Thewildcalledmeback - Beautifully Wild, Long Lost Child - A Dance Of Intentional Chaos

BLACK SALT (also known as WITCH’S SALT) is used primarily for protection, banishing, and repelling.

Those uses aren’t exclusive—it has also been known to feature in baneful magics, and can be used in uncrossing rituals.

WAYS TO UTILISE BLACK SALT

To protect your property from negative spirits, people with ill-intent, unwanted visitors, and negative energy: sprinkle black salt around the perimeter of your property.

To both banish any residual icky energy that a person may have left in your home, and prevent them from returning: sprinkle black salt on the front step and sweep it away. If you’re feeling more traditional (and brave!) you can throw black salt at the back of someone that is leaving your home also.

To prevent nightmares: use in a sachet and keep beneath your pillow.

To repel negativity, unwanted visitors, and rumours/gossip: sprinkle generously across windowsills and doorways.

To cleanse your home and keep nasties from entering: add black salt to a floor wash and go ham on your floor. Focus especially on high traffic areas.

To undo a curse, hex, or other form of malignant magic that has been cast upon you: use in an uncrossing oil or powder. Learn more about uncrossing [here].

To alleviate any negative thoughts and feelings that you are carrying: add a pinch of black salt to your bath, or to an oil with a similar purpose that you anoint yourself with.

Tip Your Witch: ✧ PayPal! ✧

Herbs By Correspondences

There’s an awful lot of posts/websites that have lists of herbs by name which is great if you want the correspondences of lavender but not so great if you’re looking for herbs that correspond with health. So here:

ANIMAL MAGICK:

Catnip, Peppermint, Valerian

ASTRAL PROJECTION:

Cinnamon, Jasmine, Mugwort

BEAUTY:

Lavender, Rose, Catnip, Orange

CALMNESS:

Cypress, Vanilla

CONCENTRATION:

Rose, Rosemary, Thistle, Dill, Orchid

CONFIDENCE:

Cedar, Dill, Geranium, St. John’s Wort, 

CLARITY:

Lavender, Cypress, Clover, Rosemary

CLEANSING:

Lemon, Clover, Sage, Lilac, Cedar

DREAMS:

Peppermint

EMOTIONAL HEALING:

Cypress

EMOTIONAL OPENNESS:

Orange, Orange Blossom

FERTILITY:

Sunflower, Olive, Poppy, Daffodil, Oak, Honey

FEMININE ENERGY:

Daisy, Maple, Poppy, Rose, Thyme, Blackberry

FIDELITY:

Nutmeg

FRIENDSHIP:

Lemon, Sweet pea, Passion Flower

GOOD MEMORY:

Rosemary, Clove

GROUNDING:

Coffee

HAPPINESS:

Lavender, Catnip, St John’s Wort, Peppermint, Oregano, Saffron, Honey

HARMONY:

Orange, Orange Blossom

HEALING:

Lemon, Cypress, Allspice, Saffron, Cinnamon, Cedar, Thyme, Violet, Spearmint, Peppermint, Sunflower

HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS:

Vanilla

HOPE:

Chamomile

JUSTICE:

Nutmeg, Violet

LONGEVITY:

Lemon, Cypress, Acorn, Sage

LOVE:

Lavender, Violet, Apple, Chamomile,Saffron, Cinnamon, Clove, Clover, Lemon, Juniper, Peppermint, Rose, Rosemary, Vanilla, Strawberry, Rue, Ginger, Mistletoe, Thyme, Maple, Spearmint, Willow, Orange, Orange Blossom, Sugar Cane

LOYALTY:

Thyme

LUCK:

Vanilla, Chamomile, Nutmeg, Allspice, Violet, Strawberry, Olive, Poppy, Rose, Oak, Orange, Peppermint, Straw, Strawberry

LUST:

Celery, Cinnamon, Mint, Lemongrass, Sugar Cane, Olive, Nettle, Parsley, Dill, Violet, Vanilla, Saffron

MASCULINE ENERGY:

Allspice, Almond, Basil, Garlic, Hazel, Holly, Olive, Mistletoe, Cedar

MOON:

