ARE YOU
BROKE BUT STILL WANNA PULL THE THREADS OF THE ETHER AND DEFY THE ESTABLISHED LAWS
OF MAN INVOKING THE ANCIENT MAGICK?
GOOD.
You and I
are gonna go S H O P P I N G
But, Semiramis! I just told you I’m broke! I
can’t get nice things!
*smack*
WRONG.
The world is
full of wonders, one of them being
DOLLAR STORES
Remember
sweeties, a witch’s best friend is scavenging.
Open your
eyes. Look around. Scout your neighborhood.
But what about the things that I can’t get out
on the streets!?
That’s what we’re shopping for!
Now before
we move on, close your eyes… then open them again because you need to read the
rest of the message… and repeat the following mantra:
THE CRAFT
REQUIRES NOTHING. THE CRAFT
REQUIRES NOTHING. THE CRAFT
REQUIRES NOTHING BUT MYSELF.
No fancy
ingredients, no pretty crystals, no expensive incenses will work better than
your RAW HEART AND SOUL.
Mkay?
Now let’s
go get some of that good shit.
How good?
Diz gud.
Now, it’s
no mystery that a broke ass witch needs to pay a visit to the local dollar
stores to get her materials every once in a while, but if you’re like me and
live in a place where there are no dollar stores (and there are no dollars
either) WHERE TO GO?
The answer
is here:
CHINESE
IMPORT STORES ARE YOUR NEW SANCTUARY.
These places
are AWESOME for a witch on a budget, because they carry EVERYTHING. From toys
to art supplies to kitchenware…
AND
SPIRITUALITY SUPPLIES.
(That’s
where we come in)
Speaking of
budget, by the way. Let’s set one.
Say… $15?
FIFTEEN
AMERICAN DOLLARS. I will take you home with some nice and rare goodies that
will spice up your spells.
Let’s go
in.
Oooh what a
promising start. This here, my friends, are 25 grams of the purest coke
Palo Santo wood. Don’t like it in its natural state?
They have
it in incense too!
But we ain’t
getting that shit. I’m allergic so I can’t burn anything scented or else I…
die.
But know
they’re there, as well as essential oils, and they’re quite accessi-
WHAT!?
28 BUCKS
FOR A BOTTLE OF ESSENTIAL OIL!?
AIN’T
NOBODY GOT CASH FO DAT
Nah I’m
just kidding. This is the price in pesos, meaning that these oils are *math
happens* $1.55 each!
What a D E
A L
BUT THAT’S
NOT WHAT WE’RE HERE FOR BECAUSE I’M SOON TEACHING YOU HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN
OILS.
Also, holy
shit…
You HAVE to
see the candles aisle in this place.
They have
them twirly
Large
Larger
The photo is not blury, you’re drunk
Scented
Scentless
Birthdayful
Oh hellooo
thereee~
Twelve
candles for $1.94 you say?
Meaning
SIXTEEN CENTS A CANDLE?
Adopted.
Don’t let
anyone tell you cheap candles don’t get the job done, people!
Plus they
burn just as good.
NOW at this
point the store was 10 minutes away from closing time, so I had to stop
taking pictures to get my ass outta there, BUT
Here’s a
look at what we got:
That doesn’t
look too good, let’s add a F I L T E R
Those
little crochet doilies that will serve as my new altar tablecloths? They were $0.55
But Amis! Those don’t look too witchy, more
like what my grandma puts under her vases!
First of
all, how dare you.
Second of
all, how dare you.
Granmotherly
stuff is witchy by D E F I N I T I O N. Embrace the grandma aesthetic, y’all!
Also:
If you’re
poor you have to be CRAFTY. Look at that! It has a pentacle now. How long did
it take? Literally 30 seconds! Imagine
what we could do with a whole afternoon!
Ok, I admit
it, that was a fiasco, BUT WE’RE ONTO SOMETHING THERE.
Let’s take
a closer look at what else we brought, shall we?
This tiny
chest is 7.5 cm wide x 5.5 cm tall x 5.5 cm deep (3 in x 2.1 in x 2.1 in) and
will hold my pocket altar. It was *drum roll* $1.70!
I was
getting tired of using my mom’s big ass scissors to cut my tiny delicate herbs,
so I got myself this pair of snips! Price: $0.55 and they’re sharper than Tom
Hiddleston’s style. Plus they serve a multitude of purposes, like shanking a
bitch.
