r/witchcraft

I’ve been an armchair witch for quite some time (someone who study’s witchcraft but hasn’t done hands on spell work) but i finally decided it was my time to work my own magic. I just finished doing my first spell, a protection spell and i have some incense lit up on my altar and i see that the smoke is going straight up!!! i have both my windows open and a fan on and usually it goes all over the place. I personally believe it’s a sign my work was perfectly aligned and received <3!

When I started, every guide gave me the same instructions; write the sentence, strike out repeated letters, arrange what's left into a symbol, charge it, forget it - and every one of them made "arrange what's left into a symbol" sound like the easy step. That and having paper and things is where most people give up, or at least limit the sigils they would otherwise use.

Two things that unstuck me:

\*\*Use a construction instead of your imagination.\*\*

Lay the alphabet round a circle and join your letters in order. Or reduce each letter to a number 1–9 and join those cells in a 3×3 grid. The shape comes out of the method, not out of your drawing ability, and it's completely traditional.

\*\*It's supposed to stop looking like letters.\*\*

If you can still read your sentence in it or you put a dollar sign in a money one 😂 then limiting lust of result becomes needlessly more challenging. The mark has to be something your conscious mind can't decode back into the original.

I got a few qs for witchcraft: how long do you

1. Activate a sigil
2. Keep it hidden

I’m also trying to diversify my activation methods. Rather than just list them, I’ll give you my understanding first. There’s inhibitory and excitatory -

INHIBITORY - this is when you still your mind so that the intention behind the sigil can slip through to your subconscious.

These are things like - (open and closed eye) meditation, the minutes before sleep, ambient exposure (having as your wallpaper / screensaver) drumming and rhythm (think tribal beat) fasting, breath work

EXCITATORY - this is when your mind is so singularly focussed that the sigil passes by the conscious, arguing mind, into the powerful, subconscious mind to be fulfilled.

These are things like - exercise to failure (plank while staring at it works well) sexual climax (most popular) extreme grief, happiness, or anger (underrated)

What have I missed? Has anything worked super well for you?

Now, I noticed a lot of spells call for x crystal, x herb in x color bag on the x moon. Then when I look up, "what if I dont have x herb? or x color?" the response is, "what matters most is intention, just use another herb"

so lets say I only have basil and white tea light candles, can any spell be used with basil? or no basil at all? at what point is a spell affected? can one just meditate and put their intentions out with nothing else for every spell? and if people are swapping out their herbs candles and crystals to just use what they have, is any of that stuff really needed?

By "spirit team" I mean like spirit guides or who have your best interest at heart. Those spirits can include your ancestors, nature spirits, deities, infernals, spirit guides etc. I don't think I've found any reliable sources that explained this yet but why do we have a spirit team? What would be the spirit team's incentive for helping us, why us? Where do they come from and how are they selected? Do they pick the person they help, or were we assigned to them by some higher powers? Do these spirits help any other living humans simultaneously?

Especially before you started dabbling in magic and divinations. What if you were new to spirituality and never worked with a deity/spirit nor did a divination before? And then you smoke cleanse your divination tools and say "I am only speaking to my spirit team..." like do you even have a spirit team at that point? Who are you addressing then? Maybe your ancestors who may always have been with you, or maybe like local spirits or something else you unintentionally caught the attention of for some reason, and they were just waiting for you to talk to them? I did divination for the first time and wondered who are these people in my "spirit team" answering, turns out none of them were ancestors of mine, and turns out there are some deities in there though I never even worshipped them or thought of them.

For me, ironically despite doing ancestral work, no one in my spirit team is an ancestor of mine. So "they're your ancestors so of course they want you to thrive" doesn't apply for every case either.

Hello! I've been reading and doing the exercises from Mat Auryn's book, Psychic Witch. I've been meditating for years, so the very first exercise didn't take me super long to master. A couple weeks, maybe a month. (I want to go slow to try to build the foundation better and this felt like a decent amount of time)

However I decided to continue on with the exercises and not just do the first one over and over and I guess I'm struggling to get the second one.

It seems pretty easy at face value - go through a day Pretending to Be Psychic/all knowing. But I don't really leave my house very much as I work from home and am pretty reclusive/isolated.

I was curious if anyone was a pretty big homebody like me, who also read this book/did the exercises from it, and what their experience with this exercise looked like?