Lemon

MONEY:

Nutmeg, Peppermint, Jasmine

PEACE:

Lavender, Violet, Olive, Chamomile, Coffee, Clover, Passion Flower, Orange, Orange Blossom

PEACE OF MIND:

Coffee

PROSPERITY:

Orange, Orange Blossom, Onion

PROTECTION:

Lavender, Coffee, Oak, Clover, Acorn, Violet, Peppermint, Acacia, Willow, Thistle, Peony, Cypress, Lilac, Mint, Juniper, Ivy, Olive, Raspberry, Sage, Rose, Rosemary, Foxglove, Cranberry

PSYCHIC POWERS:

Celery, Acacia,Saffron, Cinnamon, Yarrow, Peppermint, Bay, Thyme, Mace, Star Anise, Lemongrass, Nutmeg, Bay

PURIFICATION:

Rosemary, Lemon, Saffron, Chamomile, Anise, Thyme, Parsley, Cedar, Turmeric, Peppermint, Lavender, Marjoram, Orange, Orange Blossom, Honey

RELEASE:

Peppermint, Spearmint, Fern, Mugwort

RENEWAL:

Peppermint, Spearmint, Ivy

SLEEP:

Celery,Thyme, Peppermint, Valerian, Chamomile, Passion Flower, Lavender, Rosemary

SPIRIT CALLING:

Sweet grass, Wormwood

SPIRITUALITY:

Arabic Gum, Gardenia, Sandalwood, Cinnamon, Frankincense

STABILITY:

Orange, Orange Blossom, Onion

STRENGTH:

Oregano, Saffron, Thistle

SUCCESS:

Cinnamon,Ginger,  Frankincense, Clover, High John, Strawberry

SUN:

Lemon, Cinnamon, Orange, Orange Blossom

TRANQUILLITY:

Chamomile, Cypress

WILL POWER:

Orchid

WISDOM:

Sunflower, Peach, Sage

WISHES:

Bay, Sunflower, Violet, Spearmint, Sandalwood

-

This post is not even close to complete but I intend to continue expanding it as often as possible

What surprised me in Peru

I have been in Peru for almost 4 weeks now. I haven’t seen much yet as I a have been volunteering in the same town for 3 weeks but I really do like it so far! People are super chill, the food is delicious and the little town I’m staying is awesome for surfing :)  However, there were a few things that surprised me since I got here ^^ Here are a few examples: 

Speed bumps: Ok I really love Peru, but can you guys stop with speed bumps??? Honestly there are everywhere, super high and wide and also SUPER annoying. No sign to warn us, no official size, just BOOM a speed bump (thank god I’m not driving!). Also drivers honk ALL the time, sometimes for no reason at all. 

The variety of climates and landscapes: Peru is quite big so obviously there are quite a different climates here, but that much variety is incredible. On one side of the country you have the biggest rainforest on earth, and where I am right now it’s super dry, no vegetation, just sand and dust. And obviously there are also a lot of mountains with the Andes. It’s almost 30°C where I am now and only a few hours from here, it’s snowing, like how cool is that? 

The desert: It’s always been my dream to see what the desert looks like, and now I’ve seen one. Thank you Peru! (I always thought I would see the desert in Africa, but nope, the earth is full of surprises^^)

People are very helpful: In France and the vast majority of countries I’ve visited, when you ask someone for a direction, they will explain you were it is with words and gestures. But here in Peru (and I noticed the same thing in Costa Rica, is that a Latin America thing??) people actually walk with you to your destination, even if it’s quite far. And like, THANK YOU!!!??? Why do people do that? At first I thought it was a weird thing of men following me, but no, people really do that because they’re kind, and honestly wow, you would never see that in Europe (at least not in France…). Also I’ve had a lot of people asking me if they could practice their English with me, here is seems like everyone wants to learn English and is actually making a lot of efforts to do so, which is pretty cool :) And a lot of Peruvians also helped me with my Spanish!

