A collection of witchy tips & tricks for newbies, budget witches, urban witches, magick on-the-go and broom closet dwellers. Ask me anything about witchcraft and I will answer to the best of my abilities!
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These Q&As are about anything pertaining to working with spirits, deities, angels, ancestors, fae, and other entities.
Do you have to include deities even if you aren't wiccan?
No, you can study witchcraft as a pagan, or any religion, or without any religion at all.
If you practice witchcraft with paganism, then you can work with any deities from the chosen pantheon(s) that you subscribe to. Wicca is simply a type of paganism, so you don't have to be just Wiccan to include deities in your craft.
If you practice witchcraft non-religiously then you don't have to work with any deities at all. This is commonly known as secular witchcraft.
Do you have any tips on incorporating the sun into your craft? Or on getting closer to nature as a deity? ~ sunnsaturn
The sun is associated with many gods throughout mythology, so you may be able to connect with the sun by connecting with sun gods (and vice versa). In Scott Cunningham's Wicca, he describes an exercise for connecting with the Wiccan God which I think you will find useful. It is described below:
Upon rising in the morning, no matter how late it is, stand before the sun (through a window if necessary; outside if possible) and soak in its energies. Think about the God. Visualize him as you wish. It might be as a mighty warrior rippling with muscles, a spear upraised in one hand, the other cradling a child or a bunch of dew-dripping grapes.
You may want to chant God names, such as Kernunnos, Osiris, Apollo (Care-NOON-nos, Oh-SIGH-ris, Ah-PALL-low). If you don't wish to visualize the God (for visualization can impose limitations), simply attune to the energies pouring down from the sun. Even if clouds fill the sky, the God's energies will still reach you. Feel them with all your magical imagination
Let no thoughts but those of the God disturb your reverie. Reach out with your feelings; open your awareness to higher things. Call upon the God in any words. Express your desire to attune with him.
Practice these exercises daily for one week. If you wish to explore the concepts of the God, read books on mythology from any country in the world. Read the myths but look for their underlying themes. The more you read, the more information you'll have at your fingertips; eventually it will merge into an unstructured but extremely complex knowledge bank concerning the deities. In other words, you'll begin to know them.
Also remember that the sabbats are themed greatly around the sun. The sun is responsible for all life on earth, so sabbats celebrating the cyclical greening, maturation, and harvest in nature revolves in large part around the sun.
You may find it beneficial to work with plants associated with the sun. Sunflowers are an obvious choice, but there are plenty of others. I recommend listening to the Elder Hour podcast's episode on sunflower: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1gRUQhXwAjfe3T9G7pTtCg?si=8f6dfdfdd98b4b66 (I've added this link as the External Link for this part).
According to Witchipedia, sun plants are any plants that resemble the sun in shape or colour, that open during the day and close at night, that follow the sun's movements during the day, and those plants that are traditionally associated with the winter solstice as well as those that provide winter nourishment when fresh plants are unavailable, such as grains and nuts. Physically, edible Sun plants tend to encourage a feeling of warm satisfaction and medicinal plants affect the heart. So other than sunflower, you can work with calendula, marigold, daylily, orange, citron, saffron, pine, mistletoe, rosemary, buttercup, heliotrope, bay laurel, daisy, walnut, acorn, maize, wheat, hops, cloves, and cinnamon.
The whole page on the sun on Witchipedia is very insightful: https://witchipedia.com/astrology/sun/
Another very basic way of incorporating solar energies into your craft is using bright colours like red, orange, yellow, and gold. Pen ink, coloured pencils, paint, altar cloths, clothes, hair ties, ribbons, flowers, crystals... these are all ways of incorporating colour into your craft.
Lastly I think you'll have some fun making and using sun water. It's just like moon water except it's made using the sun and has slightly different properties.
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I've felt extremely close to the moon, and was wondering if you had any starting points on lunar magick, or just getting connected with her. ~ Potterpig6
My answer is going to be very similar to my previous one, swapping out the sun for the moon of course. Here is Scott Cunningham's exercise for connecting with the Wicca Goddess (associated with the moon):
At night, stand or sit facing the moon, if it is visible. If not, imagine the fullest moon you've ever seen glowing silver-white in the inky blackness, directly above and before you.
Feel the soft lunar light streaming onto your skin. Sense it touching and mixing with your own energies, commingling and forming new patterns. See the Goddess in any form that you will. Call to her, chanting old names if you wish: Diana, Lucina, Selena (pronouncing them as: Dee-AHnah, Loo-CHEE-nah, Say-LEE-nah). Open your heart and mind to the aspect of Goddess-energy manifested in the moon's light.
Repeat this daily for one week, preferably at the same time each night.
Practice these exercises daily for one week. If you wish to explore the concepts of the Goddess, read books on mythology from any country in the world. Read the myths but look for their underlying themes. The more you read, the more information you'll have at your fingertips; eventually it will merge into an unstructured but extremely complex knowledge bank concerning the deities. In other words, you'll begin to know them.
You may find it beneficial to work with plants associated with the moon. According to Witchipedia, lunar herbs tend to be juicy and lightly sweet and with a sweet (sometimes cloying) fragrance. Either they produce watery fruits, or they have succulent leaves or both. Many moon herbs help to balance hormones, relieve mild pain and/or gently induce sleep. Many moon plants open at night and close during the day or release their scent at night to attract nocturnal pollinators. Moon plants often grow near water. White or silvery plants tend to correspond to lunar energy and sometimes these plants bear the mark of the moon even more strongly.
The whole page on the sun on Witchipedia is very insightful: https://witchipedia.com/astrology/sun/
Another very basic way of incorporating solar energies into your craft is using pale colours like silver, white, and grey. Pen ink, coloured pencils, paint, altar cloths, clothes, hair ties, ribbons, flowers, crystals... these are all ways of incorporating colour into your craft.
The moon is naturally associated with water because of how it influences the tides, so any kind of magick involving water can also be used to boost a connection with the moon (hence why moon water is so popular).
Finally I would like to recommend a book, Moon Magic by DJ Conway. It's a pretty old-school book from 1996 but a close friend in my online coven absolutely adores this book. An oldie but a goldie, if you will.
