Tarot In Spells

A Crash Course in Warding

Let’s just start a series of crash courses in witchcraft, since sometimes we need to learn things the quick and dirty way. Today, let’s talk about wards.

What are wards? Wards are protective energy barriers. They keep things out. You can place them around your home, certain rooms, even on certain objects. With practice and clear intentions, you can focus the wards to block out everything or only certain things. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Why should I ward my space and my things? Wards can keep out all sorts of things you don’t want in your home. They can block out negative entities, wayward spirits, mischievous entities, demons, and (if you’re really good at what you’re doing) even gods. Some people ward their divination tools so they know there are no spirits tampering with the results.

So what do I need to do first? Cleanse. This is very important. Wards are kind of like walls, or perhaps more accurately, bubbles. If you don’t clean the space first, you might trap things inside your ward bubble. You do not want that. There are lots of methods of cleansing, from burning sage to spritzing oil-infused water. Find a method you’re comfortable with and cleanse everything you’re going to be warding.

I’ve cleansed my home/item. Now what? Now we ward. I’m going to give you a couple methods. Let’s start with my favorite, incense warding.

Incense warding can also be done with spritzes of water/essential oil blends or herb-infused water if you can’t have smoke in your space. Whichever you’re using, you want to have a blend of protective herbs. Bay leaves, cinnamon, ginger, mustard seed, and salt are some great options that you can find in the grocery store, no fancy witch shop necessary. If you’re using incense, make sure you’re using natural incense and not super cheap stuff that’s artificially scented. The magic is in the herbs, and you won’t get that from fake scents.

How to Incense/Spritz Ward an Item

Smoke or spray item.

Visualize the smoke or spray clinging to the item and wrapping around it like a tight blanket, protecting it from anything that would cause harm (or interference, etc.).

How to Incense/Spritz Ward Your Space

Pick a place to start. I always start at my altar, but it’s up to you. If you’re doing multiple floors, start either at the top or bottom floor.

Moving continuously to your right, smoke or spray along the walls and door frames. As you go, imagine a barrier being formed around the walls, ceiling, and floor, pushing outwards to fill the room. Visualize the smoke or spray forming the barrier to keep out anything that will do you harm. [If you have a hard time with visualization, you can simply focus on the intent of the smoke or spray keeping things out.]

Keep moving right, following the layout of your home, making sure you get all the closet spaces. You basically want to outline the entire area you’re protecting, whether it’s you’re room or your whole house.

For multiple floors, repeat on each level.

For big layouts where there are rooms in the middle, go around those rooms as well.

I like to reinforce the wards over outside doors, windows, and mirrors. These are all passages of sorts, and when I reach them, I use the incense to draw a pentagram in the air over them. This is entirely up to you.

You’re done when you’ve reached the point where you began.

So why do we go to the right? Is that important? Kind of. Going to the right is like going clockwise. It’s about making things and progression, where going to the left or counter-clockwise is about deconstruction or reversal. [I read this idea in a witchy book a long time ago and will try to find a source when I can. If you honestly don’t feel it makes a difference, do whatever you’re comfortable with.]

Can I place wards that keep out certain things but not others? Sure. When you’re going around your space/warding your item, your intent is what’s important. I like to ward out entities that mean harm - it’s nice and general and doesn’t keep the fae out. Some people might want certain spirits and not others. Have your intentions clear in your mind as you place your wards.

That’s neat and all, but what are some other ways to ward? Let’s list a few.

Symbol/Sigil Wards

Choose (or make) a symbol or sigil that has protective properties. I’ve done this with Pluto’s astrological symbol because I worship him and it’s my way of being like, “Hey, Pluto. Please protect me, kthanxbai.” Pentagrams are nice and basic witchy/pagan symbols if you like them.

Draw the symbol over doors and windows. You do not literally have to draw it. It can be in water, incense smoke, or just your finger against the surface if you want.

As you’re drawing, make sure you have your intentions in mind - that nothing harmful can pass through this door, that the windows remain closed against entities, etc.

