Common Herbs And Their Purposes

Common herbs and their purposes

Candle Magic Beyond Colors

A lot of people talk about color correspondences with candles, but a candle's potential in magic runs way deeper than that! Here's a list of things I don't see people mention as much:

Loading a Candle

Carve out a small hole in the bottom of the candle and stuff it with herbs, a name, whatever else you want to "fill" the candle with.

Carvings

Etch sigils, symbols, names, and other things into the candle before burning! (I like the idea of writing my problems/worries onto the candle then watching as they burn and melt away.)

Dressing a Candle

Much like loading a candle, mix your herbs in an oil or have a pre-made magical oil ready to cover your candle in before lighting.

Reversals

Chop off the top of the candle, flip it upside down, and carve a new wick out of the bottom (now top.) This is a good way to inverse its symbolism!

Shape of Candle/Container

Not all candles are little cylenders. Candles shaped like pyramids, spheres, hearts, skulls, or animals can all have those correspondences taken into account as well.

Life of the Flame

Some candles are meant to only burn for a short period of time then be blown out. (Like birthday candles.) Others are meant to burn continuously over multiple days (like yahrzeit candles or seven-day candles.) Others can be lit or extinguished as you please. Which one makes the most sense for your goals?

Burning or Beacon?

A candle flame is a light in the darkness, drawing things near. It's also literal fire which can burn away whatever it touches. Which one is your candle trying to do, burn out something undesired or serve as a beacon for what you DO desire? Plan accordingly.

Read the Wax

Always a classic, you can read the shapes made from the wax once the spell is complete to get a gage of how things went/are going. Followup information is always good and can tell you a lot!!

What’s meant for me will come towards me if it serves my highest good. I don’t chase, I attract. I am deserving of the best and nothing but 🧿✨🌻✨🌻✨🧿

Energy Work 101: Basic Shielding

"Shielding" is an energy work technique that puts a protective sphere of energy around you. This technique is basic at its core, but can be continually evolved and upgraded to become very advanced and powerful indeed.

Concepts & Theory

Most all shields are spherical or egg-shaped.

Shields are often sized to be an outstretched arm's length away from your body, plus a foot (30cm) or so extra all around. You can make them any size you like. Because they are made of energy, the bigger they are, the more energy they take.

Shields fade away. Depending on how stable they are when you make them, they may fade within hours or days.

Shields can and will affect your mood and how people perceive you.

It is a good idea to practice dismantling/undoing shields as often as you practice creating them.

While the most basic shield is a bubble of white light, they can be endlessly modified.

You can have more than one shield at once. They can be stacked concentrically. Think about which shields you want to be closer to you and which you want on the outside next to others.

One of the most useful ways to modify a shield is to specifically choose what kinds of energies you want to bet let in, and what kinds you want to keep out.

The basic technique used for energy shielding can also be used for other techniques such as glamours, energy cleansing, object charging, and some forms self-care. Because of this, shielding is a good place to start practicing practical energy work.

Shielding is a cousin of aura-imprinting. The technique I am talking about here puts a bubble of energy on the outside of your aura. Aura-imprinting/strengthening techniques refer to changing your aura itself.

Methods of Shield-Raising

There are as many methods to accomplish shielding as there are people. Here are a couple:

1. Make one hand into a fist and place it over your heart. Place your other palm on top of it. Gently push down on your chest to create pressure - not so much that it hurts. Imagine, feel, believe, or know that within your chest is a wellspring of energy. This energy pools around your fist as you create pressure there. When you are ready, move your fist away from your body (experiment with both fast and slow motions). Imagine, feel, believe, or know that an energy sphere grows from that place in your chest and expands until it surrounds you. It stops expanding about a foot away from your outstretched arms.

2. Breathe in. As you breathe in, consider that you are pulling pure energy out of the air and into your body. Hold your breath for a beat and decide that when you exhale, that pure energy is going to start forming a sphere around your body. As you exhale, imagine, feel, believe, intend, or know that this energy flows around you to start forming an energy shell. Continue breathing in and out with intent until you can easily imagine, feel, or believe that the shell has become solid and complete.

3. Consider a pop-culture method that a character uses to shield themselves. Steven Universe can do that rose quartz thing, for example. Or, imagine Captain Picard of Star Trek saying, "shields up!" and the Enterprise being surrounded by powerful protective energy. Copying a pop-culture technique can be extremely effective for shielding. Put your intent towards causing real power to flow, and let culture be your guide.

