I live in a place where we can’t have candles or incense. What can I use instead of candles and incense for spells?

“I live in a place where we can’t have candles or incense.  What can I use instead of candles and incense for spells?

-Rukie”

Blessings Rukie,

Here’s an excerpt from one of my posts about beginning the craft and living with parents:

“It’s not the tools that are making your magick happen or work. It’s you. Your energy. Your own self. Not external, mundane objects. Yes, some of these objects CAN help, but they are NOT the sole “magickal object” that will make your spells work or your ritual complete. It’s all about your own energy. The way you raise it, store it, use it and send it out.”

Living with parents, or maybe in a dorm in your case (?), trying to do magickal workings can be difficult, but not impossible. There are many substitues for candles, incense, statues, etc. All these items used in spells and rituals are for the most part representations of the elements, so you simply need to substitute them for another representation. Substitutions don’t even have to be items, they can even be colors! Fire: red, earth: green, water: blue, air: white. Replace candles/fire for lava rocks for Fire. Using sea shells, sea salt, or actual water for the element Water. Feathers or plant leafs for Air. And crystals, stones, or dirt for Earth.

Tools and objects are not a necessity when doing spells and rituals. “Tools aren’t a necessity in your practice. They are simply tools to help you “guide” your magick and energy – this is mostly for the wand/athame. Incense doesn’t really “power up” your magick. It simply helps you relax and put you in a state of clear consciousness and comfort.”

Feel free to visit the FAQs page for quick links to “the basics.”

 

Blessed Be
Sage

How do i cast a circle before doing a spell? Please teach me how to cast a circle and how to close it after a spell is performed.

“How do i cast a circle before doing a spell? Please teach me how to cast a circle and how to close it after a spell is performed.

Thanks for your co-operations.

-Alred”

Dear Alfred,

Casting and closing a circle is simple. You can make it elaborate and wordy, or easy and simple. I like the simple way because it’s just as effective as spending thirty minutes casting. My simple way of casting a circle is to trace around your circle and chanting some sort of protective chant or spell. I like to use “Thrice around the circle bound, sink all evil into the ground.” But you can use whatever chant or spell you want. Below is how I Put up a Circle. I then call the quarters/elements and my deities. If I’m doing a full-blown ritual, I will cast the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. The basic Wiccan circle casting is as follows:

Cast the Circle
Cast your circle. The space within your circle is sacred and considered to be “between the worlds.” Not only does your circle keep unwanted energy out, but it also serves to keep your energy in.

Call the Quarters
The Quarters, or the Watchtowers, are the guardians of your circle. They are usually directional and/or elemental in nature.

Inovke Deity
Call on the Lord and Lady and/pr your specific deity. You should always be respectful and ask deities to join you, not demand them.

Raise Energy
If you are performing ritual with a specific goal in mind (like doing a spell), then you’ll need to raise energy before you cast that spell. If the ritual is to celebrate the Sabbats or give thanks to the Gods, then you may not feel the need to raise energy. Methods for raising energy could be dancing or chanting, among other ways.

Purpose of Ritual
This is the central part of the ritual process. If you are working a spell, now is when you cast it, using the energy you’ve raised. Worship, celebration, or giving thanks could also be apart of your ritual, and also done now.

Ground your Energy
You raised energy earlier, and now you must ground it. Release the remaining energy down through your body and into the Earth – even if you are indoors.

Thank Deity
If you’ve asked deity to join you in your circle, you must thank them when the ritual is complete.

Release the Quarters
Similar to thanking the deities, you’ve called the quarters to assist you, now you must thank and release them.

Release the Circle
This will return your ritual area back to “normal space.” Simply close the circle the exact opposite way you opened it (going backwards in forming the circle).

*Eating is traditional after ritual. It can be fruits, cookies, cake, etc. And drinking; water, juice, or wine.

Putting up a Circle
To pull up the magick circle, you need to concentrate and use your powers of creative visualization. As you walk around the edges of your circle, imagine white light flowing through you, through your athame (finger(s) or hand) and out. See it pouring out in the form of white fibers that spin out until the whole circle is cocooned. You can also see it as a bubble that grows from the gloor, curving overhead until it meets on top. You can also visualize plates of armor surrounding you, or see the circle made up of scales of a dragon. Or imagine the circle as a magick web that grows so it’s all around you.

It doesn’t matter what you pick to imagine, just be sure it works for you.