People share their beer: I don’t know how it’s done everywhere else, but in Europe (and North America I think?), when you get a bottle of beer, you drink it by yourself. Of course you can ask other people if they want some, but it’s not seen as rude to drink the whole bottle or can be yourself. Here in Peru you are supposed to share everything! Here the rule: don’t drink the whole bottle, pour some in your glass and pass the bottle. 

Fireworks: people use fireworks every day, at any time. They don’t necessarily  need a special occasion to play with them. It’s kinda weird to hear fireworks for no reason all the time but we get used to it ^^

Purple corn: A few weeks ago, I had no idea purple corn actually existed. But now I love it, especially in Chicha Morada :)

things i love about bees part 2:

🐝 when they groom each other AGH my heart💖💖💖💖

🐝 the lil bouncers that make sure ur not a robber bee from a different hive before ur allowed to go back inside

🐝 the surprising frequency of which they land on each other or summersault or trip when they land on the entrance of the hive

🐝 how stubborn they are trying to build comb where they’re not supposed to, even when we provide them comb to draw out

🐝 how sweet my bees are, we’ve had them for like two years and only one has ever even tried to sting me

🐝 even when my dad and i helped move africanized bees out of their makeshift hive and into a box they didn’t sting us

🐝 they actually gathered in huuuge clumps on us, they all loved my dad especially, but still didn’t sting us

🐝 how confused they get if you move their hive like. five feet away. it takes like half an hour for them to stop looking for their hive in the crack in a wall and turn around to see we just moved it

🐝 how they look when they fly in clouds. i wish i could run my hand through and scoop them all up

🐝 the way queens measure the cells with their legs to figure out which egg to lay

🐝 the fact that she can lay either gender egg at will that’s wild !! her reproductive system is incredible !!

🐝 getting to see the queen during an inspection

🐝 when you break off brace or burr comb between boxes of the hive and suddenly every single bee is there to clean it up

🐝 when you notice a bee on the sidewalk and get to move her somewhere safe or warm her up so she can go back home

🐝 different colors of bees !! i saw a bee in my hive that was so dark she hardly had stripes at all, it was crazy !!!

🐝 when they have that bright orange pollen that looks like cheeto dust

🐝 bee space in the comb where they crawl through, it’s so cute to think of them having little hallways

🐝 their👏honey👏is👏to👏die👏for👏

🐝 how beekeepers talk about their africanized hives as “hot hives” so it’s not such a trigger word, it’s kinda affectionate

🐝 selfless beekeeping where absolutely anyone will pick up africanized bees that moved in near your house, just to keep them from being exterminated (and then the beekeeper requeens them and turns them “domesticated” !!)

🐝 how well they manage their temperatures not only for brood but for the honey, as well

🐝 how dramatic the fight between two queens in one hive is, it’s extremely extra

🐝 one time i saw a camo beekeeping suit online and a question on the listing was “how do the bees like the camo?”. the response was “it put the fear of god in them”.

🐝 how bees know when to bail (i’ve had one attacked by bears and one almost down to colony collapse disorder and they both bailed to preserve themselves)

🐝 bees even know when to take breaks !! they’re programmed to be as efficient as possible and that includes breaks !!!!! they wander around the hive chillin because otherwise you would work yourself to death ! take that, overwork-centric american culture !!

🐝 ultimate structure for comb !! most efficient with least wax !

🐝 as a keeper, figuring out what a good brood pattern is and being able to recognize it

🐝 the way they make wax !!!!!!! is so weird !!!!!!!!! it’s so weird !!!!!!!!!! but it’s amazing !!!!!!

🐝 little mouth that multitasks. eat honey to save for later ? check. make hardened wax workable ? check. feed the babies ? check. bite varroa mites ? check.

🐝 someone’s working on breeding bees that are not only more resistant to varroa, but that have higher and higher tendencies to bite and kill them !!!!! that’s so good and exciting !!!!!!

🐝 when i finally got the hang of the perfect structure for the smoker !! (the secret is the berries/pine needles in the bottom, then some newspaper, then more berries over that, and you light the newspaper

🐝 seeing any bee any time at all. i can have the worst day ever but if i saw a bee at least it wasn’t a total loss !!