Energy Bubbles (if you have control over your energy)

Pick an item - any item.

Get your warding intentions in mind.

Channel lots of energy into the item. Visualize it emanating from the item in a bubble to fill your space.

If you’ve got mad skillz, you can form the bubble to the walls and be super exact with where its barriers are.

Vocal Wards

If you like spoken (or thought) spells, come up with a small chant to protect your space.

You can repeat this chant as you focus on your item being protected or as you walk around your home, protecting every room.

This is really great to incorporate into basically any other form of warding and gives your magic an extra bit of oomph.

I’ve heard wards can “fade” over time. True or false? Wards are just energy. Like all energies, they can disperse and weaken over time, or if something particularly nasty puts effort into destroying them. Redo your wards every so often (I do mine every few months, but it’s up to you), and especially before spiritual interactions. I also like to do mine after I’ve had lots of company, to kind of clear out family’s lingering energies and reinforce what I don’t want in my house.

In general, the intent of your wards is the most important part. Know what you want to keep out. This concludes our crash course on warding. Now go forth and protect some stuff!

🕯Candles in Magick 🕯

Candles are widely used in rituals, and candle magick is great for new and experienced witches alike. The use of them in your own practice will help you keep focused on your dreams!

Black: Grounding, wisdom, protection, knowledge, reversing, banishing negative energies.

Blue: Good fortune, will power, forgiveness, communication, patience, domestic harmony, organization, focus.

Brown: Food/animal/earth/pet magick, stability, concentration, locating lost objects, finances.

Gold: Quick luck, health, attraction, good fortune, abundance, male energy, understanding, divination,  positive attitude, justice.

Gray: Removal of negative influences, contemplation.

Green: Money, meditation, ambition, luck, physical & emotional healing, growth.

Lavender: Intuition, knowledge. 

Light Blue: Peace, spirituality, protection, tranquility.

Orange: Self-expression, joy, creativity, action, overcoming addictions, ambition, opportunity, celebration, investments.

Pink: Romance, femininity, friendship, romance, nurturing, partnership, spiritual/emotional healing, self-improvement.

Purple: Wisdom, spiritual power, contact with spirits, driving away evil, breaking bad habits.

Red: Courage, passion, fertility, vitality, strength, action, independence, assertiveness.

Silver: Feminine divinity, stability, dreams, psychic awareness, intuition, meditation.

Violet: Insight, connecting to your higher self, clarity.

White: Cleansing, unity, balance, healing, purity, peace, truth, balance of your aura, all-purpose.

Yellow: Success, happiness, concentration, travel, success, inspiration, charm, imagination, confidence.

🕯Bonus: Candles and the signs!

Aries: Red.

Taurus: Green.

Gemini: Yellow.

Cancer: Silver.

Leo: Orange.

Virgo: Yellow.

Libra: Pink.

Scorpio: Red.

Sagittarius: Purple.

Capricorn: Black.

Aquarius: Any Color.

Pisces: Mauve.

The Most Important Magical Care Tool In A Witches Arsenal: Grounding

As a witch who’s always on the go it can sometimes be hard to focus on magical self care. I’m traveling and moving and working with lots of people and life is kind of a whirlwind and I love it but sometimes it all gets to be a little… much. In all of the hustle and bustle my ability to take care of myself and my ability to take care of my magical practice can start to go south. I forget to practice good magical hygiene (such as cleansing and banishing) and I start to feel a little disconnected from the whole thing.

When this happens I like to turn to magical self care! Now, there are two types of magical self care: there’s magic that is used as self care and there’s self care for your magic. The methods I’m about to discuss happen to be useful for both! 

  The Most Important Magical Self Care Tool In A Witches Arsenal: Grounding

Grounding is a vital part of learning to practice magic in a safe and healthy way. The term comes from the process of grounding an electrical circuit. Essentially if an object is negatively charged, grounding allows excess electrons to flow from the object into the earth, and if an object is positively charged, electrons flow from the earth into the object. It’s a method of balancing and equalizing the flow of energy.