Taking Down the Circle
With your athame (finger(s) or hand), start in the East and walk widdershines (anti-clockwise) around the edge of the circle. Imagine the energy of the circle getting “sucked into” your athame. See the energy moving through the athame and traveling up your arm, through your body, down your legs, out of the bottom of your feet, and into the Earth.

After sending the energy back into the ground, you can say something like “The circle is down,” or “The circle is open, but unbroken.” Or anything else you wish to say instead.

 

Blessed Be
Sage

I know Wicca is not for me, could you provide any knowledge on a more natural magic path, or even elemental? Animals, trees and nature that I can worship and dedicate to?

“I’ve lost my way on the path, or really more taking another path as I’m evolving with my knowledge. I know Wicca is not for me, There’s lots of it that I can’t follow, don’t believe in, so it would be false of me to say Yes I’m wiccan for the sake of a label. What i’m asking is could you provide any knowledge on a more natural magic path, or even elemental? Animals, trees and nature that I can worship and dedicate to but I just can’t enough information on that kind of path.”

Witchcraft as a practice can be very elemental, as well as Paganism. As a Pagan, I use the energies of the elements and everything nature when I do ritual. I form a circle of stones or use branches. I include stones, crystals, leafs, flowers, feathers, animal bones, a representation of every element, and of course herbs.

If you want to really be connected with nature and Earth, plant a tree and watch it grow. As it grows, so does your energy and connection to it. You can plant flowers and herbs around the tree as well. If you can’t plant a tree, then even a small plant will do. The point is that you have something that connects you with nature and the Earth – something that is of the earth. There are several exercises, mini-rituals (picking up stones, branches, plants, flowers, etc.), and ways you can strengthen your connection with nature. If you can’t plant a tree, then let the wind and nature spirits lead you to one to connect with. Find a tree that’ll be “your tree.” The tree you go to, to meditate, do ritual, craft, and commune with spirits with.

There isn’t a path, to my knowledge, that worships animals and nature specifically, besides Shamanism, but that’s not something you just go into to. It’s a cultural and heritage path where you have to be chosen, or I suppose, it chooses you.

However, Paganism is very much nature and animal oriented (not necessarily or directly the worship of animals, but a great respect for them). At least with Paganism, you can incorporate its nature beliefs with whatever other spiritual beliefs you have without having to zone in one a specific religion, or at least for now, until, if, you find something that you are strongly more drawn to.

Blessed Be
Sage

I’ve been looking around for some cleansing rituals and I’m finding all the confusing ones. Could you point me in the right direction? I need to cleanse all this negative energy that’s been sapping me.

“I’ve been looking around for some cleansing rituals and I’m finding all the confusing ones. Could you point me in the right direction? I need to cleanse all this negative energy that’s been sapping me.”

Cleansing can be as simple as lighting a bundle of sage and banishing all negativity or an entire elaborate ritual. I’d go with the simple sage stick – it’s simple, easy, and very effective. With the sage, simply light it and go around your house or area and say a simple chant like “I cleanse and consecrate this area to banish all negativity, evil and harm.”

I don’t usually give out spells, because to each their own, and because of how personal a spell needs to be, but…

For a more ritualistic setting, in a bowl of blessed water, add salt, sage, and mandrake (or linden). Dip your fingers in the water and “splash” the water in areas where you feel there is a negative presence and say:

I cast you out from this place,
this is your poison, this is your fate.

I cast you out from this place,
into the ground, into no place.

I cast you out from high and low,
this is my will and I command you to go!

You can also use the ingredients for a powder, but without the water and replace it with ground frankincense or sandalwood, and sprinkle it outside doors and windows.

For more of a self-purification or cleanse, start a meditation. Clear your mind and concentrate on ridding of all the negative energies from yourself. Light a white candle and say:

Mother Earth, Fire, Air, Water, and Spirit,
I ask thee to cleanse my body of all negative energies

Light a black candle and say:

Mother Earth, FIre, Air, Water, and Spirit
I ask thee to free and heal my body from all negative energies.
So mote it be!

Feel yourself being cleansed of all negativity. See it leave your body. Invision white, positive light and energy filling your body.

And instead of any spell or ritual, a simpler way is to meditate – conjure up and hold your energy into this sphere or ball and let it go when you’re ready into this “blast” taking all negativity away with it.

Blessed Be
Sage