Small Things To Contact Spirits About

Divination through Casting of Stones

A while ago I devised a simple divination method of casting stones on a board and interpreting where they fell. I ended up writing an entire ritual around this concept and performed it as a public ritual after teaching a class on the magical properties of crystals and stones. If I’m going to be teaching class and running a ritual afterward I like to tie the ritual into the subject covered in the class, so people can apply what they learned.

I decided to divide a reading area into three sections, for the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the Element of Earth, which would be marked with the colours associated with those aspects - green for physical, brown for mental, and black for spiritual. To really drive the Earth symbolism home I put the alchemical symbol for Earth on the centre of the reading board, and decided that if a stone fell inside that triangle then it had a stronger influence in the reading.

The three areas would break down as follows: Physical (green): The body, the home, physical concerns, structure, ‘real life’, wealth and finance Mental (brown): Control of thoughts, memory, discipline, patterns of thought Spiritual (black): Religious community, buildings, heirarchies, grounding, obedience and duty, moral and ethical issues, foundations

In order to make the board I went to Michaels and got the biggest wooden disc I could find, then carefully determined the centre and divided it into thirds which I painted with acrylic paint. I wanted the brightest colours possible, as I’d be doing this by candlelight. Two coats did the trick. At some point I may varnish them.

I gathered some of my collection of stones and decided to go with tumbled ones to minimize any possible damage. I wanted a wide variety of possible meanings for each reading, so my choices on what stones to use was heavily reliant on the symbolism I attach to them. I went with the following:

First row: Clear quartz: Clarity, power, wisdom Carnelian: Fire, strength, physicality, the body Hematite: Grounding Second row: Lapis lazuli: Divinity, the Gods, the sky Moss agate: Friendship, growth, the Earth Fluorite: Peace, inner calm, structure, learning Third row: Abalone: Inner beauty, secrets, Water Tiger’s eye: The Sun, power, protection, strength Moonstone: The Goddess, motherhood, the Moon, the psyche, magic Fourth row: Malachite: The Earth, growth, love Rose quartz: Love, pace, acceptance Amethyst: Sleep, dreams, peace, magic, the psyche Fifth row: Labradorite: Dark Moon, hidden secrets, new perspectives Amber: The God, the Sun, strength, power, healing Jet: Earth, night, grounding, stopping negativity

A sample reading: Physical: We have lapis lazuli, malachite, and jet, although the jet is partly on the spiritual side as well. Note the carnelian rolled off the board and as such doesn’t matter for this reading. The lapis is far from the centre, so has a weak influence here - the Gods and Their worship are not primary concerns for you right now as there are more important things going on. The malachite right on the Earth triangle tells us that growth is on the way, probably financial - the querent would have what they need to be fulfilled. As for the jet, its placement here implies that Earthy concerns are currently important to the querent, and it’s possible that they are feeling ‘in the dark’.

Mental: Abalone, right on the Earth triangle. There’s a foundational part of your self and psyche that you’re not revealing to others because you’re afraid to do so.

Spiritual: Moss agate outside the triangle tells us that the querent is making spiritual connections, be that to Gods, Elementals, some form of spirit, or connections in a religious or spiritual community. These connections lead to growth, but not in a spectacular way. The borderline position of the jet between physical and spiritual shows that the querent is a little uncertain about the connections they may be forming.

Of course, the stones used could be different, or a different reader may have a different interpretation of each stone, but still, I found it to be a useful method of divination and others seemed to appreciate the readings.

Witchery for the hearth.

Lay thorny branches on your doorstep to drive away evil.

Put thyme in your last meal of the day to have pleasant dreams.

Place coins and cedar chips in a box for an easy money spell.

The bark of the willow tree is a natural painkiller.

Put almonds in your pocket to recover a lost object.

Light candles throughout the house regularly.

Sprinkle oats over your garden (especially herbs) to ensure good growth.

Honey is a natural antibiotic and antibacterial. Got a cold sore? Put that stuff all over that. Got a cold? Eat a tablespoon every few hours.