🐝 i love how sweet most bees are. even when they’re confused or scared i’ve scooped them up and helped them somewhere safe and they’ve never stung me for it

Warding meditation

This is about a 20-30min meditation.

Start by focusing yourself on your breath for 5 minutes.

Go back to a forest or other outdoor natural setting. Find your sacred space, your personal clearing in the woods that is only yours. It can be a picnic, a tent or a shack. You’ve decorated it yourself with herbs and a circle of flat, white rocks. There are two bushes there, stinging nettle, for protection. Be sure not to touch it. 

Sit here and notice your body, where your feet are, how your ankles and knees are bent, where your arms are. Bring your attention to your skin. We’re going to put a silver metal onto it. Imagine the liquid silver climbing up from your toes, up your legs, across your stomach, and up your back, over your shoulders, and up over your head and face. Let the metal harden like armor, able to move when you move but hard enough to keep out anything. Sit and feel what this changes in yourself and how the outside feels like now.

Now imagine this silver armor expanding like an egg around you and encompassing your aura. It is dark in here, in the silver metal. You can place your palm on the metal surface and feel its smoothness. 

Expand the silver out further until it is as big as your space, enclosing the picnic and even bigger to gather in the entire clearing which is yours. Let it reach into the trees and form a nice, smooth circle along the ground.

You can barely see the trees here. Let’s make the silver translucent. The hard material changes color, turns to glass, but unbreakable. We can see the trees now, the sun shining down, through the dome. Set your intention to your dome:  to be safe, to ward against all influences and spirits not in accordance with your own energy, with peace and quiet.

Lastly. let’s change its material. Let that hard dome shift in an instant to a cloud, airy and still there, still filled with your intent, but we are able to pass through it easily now, able to let our thoughts breathe through it.

Finish by creating a little project here. Gather some twigs or rocks or feathers and flowers and create a symbol or sigil of protection with them.

A pentagram, a spiral going counter-clockwise, circles within squares and squares within circles. As you create, send your intention into your symbols and creation.

Your space is now protected. Sit and feel the difference in its energy. Come back with a big inhalation. Ground afterward with a snack.

I will be doing a version of this idea

Grief & Trauma - Tarot Spread

Start by doing a grounding and protection ritual if it’s part of your practice.

Disclaimer: If you are going through grief and trauma I recommend seeking out professional help, this spread is just for guidance and is not meant to be used instead of professional help. Contact your health care provider to get the help you need. You don’t have to lay all of the cards if you don’t want/need answers to all of them.

Tarot Spread:

1. Card that represents my inner self. 2. Card that represents the deceased. 3. Card that represents our relation. 4. How is this trauma affecting me? 5. How can I find closure? 6. How will my life be when I have found closure? 7. Message from the deceased.

Source: @thenoaidi​

Info YULE Appreciate

Symbols of Yule:

Yule log or small Yule log with three candles

Evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in the doorways

Gold pillar candles

Baskets of clove studded fruit

Simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias, Christmas cactus

Herbs of Yule:

Bayberry

Blessed thistle

Evergreen

Frankincense holly

Laurel

Mistletoe

Oak

Pine

Sage

Yellow cedar

Incense of Yule:

Pine

Cedar

Bayberry

Cinnamon

Colors of Yue:

Red

Green

Gold

White

Silver

Yellow

Orange

Stones of Yule:

Rubies

Bloodstones

Garnets

Emeralds

Spellworkings of Yule:

Peace

Harmony

Love

Increased happiness

**This list is not absolute and just my opinions**

｡+*✧ The Basics of Spiritual Safety & Wellbeing✧*+｡

This is an article from my website, The Witchy Housewife. You can read it at the source here or look under the cut to read it here on Tumblr. If you enjoy my work, please consider subscribing (at the bottom of this page) to receive articles as they're posted via e-mail, exploring the shop, leaving a tip, or reblogging this post. I run this all myself, so all support is greatly appreciated. 💜🔮✨

When asked the most important place to begin as a newcomer to the craft, to energy work, or even to simply walking a more spiritual path, more experienced practitioners will often share the basics of their magickal tool cabinet, suggest a bouquet of book titles and YouTube channels, or state plainly that the only correct answer is to let your heart and soul guide you. Only occasionally do I see or hear these types of questions answered with the recommendation to familiarize oneself with spiritual safety and wellbeing prior to diving head-first. But matters of protection, I feel, are one of the most important things to study up on when starting out, and today, I’d like to share my own thoughts and advice on the topic.

