-worth or actually doing things.  

One of the biggest things I have done to help me have a more regular practice....is to be kind with myself when it's not.  I have done a LOT of work coming to terms with the fact that I can't do all of the things that I want to do, and that on a bad day, I may not be able to do anything that I wanted to.  And that no matter how many systems I put in place to help me, I'm probably not going to 'always' do things.  And learning how to be okay with that took work.

I feel like another huge thing is to embrace the concept of 'just for today'.  Yes, I need to be aware of my own history, of both my strengths and weaknesses...but I also need to NOT beat myself up over my mistakes.  It doesn't matter how many times I've missed doing a thing....I can always do it today.  And if I didn't do it today, I can always do it tomorrow.  Sometimes this means me taking a moment to just let go of that expectation and judgement of myself.

I have always loved thinking about my path as a spiral....it's cyclical in that I work with a lot of cycles, but each time I walk that path, I am raising to a new level.  I'm building on each and every step I've taken before...and it doesn't matter if sometimes I miss steps or if there are long breaks.  Because I will never be walking over the same ground again, each step will be a new one and each one will carry with it all of my previous steps!

And there is something about that image that I find so comforting.  Even when I have to remind myself of things I've learned before, I'm not really starting over.  Even when I feel like I have lost everything, even when nothing feels familiar as I relearn, I am still a different person than I was the last time I worked on this particular thing, so I will be able to figure out new aspects of it.  And as someone who has to repeat stuff a lot, that is pretty comforting to me.

So I encourage you all to keep pecking away at what you want to do.  Set big goals!  If you want a daily practice, work towards it!  But whenever you falter (and you will, best you accept that right away), send yourself some love, learn what you can from the experience...and take the next step (when you are able to). 

Modern spell ingredients

 

 There is this concept, in many magical circles, that man-made stuff isn't suitable for magic.  If you consider most correspondence lists, or spells/rituals that have been published, the stuff you need is almost always natural.  And personally, I find this to be a silly restriction to limit yourself with!

I think that when we consider the history of witchcraft, we are talking about a practice that flourished among the common people...in that it wasn't something that required fancy schooling, expensive stuff or anything like that.  And I think that's why so many magical workings use natural ingredients (and if you look into it, they used local ingredients)...because they were there, relatively easy for anyone to get...and free.

Today, we are in the almost opposite situation.  Many witchy folks don't live near large natural places, where they can harvest whatever they may want or need.  In fact, many of us probably didn't know that much about different plants and animals...until we became Pagan and started learning.  It's just not an everyday thing for us now.

Instead, what we have familiarity with is man-made things.  We know what they are used for, and sometimes we understand how they function better than we understand the natural world.  But we still turn our nose up at using modern and man-made things, as if they can't hold magic.  

What makes this extra strange, is there are some things that have managed to escape being put into the 'non-magical' box.  We embrace the magical nature of candles, of bottles/boxes, of blades and chalices, of mass printed tarot cards or machine tooled stones.  And if you think about it, these are all things that were the 'technology' of our ancestors.  They embraced new things that people made, and they used what they had at hand.

So what does this mean for us?  Well, my personal opinion is that we should do the same...we should look at the world around us, at the stuff we already use every day, and take inspiration for our magic from there!

First, let's think about some of the man-made stuff we already accept as magical.  Let's talk candles.  While we often use candles as a representation of fire, they were also a light source.  Using a candle for a spell meant you could see (especially when you remember that a lot of old magic suggests doing things at night...and without modern lighting, that would make it pretty dark, especially if the moon wasn't present.  Using modern lighting, instead of candles, isn't that far of a leap to make, and we have so many really cool lighting options now that make it even more of a customizable tool for magic!

