Hi, Ive just started to get interested in learning witchcraft and i was wondering what are som resources for research other than books because my family disapproves of it and i don’t really want the books laying around
I know this probably isn’t want to hear, but books really are the best source of information when it comes to witchcraft. There is a lot of misinformation floating around the Internet, especially on sites like Tumblr and Amino. A lot of people see something online, take it at face value, and pass it along without fact-checking it. (This is why I try to always include sources in my posts, so people can track where my info is coming from.) I’m not saying you can’t learn witchcraft online, but you do need to be very careful in choosing your sources.
Depending on how much privacy and financial freedom you have, ebooks may be a good option for you. There are several ereader apps that you can download on your phone, so there won’t be physical copies of witchcraft books lying around. A lot of good “Witchcraft 101″ books are available as ebooks -- for complete beginners, I recommend Green Witchcraft by Paige Vanderbeck.
Of course, ebooks aren’t really an option if your family tracks your debit card purchases or has access to your phone. (I hope that isn’t the case, but I know some parents don’t respect their children’s privacy, like, at all.) In that case, there are some online sources I recommend.
The New World Witchery podcast has great information and is really fun to listen to. This does tend to be more of an intermediate level, but they always have great perspectives so if there’s a specific topic you’re interested in I’d definitely check to see if they’ve covered it!
The Fat Feminist Witch podcast is more beginner-friendly. (It’s also run by Paige Vanderbeck, the author of Green Witchcraft.) It covers a wide range of topics, but doesn’t go super deep into any of them, which makes it perfect for new witches.
If you’re interested in Wicca, Harmony Nice’s YouTube channel is a good option. She has a series called “Enchanted Endeavors” that’s all about Wiccan witchcraft, and even if you aren’t Wiccan she has good information on spellcasting, divination, and other witchy topics.
Anais Alexandre is another YouTuber I recommend, again, especially for new witches looking for knowledge of the basics. I believe she is also Wiccan, but her content is less Wicca-centric than Harmony Nice.
Jessi Huntenburg also has a lot of good resources for new witches, especially those interested in the psychology and science behind witchcraft. She’s also good about providing sources in her videos, which I really appreciate.
Kelly-Ann Maddox is a chaos witch with a very interesting philosophy and practice. She has a lot of YouTube videos about different witchy topics, and she has a very different perspective than, say, Harmony Nice. Definitely check her out!
And of course, my Baby Witch Bootcamp series here on Tumblr is designed to be a free, well-researched resource for new witches. The goal of this series is that, when read from beginning to end, it will take someone from a total beginner to the intermediate level. I have 35 total chapters planned, and I just posted Chapter 27, so all of the basic info is already up!
When I was a little girl, my grand mother use to rince my hair with a table spoon of pale cider vinegar diluted in a pitch of water. It made my hair so shiny and strong, I kept this tradition in my adulthood.
Now I have more knowledge in herbalism and witchcraft and I adapted the recipe to be even more effective.
This is a remedy to treat small ailments. Always consult with your GP before. This doesn’t replace any medication!
Ingredients:
1L raw organic apple cider vinegar.
½ cup dried chamomile.
½ cup dried lavender.
4 to 5 fresh rosemary sprigs (or ½ cup dried rosemary).
Equipment
1l Mason jar
Plastic lid for the mason jar (you can find some here https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=mason+jar+plastic+lid&crid=1JCPADG0E2V6O&sprefix=mason+jar+plastic%2Caps%2C157&ref=nb_sb_ss_organic-diversity_1_17
Muslin cloth to filter the vinegar
Herbalism
Apple cider vinegar for the hair: help remove buildup of hair products, help balance hair’s pH, clean the scalp, boost circulation, condition hair, soothe dry itchy scalp.
Chamomile: Soothes the scalp
Lavender: Increases circulation, promotes hair growth, calms inflammation, soothes scalp irritation
Rosemary: Increase scalp circulation, promotes hair growth, strengthen hairs, fights dandruff
Magical intent
Apple cider vinegar: Purification, protection
Chamomile: Purification
Lavender: Protection, purification
Rosemary: Protection, purification
Recipe:
Add all the dry ingredients in the mason jar
Fill up to the top with raw organic apple cider
Don’t use metal lid as it will be corroded by the vinegar!
Store in a dark cool cupboard for 6 to 8 weeks. You can be tempted to wait less, but the result will be a weaker vinegar.