Cleansing, Purification, & Banishing

As I define them in my practice: To cleanse is to rid a person, place, or thing of stagnant, unwanted, draining, counterproductive, or otherwise negative energies or entities (though positive energies will often accompany them), to purify is to return a person, place, or thing to its original energetic state, and to banish is to cleanse by authoritative expulsion or removal using an outward-pushing energy. You may find others who define these terms differently or use these words interchangeably, but this is how I have come to define them, each offering their own unique function in my workings. If you are looking at correspondences in my digital grimoire, these energetic properties can be found in items marked as cleansing, restoration, and banishment respectively.

A cleansing may be performed when you find that energies are stagnant, stuffy, or negative. Unpleasant energies like these can be responsible for inviting in equally unpleasant entities, hindering the results of energetic workings, creating a state of mental or emotional discomfort, brewing a heavy tension in the air, or even causing feelings of sickness in those who are particularly sensitive. As such, it is usually recommended that cleansings be performed on a regular basis – especially if you live in a space that is regularly exposed to more negative energies. Some common methods of cleansing utilize the smoke of cleansing herbs (alternatively, a spray), water infused with cleansing herbs, or simply a visualization of brilliant white light – and this is just barely scratching the surface. As with many rituals, there are hundreds of methods of cleansing out there for you to explore, and it is paramount to choose one – or even create one – that works for you. Let your intention – your goal – be your guiding force. As a general rule, if you are putting your intention into it and you are going about it in a way that feels intuitively compatible, you will more than likely see the results you are looking for.

Often, cleansing – similarly to banishing – will result in a feeling of emptiness. You are essentially scrubbing the present energies “clean”, including energies that may be more positive. On the other hand, you may wish to perform a purification, or restoration, of a person, place, or thing if the goal is to reverse any energetic damage that may have been done while still retaining those unique individual energies. For this, you would utilize restorative herbs instead of cleansing ones and focus your intention accordingly. It seems it is common for practitioners to opt for cleansing over purification – and even more common for the terms to be defined as one and the same – but I enjoy having this as a separate option when it is needed. In my practice, this process typically comes into play when I want to remove any absorbed energies from a crystal, charm, or tool but would like to preserve its core energies as much as possible.

Finally, banishment is used when you want to push an energy or entity out of a particular space, and in this case, the original energies seem to remain wholly unchanged. For this reason, some practitioners choose to also perform a cleansing beforehand. Like cleansing, there are many methods of banishment out there that you can give a try, though the most commonly passed-around is the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (or LBRP) of ceremonial magick, sometimes given different flavors for different systems.

Enchanting & Blessing

The emptiness of a cleansing or banishing can feel pleasant enough, but I find that this sometimes allows unwanted energies to creep back in more easily. A blank slate becomes anyone’s game, so to speak. To mitigate this, you may choose to preemptively imbue the space with more intentionally – and typically positive – energies. For this, we use enchantment or blessings. To enchant is to fill a person, place, or thing with intentional (but not necessarily positive) energies, and to bless is to enchant with fresh, positive, and often divine energies.

Enchantment is one of those foundational things that is pretty crucial to get the hang of when first starting out in a magickal practice, and all it entails is focusing on an intention and willing the energy of that intention to fill the person, place, or thing being enchanted. To a beginner, this can be more difficult, which is why it is also important to learn what these subtle energies can feel like to you. Skipping this step can sometimes deter people away from magick altogether. Lady Gravedancer, one of my favorite witches on YouTube, has an excellent video on learning to work with and sense these subtle energies. If this is all new to you, I highly recommend it.

