MAGIC MEMORY AID

now that i’ve begun working more with energy, i wanted to share my methods of casting circles! when i first started working with energy, it was really hard to find references for casting circles, especially ones not dealing with the traditional Wiccan god/goddess. here are some methods and uses of casting circles!

Why Cast a Circle?

the primary reason i cast circles is to protect me from outside energy influences. most people associate circles to protection from ‘malevolent’ spirits, however, it’s just a great barrier in general!

here are some following scenarios i cast circles:

divination- to protect me from energies that might influence my cards or my interpretation o the cards

spellwork- pretty self-explanatory. i cast circles to protect from energies i don’t want in my spells, or from potential spirit attraction.

meditation- again, for energy use and to also not be disturbed from anything spiritual.

Methods of Casting

1 - Invoking Elements

a very basic way, if not the go-to way, of casting is to place each of the four elements at each of the cardinal directions. Earth at the north, Air in the east, Fire at the south, and Water in the west.

fire

Candles (color them for intent if used in a spell! alternatively, electric tea lights work fine.)

here is a post about color associations for candles!

Anything symbolic of fire colors (red or warm-colored cloth, figures/statues,etc.)

water

moon/sun water (in a jar works really well, or in an open container if being used for blessing anything)

blessed water, or water related to whatever you’re working with (storm water, diluted essential oils, etc).

here is a good source of different kinds of water and how to cleanse them!

blue or purple colored items

earth

stones or crystals (this is what i love to use! just be wary that some stones are aligned with other elements. clear quartz is a go-to.)

salt

dirt (from your backyard or specific, such as hospital or graveyard. make sure to cleanse it.)

herbs (especially roots)

brown or black colored items

air

incense (different scents have uses as well!)

here is a post with scent correspondences!

steam

yellow or white colored items

alternatively, any of these could be replaced with a tarot card of the corresponding suit! (wands for fire, cups for water, pentacles for earth, and swords for air).

to close the circle, walk clockwise starting in the east (air) and complete a full walk around the circle. do this as many times as you feel needed to envision a complete circle! after your use for it is done, unwind it by walking the same number of times counter-clockwise.

note: if you live in the southern hemisphere, you may want to reverse fire and earth in your directions and walk counter-clockwise to close the circle, and clockwise to end it.

2 - Envisioning

this is a very, very simple way to cast a circle! if you have very little time, simply imagine a ring of light around your workspace. you could align color to purpose as well.

the only downsides to this method include the fact that it may not be as strong as a physical circle for beginners especially, as i have learned many times over as i find energy that i don’t want in the circle. on top of this, to make it very successful, you may have to keep this image in your head throughout your spell or energy work, which may distract or hurt your concentration.

however, like i said before, it’s very easy, discreet, and requires no clean up! with practice, it could be very easy to maintain.

3 - Salt Circle

by simply spreading salt in a circle clockwise (or counter-clockwise depending on your location), you can create a strong barrier. as you walk around, envision your purpose of protection and safety.

if you are working outside, do not use salt. it will kill plant life! instead, consider alternatives such as: egg shells, diluted salt water, crushed herbs, flower petals, etc.

if working inside, consider setting out foil, cloth, or a tarp for easy cleanup. 

4 - Cleansing the Room Itself

if you find that you for some reason cannot cast a circle, or maybe are just starting out, consider cleansing the entire room instead!

some methods include:

smoke cleansing (NOT smudging. please do not call this action smudging unless it is part of YOUR culture.)

salt or protective mixture

dance/song

salt/water spray

incense and candles

for smoke cleansing, light your bundle and start facing eastward, spreading the smoke and asking for protection from either the corresponding element or any deities/spirits/etc. you worship. move clockwise or counterclockwise.

for salt or protection mixtures, simply place a small pile in each corner of the room or at the cardinal directions.

dance and song can celanse the room when accompanied with smoke especially. 

the salt water spray can be used similar to the protection mixture – spray a little in each corner or at the cardinal directions.

incense and candles can be placed in corners, the directions, or just throughout the room to act as protective energy.

Final Notes

make sure to remove your circle after you’re done!! leaving it up isn’t safe and could be draining on your energy or health.

try not to leave the circle in the middle of your work, if it can be avoided. ive had to do it before and nothing bad happened, but sometimes it ocould break the circle, or bring unwanted energy or precense in.

do your absolute best to have all your materials in the circle before you cast it. bringing items that were not in the circle before could carry energy that you just do not want in your circle. i’ve messed up plenty spells because of it already. if it is really necessary, cleanse the item as thoroughly as you can (quickly if you need to), and enter the circle from the east.

if these methods don’t work right away, don’t worry! these take lots of practice. some easy ways to try casting daily include:

cast a circle before you meditate

cleanse your room before you do homework for a safe space to work

if you have a form of divination, cast a circle before drawing a daily reading (i do this in the morning to see how the day will go or seek advice for the day!).

good luck!

spring flourishes in the valley ✿｡*ﾟ𐐪𐑂°*⭑

Guys. I just realized that Lilo is putting a curse on her friends. But like, an actual curse. Vinegar is commonly used in curses, and pickles have vinegar. And then she has little figures of her “friends”, drawn with expressions. Then putting them in the pickle jar, and shaking it. Another sign of a curse. I don’t know why I just noticed this now, but lilo is a witch.