Shake every couple of days
When ready, strain and compost the herbs.
The concentrated vinegar will store indefinitely but you’ll need to prepare the rinse before each wash.
Don’t use it more than twice a week.
Always label your jar with the date of creation and what’s inside!
Utilisation
Use a 500mL mason jar.
Add 2 table spoons of vinegar, fill up with water to the top.
Take your shower, wash your hair, then use the rince on your wet hair. Don’t rince your hair with water after!
Be careful to your eyes!
Rinse your shower after you’re done to remove any vinegar residue.
The rinse is really diluted, it doesn’t smell really strong. The smell will disappear when the hair will dry.
Also, it requires a long time of infusion so be mindful of the time frame when you are doing your next batch!
Itty bitty self-love spell jar to keep in my pocket!
I used:
*Altar Salt, to remind myself I am a glorious creation.
*a shard of cinnamon stick for comfort, to be comfortable in my own skin
* Coco Powder, for the energy to love myself even when it's hard. (plus for its aphrodisiac properties 😉)
*Sugar, to remember to be sweet with myself
*and some rose quartz shards, for overall love.
Uncrossing Powder: •Angelica •Hyssop •Cayenne •Sea Salt •Frankincense •Black Pepper •Garlic •a broken chain Pray to the deity or spirits of your choice that protect from and smite evil to bless the powder. Place in threshold when someone unwanted comes to visit and sweep away when they leave.
Leave in a bowl on your altar or at the entrances of your house.
Place in doorways to ward negative energy from entering.
Sprinkle in rooms with negative energy and vacuum/sweep away to remove.
Leave in an enemy’s shoes (under the insert) to keep them away from you and curse them with bad luck (and stinking feet).
Throw it in the face of someone evil cuz that shit has cayenne and will burn.
We’ve all seen the hashtag #wakingwitchblr or the term itself at one point. Still, I found that there’s a lack of info on what you can actually do to make witchblr more active.
So I took it upon myself to create a list of things that anyone can do to revive our amazing community! Enjoy !
There’s nothing inherently wrong with liking a post, it’s just that due to how Tumblr works, liking a post does virtually nothing. Reblogging, however, lets that post be seen by more and more people. The surefire way to revive witchblr is by reblogging as many witchy posts as you can.
But what if some posts just doesn’t fit into your blog’s theme, even though you want to support it? Well, you have a couple options:
Reblog anyway. Diversifying your posts actually makes your blog more interesting. You can always tag it as ‘off-topic’ if the different theme bothers you that much.
Create a reblog/spam account! I have one and it is so simple. The post may not gain as much traction compared to if you RB-ed in your main blog, but trust me when I say a single reblog goes a long way.
Share it on other social media. See that arrow-like button down there? Click it and you can share the post anywhere. Send it to your witchy discord servers or your insta groupchat !
AKA reblog from lesser-known bloggers.
Not only will you support fellow witches creating content, this also give you a chance to talk to them and find your place within Witchblr! Which brings me to my next point…
If I’m a witch who wants to move away from Tumblr, there will be only one thing that can stop me, and that’s the friends and connections that I’ve made here.
Join online covens and discord servers, ask your witchstagram and witchtok friends for their tumblr url, and just have fun together.
Interacting with other witches, making friends, even just giving compliments or advices. This is what makes us a community. It’s what makes us stay here. If we don’t interact with each other, than we’re just a bunch of people who likes the same thing without any connection. That’s not witchblr.
There is a kind of… exclusivity, when you look through the hashtags of witchy posts. Witches only ever tag with “witchblr”, “witchcraft”, and “magick”.
This creates an accurate, non-spammy post, but it is also a post that will only show up on other witches’ dashboard and no one else’s. The community will never grow in this way because there will be no new people finding the community. It’s just an echo chamber.
Instead, diversify your tags. I’m not telling you to tag your ritual oil with ‘cars for sale’, but if you made a travel altar yourself, there’s nothing wrong in tagging it #crafting, #diy, #handmade, etc.
Non-witches will then find the post and potentially become interested in the community, thus making it grow.
Original content is the backbone of any community, and witchblr is dying because we’re not producing any. So if you want to revive witchblr, make content of your own.
No, it doesn’t have to be well thought-out. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be good. Original content can be anything! It can be you posting about a witchy thing that happened. It can be your drawing, or a picture you took. It could even be memes???