Typically, though, a blessing is more what we’re looking for post-cleansing – positive, even divine, energies that inspire a sense of wellbeing. If you work with deities, you may also like to ask them to bestow their own blessings in your stead or beside you. Otherwise, it’s just enchantment with a wholly positive intention, but if the idea of a blessing feels too religious for your comfort, stick with “enchantment” and don’t let semantics bog you down.

Warding, Shielding, & Cloaking

In all cases, I tend to feel that the energies we’re working through are not being totally destroyed, but are rather either transmuted, deterred, or even just fragmented. In my opinion, it is usually a good idea to follow up your cleansings or banishments with the re-energizing of your wards. To ward is to create an energetic protective barrier around a person, place, or thing as a semi-passive and long-term protective measure, to shield is to create a more short-term ward that surrounds a personal, place, or thing entirely and is envisioned as a bubble, and to cloak is to make a person, place, or thing energetically “invisible” or “irrelevant” to wandering energies or entities so that interests are directed elsewhere. You can find relevant correspondences in my digital grimoire marked as protection, security, and invisibility.

Warding can be thought of as the closing and locking of your spiritual entryway, though it is often done with the intention to protect from more than just matters of the spiritual. I’ve known people to create physical barriers around properties using salt and/or eggshells with protective herbs as a base and visualizing their wards rising from that barrier. You might also like to bury protective crystals at the four corners of the property for that additional kick. But once again, there are so many methods out there that it really comes down to personal preference.

I tend to think of shielding – or bubbling, as some call it – as a more short-term and active form of warding. Shielding is especially useful as an emergency layer of protection when out and about or as an additional layer over your personal wards in outings that you suspect will be energetically taxing. Where wards are thought of as great and powerful walls, shields are typically thought of as entire bubbles surrounding a person, place, or thing on all sides. If you’re an empath like me – which is a sometimes-misrepresented term I’ll get into in a future article – shielding is a good practice to have in your pocket for going out into crowded environments, whether that crowd is physical, as in a theme park, or spiritual, as in a hospital. Whatever visualization you choose to use for warding, your shielding process can tend to be similar, and much of it, again, comes down to the intention. It is often the case, though, that this process takes more energy to conduct, and thus, if you choose to keep up a more permanent shield, it may require more care and more frequent energetic charging than your wards do.

Cloaking is something I don’t see discussed very often, but it can be very useful to consider when you are trying to be energetically off the radar. And obviously, I am not suggesting you go about doing sneaky, unsavory things. Instead, cloaking may be more beneficial for avoiding unnecessary conflict with nosy neighbors, finding peace to work in a coffee shop, or subduing the attention that can come from large-scale energetic workings. And as always, you may choose to hand-pick some herbs, crystals, or other mystical tools for this purpose, but the recommended visualization varies a bit from that typical bright light you may be used to working with. In the case of invisibility, you may choose to envision the person, place, or thing fading out of view or to mentally play the situation at hand out exactly as you wish it to transpire.

Safety Tips for Spirit Work

Certainly, if you plan to do spirit work – a line of spiritual work in which will regularly involve energies and entities completely independent of you – these concepts may be more important to familiarize yourself with than with someone whose only spiritual endeavor is manifesting a little extra spending money every once in a while. Aspiring spirit worker, the following tips are for you:

• As per the point of this article, it’s a good idea to have your preferred protective methods at the ready prior to actively working with spirits. This, of course, does not mean that your methods cannot change over time – but when starting out, you should find a method that is compatible with you and gets you the results you need. Once chosen, try to become familiar enough with it that you can cast it off-book in the event of some sort of spiritual emergency.

• As a spirit worker, you’ll want to cleanse your tools, your space, and yourself very regularly. My preference in my practice is at least once a month and more frequently if I feel it is necessary. Even if you aren’t involved with spirit work, regular cleansings are a good habit to get into, but it is especially important for those inviting a large number of outside influences into their home.