Keys are another thing that we have accepted as magical, but again, when you talk about keys (in magical terms), the mental image is almost always of the old, skeleton key style.  And while those have their charm, modern keys give us a lot of different options.  We can use car keys for things involving movement, house keys for protection, padlock keys (or padlocks!) for security or secrecy.  We could use a key blank as a universal opener.  We can even get a bit creative with non-physical 'keys'....with our passwords!  Give them a magical twist to enhance your personal security...or to enchant whatever the password unlocks (want your bank account to be more prosperous....work that into your password!)  A nice side-effect of this is often our magical words are not easy to guess (so harder to hack)!

A lot of spells include paper, and we often see specific types of paper requested, whether it is handmade or brown paper.  But we have paper all around us!  We could use magazine pages (pick the page based on your intent), old bills (for work associated with the bill), printed pages (the sky is the limit, find pictures that fit or type out some train of thought about the topic...you can also print over stuff, so you can layer multiple things on the same page).  These are especially great for doing dream boards or wish work...collect images that feed your goals!

I personally find toys to be a wonderful source of inspiration.  Often they come in a huge range of shapes and sizes, many times they move (so you can position them in the way that works best for you).  And many toys come built in with meaning (correspondences!) that may reach back into our childhood.  Think about it...we weren't raised on fairy tales or legends, we were raised on cartoons and tv shows...so those characters are going to have deep rooted meaning for us.  Why not tap into that, and use symbols that resonate with your inner child.

I know that many people love having their magic stuff feel magical, and that it being a bit anachronistic makes it feel more special (because it's NOT stuff we use everyday).  There is absolutely nothing wrong with building your practice like this....IF it's what speaks to you.  But if you struggle with finding herbs or stones, why not try looking towards modern stuff?  See if it will also work for you.  Because sometimes, working with what is always at hand makes things feel more magical...since now everything in your life can be infused with magic!

Books of shadows

 

 Welcome to my library...or at least part of it.  I am a book lover and a writer, and of course I have a million books that make up my 'book of shadows' (honestly, this isn't even all of them).  When we talk about a Book of Shadows, it is often described as being a huge tome, handmade with an ornate cover, with illustrated and beautiful pages, holding all the information one has collected as they walk their path.

But as you can see, for some of us, one book just won't do!  Not only is it simply not big enough, but it may not have the organization you want (or need!).  And a fancy book of shadows probably isn't something that the average person would have had (even the big coven BOS' were probably quite plain on the outside).  Of course, we live in a time now where we are free to have beautiful and fancy books to write whatever we want in, so if you like that kinda thing, have at it!  I have a few really lovely and unique books in my selection...though as you can see, quite a lot are very simple or basic.

My first BOS was a three ring binder.  This binder....which was really just my favorite binder from school.  It has pockets (which is really handy for all those odd shaped papers that I like to keep in them).  But most importantly, it has tabs and three rings!  It let me move stuff around as often as I wanted, and in the beginning, that was priceless.  It also let me easily remove and add pages...at any point!

In my early days, I remember reading all about the Book of Shadows, and how it had a counterpoint, the Book of Light.  If the BOS was dedicated to the nitty gritty "stuff you do" then the BOL was all about inspiration:  poetry and stories that delighted you.  I think of it as something to turn to when you need a bit of spiritual uplifting.  I have a few books where I keep particularly moving poetry (one for poems I write myself, and one for others I find).  I even have a wishes book, which is basically a paper version of a pinterest dream board!  I have a bunch of pictures I cut out of magazines or printed out, and it's just all pretty witchy stuff that makes me happy to look at.

From there, my books just started expanding.  I made a little one (so it was portable!) for a Correspondence book, and I also made a travel BOS (which is a cute little leather bound book that I kept my most basic and most well used stuff in..for when I was away from home, but still wanted something!).

I have a dream book, though I struggle to use that.  I used to dream every night, but only remembered my dreams for a short time upon waking.  The problem was, that I really hated the process of writing it down.  As soon as I started, it was like the process of writing made the fragments of dream flee even further.  I think this is part of the process of figuring out which kinds of books you might want for your practice...sometimes they just don't work out!