Or it could be a ‘how to wake witchblr’ post that you wrote because you have a script due 3 weeks ago and somehow this is your idea of procrastination
The point is: just click that ‘Make a Post’ button, and make a freaking post !
Now that you know these, it’s time to let other people know too ! I put a lot of thoughts into this post, but I have to admit that these tips will only work if everyone in the community is doing it.
If you have other tips or ways to make Witchblr more active, feel free to reblog with your own addition too.
I love this community, and if you’re reading this post I’m sure you do as well. It’s not gonna happen overnight, but I know that we can be as active as we used to be. We’ve got the heart, we just need the action.
Whatever religious or spiritual tradition they identify with, most witches agree that there is something sacred about the natural world. We draw our power from the earth beneath our feet, the sky over our heads, and the air in our lungs.
And yet, many of us live in societies that are actively contributing to the destruction of the natural world. Most developed nations have a linear economy, which means resources are extracted and then sent on a one-way trip to consumers who will use them and then throw them away. This leads to overflowing landfills, air and water pollution, and quickly disappearing resources. The World Economic Forum predicts that, if our habits don’t change, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. And I dearly hope that by now we’re all familiar with the reality of climate change and its devastating impact on global ecosystems.
I’m not trying to scare you, but I do want to point out the hypocrisy of drawing power from the Earth in our magic while simultaneously contributing to her destruction. If we truly want to consider ourselves spiritual allies of the planet, we need to make an effort to live our lives — and practice our magic — in ways that are less harmful to her.
You don’t have to become an environmentalist or switch to a zero waste lifestyle, but we can all make little changes for a more sustainable life. There’s lots of information out there about how to live a more Earth-friendly lifestyle, so in this post I’ll be focusing on how to apply that same philosophy to your witchcraft.
Limiting your consumption will automatically lower your negative impact on the planet. Follow my previous guidelines for avoiding consumerism to start shrinking your carbon footprint.
Avoid plastic as much as possible. According to the WEF, 70% of our plastic ends up in a landfill or in the world’s waterways, and according to Julia Watkins, author of Simply Living Well, only 9% of household plastics get recycled. Plastic (unlike glass and metal) cannot be recycled indefinitely — it can only be recycled a handful of times before it becomes too degraded to be repurposed any further. There really is no way to make plastic safer for the planet, so it’s best to just avoid it altogether. Look for tools made of metal, wood, or glass instead of plastics, and try to order things shipped in paper and cardboard when possible.
Create spells that won’t leave leftovers. One of the big contributing factors to our current environmental crisis is that we just produce too much waste. You can avoid this in your magical practice by crafting spells that won’t leave you throwing away a big ball of candle wax, herbs, and paper. Kitchen magic is a no-brainer for this, since kitchen spells are meant to be eaten. If you want to do a candle spell, use small candles that will burn up completely — I find larger candles are more likely to leave leftover wax. Making magical bath salts is another great option for leftover-free spells — just make sure everything you include is safe to go down the drain and won’t contribute to water pollution!
Forage for your own spell materials. One of the best ways to avoid plastic packaging and cut down on emissions from shipping is to use materials from your backyard! Learn about the plants, animals, and minerals native to your area, and take regular nature walks where you can gather what you need. Remember to only take as much as you need and to be careful never to damage the plants you harvest from. Make sure to carefully disinfect any animals bits you pick up — you can do this by burying them in salt for a full moon cycle and/or setting them in the sun/under a UV light for several days. If you find a dead animal and want to strip and clean its bones for use in ritual, this is a much more involved process and will require special research, equipment, and lots of time. And, of course, never eat anything you have foraged unless you happen to have an advanced degree in botany.
Keep a magical garden. Another great way to connect with the planet and shrink your carbon footprint is to grow your own herbs, vegetables, and fruits. You can, of course, grow food for your kitchen if you have space, but even if you live in a tiny apartment you can grow a handful of magical herbs in pots. For a list of common houseplants and their magical associations, check out this post.
Shop for spell materials at a local farmer’s market. Buying local is a great way to avoid the environmental impact of shipping produce, and it allows you to support small farms. Farmer’s markets also typically carry seasonal produce, which can help you align your magical practice with the cycles of nature. Farmer’s markets are a great way to find seasonal fruits and vegetables for kitchen magic, but you can use the produce you find there for other types of spells as well.