• Get to know your spirit guide(s), and keep them close during any sort of spirit work. I’ve heard from many people who feel that the connection you have with your guide(s) has a sort of solidity to it that can override other communications the moment you ask for it, and I myself have not yet seen evidence to the contrary. If you ever feel uneasy about a communication and are in need of a second opinion on who or what you may be speaking to, ask your guide(s) to come through and communicate with you. Still, as we communicate between realms, discernment is a necessary skill to develop, and having protections in place is always a good idea, regardless of whether you choose to involve your guide(s) or work on your own. If you are completely new to the idea of spirit guides, I do plan to write an article on the topic in the future – but in the meantime, if you’re interested in meeting yours, Lady Gravedancer also has a wonderful video featuring a ritual for communicating with your guides for the first time.

• You may also want to look into the idea of casting a circle (another topic I’ll likely be discussing here in the future). While an entire ritual may not be in the cards for your practice, it may help you to develop some alternative ideas for shielding the space around you during active spirit work. In doing so, you maintain greater control over what is permitted to enter. Afterwards, be sure to say your goodbyes and to close up your circle and any portals you may have opened to avoid uninvited visitors outside of working hours. If you are someone who chooses to always leave your space open to visitation – and some people do – be aware that anything can enter and be prepared for the circumstances that could stem from this.

• If you are someone who allows certain spirits to reside in your home – what I refer to as my “spirit family” – I think it is a hospitable gesture to let those spirits know when you are going to be performing a cleansing or banishing. I can’t imagine that having your energy forcefully transmuted or shoved out the door would be a terribly comfortable thing to experience, so I think of it as a sort of courtesy that exhibits the respect I have for them. This will give them a chance to temporarily leave the space of their own volition while you go through your routine. Alternatively, if you have a special space set up for your spirit family like I do, you may choose to shield that space with the intention for their energies to remain unaffected by the cleansing. I’m not sure that it’s the most perfect method, but it’s one that I’ve found to work well for my spirit family thus far. In both cases, there are those who would argue that this gives unwanted entities a chance to temporarily leave or take shelter within the shield, as well, but I tend to feel that my spirit family would act accordingly to keep our home safe. It is their home, too, after all.

Despite popular Hollywood tropes, working with spirits doesn’t necessarily equate to “terrifying and dangerous” – but this does not mean it is without its risks. And just as you wouldn’t find your way into a dark alley in the middle of the night without some pepper spray, it’s likely not a good idea to invite spirits into your home without compatible defense measures in place.

Safety Tips for Energy Work

Energy work, in general, tends to have the odd side effect of making you a sort of beacon in the realm of the spiritual – and the more you do, the more your energy builds, the more your awareness expands, and the brighter your whole being shines. No matter the level you find yourself at spiritually, the following tips are for you (though feel absolutely free to read through the previous section, as well; the additional knowledge can only benefit you):

• Whether it be through tarot, runes, pendulums, spirit boards, prayer, or some other form of divination you find useful, it is wonderfully wise to seek guidance regarding any workings you do. This practice can help you to avoid unwanted outcomes, to avoid manifesting something you may not truly want, and to uncover exactly what it is you need to add or take away from your workings to bring you the results that you are looking for.

• Keep a journal of what works and what doesn’t in your practice and of any intuitive insights you receive that you feel may be important. Your spiritual path is a deeply personal one, and one person’s experience will likely never be perfectly identical to another’s. There is an abundance of wonderful advice out there. There are many methods out there that work very well for many as-is. But at the end of the day, you must discover what works best for you, even if that is different from the teachings of the majority. Be sure to keep track of it.

• Be mindful of loopholes, especially in manifestation workings. Being too specific can sometimes be ineffective, but not being specific enough has the potential to cause even bigger issues. Manifestation, I find, tends to take the path of least resistance, so when putting your energies out there, you want to be sure your intentions don’t put anyone in harm’s way. Again, divination can be a wonderful source of guidance prior to your workings.