Place lilacs all over the house to get rid of unwanted spirits.

Drink cranberry juice to get a good detox when in need of grounding.

Hang dill over your door to keep people who wish ill on you out.

Place half an onion in the room with someone who is sick to draw out disease.

Place morning glory seeds inside your pillow to get rid of bad dreams.

Pour salt in your bath (or shower floor if you don’t have a bath) to cleanse and ground yourself.

Use chili peppers to break a curse.

Plant rosemary next to your front gate or door for a little good luck.

Types of water

💧Rain Water 💧 

Multipurpose, Growth, Rebirth, good for Spells that Gain Power over time

💧River Water💧

Moving on, Focusing Energy, Warding, Breaking through Rough Paths, and Good for Powering Tools

💧Storm Water💧

Emotional Strength, Confidence, Motivation, Force, Charging, Strengthens Spells, and Good for Curses

💧Snow Water💧

Purity, Endings, Change, good for Slow-moving Spells

💧Sea Water💧 

Cleansing, Healing, Banishing, and Protection

💧Dew Water💧

Love, Fertility, Delicate Magick, Fae Work

Counting Crows!

One Crow — Bad Luck, Death (Should be noted that a corvid alone is unusual as they are gregarious species)

Two Crows — Good Luck, Joy

Three Crows — Wedding, Female Birth

Four Crows — An Event, Male Birth

Five Crows — Money, Positive Business

Six Crows — Wealth Change, Loss/Gain

Seven Crows — Secret, Curse

Eight Crows — Life-Altering experience

Nine Crows — Love, Something Sensual

Ten Crows — Turnaround In Luck, Overwhelming

Eleven Crows — Surprise, Secrets (Hidden/Revealed)

Twelve Crows — Good Luck, Fulfillment

Thirteen Crows — Completion, The End

It’s been said that if the number of covids you see tallies up to something negative, then it can be countered with saying “Greetings Mr. Crow, I salute you!” as well as offering it a lil’ treat!

There are many different rhymes to help you remember! One of the longer ones goes as follows:

“One for sadness, two for mirth;

Three for marriage, four for birth;

Five for laughing, six for crying:

Seven for sickness, eight for dying;

Nine for silver, ten for gold;

Eleven a secret that will never be told.”

Shadow work

Hello friends.

I’ve recently been delving into shadow work and OUCH.

It hurts but it is SO necessary. Processing trauma and learning and healing is WORTH IT. Get to know yourself and spend time with you.

I’ve found incredible meaning behind my “negative” thoughts, habits, responses, actions and behaviors.

Really be honest with yourself and reflect on who you are. Do not judge yourself.

Some prompts I’ve tried include:

What are you in search of?

What are you neglecting to heal?

Where are you directing your energy?

What is one thing that has happened in your life that made you feel weak or powerless?

What are your triggers?

In what ways are you being inauthentic with yourself and others?

If you want to start please proceed with caution. It’s heavy stuff. Take care of yourself before and after. Be kind to yourself. Notice and be aware of how this practice changes you.

If you need professional help please seek it. This is not meant to replace therapy or having a good support system.

Embrace your shadow self my lovelies ✨

Housewarming Magic

For when you’ve moved into a new living situation or are ready for a new start <3

Finding your home/moving:

House hunting crystals

Spell jar to find a house

Spell for your dream house

The witch’s moving checklist

Cleansing:

Room cleansing

To absorb negative energy from a room

Summer house cleansing

Herbal wall/floor wash + witchy cleaners

Home cleansing tips

Home cleansing brew

Thoroughly clearing spaces

Crystals to cleanse the home

Cleansing your space without smoke

Cleansing your space: a how-to guide

Energy cleansing

Low energy cleaning + cleansing

Warding + Protection:

A crash course on warding

To ward the home

Threshold magic 101

Protect my home spell

Home protection steam spell

Simple home protection jar spell

“Little lurkers” home protection spell

Room/home protection

Wall of fire property & house protection spell

Protection (wind) chimes

The Rowan cross

Protecting the property

Check out the sigils below!