Similarly, in witchcraft grounding is the practice of balancing personal energies. Many things can pull us out of balance, emotional turmoil (for empaths it doesn’t even have to be our own emotional turmoil, often we pick up other people’s emotions far too readily!), illness, performing rituals or spells, astral travel, even simple things from our day to day lives can create a state of too much personal energy or too little personal energy.

This can be an incredibly uncomfortable experience.

Symptoms of unbalanced energy:

Dizziness, feeling spaced out, light headed or a floaty feeling

Headaches

Forgetfulness

Misplacing or losing things

Feeling generally unwell or exhausted

Daydreaming and an inability to focus

Sensitivity to light and noise

Feeling over stimulated and nervy

Bumping into things or other general feelings of clumsiness

An uncomfortable sensation of buzzing under the skin

Nausea and vomiting

Pain

Irritability

Insomnia

These symptoms typically become more severe the further out of alignment you are.

It is essential that you learn to ground properly before beginning to practice magic. Often I see newer witches who have yet to learn this skill experiencing unnecessarily strong backlash from their spell work.

Magic is energy! When you move and manipulate energy in such powerful ways it can and will pull your own energy out of balance. Grounding allows you to avoid the unpleasant side effects of spell casting which means a you’ll be a happier witch and have more time and space to practice your craft!

How To Ground Yourself

There are many ways of grounding yourself, I suggest you try a variety of methods and find the one that is most effective for you.

Rooting Yourself

This method works best if you are barefoot and standing on grass or dirt. Imagine your energy extending down through your legs and sinking into the earth, becoming roots and burrowing into the soil to trade energy with the earth. Feel the earth’s energy flow up into your body, filling you all the way to your head and then back down and out through your roots. This energy will cycle through you and clear away any excess energy as well as solving any energy deficiencies you might have. Continue this until you feel calm and comfortable.

Laugh

Laughter is an amazing way to release pent up energy as well as building our personal energy from within! Give yourself time and space to have a good laugh, put on your favorite comedian and enjoy yourself.

Food

Nourishing your body can help to reconnect you to your physical self and refuel depleted energy. Sit down for a hearty meal and give it your full attention, this helps to pull you back into your body fully after astral work or other intense spiritual experiences and gives you a moment to rest and relax.

Water

Water is a wonderful conductor of energy, sitting with your feet in a stream, your hands under a running faucet, or drawing yourself a bath can equalize your energy very quickly. Playing in the rain can also equalize your energy but if it’s sunny out visualizing rain washing your energy clean will work just as well.

Go for a walk

Getting out in nature, especially if you can walk barefoot, will allow your body to trade energy with the earth and equalize your energy levels. Walking in nature also helps to build mindfulness and create a sense of ease in your life!

Wind Visualization

Sit comfortably and begin to visualize your energy body. When you have a solid image of it in your mind imagine a strong gust of wind blowing your energy around you, removing blockages, carrying away excesses and refueling any energetic deficiencies.

Exercise

Gentle exercise can help to release any excess energies. Do not ground this way if you feel lethargic, exhausted or in any kind of pain. This method is ONLY to be used when you have an energy excess!

Body Awareness

Simply giving your body attention can encourage your energy to equalize on its own. Take a few minutes to consciously take stock of every inch of your body. Begin at your head, feel your scalp, then move to focusing on each part of your face. Move downward and feel your neck, your chest, then your arms, your elbows, your wrists, your fingertips. Focus on your torso again, now placing your energy on your stomach, feel it move with your breath. Continue this all the way down to your toes. Try to remain relaxed throughout this process.

Let Yourself Cry

Crying or screaming will release excess emotional energy very quickly. If you’re the sort of person who loves a good cleansing cry then this one is for you.

Stones and Crystals

Certain stones and crystals can be grounding. Hematite is particularly good for this purpose.