• If you are going to be working with negative intentions of any kind – which is something I don’t advise for a number of reasons, and especially not for beginners – be sure to deep-cleanse yourself and the space the spell or ritual took place in. In addition, it’s generally a good idea to not keep any items used in the working on or near your property. Also know that there are other options, like justice workings, that can be done in place of this. Sometimes when we feel very upset or very angry, we speak or act irrationally and come to regret it later. This can also be true for spellwork, but the results can sometimes be a lot more devastating. Ultimately, I cannot stop you from doing what you feel you must, but at the very least, I hope you’ll think things through.

• Finally, this may seem like common-sense, but don’t let your spiritual practice throw off balance in your life. The realm of the physical has its own value and importance, and that certainly includes your health and wellbeing. If you find yourself neglecting your health, your hygiene, your friends and family, your responsibilities, or your other hobbies, it may be necessary to take a break or dial it back until you’re able to find a good balance.

A Regular Cleansing Practice

You may have already seen this in my article on making the home more magickal, but I thought it would be good to include, here as well. The following are my two most often-used cleansing rituals – one which I perform monthly, and the other as-needed:

My Monthly Cleansing Ritual: I perform this ritual on the first of each month. Any cleansing tools to be charged on the altar should be set at least a day before performing the cleansing. The morning of, weather permitting, open windows and play uplifting music or cleansing affirmations, frequencies, or subliminals of choice. Take a cleansing shower. Clean the home as you normally would. When physical cleaning is complete, use a smoke or spray cleansing blend of choice, walking with intention from room-to-room. Pay special mind to corners and doorways. I like to use sound cleansing – bells, drums, or even snapping your fingers will do – in these spaces to really ensure the breaking up of any “stuck” energies. If you are someone who performs banishing rituals, you may choose to do so now. At this point, I also take a moment to cleanse myself, particularly as an empath. I then tend to my wards by first taking a blessed salt blend around the perimeter of the property, followed by sitting at the center of the property and funneling my own energy into the ward. If you would prefer to instead bless first and ward after, feel free to do so. It is your ritual, after all. Regardless of which order you perform the ritual in, the blessing process may be a deeply personal one, so this is a step I suggest thinking on a bit rather than following to the letter. In my ritual, I use a spray with positive energy-promoting herbs (as well as herbs that may promote the intention I wish to set for the month) and follow up with prayer to my deities. If you’re interested in a more in-depth look at my Monthly Cleansing Ritual, I do have detailed instructions available on my Monthly Blessings Patreon.

My As-Needed Cleansing Ritual: This is essentially a truncated version of my monthly ritual. If the energies are something I’ve tracked in or absorbed too much of, I will take a cleansing shower first. Following this, perform your usual smoke or spray cleansing, focusing especially on any room(s) that may be the most abundant in the energy that brought about this need for an emergency cleanse. You may also like to perform a shorter version of your regular blessing ritual. Unless the situation is really dire, I will generally stick to my spray in this case.

Just to reiterate, all of the information, including these rituals, are from my own practice and my own experience. You must do what works for you if you want to get the absolute best results and the most fulfilling experience. Take what serves you, and leave the rest. Much love and many blessings to you on your journey. Take care of yourself.

Cleansing Morning Simmering Potpourri

This morning I opened all the windows and made a cleansing simmer potpourri to clean and refresh my home with new energy!

Here is what I did -

Open the windows and sliding doors to let the breeze in.

Get a small pot ready on the stove

Add 1 - 2 cups base liquid - usually purified or distilled water

Add bruised/crushed herbs - I used 1 TBSP lavender for cleansing and peace

Add essential oils and/or larger items - I used the peel of ½ pink grapefruit, for cleansing, self love and energy, and I added ½ tsp of pure vanilla extract for peace and happiness

Bring to a simmer then lower the heat then as low as it goes while still being on

Enjoy the simmering potpourri while cleaning, dusting, or helping your house in some way.

Keep an eye on the pot. When almost all the liquid has evaporated turn off the stove and remove from heat.

Discard remants in a compost bin or trash. If any liquid remains you can use in a bath, or a hand or foot soak to keep the spell with you all day!

I hope you have a relaxing, cleansing morning as well! Happy (witch) crafting!