Valentines for The new Yorker, 2016

How to Write Your Own Spells

There are lots of ways to create spells, from planning everything to the minutest detail ahead of time to absolutely flying by the seat of your pants in the moment. If you'd like to write your own spells, either for use in your craft or as a creative exercise, here are some suggested steps that I use in my own practice:

1) Determine the intent or goal of your spell. Decide, first and foremost, what you want the spell to do. Refine your goal if necessary and try not to be too nebulous. Your intent tells the spell what it's meant to do. A more focused goal may increase the chances of success.

2) Determine how you want the spell to manifest. Decide how the spell should work and what the result should look like. This is a good time to build in a sign of success, especially for spells that may not work in an obvious or visible way.

3) Determine what or whom the spell will affect. If the spell is to have a target, be it a person or a place or an animal or an object, decide what that should be and how they or it will be represented in the casting.

4) Determine how long the spell is meant to work. If your spell is timebound or has a deadline, decide what that will be. If the spell is meant to work long-term, you may want to check in and refresh it from time to time. (Not every spell will be timebound. Many spells will simply expire when they have fulfilled their purpose or if they are blocked or circumstances are not favorable.)

5) Determine the timing of the spell, if applicable. Not everyone uses celestial or astrological timing for their spells, but if you do, look into the prevailing conditions and decide on an advantageous time for your casting. (Please note that magical timing can only enhance your spell and casting something on the "wrong" day will not necessarily cause it to fail.)

6) Determine what methods and materials you want to use to cast the spell. Decide how you're going to go about performing the casting, whether you're doing a ritual or making a charm or just using energy. If you're going to need a ritual space or physical components, plan that out and make sure it fits with what you want to do.

7) Determine the words, if any, which will empower the spell. If you want to include a prayer or a petition or a song or an incantation with your spell, decide what that should be. This is not strictly necessary and the words need not be spoken aloud. (Rhyming incantations are not required, but if you prefer them that way, you can certainly do so.)

8) Prepare the materials for casting the spell. Get all your necessaries together ahead of time. Make sure you have everything you need, that tools and components are in good and useable condition, prepare your workspace, and make sure everything is within easy reach so you don't have to stop and search for things in the middle of your casting. (And for goodness sake, if you're working with open flame, observe fire safety and tie your hair and sleeves back.)

9) Finalize details and perform the casting. When you're ready to begin, try to eliminate as many possibilities for distraction or interruption as possible. Go over your spell and components one more time, then proceed with casting the spell.

10) Record the particulars for future reference and to determine how well the spell worked. Make a record of the spell, including your goal, how it should manifest, the words and components used, the date of the casting, the casting method and procedure, and how the casting went. If there are any additional details or observations that seem important, include those as well. This will serve as a useful learning tool in the future and will allow you to check your work if the results make themselves known.

It's useful to write spells from time to time if the inspiration strikes you, in order to better understand how they fit together and how they work. Plus it's a fun and creative journaling exercise and recording the spells you cast a great way to measure your progress later on.

For additional tips on writing your own spells and helpful tricks for using timing and available materials to your advantage, check out my podcast, Hex Positive, Eps. 006-007, "Come In For A Spell, pt 1 & 2."

(And if you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

📷 Gritchenwitch

I could spend hours reading in here <3

When you enjoy dialogue so much that you end up completely avoiding describing the places properly

This addition is actually more accurate to me than the original 🤣

people always say "your body is a temple" as some kind of pearl-clutching gotcha finger wag to people with tattoos and piercings and body mods which has never made sense to me

cause like.

y'all know what we do with temples right? with holy spaces?

we adorn them in art and precious metals and things of beauty. we make them spectacles of gathering to signal that this is a space we know the Divine calls to us. our Creation does not end the moment we take our first breath, we continue to collaborate in our own Creation each and every day.

get the tattoo or that piercing, fill yourself with delicious things and celebrate in wonder at the mystery it is to live within your body!

I love that feeling I get when it’s about to rain and the wind is rising and there’s some sort of peace in that. I swear I can hear the plants whispering

Moths.

For the night-time themed issue of Another Escape.

Yellow Winter aesthetic

Literary Aesthetics // J.R.R. Tolkien Fan

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Sandman text posts (part 20)

Remember when tumblr turned its back on the people who MADE this platform what it was (artists & sex workers) and forced everyone that produces nsfw content (art/porn) to exodus in mass to twitter? They really fucking betrayed artists fully no thought about how it would affect them. I am glad that many of the artists we know and love went to twitter and got more successful over the years but I can’t help but to think that tumblr doing that to people who created nsfw discouraged them and caused some of them to stop making content. It’s kind of really fucked up. 

"I can fix him" You can't even fix your sleep schedule bestie

I can make him worse, just like my sleep schedule.

Bitches be like ‘I’m so tired and sleepy’ and then stay up doing hyperfixtation shit for the next 5 hours

suns moons and flowers pattern 🌞🌷🌛

my work on fabric, prints, & more here ❣️