Play in the dirt

Getting in contact with the earth through gardening or rolling around in the dirt like you did when you were a kid allows your body to exchange energy with the earth. So let go of your adulthood for a few minutes and get in the dirt!

When To Use Grounding

Grounding is a wonderful tool to use but it isn’t a cure all. It’s also not always desirable to be completely grounded! There are certain types of magic that can be hindered by grounding and other types of magic that are simply not energy based and won’t require grounding to be effective.

When working with spirits being too grounded can make it more difficult to connect to the entity

If you’re fueling magic with emotions or excitement grounding beforehand will not help. You want your emotions and energy high in order to perform that sort of magic.

Sigils generally do not require grounding

Any kind of astral or out of body practice will be made much more difficult if you’re grounded beforehand. Ground after this sort of practice, not before

Dream work will be hindered by grounding

Grounding is most often used for post-spell backlash but it can also be utilized in your day to day life to enhance focus and happiness, lessen anxiety and protect you from emotional runoff.

If you struggle with any of the symptoms of being ungrounded regularly you might benefit from adding a few minutes of grounding into your daily practice!

New to witchcraft? Not sure where to start?

Sign up for my FREE witchcraft course!

If you see this

You were visited by the magic kitten of rest. Reblog to have a good night’s sleep.

Spirit Work Links

Intro to Spirit Work- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643770909792043008/intro-to-spirit-work

Basics of Spirit Work- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643778359127572480/basics-of-spirit-work

Spirit Work Overview- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643751568941907968/spirit-work-do-you-qualif

Energy Work- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643778494025908224/spirit-work-basics-energy-work-and-discernment

House Rules- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643778287562326017/spirit-house-rules

Red Flags- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643778573010976768/spirit-work-red-flags

Terminology- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643769230503936001/spirit-work-terminology

Spirit Types- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643769321711157248/the-spirit-world

On Spirits/Thoughtforms/Tulpas- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643781863454949376/spirits-thoughtforms-and-tulpas

Servitors- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643781561301483520/creating-a-servitor

Servitor DNA- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643781688128929793/upon-request-i-was-to-explain-the-dna-of-my

Fae- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643778445519765504/on-fae-and-spirit-work-a-master-post

Energy Leeches- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643780169403908096/energy-parasites-leeches

Offerings- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643779087722283008/how-do-you-feel-about-leaving-offerings-in-the

Entity Masterlist- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643769554359746560/entity-masterlist

Basic Banishing- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643778609657610240/basic-guide-to-how-to-banish-an-entity

Ghost (Communication)- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643769432264638465/communicating-with-spirits-ghosts

Spirit Vetting- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643768271108177920/spirit-vetting-practices-by-elysium-conjure

More on Vetting- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643777949781344256/on-vetting-companions

Spirit Relations- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643769271356440577/working-with-spirits

Spirit Anchors- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643770195860684800/lets-talk-about-spirit-anchors

Hellhounds- https://adan-bonescrystals.tumblr.com/post/643769121895546880/hellhounds

Simple Home Wards

For outside:

Drive sturdy sticks into the corners of your property to bolster those areas and strengthen wards. It adds firm definition to where you are warding. Using sticks from your property is a great way to connect everything on your land

Hammer three nails in the ground near your front door to act as a potent warning to spirits below.

Use solar powered lights to line your path to the door to keep it feeling bright, warm, and inhabited. Keep a small light on your keys and it will help to keep you from getting lost. Make sure to program all lights and keychain lights at the same time to sync them together.

Enchant wreaths to draw in abundance and repel misfortune and negative entities.

Choose a striking door knocker to act as a guardian against thieves and predators.

Plant hardy flowers and bushes that are native to/thrive in your area around all entrances and exits. Find out what the bees in your region like (if possible)!

Use windchimes to ward off entities looking for stagnant places. Sound and motion tend to clear away that kind of energy.

Draw (or use energy instead of a drawing utensil) a sigil on the outer walls of your home, especially on pillars and doorframes. You can do this before your home is completely built if you are in that process!