Another type of book I kept early on (but don't use as much now) is a working record book.  I would record the spells and rituals I did, how they went and how things turned out (okay I almost always forgot that last bit...).  I have several of them now, though today I am more likely to use my witchy log than directly recording my work.

Speaking of the witchy log, that is a very recent book I started a few years ago.  I really struggle with keeping up with tasks (in all realms of my life), and a planner has helped my everyday life so much, I thought having a book specifically dedicated to my witchy life would help.  It gives me a place to check in everyday, do moon work, journal about the sabbats, record random witchy facts or ideas....and it's really working for me.

 

This kind of replaced my old Sabbat book, which was dedicated to my own reflections after Sabbat rituals.  This one sort of fell in a funny place for me.  It felt like a cross between reflective journaling and record keeping, but when I started keeping the Witchy Log, I just stopped using this one.

I also started some topic specific books (because my brain likes organization).  I have books dedicated to runes, to tarot, to astrology, to moon work...pretty much any subject you are interested enough in to want a separate book for!

Art books are another whole category for me.  I have the one that started it all, which is a smashbook I did for an intentional art retreat.  It holds art that was done with specific purposes, so some of the pictures are about exploring archetypes or grounding or transforming.  I ended up with another book (that holds hole punched pages) for loose leaf art, and what I call my healing art book (which is blank pages that I draw pictures/symbols in for healing).  Sometimes my magic isn't about words, sometimes it's about images or color or emotions and these help me tap into that.

I also keep a small book for future ideas.  I heard someone toss this out as concept, and it's so perfect for my brain!  The idea is that you write down stuff you might want to work on...but that you don't have time/energy/motivation to do right now.  It's a future log for magic!  Mine is broken into problems and dreams..so problems are often more outward focused (like when a situation in the world is just bugging you), while dreams tend to be more personal (though of course you could just keep all your future ideas together!)

 

Now, you can probably see that most of my books are pretty spartan.  I don't really decorate them (minus the art books, but those aren't technically decorated either...just full of art lol), because for me that honestly just feels like work.  It's also a bit like that feeling of having a blank (expensive) book and not wanting to use it (because you are afraid of 'messing it up'...though I find just deliberately making a mistake early helps in this...I'm not perfect, my books don't need to be either).  But many people really get into making their books into amazing art works, doing collage and making every word beautiful.  So if that's your thing, go for it!

And if physical books aren't your thing....there are always digital options!  I keep a ton of files on my computer, from books to stuff I've written to things I've clipped from websites.  I've been playing around with OneNote as a way to organize digital stuff, though I've heard great things about Notion as well (and seen some amazing digital books there!)  There are advantages to digital, it's easy to keep a ton of information organized and handy (and with smart phones, portable!)  Personally, I'm more analog than digital, I sometimes struggle to read online text (books are easier for me), so I doubt I will ever be fully digital...but it's so nice for stuff that I am not sure I want/need for the long term.

When it comes to your Book(s) of Shadows, the sky is the limit.  There is no right or wrong way to keep one, just ways that work better for you.  And there is nothing wrong with trying out a few!  Find the books you like to use (bound, spiral, 3ring, digital), figure out how you prefer to keep things (do you like one big book, lots of little ones, write as you go, dedicated sections) and then see which ones stick with you (because sometimes the one you are most excited about just doesn't click).

Making your home magical

 

 Often when we talk about a 'magical home' we have this picture in our head, of a big gothic mansion, with herbs and potion bottles scattered about, a cat or two roaming the halls and candles enough to be a fire hazard.  But there are many ways to make your home more magical, and ideally your home should reflect not only the aesthetic of everyone who lives there, but also be functional as well.