An idea that came to me just now as I was typing this, was maybe trying to predict when my tea kettle, or microwave, or something else like that was going to go off? Maybe? I don't know. Inspiration would be greatly appreciated. :)

It came to be as a writing that guided me, it was fast and messy so this is all I got,

“Hair are a form of protection, everything natural is welcome. Hair are a form of protection and it just feels so good to hold.
Reason why masses are easy to control is because they’re easy to control but it is also for their own good. They cannot withstand a world so bare and naked, it is too much so it has to be filtered (you cannot take it) when you see behind the scenes of how everything works.
((This part is me)I’m just so blessed to feel a presence I have to ask for guidance, I have to ask if they approve))
It’s a mercy to be sober and normal. Also human brain is so egoistic. Ego. Arrogant.

I’m not me. I’m so beautiful, my beauty is not the absence of other’s beauty and others beauty is not the absence of mine. (This is me)”

hi everyone. i saw this tiktok where a girl was talking about how she warded her name to transmute gossip into hair growth. my question is, is this a real thing that i could do? i was reading about wards but i’m not sure if i fully understand them. any advice is appreciated. blessed be :))

Recently visited a local witchcraft shop and picked up a few of their premade oils. I went in mostly familiar with crystals and incense, so I wasn't expecting the oils to be what caught my attention.

I'm a naturally anxious person who is constantly pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. I started wearing one of the oils during the day, and I loved having the scent with me. Whenever I noticed it, it helped bring me back to the mindset I wanted to be in. It felt much more personal and grounding to me than anything else I've experimented with.

I went back to the shop because I liked them so much, only to find almost all of them sold out. I joked with the woman working there that apparently I'd found my thing. She told me that finding the parts of witchcraft you personally connect with is part of developing your own practice, which I thought was really interesting.

I can honestly see oils being something I use for the rest of my life LOL. The premade ones are lovely, but I'd eventually like my relationship with them to become something personal rather than always relying on whatever happens to be available at a store.

I'm also extremely cautious about anything I put on my skin, so that's made me appreciate how much actual knowledge can go into working with plants, fragrances, and oils safely. I also started reading one of the books the woman at the shop recommended, and it explained that making your own oils from herbs and plants can be more complicated than it seems, since simply infusing plant material may not produce a very concentrated or strongly scented oil, and extracting the plant's aromatic compounds is a different process altogether.

Mostly, I'm curious about everyone else's experiences. If oils are one of those things for you, I'd especially love to hear what your relationship with them is like and how that part of your practice has evolved. I am always trying to learn, so I would love to hear everything you have to say!

I’m a 2nd generation mexican american who doesn’t speak spanish and practices witchcraft. I’ve been learning about more western craft but for a long time i’ve wanted to get into traditional mexican brujeria but feel very conflicted about it because of my identity. Im a no sabo, my parents are chicanos, and both sides of my family are extremely catholic. I feel a strong connection to catholicism because of my family history of it, but I feel really conflicted because personally i think it’s corrupt..We have records of our family tree going back 11 generations of catholic conquistadors on my dads side, and more indigenous on my moms side. I feel ashamed- my ancestors took over and forced this religion onto natives in mexico- but part of me is also indigenous (moms side), and catholicism is undeniably a major part of mexican culture. The rosary hangs everywhere in both my grandparents house, and probably their grandparents and the grandparents before that. My family members are all buried in a mission (Old church they used to force religion onto natives). I have a conflicting feeling where i want to incorporate parts of this religious culture into my craft because of my family ties but also don’t because of how harmful i feel like this major religion is…I feel like it’s such a big part of being mexican yet such a controversial part too- does anyone else feel this way?

So I’m a pagan witch and I just was having a nice conversation with a girl on a dating app and she asked what I liked to do for fun and I answered “writing, reading, listening to music and witchcraft” she replied “I could never do or be with someone who does witchcraft I don’t want demons around me.” Keep in mind I worship Lilith and Asmodeus so I told her we probably weren’t going to be a good match and we ended the conversation cordially but it made me think is it really a dealbreaker to be a witch and work with the infernal? Does anyone else have this issue?