Trade paraffin wax candles for beeswax or soy wax. Paraffin, the material used for most cheap candles, is a by-product of crude oil, which is not only highly unsustainable but contains carcinogens (chemicals that may cause cancer). Beeswax is a sustainable alternative, and beeswax candles produce a “clean” burn, meaning it does not negatively affect air quality. Soy wax is a slightly pricier, vegan-friendly sustainable option that also produces a clean burn.
Use undyed, unbleached paper for your written spells. The bleaches and dyes used in most commercially available paper have a toxic effect on the environment. Colored paper cannot be recycled or composted because it will contaminate everything it touches. Use plain, unbleached paper for your written spells, especially if you plan to bury them in the ground or dispose of them outside.
Make sure your essential oils are ethically harvested. Essential oils are tricky — although they are marketed as natural, many of them are produced through unsustainable methods. Because essential oils are concentrated, it may take thousands of pounds of plants to produce a single pound of oil. This can have a devastating impact, especially for endangered plants like white sage or palo santo. Look for ethically-sourced, wild-harvested essential oils — these are oils that are gathered from the wild in ways that don’t hurt the local ecosystem. Mountain Rose Herbs and Eden’s Garden are two brands that are committed to sustainable essential oil production.
Instead of burying a spell in a jar, bury it in a hollowed-out fruit or vegetable. Many traditions call for spells to be buried in the ground. Items like jar spells and witch bottles are traditionally buried on the witch’s property. The problem with this is that plastic and glass bottles do not biodegrade, and will remain in the ground for years. Instead of putting these materials in the ground, bury your spells in a hollowed-out fruit or vegetable. As a bonus, you can choose this item to support your intention. For example, you might use an apple for a love spell or a spicy pepper for protection. Just make sure everything inside the spell is also biodegradable!
Keep a compost pile as an offering to your local land spirits. Compost is an easy way to reduce food waste, and it gives your garden a boost! Even if you don’t have your own garden, you can give your compost to a fiend who does or look into donating it to a community garden. When composting, it’s important to maintain a balance between carbon-rich “brown” ingredients (leaves, undyed paper, cardboard, etc.) and nitrogen-rich “greens” (fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc.) — you want about four times as much brown as green in your compost. Start your compost with a layer of brown — preferably twigs or straw to allow good airflow. Alternate layers of green and brown materials as you add to the pile. Every time you add to your compost, verbally express your gratitude to the land spirits. Your compost should be moist, but not soggy — you’ll know it’s ready when it’s dark and crumbly and smells like soil.
Make your own tea blends with loose herbs and a reusable tea strainer instead of buying teabags. Witches and tea go together like peanut butter and chocolate, but the individual wrappers on teabags create a lot of waste. On top of that, since many of these wrappers are dyed, they may not even be recyclable. Keep your teas earth-friendly by buying dried herbs in bulk and blending your own teas. Making your own blends is not only better for the planet, but also allows you to choose each ingredient for a specific magical intention.
Find ways to use your trash in your craft. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Instead of throwing things away, find ways to use them in your magic! Use food scraps from cooking, like carrot greens and potato peels, in spells. Turn an old shoe box into a travel altar. Add your coffee grounds to spells to ground them and manifest results in the physical world. You get the idea. Be creative!
Research different models for Earth-friendly living, like the zero waste/low waste lifestyle, sustainability, and the solarpunk movement. This will give you more ideas for a sustainable lifestyle, as well as a sustainable magical practice.
The funny thing about Earth-friendly living is that, the more time you spend taking care of the planet, the more connected you feel to it. I encourage you to try some of the ideas on this list — you’ll be amazed by how quickly you develop a deeper relationship with the Earth and all her creatures.
Resources:
Of Blood and Bones by Kate Freuler
Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins
“By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans, study says” from The Washington Post
A Sustainable Mind podcast
Practical(ly) Zero Waste podcast
This time of year is the perfect excuse to inject a little magick into the dark evenings and some steaming Mulled Wine is a delicious addition to a cosy night-in of Yule preparations :)
This recipe is scaled so it works for one 750ml bottle of red wine.
