My best friend got me some for my birthday since she sells it and it has literally saved my life. I get TERRIBLE CRAMPS (like so bad that if i don’t catch them beforehand then i’m out for the next 5-6 hours in pain/barfing.) With the Clarycalm even if i don’t catch it i just swipe some on my tummy where the pain is and it helps ease/stop the pain relatively quickly (with in combination with the advil works really quickly)
But go get a heating pad/hot water bottle/bubble bath ready grab your laptop and get some Ghibli movies going ❤ (and if you’re of age a glass of red wine is said to help too)
May your flow be light and your cramps be manageable~!
For those who are either broke and struggling to fund materials for your craft, those who cannot be seen purchasing items from ‘occult’ stores, or simply those who would like a cost-friendly alternative.
1. Consider the mundane stores for most staple goods such as candles or herbs.
2. Walmart and dollar stores tend to be very good in terms of pricing on chargers (plates to burn things on), spices, herbs, candles and holders, and so on. You can equip your altar nicely for under $30 if you’re starting from scratch!
3. Dried herbs are just as good as fresh herbs.
4. In many groceries, you can get a single packet of herbs that’s good for a couple spells or a few dishes for around $0.60
5. If you can, buy in bulk.
7. If you live with family, there’s nothing to say that you can’t grab some herbs or spices out of the kitchen to use in your craft once in a while.
8. If you need to bury something, or leave it out in nature, or even have a spell ‘jar’ recipe that won’t contain liquid and/or won’t be needed for a long period of time, consider using empty toilet paper rolls! Simply fold the top end down, tape it together, fill, and fold and tape the bottom shut as well.
9. Thrift stores are amazing. Just sayin’. Be sure to cleanse whatever you do buy from there, though.
10. While a gemstone pendant may be beautiful and awesome, in a pinch you can make do with any necklace you have, or even a stone or weight tied to a string.
11. ANY refillable bottle can be a spell jar if you want it to be! E.g. soda bottles, jam jars, peanut butter jars, juice bottles, iced coffee bottles, etc.
12. Tealights or birthday candles can often be used in place of real candles, whether for time or cost purposes.
13. Some VERY effective tools are almost free, such as moon, sun, river, or storm water!
14. If you make offerings to any entities, they don’t always have to be expensive and storebought! Interesting rocks, feathers, or even wild flowers you picked are good ‘free’ options. Generally speaking, unless the entity in question has demanded a certain thing, the intent and thoughts behind your offering matters as much as, or even more than, the actual offering.
15. In a pinch, a white candle may be substituted for any other color.
16. Fabric stores/fabric departments tend to have ‘fat quarters’ or remnants that are sold WAY below regular yard pricing. Depending on the size you can use this for an altar cloth, to make a poppet or satchet, etc.
17. Sigils are free!
18. Consider energy work, such as Law of Attraction, meditation, visualization, and astral travel.
19. Use household items! Unless specified by a ritual of sorts, you don’t ‘need’ to have a dedicated pestle and mortar – if using herbs, any bowl and maybe a spoon or bottle of nailpolish would do. If using non food safe items, just use a bowl that you won’t be using for actual food.
20. Unless otherwise specified, you don’t ‘need’ a special knife or implement just to cut up things in a ritual!
21. You can make/print your own tarot cards! They may not be ‘perfect’ and may wear out faster than purchased cards, but you can draw your own cards on index cards or blank paper.
22. If you aren’t creative, you can ‘read’ playing cards similar to tarot cards.
23. A poppet can be almost anything! Unless specified, you can sew together pieces of cloth into a vaguely humanoid shape, you can use clay, a doll, or a wooden peg named for the person if you’re in a pinch.
24. If you use Florida Water, there are recipes out there to make your own at home. You simply need alcohol, some herbs, and some flowers.
25. With regards to using ribbon, you can also use string or yarn to tie something or bind something.
26. Something someone has suggested – clean out your old empty nailpolish bottles and use them for tiny spell bottles!
27. A tiny travel altar can fit into a mint tin, or a cookie tin if you want something slightly larger.
28. Essential oils and incense can give your room a nice scent, and can be used to cleanse your space.
29. Music can also be used to cleanse your space!
30. For those of you that can’t be seen entering an occult store, or having packages arrive from certain websites – ‘head shops’ and Spencers often carry white sage and some crystals.
31. For those who can’t have a physical grimoire/book of shadows/spell book, Google drive, tumblr, and Pinterest are all good options.
32. If you can’t get/can’t afford a statue of a deity or entity, you can also print out an image of them from online, or you can draw your own.