I adore a lot of witchy aesthetics, but many of them simply don't work for my life.  Candles are a perfect example.  I adore them, have loved them since I was a child.  But I am all over the house, and there is never really a good time or place to just have candles burning (especially because we have kitties who have zero sense of fire safety lol).  When I do burn candles, I feel like I have to carry them everywhere with me (including the bathroom...which can be tricky), and even when I use big pillar candles (with the fire sunk deep down) or jar candles (which are similarly protected) I am very mindful of remembering to put them out (which means part of my brain is constantly aware of the candles...not relaxing nor is it good for working on projects).

I still use candles, and candles are not only a part of my witchy practice, but also sometimes tools I use (especially scented candles) for writing (ritualize everything!) but they really can't be part of my home aesthetic (at least not lit ones...I have candles sprinkled throughout the house)  Also, with my eyesight, I need decent (white) light sources or it increases my eye strain, so while I can watch tv or just chill in a candlelit room, I can't read or do anything that requires reading well.

Of course aesthetics isn't the only way to add magic to your home.  A very common way is to add altar spaces, which may be in one room or multiple rooms, they may be working altars or devotional, and they might be obvious or camouflaged.  Camouflaged altars might just look like a collection or even just a decorative space.  The top of my desk is an altar, but I bet to most people it just looks like I collect a bunch of stuff.

This is something that I adore about personalized witchcraft...my sacred objects might not look like what you expect.  I have sacred dice, sacred coins, sacred cards (like trading cards), sacred toys...alongside the more traditional statuary, crystals and tools.  But having that flexibility to have dice dedicated to my deities allows me to fold magic into other aspects of my life, places that might not traditionally be associated.

 

We can also add blessings, wards and other workings around our house!  One of my favorite ways to do this is to tuck them behind, under or inside other things.  Draw or write out a blessing for every picture you hang in your house (especially for people, but you can bless things that other pictures remind you of as well).  Inscribe wards on the edges of doors (you can tuck them on the top of doors where no one can see, or even by the hinges, so that the two parts of the symbol meet when the door is closed).  I have tucked working papers in between the mattress and box springs of my bed, in the back of the laundry cupboard and in books (bonus points for matching the working to the book).

And some things are a mix of form and function.  I love picking out furniture, and making choices based on the correspondences of the item.  Browns remind me of nature and the earth, blues are restful to the mind, yellow is buzzed up on energy.  I pick things for the energy I want for everything I can, from clothes to my toothbrush to the jewelry I wear.

Speaking of making things work, take some time to think about the tools of your craft...what items do you need to have at hand to practice your path.  When I was first starting, I was at home and not 'out', so I kept all my magical stuff in one place (a wooden box meant to hold a chess set, and then after that a toolbox).  Not only did this keep my stuff safe from prying eyes, but it also made it easy to grab my 'magic kit' anytime I wanted to do anything...and pretty much I'd have what I needed.

Now, I have the luxury of being able to keep a lot of things out in the open, which is really helpful for my brain.  Especially when it comes to things (like tarot/oracle decks) where I have quite a few and would typically only use one at a time.  But I know that tucking them away in a drawer would mean I would forget (I'm very much out of sight, out of mind), so I found ways to have them out, so I can see them all when I am searching for a deck.  It's massively helpful for me!

And if you can't keep things fully out, there are ways to handle that too!  I used to keep all my obviously witchy books in one small bookshelf, that has glass doors on the front.  Simple solution:  I taped some pictures on the inside of the glass, so the doors looked decorative (and of course they were fantasy/witchy/magical pictures!) but they also hid the books inside.  Another great thing to use for this is tension rods and curtains.  (and bonus, tension rods are great for displaying jewelry so it's visible!)

Finally, you can consider your regular activities (you know, the stuff you do in your home), and how you might twine your path with them.  Cleaning is the obvious one for me, and I try to cleanse whenever I clean (in fact, I keep bells tied to my broom to help me remember).  Laundry could be a time to release any old emotions/energy (before the wash) and bless your clothes for the future (folding/putting it away).  Showering is a good time to do an energetic scan of your body.  And of course, we have cooking, which is pretty much magic already.