YOU WILL NEED:
1 teaspoon crushed cinnamon sticks (warmth and protection)
1 teaspoon nutmeg (love, luck and warmth)
1 teaspoon slightly crushed allspice (fire and healing)
½ teaspoon cloves (fire, love and purification)
½ teaspoon ginger (fire, energy and passion)
1 ½ teaspoon orange peel (uplifting, the sun)
1 ½ teaspoon lemon peel (purification, the moon)
Orange & Lemon slices
5 teaspoons honey (sweetness, stability and good health)
A clean pair of old tights that you no longer need
Take the dry ingredients and the peel, combine them all and give them a little mix to start releasing those flavours!
Take the tights and chop the feet off them - we’ll be using these as our bag to keep all the ingredients in. Cut them long enough so that you can tie the top off easily to stop everything falling out.
Add all the mixed ingredients into our newly chopped bag and give it a little squeeze.
Grab a saucepan and decant your bottle of wine into it, also adding your orange and lemon slices and your honey.
Keep on a low heat for 25-40 minutes (do not let it boil).
For that extra witchy goodness, be sure to stir some strong intent into the mixture. While I made it last night I focused on the joy, love and togetherness of this sabbat and tried injecting all those feelings into the wine ❤
Voila! Festive goodness for everyone :)
Enjoy, my pagan witchy babes xxxx
To the menstruating anon, try raspberry leaf, rosehips, and hops (individually) or together in herbal infusion! (Fairly sure there a little to no medical implications to these herbs) ♡
Witchy teas~ Thank you for the tips ^^
(Also, because I forgot about this earlier, be sure to double and triple check any herbs and their effects on the body / hormones / mind / what have you before ingesting!)
I love this artwork, it belongs to @paperwitchco 🎃
I am rather new to the witch community on tumblr but I have been interested in witchcraft for years. I have come upon a reoccurring thing, many of my friends I wish to magically aid through teas and herbal brews, do not like the taste of tea. I have found that mixing herbal blends or herbs representing what you wish to occur into soups and broths work just as well! In fact if you choose the right soup you can get sometimes better results I have found. Soup mimics tea by being easily drank and can be served warm and hot, which I find very comforting.
First it is important to choose a soup or broth that goes well taste wise with the herbs you wish to use. You want it to taste pleasant for yourself or the one you are providing it to. Though, try to find a soup or stock or broth that corresponds with what you wish to achieve with the herbs to further strengthen and increase the outcome you wish.
A short list of correspondences:
Chicken Broth/Stock: Uncrossing, new growth, fertility, sacrifice, New beginnings, rebirth
Turkey Broth/Stock: Close connections to Earth, generosity, inspiration, bounty, blessings
Beef Broth/Stock: New beginnings, femininity/female power, fertility, strength, balance
Pork Broth/Stock or Bacon: Intelligence, good luck, prosperity, curiousity, discovering new things
Fish Broth/Stock: Close connections to Water, health, improving oneself, the unconcious mind, awareness, fertility, good luck, wishes, change
Shellfish/Clam/Mussel Broth/Stock/Soup/Chowder: Protection, stopping lies/gossip/rumors, removal or treatment of stubbornness, honesty, truth, close connections to both Water and Earth, living a natural life
Shrimp Broth/Stock: love, abundance, fertility, trying new things, moving forward
Cheese base/Milk base soup/Chowder: Beauty, femininity, love, self-love, purification, rebirth
Tomato Soup: Protection, prosperity, love, uncrossing, femininity, romance and passion, negation of negativity and evil
Pumpkin Soup: Healing, prosperity, love, protection, granting wishes
Squash Soup: Psychic awareness, spiritual enlightenment
Corn Chowder: connections to the sun, luck, prosperity, abundance
Onion Soup: protection, keep evil away, healing, banishing, stability, exorcism, money, lust, and ends bad habits
Pea Soup: Kindness, connections with Air
Mushroom Soup: psychic enhancement, connections to Earth, longevity, strength, immortality
Curry/Curry Soups: banishing, healing, prosperity, protection from negativity
Soups with Noodles: Longevity, uncrossing
Soups with Rice: prosperity, blessing, money and wealth, security, good fortune to come
Soups with Barley: Love, Healing, Protection Hopefully this will be helpful for any witches who are not very big fans of the taste of teas or for anyone else for that matter. I would love to hear or see any other suggestions for tea replacements or other soups that could be used. This came straight out of my Grimoire and I hope to add more of it to this site soon. Blessed be everyone!
Nothing like a ritual healing bath to start the morning off right! Honey and milk bath poweder, rosemary, sage, and lavender.