33. Tea bags can often have ALL the herbs and spices you need, and may even be cheaper than purchasing herbs separately.
34. Some herbs and plants can be ‘pirated’ e.g. can be grown from a sprig plucked the right way.
35. You can make your own wand, you don’t ‘need’ to purchase one. There are tutorials online that can help you with this!
36. You can use sea shells or dice for divination!
37. Runes can be painted/written onto coins, stones, or even bits of paper if you’re in a tight spot.
38. If you want an indoor spice/herb garden and can’t afford planters, get creative. You can use empty cans, soda cans or milk jugs cut down, or even plastic containers that have lost their lids.
39. You can enchant daily objects to help you along the way.
40. ANY notebook can hold a grimoire or book of spells!
Brought to you mostly by my grandparents, but also by my family at large. These are all things I heard growing up in the northern region of Appalachia and wanted to share with y’all. The lore and sayings may vary based on location, family tradition, and other factors, but this is just what I’m sharing from my experiences!
• Give the first pinch of a freshly baked loaf of bread to the Good Men to keep them happy.
• Deaths and births always come in threes.
• Spin around in a circle three times before you walk in the front door to confuse any spirits that are following you.
• Don’t throw your hair out! If a bird builds a nest with it, you’ll have migraines.
• “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor’s warning.”
• If the leaves on trees are flipped over with their backsides showing, rain’s coming.
• If you hear a dog howl at night, death is coming.
• If you’re giving someone a wallet or purse as a present, put money in it to ensure they’ll never financially struggle.
• Spirits can’t cross running water.
• Cats and dogs won’t enter a room where spirits are present.
• Carry an acorn in your pocket for good luck, a penny for prosperity, and a nail for protection.
• If you’re having nightmares, put a Bible under your pillow. They’ll go away.
• Take a spoonful of honey to keep your words sweet.
• Keeping a pot of coffee on ensures a happy home.
• It’s bad luck to walk over a grave.
• A horseshoe hung above a door ensures good luck.
• A horseshoe in the bedroom staves away nightmares.
• If your right hand itches, you’ll soon be receiving money. If the left itches, you’ll be paying it.
• Wishing on a star works. “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.”
• When you have a random shiver, someone just walked over your grave.
• If smoke from a fire rises, expect clear skies. If it rolls along the ground, expect storms.
• Rosemary near the door provides protection. Lavender provides peace.
• “A ring around the sun or moon, rain or snow is coming soon.”
• Wind chimes and bells keep spirits away.
• Seeing a cardinal means unexpected company.
• For that matter, so does dropping silverware.
• Rubbing a bit of potato on a wart helps it to go away.
• If the soles of your feet itch, you will soon walk on strange grounds.
• Black eyed peas, greens, and/or pork and sauerkraut should be eaten on New Year’s Day to welcome good luck and good fortune.
• Driving a nail into a bedframe or crib will drive away curses.
• If your ears are burning, someone’s talking about you.
• If you dream of fish, you are or will soon be pregnant.
• Listen to the wisdom of children, they see and know more than we think.
• To dream of death means birth, to dream of birth means death.
• To cure a headache, crush some mint leaves in your hands, cup them over your mouth and nose, and breathe in a few times. It should help.
• Placing a fern or ivy on the front porch protects against curses.
• In a vegetable garden, never plant the same plants in the same spot two years in a row. Rotate where they are, and you’ll save your soil. (Note: this is a real thing called crop rotation, and is actually kind of important)
• A black bird (Raven or crow, doesn’t matter) on the roof or a windowsill is an omen for death. To avoid it, you have to scare it away without using your voice before it caws.
• Say a prayer when you pass a coal mine for the lost souls still in the mine.
• Thank the land and the Lord with every successful hunt or harvest you have, for nothing is guaranteed.
These are a few of the folklores, wives’ tales, superstitions, and sayings that I’ve heard growing up (and still living in) in Appalachia! I encourage other Appalachian witches, cunning folk, and general inhabitants of the Appalachian region (and just the mountain range at large) to share whatever bits you’ve heard over the years!
I just wanted to share a bit with y’all to give you an insight into some Appalachian lore, my own practice, and maybe give you some things to research and incorporate into your own practice! 🌿✨
Being from this area I have heard almost everyone of these, never realized they were local.
To add to the post
Never pick up a coin (especially a penny) if it isn’t heads up
Hold your breath when you pass a cemetery
throw salt over your left shoulder for good luck but never spill it
• “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor’s warning.” FACT. Weather systems generally move west to east. A red sunset is caused by dust particles in the atmosphere, indicating dry weather headed your way. The red in the eastern sunrise, however, indicates that the dry weather is seeing itself out.
• If the leaves on trees are flipped over with their backsides showing, rain’s coming. FACT. High humidity before wet weather makes the stems of deciduous trees floppy and limp, so they often get blown over in pre-storm weather.
