Do you want to practise witchcraft but don't know where to start? Do you find it all too confusing? Maybe you've been practising for a while and want to go back to basics. Or perhaps you're a seasoned witch and want to explore more ways of practisin...
There are many thousands of spells written in books and on the Internet, but it's likely that at some point you won't be able to find the exact spell you're looking for. You will have to use your own intuition and your own knowledge of ingredients to make your own specialised, bespoke spells to fit your unique situation.
✨ When you truly know yourself, know your ingredients, and have confidence in your abilities, you'll find that you don't need loads of different tools and rare ingredients. You'll be able to find the power within yourself and what you already have on-hand. ✨
How to Substitute Ingredients
The thing about ingredients and their magickal meanings is that... they're completely made up. Sure, there are traditional uses that may go back hundreds of years, and some plants have genuine medicinal uses... but at the end of the day all magickal uses are made up - and that's okay! Let me explain more about how it works...
Magickal uses are generally assigned to ingredients via: > Colour > Shape/texture/taste/smell > Similarity to symbols/elements/deities/animals > Time of day/season it blooms or peaks > Connecting medicinal uses with metaphysical/symbolic uses > Folklore tales passed down over many generations > Personal gnosis through channelling ingredient's energy
Example - Lavender: Lavender has proven medicinal uses for promoting relaxation, calming anxiety, and invoking sleep. These properties are therefore part of its magickal uses too. Its purple colour is also associated with wisdom, so it can also be used to raise one's awareness. All these properties combined together makes it an ideal ingredient in self-love and healing spells, especially for restoring peace and relationships.
Example - Garlic: Garlic has several properties based on its medicinal uses, its strong and distinct scent, and its physical layers. Its medicinal uses include being used as an antibiotic, lowering cholesterol, and strengthening the immune system. Its strong scent is overpowering and can be unpleasant to some - therefore it's used to magickally ward off evil energy and hexes. I'm sure you're also familiar with fairy tales about garlic being used to ward off vampires. Additionally, the physical garlic bulb is covered with many layers; these are also symbolic of safety or hiding things. With all these properties combined, garlic is generally a great ingredient in protection magick. Taking into account its layers and its affinity for warding off toxicity, garlic is especially useful with helping you overcome dark pasts and uncovering layers to bring about truth and clarity.
Example - Sunflower: The sunflower is aptly named for its resemblance to the sun, therefore is associated with many sun deities and their associations; truth, illumination, power, pride, and authenticity. The sunflower plant is also known for absorbing toxins from the ground it grows in, so it can additionally be used to symbolically remove toxicity. Magickal properties of ingredients are really that simple!
In the three examples I listed I demonstrated that magickal properties can emerge from almost any aspect of an ingredient; its colour, its folklore, its scent, its medicinal uses, its physical characteristics, and many more!
Some ingredients can have somewhat differing or conflicting magickal properties; like how the garlic can be used for clarity and truth, but also for warding off negativity. Does this mean I shouldn't use garlic in a warding spell because I might accidentally invoke its "clarity" and "truth" properties instead? No. In your witchcraft, you can call upon any property of any ingredient. You do not need to worry about differing or conflicting properties - just concentrate on the specific symbolism you want to focus on for your specific spell.
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