I bet she’s a sea witch.

Tips for building mind spaces

Other posts of the series: * Tips on Shadow spaces * On Spiritual Bilocation

Mindspaces, also referred to as inner temples, are a great step between meditation and astral travel experiences. However, they are an amazing multi-purpose standalone tool as well. Especially for undercover witches who need to keep their practice secret!

I divide them into two types: basic mind spaces and shadow spaces. This post is about the basic mind spaces.

Basic mind space.

This is essentially a bubble in the space between this plane and the astral planes. It belongs to you and you can change it around as you see fit. Those are like your accounts in dropbox. Just like dropbox or other cloud services, those are password protected etc etc; you get to keep stuff there, its not 100% break-in proof, but safe enough. And you can generate a link to the bubble and send it to a friendly spirit/deity/any entity really, that you want to hang out with.

This place is great as a safety retreat - you can rest here should things get tough. I feel that energy work and practice can be done easier in the mind space, and you can study the energy more directly and it flows much easier than in physical. There’s also spirit work to a done here.  Invite your spirit friends over, meet with your deities for a cup of coffee, so much potential for fun~  There is a lot of room for experiments, spell casting and learning. And finally you can set up a passage that’ll take you straight to astral planes.

Your mind space is very flexible and it can look like anything. It can be a room, a garden, a house, a mountain top, a metro station, an underwater location, a formless blob of darkness. Anything YOU want. Coming back to energy work - it is easier to work with and shape energy, hence its easier to build structures in your space that allow for anything you can think of. Kind of like Rose’s room in Steven Universe. Although it takes more than a wish to make that structure stable.

Here’s a great post to check out by @stsathyre

How to build a mind space.

An important point to keep in mind is that mind spaces can be re-shaped easily, so just go ahead and try things out! You can always adjust things and make them different/better as you go :)

Think of what purpose it is going to serve. Are you going to mainly use it for spellwork? Is it going to be a safety retreat? It has to be practical for whatever your goals are. Should it have lines of shelves for books and magical tools? A large table for mixing up herbs/energies? A number of seats for guests you are going to invite? An extra door that would take you out into the astral planes?

Sketch a layout. Yes, take a pencil and a sheet of paper and just plan out your space. Do you want that river to pass through the middle of the room? Behind the building? Do you want that huge boulder to be in the middle of the clearing where you can set up your mind-space altar? Think of how it would be most comfortable and appealing. Include some leisure areas, a pile of pillows, a pile of soft autumn leaves, a soft floating cloud you can rest on - it’s always nice to have that :) I would discourage from going into greater detail on your furnishings at this point - you want to go gradually. Plan for a door through which you will enter.

Think of the door and safety reinforcements. I would suggest that your door have some sort of authentication mechanism to check that it is, in fact, YOU who is trying to come in. The best way is probably to include something that would read in your energy signature - while it is possible to fake that, it is hard. And in the majority of cases, there isn’t going to be many beings out there who’d go through much trouble to break in.

Pick your technique for actually GOING there. I should probably make this a bigger point, but.. There are many ways to travel and there are many degrees of depths to it. In other words, depending on what you like, you can go into a deep meditative state and go full-in. This way, your experiences will be intense, you will strongly feel all the sensations. Sometimes there are situations where you might not have enough time or good enough circumstances to go that deep. For such situations, a form of a spiritual bi-location might come in handy, which will make your sensations duller but will enable you to actually do things in physical while you also work in your mind space. (this is my favorite way of handling these things because life circumstances can be a bitch). I am sure duskenpath posted about doing this but I can’t seem to find the post now. 

Use the technique and start working on that door! Seriously, if you still haven’t - go check out this post. Use your technique and take yourself to that door. The basic frame should already be there. Examine it and work with it. It helps to touch and feel the material, contemplate the color. Geez just go read that post x)

Work on one thing at a time. I would advise to start gradually. When you go in, focus on one thing at a time. Shape your item. Make the structure strong, then move on to the next item. Work out all the details of the item, feel it, hell - smell it! Those structures are like wine. Older is stronger. After you create a couple of things - let it rest. Exit the space slowly and go on to do your daily business. Let it sit for a day or two, think of what you’ve completed in your space once in a while, keep it hanging in the back of your mind but do not actively go there. Let it gain strength. When you feel like it’s pretty set, go back in. See how it looks, see how it holds up. You might need to revisit your first structures and add some energy in there, reinforce them. To give you an example: I decided I needed a forest. I started working on it, the general sketch, the basic layout of the forest. I let it sit. When I came back, what was more like a sketch became more of a real thing. I did not have to consciously keep them there or make them work - they were rolling on their own.