• If smoke from a fire rises, expect clear skies. If it rolls along the ground, expect storms. FACT. Storms are caused by low pressure atmosphere systems, which by their nature cause smoke to hang low instead of rising. It also causes birds to swoop and fly low to the ground, which is another true weather-predicting bit of folklore.
• “A ring around the sun or moon, rain or snow is coming soon.” FACT. Sun- and moon-halos are caused by light refracting off ice crystals in the high altitude clouds that usually come before a rain or snowfall.
Makes you wonder what other bits of folklore will be validated by advances in science.
Whether you’re dorming, living in a sorority/fraternity house, still living with your family, or even living off campus with some non-witchy roommates, I have compiled a list of witchy advice, activities, and tips to help live your most magical life while still complying with any rules that may be in place.
I spent the past 9 months or so living in the dorms at my university. The housing contract was 20 pages long and filled with everything I wasn’t allowed to have, do, etc. To summarize that annoyingly long document, I was not allowed to have any electrical heat sources besides hair tools (hair dryer, straighter, etc), a clothing iron, and an 800 watt or less microwave. I was not allowed to burn incense or candles, use a wax warmer, a hot plate, an electric kettle. The icing on the cake was that we couldn’t even have an incense diffuser because of the air system being connected throughout the entire building and how it could travel into someone’s room and cause an allergic reaction or make them sick. So I had to get a little crafty (pun intended) with my magical practices.
Activities & Tools
Things to Avoid Doing/Having:
Anything With Fire (candles, incense, smoke cleansing, etc)
Anything That’s a Heat Source (hot plates, wax warmer, electric kettle, etc)
Having Alcohol Regardless If You Are of Age (All Campuses are Dry Campuses meaning No Alcohol is Allowed)
Having Your Familiar (Unless It’s Been Approved by Disability Services to be your Emotional Support Animal)
Doing Spells Outside on Campus (Security Will Be Walking Around And May Think You’re Making a Bomb or Doing Something Illegal)
Leave Your Fancy Athames at Home (Weapons are not allowed on college campuses so to avoid that rule get a kitchen knife or a small hidden knife)
Keeping Anything Obviously Witchy/Occult Related Out Unless You Have Your Own Room or Your Roommate is Okay With it (Pentagrams, Animal Skulls, Ouija Boards, etc)
Shower Magick (Make Sure to Clean the Shower After and Check my tag #shower magick)
Kitchen Witchcraft (Dorm Kitchens Have Refrigerators and Microwaves but sometimes more. Check my tags #recipes and#kitchen witchcraft Also the internet has so many dorm-friendly recipes available)
Tarot (Check my tags #tarot for how-tos and tips and #spreadsfor tarot spreads
Crystal Grids (Check my tag #crystal grid for ideas)
Pendulum (Check my tag #pendulum for tips and tricks)
Scrying (Water, Mirror, Oil, and Crystal are dorm safe)
Color Magick to Pick Your Clothes, Dorm Decorations, and School Supplies (Check my tag #colors for correspondences and for which holiday uses which colors)
You don’t have to do magick every day in order to still be considered a witch. College can be draining and time-consuming. Put your schoolwork before your magick.
Make sure if you using the dorm microwave, to use microwave-safe plates, cups, etc. You do not want to set off the fire alarm at 2 am because you put your metallic non-microwave-safe coffee mug and it started to smoke.
If using common spaces like the bathrooms or kitchen for your witchcraft, make sure to clean up after yourself as soon as you are done. It can cause the Head of Housing the fine your dorm hall/building if it continually happens.
There was a college witchcraft post saying to give your roommate a gift that you enchanted when you first move in. You should never do magic without their consent and especially if you have just met them and have yet to find out their feelings towards it. Starting out already at odds will turn into fighting roommates in no time. Fighting roommates are not fun or easy for your RA.
If your roommate is not okay with you having your tools out, there are tons of ways to discreetly hid them. There are boxes that look like books that you can buy at Micheal’s. You can also DIY your own book box! You can also use a trunk, cloth bag, decorative box, or even a shoe box to hold your tools.
If you’re interested in green witchcraft, it’s best to wait until you move into your dorm room before getting a plant. You’ll never know that your room doesn’t get enough sunlight or that AC is always on in your hall until you move in. If you don’t wait, you’ll end up with a lot of dead plants like me.
If you’re a religious witch and your roommate doesn’t want there to be an altar, you can make a shoebox altar. Open it when you need and close and store it away when you don’t. You can also make one the size of an Altoids tin or even a digital one such as a sideblog or a screensaver for your electronic device.