Draw similar sigils and/or statements on your driveway in the summer to bake them into your land and charge them. You can use water in a squeeze bottle to do this as well, and it will fade away immediately if your area is hot.

During the winter, you can also use water to cut through the snow or to freeze onto your property. Be careful, of course, and bear in mind where you or your pets may walk.

Use potted flowers to hide non-deteriorating crystals and wards. Put permanent wards inside the pots before planting.

For inside:

Enchant and place coins or other small tokens above every doorway and in every windowsill of your home to draw in wealth and repel malevolent forces. Bobby pins, dimes, toothpicks. It all works, but I recommend charging them every month or so.

Hang tapestries or other kinds of wall decor to break up stretches of potentially stagnant spaces. Clocks move and typically have a sound, which have always served me well in cleansing and keeping up with the flow of energy.

Salt lamps are actually quite useful. They are very dangerous for animals and small children, though. If you're good with the lamps being safe, they are excellent at cleansing, warming up, and protecting an area.

Rugs can be used to make wards all ob their own. You can create a design on the underside if you want, or just use energy to enchant it.

Wipe vents down with some sort of ritually clean and positively charged solution. Gem elixir, moon water, herbal tincture, etc.

Enchant fixtures already setup to protect you and your family. Smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, security systems, locks, etc. Use energy opposed to physical materials for most of these to protect their functionality.

Ward your attic. Birds get in, squirrels get in, entities and energies get in.

If you have a chimney, ward the fireplace or surrounding objects. Grates and screens are awesome for this.

when ur in a really bad mood and one mildly inconvenient thing happens

tarot spread for a soul who feels lost:

feel free to save, share (please tag me), and to use this for your own purposes 🖤 i used this spread with a client today and it was a beautiful and insightful message.

Where may I purchase a pair, please and thank you.

in the late 1790s it was in style to wear earrings depicting the execution of louis xvi.

Yule Resource Masterpost

A collection of categorized links for your Yule needs! What is Yule? [X] Yule is celebrated on slightly different days depending on who you ask, but the broad spectrum is: December 20th to January 1st in the Northern Hemisphere and around June 20th (give or take a few days) in the Southern Hemisphere.

 The basics:

Yule correspondences

Celebrating Yule

Yule: A very merry sabbat

Guide to Yuletide plants + herbs

Yule - ‘tis the season

Yule practices

A Yule ritual

50 Yuleisms

Inexpensive Yule decorations

Yule Crafts:

Yule potpourri recipe

Witch balls / more witch balls

A twelve-herb sachet for Yule

Mini herb wreaths

Yule log

Yule craft ideas

Pine protection balm

Dried orange slices

Apple feeders for winter birds

Yule Recipes:

Herbal shortbread

Bread dipping oil

Chocolate Yule log

Yuletide muesli

Yule tea

Yule Punch

Non-alcoholic mulled wine

Winter sabbat wine

Yule Spells:

Merry Yule spell jar / Season of peace spell jar

Holiday ornament snow spell

Yule bath spell

Blessed Yule - for a positive holiday season

Winter solstice spell

Spell for a happy family gathering

Yule energy sun spell

Winter stasis spell sachet

Holiday home blessings

Safe delivery envelope spell

Yule Tarot Spreads:

The return (2 card)

Yule spread (3 card)

Tarot spread for Yule (3 card)

Winter inspired spread (5 card)

Yule reflection + advice spread (5 card)

A Yuletime tarot spread (6 card)

Other:

Music ideas / Winter witch playlist

Altar/celebration ideas / Yule altar guide

Yule plants / Mistletoe Lore

Yule oils/incense / Yule incense

Emoji spell for luck during Yule and Solstice

Spell ideas for the holidays

Updated June, 2020. Please inform me (via askbox) of broken links!

Imbolc / Ostara / Beltane / Litha / Lammas / Mabon / Samhain / Yule / Bedridden ideas