Hi witches! I'm a baby witch, and I just did my first water ward. I have a cat, who's also very curious about the world, so I'm afraid she might attempt to drink the mixture (some of the ingredients aren't safe for cats). The container I got has tight closure, so itd be nice if I could just close it. But, does that affect the ward, like we're "blocking off" the negative energy from being captured by the ward? I'd be extremely grateful for any help.

hi guys!! i'm a witch visiting these places! :) what spiritual/witchy/esoteric stuff do you recommend me to get from these places that you can't normally get anywhere else? and any shop recos? thank you so much!!

I'm pretty new to witchcraft, so I apologise if my question is stupid or whatever. I'm researching things I can do to reduce my anxiety and attract positive energy for tomorrow, bc my exam results are really important and I'm really anxious, however I'd appreciate advice from people!

Again, I apologise if this is an FAQ or a stupid question, I'm just really unsure what to do and scared I'll do it wrong or something

I'm sorry for the morbid topic line but I am borderline desperate.

Some background context to help clarify what I am seeking protection for. I work in heathcare, specifically L&D, and have experienced two cases that most people don't even experience ONCE in their ENTIRE career. I am less than a year in and have now seen it twice. Without trauma dumping, my recent case didn't survive.

I am seeking something to wear to protect myself, and by proxy my patients. I feel like there is a "black cloud" and I just want to protect myself from it. I want to feel like maybe this extraordinarily rare thing that is supposed to be once in a career won't happen again. I cannot wear rings so I am looking for something that can be a small pendant on a necklace that I can wear into the Operating Room.

what are you guys doing with the post-witch bath remains? I loooove them when I’m feeling overwhelmed and insecure, it does what they’re supposed to do, cleanse, rejuvenate etc.
I like to use fresh rose petals, salts, light candles and incense, crystals, all the things! My struggle point is what to do with the “leftovers” when the bath is over, if I put roses in salted water and return them outside is that considered “salting the earth”? I’ve heard that’s a big no-no, I’ve heard of people using the leftover rose petals for a number of things but the one time I tried to preserve them they left a rotting smell to them /: I’m just confused on what you all do! Thank you!

I've been trying deity work now for a few days but I've noticed that with my schedule it's really hard to do it the way I've seen online. I'm rarely home so not at my altar (working on a pocket altar) and I'm absolutely packed rn so I can't do spells, rituals, offerings or anything else. I haven't even got time to properly journal or meditate. It's a sea goddess so whenever I'm near water or it's raining I try to take a moment and ground myself. I've also been drinking mountains of water (idk if that helps) but what else is there to do? How can I keep the connection to my deity while having absolutely no time in my day

I want to start off by saying I've only dabbled. I don't identify as a witch, but my partner actively practices. That being said, I've picked up a thing or two. Forgive me if I use any incorrect terminology.

This whole situation started when my partner and I decided to let a friend of theirs stay with us for a while. This person ended up being toxic and abusive and it left me somewhat traumatized. It was to the point where my partner didn't feel safe staying at the apartment anymore and went to stay with family. I would have done the same, except I didn't want to leave him alone there. Even after he moved out, I continued to have nightmares about him. I also noticed a potential taglock of blood above my door (he practices too and my partner thinks he wanted a spiritual tie with me or something, it's gone now I wiped it away as soon as I saw it).

Anyways, I was cleaning out my closet and stumbled across a folder full of printed photos, screenshots, court documents, etc. all from the process of getting him evicted. I felt such a heavy and angry energy when I picked it up for some reason so my first instinct was to burn it. Even that didn't feel like enough, so I did the following working with the intention of having closure and warding off the bad dreams:

In a jar I sprinkled some of the ash from the burnt papers, which I thought would be a good way to focus the intention of the spell towards that person, as well as being a sort of severance from the memory of the events leading up to it. On top of that I added layers of salt for protection, sage for cleansing, rosemary for clarity, chamomile for peace, lavender for restful sleep, and bay leaves with written intentions on them. I will no longer have bad dreams. I will not let the negative energy of others affect me. I will not live in fear of the past. To top it all off I added rose petals for healing and sealed the jar shut with wax. Then I buried it in my garden.

I just wanted to share this experience and see if anyone else has gone through anything similar and how you dealt with it. It already feels so much lighter simply having those documents out of my room. I'm wondering if that in and of itself could have been contributing towards the nightmares, simply just having that physical reminder in the same space. Regardless, I'm looking forward to restful sleep tonight.