You don’t have to do elaborate spells all the time. You can just do simple things like picking what to wear based off of a color’s correspondence or enchanting your pen/pencil for good luck on a test.
@nightshadeandroses suggested to me that you reach out to your school’s religious department. A lot of smaller schools like mine don’t have one. For some universities, it’s a part of Student Services/Resources on campus. Whichever applies to you, the people there are willing and ready to help you. Some campuses have a space available for students to meditate/pray while others will help you find a place to do that whether it be on or off campus. Every college is different and the only way to get what you need is to ask.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an ask or message me. I’ll be glad to help!
Best of luck witches! 🔮✨
I really needed this! I’ll be starting college in about a year so
I have some advice for fellow witches that I want to write down before I forget.
Don’t just believe what anyone says about magic, even if they sound confident in their assessment. Check their magical background. In my experience, a lot of disagreements in magic stem from people having different paths.
For instance, if you’re studying Sumerian magic, and are talking to a Greek-influenced magician about daemons, they’re gonna have an entirely different view of daemons than you do. It doesn’t mean either of you are wrong, just that you’re approaching the same subject from different perspectives.
Same with blogs. Check their bio, or ask them about their experience. It’ll help you learn more.
writing has always been a passion of mine, and there’s nothing i love more than combining personal hobbies with witchcraft! there’s so many ways you can use writing to boost your craft, or use your craft to boost your writing; these are the ways i personally do!
honour what’s special in your craft. if you’re theistic, dedicate a piece of writing to them. if you’re not, but you want to honour something else, you could write about the earth, or the stars, or absolutely anything. this would make a great grimoire or b.o.s entry!
learn to use automatic writing. this is a cool kind of divination that allows your subconscious/higher self, or spirits around you to control what you write. i’ve tried this a few times and it’s quite fun, but i’ve always wanted to try using it as inspiration for creative writing!hereis a much better post on it by @satinsouled.
start journaling. journaling is a great way to clear your mind and encourage creativity, but it can be really useful in witchcraft too! write about your witchy experiences however you want to, so you have reference points to come back to later
draw inspiration from your craft. similar to the previous point, if you’ve had an interesting experience that you’d like to write about, why not turn it into a poem or short story? if you worship deities, write a story about them. create your own world of witchiness that stems from your personal experiences – your writing will always be unique and interesting because no one else will have had your experiences!
use tarot cards and readings as inspiration. instead of reading tarot like you normally would, write prose or poetry inspired by it to note down your reading. i think the best example by far is @tarotprose, one of my favourite blogs on tumblr and actually my inspiration to start combining witchcraft and poetry.
souped-up spellwork. its easy to work spells you find online, word-for-word, because you think that’s how it’s ‘meant’ to be done. there are some people who say their way is the ‘only’ way, but that’s a toxic way of thinking. use poetry and creative writing to create your own, personalised chants, invocations and spells! your words will have more power for you than anyone else’s, and you’ll probably find your spells will work much better if you put your own personal touch into them.
i’m really trying to get back into writing, so if anyone has any poetry prompts please send them to my writeblr @aghostwrites! if you have any more suggestions please reblog with them, i always want to hear your opinions on what topics mean to you in your craft. happy witching!
if you enjoy my content, and would like to support me, please click here to visit my store! i offer in depth tarot readings, tarot bags, custom sigils and patches all at very decent prices. this store is my only source of income and it’s currently paying for rent, food, bills, my dogs operation and a new car. if you can, please help! any amount of support means the world
feeling down in the dumps due to all the energy wishing washing around lately?
Not being as productive as you’d have liked?
Feeling like you are caught up in a weird space?
💫Take a shower. 💫
Cleanse. I have been feeling like this for about two weeks now, leading up the the full moon with Saturn in Retrograde, Pluto in Retrograde and ALL the post Mercury Retrograde. Phew. So what does one do when caught up in this?
💫Take a shower.💫
Taking a shower for a human witch is like the equivalent of cleansing your (water liking!!) crystals under running water.
Use your Shampoo/Body Wash Scent as a Charm Correspondence! Mine was cranberry scented, so I used it to make myself appear attractive and beautiful/powerful for Bealtaine. Basically Witch’s Valentine’s Day.
Mint for Good Luck clarity/sharpness/for getting your point in your interactions
If you wanna astral project/travel to a pop culture realm, listen to an audiobook or soundtrack while you meditate. I love using the Harry Potter audiobooks as a guided meditation to get to Hogwarts! I also use the TES Oblivion and Skyrim and Morrowind soundtracks to get to Tamriel.
Don’t rush yourself. Witchcraft isn’t easy, and it can take a while to learn certain skills. Rushing yourself will just drain your energy or put yourself in some sticky situations. So just take it slow.
Candlelight-magick 