A warning of foggy vision. When you are setting up the space, you focus on the details and pay much attention to each item. However, I’ve found that for me, being in the mind space - especially during bi-location feels kind of foggy. It is mostly a problem of focus, since I am working in two places at once. It feels like I should be wearing glasses but I don’t have them on. The details of the objects are gone unless I specifically work with the particular object. Even then sometimes it is cloudy. And you know what? That does not stop me from getting things done in the space. It might slow me down. But it is perfectly fine. For me that is a fair trade-off. I either go there without the really deep submersion, and everything is foggy, OR I don’t go at all. So that’s just something to keep in mind too

Sigils as a structure reinforcement and a gateway. If you feel like giving your space and structure an extra boost, you can make a sigil to represent the space and the changes you made to it. I know, usually the tutorials say to work with words. Apply the same approach to the little layout plan you sketched before. Take the basic shapes you used for your tables, chairs and other itmes and combine them into a sigil. Make changes until you feel that the sigil is a good representation. That same sigil can be used as a point of focus if you have trouble reaching your mental space. However, I would suggest keeping that sigil very and very private. You wouldn’t want to let anyone know your bank account password, neither would you want to let anyone have your apartment keys :)

A bit more on what you can do

You can do witchy business right there. You can cast spells from your mind space. You can set up your altars and shrines there if you have to keep your work/worship hidden. You can also do shadow work by accessing your subconscious more directly (if anyone is interested I will write a post about shadow spaces). You can brew tea and enjoy quiet evenings near a fireplace. You can use your space as a station to create servitors and experiment with energy structures. There are so so many possibilities!

If you have anything to add or questions to ask, my ask box is open and I’d be happy to discuss/help out! :)

A zine about Lady Aphrodite and transsexualism as an offering for her :)!

EA developer playing the new Battlefront 2 for the first time (cca. 2017)

Lady Adelina!

doses_of_style

Any other witches use lavender for literally everything?

Ah, yes, everyone’s go to calmer and de-stresser: Lavender. I burn it and use the oil and have it in a perfume and drink it in tea. But why Is it so great for literally everything?

Lavender is a very useful antidepressant and anti-anxiety herb. I drink it almost every night in a tea to calm myself. For those of us who stress all the time (especially students who tend to work themselves too much!!) it’s a great go-to when you really aren’t feeling it. Plus, it’s great for those who suffer from insomnia or people who just have trouble getting tired at night.

A great combo for stress relief for your diffuser:

5 drops Grapefruit essential oil

5 drops Lavender essential oil

But not only can it help your mental state, it also helps digestion and IBS! It’s soothing for your stomach and has a sweet taste, which can make any tea smell and taste amazing.

Lavender tea blends well with:

Green tea (De-stressing and digestion)

Hibiscus (Cramps, helps regulate digestive/resprastory tract) [[only add a little though, it’s super strong!!]]

Chamomile (nausea, athsma)

Look for shampoos with lavender in them because it is amazing for getting rid of dandruff! If you have a sensitive scalp, don’t fret – it’s very soothing on the skin.

Hey witches!!!

I’m sure we all know that lavender is amazing in witchcraft, too, but what can you do with it?

It’s been used as a placeholder for calmness and peace in ancient magicks for hundreds of years. It’s attractive scent makes it favorable in love spells, as well as its heavily used property to induce happiness.

It is bound to Mercury and the element air.

Little things to do with lavender:

Keep a satchet of lavender with you to promote happiness and good health

Rub the flowers on you to attract love

Burn stalks of dried lavender to attract money, love, happiness, good health, passion, protection and sucess

Put lavender under your pillow and think about something you desire. If your dream contains something related, you’ll get said desire

Grow it in your garden to bring good luck

It has been said to attract Fae because of its beautiful scent!

It can make a great offering to many deities as it is such a wide-variety herb. You can make it into a potion, burn it on charcoals, or just sprinkle it around an effigy to show how much you love them!

Just thought I would pay tribute to my favorite herb of all times. I use it in lterally every spell for different things, sometimes like a signature. I hope you guys can find a lot of help from it, too!

-Damien

Source: (x)(x)(x)(x)(img1)(img2)

Tips for writing spells:

If you want to keep something close, bury it in your back yard. If you want to attract something, bury it under the front door step If you want to destroy its influence, burn it. If you want it to move away and sink, throw it in running water If you want to disperse it to a distance, throw it into a crossroads If you want to fix its influence, inter it in a five-spot pattern If you want it to work by means of spirits, bury it in a graveyard If you want to hide its point of origin, conceal it in a tree If you want it to work in secret, give it in food or drink If you want it to work by stealth, hide it in clothing or on objects If you want its influence to begin or strengthen, throw it East If you want its influence to end or weaken, throw it West If you want its influence to rise and fall cyclicly, float it in a tidal estuary