Sigils:

“For a magical and happy home”

“Sospidonum”

“This space is full of life, light, and bright energy”

“No fighting in this home”

“My home is safe”

“This home is safe for all”

“This home is a safe and healthy environment”

“My house is protected from unwanted influences”

“My home is protected”

Witchin’ it up:

Happy home spell jar

Home sweet home spell jar

House to home spell

Doing the dishes the witchy way

Homemade laundry detergent recipe

Laundry magic

Pleasing household spirits

When a bad guest leaves

Building a magical home

Odds and ends:

Magic, and power, in homemaking

The history and creation of witch bottles

Cottage witch tips

Hearth witch tips

The basics of kitchen and cottage witchcraft

You may also like:

Bedridden witch: garden / stale energy / kitchen edition

Spells for job seekers

Travel witchery

Links updated October, 2020 (please inform me of broken links via askbox)

orriculum’s witchcraft masterpost ✨

✨ 101 - basics :

there are some accepted standard methods used widely in witchcraft,

unpacking witchcraft - spell types 

some basic terms to know

methods for spells

grounding, a quick how-to  

when to cast a spell - by weekdays

when to cast a spell - by time of day 

how to cleanse

how to charge

nullifying spells  

about jar spells 

jars and mold 

“beginner” spells  

grounding masterpost 

disposing of spell materials 

✨ 202 - your own path

your own path is where you diverge from the standard things you learn at first, and may require you to write your own spells or adjust others to your needs.

how to write your own spells - resources 

understanding herb associations with rosemary 

how to substitute in a spell

how to write curses 

how to write glamours

searching spells by ingredient 

how to adjust a spell 

✨ tools:

tools of witchcraft overview a witch’s wand 

building a broom/besom 

correspondence resource 

on making moon water

herbs for spells : grocery store vs. home grown vs. edible wilds 

a witch’s book 

✨ you should know:

“to be a witch” falsehoods 

other witches and you

witchcraft and the law 

difference between a witch and a herbalist 

self care for the witch

low effort witchcraft

 when your spell fails

tarot and pendulums can get it wrong

Divination Tips for Beginners

Divination can be hard and draining, it takes up a lot of energy. For those who are still new to it, it can really drain you and result in headaches and frustrations. Here are some tips to help all you beginners out with divination and how draining it can be.

Drink plenty of water, being dehydrated is not fun and especially not when you are using so much energy

Take a shower or bath before any divination work to help cleanse yourself 

Meditate before big divination work to help center and ground yourself

Crystals good for divination and psychic work: nuummite, amethyst, amazonite, fluorite, and aqua aura quartz

Clear Quartz is a good energy booster and can help you feel less drained after divination

Drink some black tea to help ground yourself and give yourself extra energy for divination work

If you are starting to feel tired during divination, that is okay, take a break or take a nap. Forcing yourself to keep going will only exhaust you further and make everything more difficult. You deserve breaks

It is okay to use notes during divination, don’t worry what others say. Its not ‘unprofessional’, even veterans in divination use notes. Keep a notebook with you full of different meanings of cards or stones or runes, take notes as you go, write down your thoughts and keep it near you every time you practice.

Yellow is the color of divination, keep yellow things around you to help. Yellow blanket(s), yellow pillows, yellow candles, yellow pieces of paper; anything you can find. Purple is also another color good to help with psychic abilities and awareness

Herbs good for divination and psychic work: cinnamon, lemon, cherry, lettuce, grapes, orange (orange peel), mint, pumpkin, celery, lemon balm, catnip, thyme, rose, seaweed, star anise, mullein, mugwort and rosemary can all help you. Bake with them, eat them, use them in teas or keep them near you in a sachet or jar

Stretch and take little walks. Sitting for a long time can be killer and make you sore. Stretch your legs and take little five or ten minute walks during long readings and psychic work. Muscle and joint stiffness is never fun

Rather than trying to tackle large readings every day, do small ones. Like a few questions to your pendulum, pull a single card, draw a crystal from a bag, etc. Small daily practices can help you in the long run without exhausting you. 