There are a million ways to make your home more magical, and I hope I gave you some ideas for a few.  But don't limit yourself to what I have mentioned, look for stuff that makes YOU think of magic, your path, your deities, your guides or any other part of your personal practice, and then think of how you could infuse those concepts in your home.  Don't be afraid to try things out and see if you like them...and "I just like it" is always a perfect response to anyone asking "Why do you have/do that?"

Offerings

 

Many people include offerings as a part of their practice.  These could be offered up to the divine, to spirits, to ancestors or even simply to the earth.  The type of things that are offered up vary as widely as the people doing the offering...and those receiving it. Offerings range from simple and quick to elaborate and extravagant.

So, what is the purpose of an offering...what role does it play in your practice?  There are lots of reasons why people make offerings, and your path may influence how you think about offerings, but there is often still lots of room to have your own relationship with the idea of offering.  Some consider offerings to be a way of 'feeding the gods' and see it as a way to give back for all of the lovely influence our deities have in our life.  Others see them as tokens of affection, similar to how you might give a friend or loved one a gift just to let them know you are thinking about them.  Another perspective is that offerings are part of the relationship between you, sort of the social construct of witchy work (I work with this being, so they expect offerings).

As you can see, there is a lot of variance in how people think about offerings.  And each one has it's own nuances about what types of offerings might be expected.  As I mentioned before, there are lots of traditional offerings, and many deities have commonly accepted offerings that are strongly associated with them.  However, many people also find their own offerings...through their personal interactions with a particular being.  Especially for ancestor work, if you had a special thing that you shared with someone, that would make a beautiful offering!

A less often talked about thing, when it comes to offerings, is your personal circumstances.  Many people would love to make fancy offerings, but may not be able to afford them.  There is a bit of a misconception out there, that the more elaborate the offering, the 'better' it is.  But offerings come in SO many shapes and sizes and I personally feel that something offered up from the heart, with pure intent, has more spiritual 'weight' than a fancy offering that has no thought or emotion behind it.  

Ethics can also come into play, when we talk about offerings.  Perhaps a traditional offering is something we no longer find acceptable (like animal sacrifices).  Or it may be a personal thing, like not wanting to use alcohol as an offering because you have issues with alcohol.  I struggle with leaving out food offerings because of a combination of issues about leaving food out and food wastage.

And I think that if you have reservations about a particular offering, that will flavor the offering.  It's like giving a gift that you don't really want to give...sometimes the other person can tell.  If you are conflicted about your offering, think about what that says about the relationship.  The tricky bit is that sometimes, we are called to give offerings that we may have thoughts about, and part of the offering is making that personal sacrifice (like when you know your friend isn't as into a particular activity as you are, but they offer to come with you because they love you and know you want someone to do it with).  You are the only person who can decide if an offering is something you are willing to make, and how much out of your comfort zone you are willing to go.

Don't be afraid to try different offerings!  Most of the time, when we are making offerings, it is with a being we are wanting to work with.  If we offer something that isn't idea, we might get feedback that will let us know that something else is desired.  Or we may just get a feeling that the thing we offered wasn't as well received as we might have liked.  If you feel that way, it's a good time to check in and what might be a better fit.  Use whatever means you prefer to communicate, this might be a good time for divination or visualization!

I think it's important to remember that offerings are part of a relationship...they are a way of building it up and reinforcing the connection between you.  Which means that your personal boundaries are important!  If you feel like you need to offer something you simply are not comfortable with, then be vocal about it.  Be clear about why you can not offer the thing desired, and try different options to find something that might be acceptable instead.  If there can be no compromising, then you really have to ask yourself if you want to be in this relationship.

Offerings can be a wonderful part of your practice, and can be a great tool for deepening the relationships you have built within your path.  But we still need to make sure that all aspects of our practice fit with our lives (and our personal moral compass).  So don't be afraid to try new things, to negotiate your personal boundaries, and to ask what other things might be favorable options for an offering.