4. Consider that your body is permanently connected to your environment and there is always free energy exchange passing between you and the world around you. This process is automatic, but like your breath, you have the ability to take control of this process if you so choose. Feel the parts of you making contact with the world below (your feet, or bottoms of your legs if you are sitting). Decide, intend, choose, or will that the energy passing into your body at those points will instead rise up and surround you in a shield. You may need to actively stay with this process and continually will it to occur; with practice you may need to only check in every now and then.

A Method of Shield-Dissolving

1. Consider that you have placed energy around yourself which exists there whether or not you can feel it. Decide, intend, choose, or will that this energy breaks up and dissolves. You get to choose what to do with the energy. Options include:

Drawing it back into yourself

Pushing it down into the earth

Releasing it into the air around you

Would you like to do a fun experiment? Release the energy into the air around you in a closed room with no open doors or windows :)

Consider drawing energy back into yourself until you feel your storage containers are full, then pushing the rest of it downwards and into the earth.

Basic Shield Programming

For practice in raising and putting down energy, the form or shape your shield takes doesn't really matter. If you need to know what form it will take in order to complete the exercise, the most basic shield is considered to be a smooth bubble of white light; you can choose to practice with any form you like.

Programming a shield basically means to choose its effects. Common effects include limiting emotional intake from others, and blocking out environmental energy.

Form should follow function. If you want an energy shield to totally completely block out 100 of environmental energies, its form may take an opaque, solid black orb. If you want the shield to limit some energies but not others, it may take the form of a chain-link fence, be semi-opaque, or be like vines with gaps-inbetween them.

Experimenting with what forms work best for you is worthwhile. You do not necessarily need to choose a specific form: simply putting willpower behind your intent will also suffice.

Two Methods of Programming

I recommend trying the first technique for initially creating the shield, and the second technique for making adjustments once it exists.

1. Choose the intent of your shield before you even begin making it. As you begin gathering power, hold your intent in the forefront of your mind. Understand, believe, or know that the shield will not be created in general, but that it will be created within the specifications of your intent, like pancake batter poured into a cookie cutter mold. Hold your intent at the forefront of your mind while energy is gathered and released into the shield. (This is what you're doing automatically if you choose a pop culture technique with specific shield purpose and form)

2. Create a general/basic shield in any way you prefer. Observe, believe, feel, understand, or know that this basic shield is under your control and will respond to your intent. Select an intent. Pour your intent into the existing shield. This may be done through the vehicle of the breath, hand symbols, eye gazes, chanting, or any desired method. Observe, believe, feel, understand, or know that the shield responds to your will like a pond rippling when a rock is thrown in. Maintain your focus until you sense the work is complete, or until you're tired or bored.

Space Magic:

💘 The Sun: Confidence, charging, enchanting, positivity, and healthiness. 💘 The Moon: Healing, charging, divination, charms, and enchanting.  💘 Mercury: Communication, divination, exchange, and astral travel. 💘 Venus: Glamours, beauty magic, romance, and all forms of love. 💘 Mars: Baneful magic, attraction, hexes, charging, and fertility. 💘 Jupiter: Abundance, fertility, luck, opportunity, and good fortune. 💘 Saturn: Manifestation, ceremonies, warding, wealth, and attracting. 💘 Uranus: Enchanting, glamour, meditations, dream work, and illusions. 💘 Neptune: Astral projection, dreams, divination, and manifestation. 💘 Pluto: Transformation, divination, purification, and banishment.

Witchcraft: Constructing

Did you know you don't have to use other peoples spells? You, yourself, can create your own individual spells for your own purposes regardless of your experience level. Below are some basic tips for making a spell worthy of writing down.

Naming:

The process of naming a spell is completely optional and always should be. It is my personal recommendation that a Spell Name should correlate with the intention of aforementioned spell. Implementing a simplified summary of the ceremony itself into the title can also be benefital.

Planning:

Constructing a spell will require planning. Taking aspects such as correspondences, instruments, location, and weather into account can amplify the spell’s effect as well. I recommend cleansing and charging your items before preforming it, and resting your self to be full prepared with optimum energy.

Timing:

In magic, time has its own correspondences ranging from segments of the day to Moon Phase, Weekly, Monthly, and Seasonal correspondences. If you are going to preform a spell, you can utilize timing for stronger magical effects.

Instruments:

Instruments can be very diverse in variety but can be chosen based off of the correspondence or use of a particular item. For example, If your intention was to attract abundance and fortune, filling a Chalice with liquid could suffice perfectly. You are always the best magickal “tool.”

Activities:

What are you going to be doing with your tools to cast this spell? Will you be using a chant, song, or incantation during this ceremony? For example, if you want to banish something. screaming while you are throwing, burning, or burying something is you adding your own energy and labor into this spell.