Open a window and let some fresh air in while you work, it will do wonders, especially since air is the element associated with divination work.

Keep a small bowl or cup of salt near you, it will absorb the negative energy about you especially if you are feeling frustrated

Moon water is great for divination: drink it, make tea with it, spray the room with it, anoint yourself with it, keep it near you, etc

Cleanse your space before divination work, again it will keep negativity away from you 

Cleanse and charge your divination tools regularly, it really helps in the long run. Put them in the moonlight at night (especially during full moons), keep salt near them, smoke cleanse them if you can, burn white candles, use crystals/gems, etc

Its okay if you get confused and don’t know how to interpret something. Take notes on it and with time it may become more clear to you. Don’t force yourself to try to understand

Mistakes happen, you won’t always be 100% right on things. No one is, divination is not a certain thing. Things change all the time, its okay. Don’t let it get you down.

If you are tired, sick, stressed, or anything else and don’t feel like doing divination work that is fine. Its okay, you don’t have to do it all the time. Especially not if you are feeling unwell and tired. Rest and take care of yourself, you can continue practice another time

If you use tools in your work like mirrors, tea cups/mugs, cards, crystals, etc try to bond with them. Creating a bond with your tools can improve your divination quite a bit

You don’t have to practice on other people, you can do it for yourself and your own questions. Its an old wive’s tale that you can’t use tarot or divination on yourself, you definitely can

Try to get a good nights sleep before and after divination

Once you finish, treat yourself. Get something to eat, watch a movie or show you like, curl up with a book, snuggle into a blanket, play with your pets, take a nap; do whatever makes you happy. You did a good job and deserve some time to rest and recharge afterwards

App Recommendation for Green/Garden Witches: Vera

I looked into a watering schedule app that sends notifications because all of my plants need different watering times right now. I tried a few that were in the App Store and this one is by far the best in my opinion. I enjoy using this, I didn’t enjoy any of the others.

Pros

You create the entirety of the plant’s profile. You can put in a name, species, photo, what date you got the plant, where it is, and there’s a note section designated for special care info. This customizable setup is so much more user-friendly than the apps that make you scroll through a list of plants to select yours (if they even have it) and then gives you the uneditable watering schedule that doesn’t take into account your humidity, plant’s life stage, etc

You can choose what day of the week the watering schedule starts, how often (in days) you’ll be notified to water, and when in the day to set off the notification. You can also change the watering schedule of a plant at any time. Similar apps I’ve tried haven’t been as customizable

You can select multiple plants or a whole location group to mark as watered at once, instead of having to go through each individual profile to mark them

You can go on to a plant’s profile to see when it was last marked as watered and what day it’ll next need to be watered. I find this helpful to be able to check and some other apps didn’t have that info available to the user

You can use this app to track your plants growth progress through photos. It puts photos in the activity feed so it logs the date/time at which you upload a photo to the app, making it time-trackable. There’s also a ‘photos’ tab next to the activity feed if you only want to see the photos, so they’re easily accessible

To me at least, this app is a lot more visually pleasing and user-friendly to navigate than similar apps I’ve tried. The font is big but not overwhelming, the layout is aesthetically simplistic but not dumbed down, and everything makes perfect logical sense as to where they put it and such. As for app layout, left to right there is a home page (first picture), a menu of all your plants sorted by location (third picture), a button to add a new plant, a page to mark plants as watered (second picture), and lastly an info/your profile/social page (that last one doesn’t do much except let you log in and leave a review). As you can tell, the app is very straight forward and I like the layout

Cons

You can’t undo a watering. If you accidentally mark a plant as watered that day I haven’t found any way to reset it to needing to be watered. So just be careful of which plants you’re marking!