A quick
stop by the crystal shop that was also closing (pfft crystal shop. Sounds like
out of a fantasy novel, love it) yields the following goodies:
-Onyx
($0.55)
-Fluorite
($0.27)
-Snowflake
obsidian (hard to get where I live. It’s kinda pricey at $2.20. I recommend other
kinds of obsidian or maybe just black glass as I’ve been using until today, it
still works awesomely. I got the obsidian because I wanted to experiment with
it and my Mentor recommended me to get it, same as the fluorite).
-And the
CUTEST little quartz formation. This one kinda defeats the purpose because it
was a bit pricey. You don’t need it; any clear quartz will work the same. It was $4.50 and it was my guilty pleasure of
the month. It also came with a free satchel that’s most certainly going to be used with magickal results in the foreseeable
future.
More of it
because it’s so gorgeous ♥
Back to the
fluorite! That shit is large and cheap! Well, you see, it’s kinda ugly because I was part of a larger
stone and broke down the middle when they were trying to perforate it to make it into a pendant.
But check
this hot babe out
W O R K I T
Coming back
from the imports store, I paid a visit to my pot dealer erh I mean my herbs
supplier. Got myself some ginger for $0.27
AND THEN
I SAW IT
Maybe they
don’t package it like this in your country, but here this little shitty capsule
is worth its weight in GOLD.
Y’all know
what this is?
This is
SAFFRON.
Now
normally I steer fucking clear of
things this expensive, but when I asked my dealer I mean the vendor she said it
was on sale.
This stuff LITERALLY
sold by FRACTIONS OF GRAMS. In this case that’s 0.2 grams of saffron, that’s
0.007 ounces. YES. ZERO POINT ZERO ZERO SEVEN. Insert here Bond reference
Retail
price? Normally around $8 per capsule (EIGHT AMERICAN DOLLARS!)
How much on
sale?
TWO
DOLLARS.
A tip for the broke
witch: hunt
down for sales. Even if you don’t use the ingredients in your spells, you can
still trade them with other witches or with anyone, really.
After this
I went home and decided to try out my new candles.
And as I
said, if you’re poor, you gotta get crafty!
I cut one of
the candles in half. A part went to my pocket altar, and the other half…
I used one
of those ceramic saucers with the little erh… lower level circle in the middle?
USE CERAMIC. THIS IS IMPORTANT. IT RESISTS TEMPERATURE WELL AND YOU’RE GONNA NEED
IT.
Melt the
wax in the microwave or on the flame and then make sure it stays in the center
of the saucer. Then take it out and wait until it cools down (or put it in the
freezer if you are an impatient little shit). DO NOT LET IT SOLIDIFY
COMPLETELY.
Then you take
it out and use a round cookie cutter (or if you’re a cheap ass like me, find
something else)
I just used
the styling nozzle of my hair drying because F U K D A P O L I C E
Put it
again in the freezer and once it’s completely solidified use a spatula because
you, my dear witch
Just made
yourself a moon wax amulet!
Engrave it
with your sigils, place it on your altar, carefully soften the bottom with heat
and use it as a seal, the possibilities are endless!
BUT WAIT,
WHAT ABOUT THE REMNANTS!?
EVIL EYE
WARD!
The rest? Melt
it again or use it as a poppet in case you wanna cast a spell over an onion
ring…
By the end
of the day, our haul is:
-Altar
cloth $0.55
-Herbs
snips $0.55
-Mini-altar
wooden box $1.70
-Dozen of
blue candles $1.94
-Ginger
root $0.27
-Satchel $0
-Snowflake
obsidian $2.20
-Fluorite$ 0.27
-Onix $0.55
-Quartz
crystal formation $4.50
-Saffron Capsule
$2
A grand
total of $14.53!
Of our
budget of $15 we still have $0.47 that where I live is enough for the bus ride
back home!
If we take
away the unnecessarily pricey stuff (the quartz and the saffron) we got
everything for $8.03!
Now if THAT’S
not magick, I don’t know what is!
SOME FINAL
TIPS!
1) REUSE as many things as you can.
2) MOVE THOSE FEET. I know it doesn’t sound appealing,
but CHECK SEVERAL PLACES. Find the best prices by checking different stores and
comparing.
3) BE CREATIVE. If you find yourself in need of
something you can’t afford, think and find a way to replace it or get it
through other routes. As I said, witch trading is a thing!
4) BARGAIN. There’s no shame in it, people! If you’re dealing with independent merchants and buy regularly/are buying a lot, try to get better prices! Don’t disrespect their business, though!
5) REMEMBER YOUR MANTRA. Witchcraft requires NOTHING.
Except you.
Candlelight-magick 